How is it useful ?
“If you think of standardisation as the best that you know today, but which is to be improved tomorrow; you get somewhere..”
-- Henry Ford
As the use of technology in business evolved, the number of redundant applications grew - many of them becoming legacy systems with no clear indication of the business need they support. The need to economically align IT systems with business in a dynamic environment is the key driver behind the standardisation and optimisation efforts.
These efforts have often resulted in measurable results in euro savings or business opportunities but ignored the fact that no single approach alone delivers IT and business alignment and the hence need for constant adaptation in standardisation & optimisation. This resulted in efforts that had become redundant and hence lost their relevance over time. A well-rounded approach to standardization & optimisation efforts is required to close this gap.
We at MerrionIT understand the need to recalibrate the orbit of IT around the world of business and believe in efforts that reach an adaptive state where progress stems from a general trend toward adoption of higher standards, combined with a greater awareness of good governance techniques, such as metrics and incentives that help bridge the two worlds. Hence we strive towards establishing a methodical approach that aims to understand the complete inventory of applications and carry out a rational analysis that would help in reducing cost and complexity from IT systems. This approach leads to the following steps as well on a need basis
- Set overall IT policies and direction, with the customers’ needs in mind — but don’t seek to control every operational detail.
- Establish an IT steering committee to set priorities and approve standardization plans. Business value is the filter to be used.
- Define infrastructure and architecture strategies that drive business value, such as making a office “green,” and establishing performance controls.
- Implement service level agreements between IT and business units that guarantee uptime but also promote alignment through use of business metrics.
