The recent economic difficulties have created a need for businesses to make changes.  Although these businesses often look to IT as the enabler it is frequently seen as an inhibitor of change.  In some organisations it takes a long time to do anything and often the benefits just fail to materialise: not good in a crisis. 

The frequency of economic crises is increasing. Stock markets fell drastically (i.e. lost over half of their value) in 1929-31, 1973-4, 2000-02, and most recently in 2007-09. Organisations must respond to this apparent increasing economic instability.  The recovery is likely to take some considerable time and so regardless of their current commercial situation most organisations continue to feel vulnerable, do not wish to be caught out again, and want to take the opportunity as soon as possible to become more efficient and effective.  Many organisations would like to introduce transformational change and sustainable improvement. This may involve change across many parts of the organisation but not all organisations possess the skills required to carry this out. Furthermore, many organisations are reluctant to engage with traditional consultancy organisations because of the cost, the effect on staff morale, the risk of failure and the potential loss of control.  Then there is IT.  In mature businesses there is a mish-mash of old and new systems and databases not to mention hardware and software solutions and process based on frameworks, methodologies and standards.  Over the years the IT industry has introduced process for every stage of the development lifecycle.   These may help us to manage IT but they have also increased the cost of IT (in terms of training and demonstrating compliance).  Regardless of this investment research suggests that the success rates of IT projects in terms of achieving the planned business outcomes are no better than they were forty years ago.  Furthermore the IT may be outsourced in which case radical change during the life of a contract can be expensive or constrained in some way.  This technical mix, the cocktail of processes and complex relationships between external solutions and services providers conspire to inhibit business change.  What is required now is something more radical, more urgent and which offers a greater chance of a successful business outcome.

The rationale of “Business-Focused IT” is to increase the likelihood of a successful business outcome.  It can be applied to an entire business and its ecosystem, to a scale change, to a bid, to improve internal IT services or to improve commercial businesses – anywhere in fact where business and IT come together.   It helps us to understand how IT should be positioned.  It introduces new skills that are as business oriented as they are IT enabled.  It encourages resourcefulness in order to create opportunities, to draw on everyone’s experiences to make these happen and to harness the latest technologies to make sure those opportunities are sustainable in the longer term.  Interestingly “Business-Focused IT” also helps us to manage some of the newer technologies. Where existing (IT focused) IT management methods are based on managing the IT resources and IT processes, “Business-Focused IT” is based on managing business outcomes and so is unconstrained by who owns the IT or how the service is delivered.

As the taxation system attempts to claw back the massive amounts borrowed by government business could suffer further. ITDYNAMICS™ is able to work with the whole management team and people at all levels in an organisation to improve the business model, introduce the desired changes and to realign the IT.  The approach helps businesses to achieve these changes with no loss of control, more quickly than by other means and with greater chances of success.  To find out more about this, speak to someone from ITDYNAMICS™ Ltd: email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 0845 095 7818.