I’m Giving You All She’s Got Captain!

Delivering the Maximum Value of Technology

In the television series Star Trek1, invariably, the crew would be trying to get somewhere or get away from something quickly. To do so required more from their ship’s already stressed and weakened systems. Captain Kirk would demand that Scotty (the ship’s Chief Engineer) come up with a creative way to deliver “more power”. To which, Scotty would reply, “I’m giving her all she’s got Captain.”1

Having spent many years of my career in the bowels of technology systems, the Star Trek scene above felt as though it played out in my world on a daily basis. Though I have no data to back it up, I suspect this explains the reason why an inordinate percentage of folks in technology consider themselves “Trekkies” (fans of Star Trek). Just like Scotty, though we complained loudly, we always delivered what was requested. However, in so doing we only served to exacerbate the rub between those considered “part of the business” and those in IT. Further, we cemented the view of IT as a back-office function and cost center in the minds of those who make the decisions that drive the business forward.

It was after ten straight years of being given the annual task of reducing IT costs by ~10%-20%, that it occurred to me that the fault for the annual request for cost reduction was, at least in part, my own. It was my failure to communicate to those who demanded the cost savings in a way that resonated with them, that emboldened them to continue to ask – year after year. This was a tough pill to swallow! Not only had I and many others sacrificed our weekends and holidays and worked long nights to implement changes and upgrades so as not to disrupt the “important work” of the business, the annual reward was the opportunity to figure out how to do more with less—and for less. It was, and remains in many businesses, a mantra!

The acceptance that the fault was mine put me on a passionate, almost maniacal journey to discover how to remedy the frustrations, issues and ever-broadening chasm between those in IT and those in the business. I was and remain driven to understand why, at a time in history where technology represents the greatest transformative lever for the accelerated realization of value in business ever known to mankind, that IT and business are spoken of in separate terms. More than merely understanding it, I want to fix this glaring and potentially crippling business error.

The first thing we must and can agree on is that the number one goal of every, for-profit-business is to grow. This is true for non-profits as well in case you are keeping score. An old axiom of business is that a business is either growing or dying. This has proven to be true since the first dollar (or bartered item) was exchanged for a service or product. Even if you are maintaining your revenue, you are dying at the slowest possible rate.  Growth is everything!

To continue to grow year over year requires something more or new to happen. There are many factors at play in creating or realizing greater opportunities. It is an arduous and difficult task. Teams of people are hired from those who market to those who sell. What if we took a different or at least an additional approach to improving our top and bottom lines?

What if we identify those things that are no longer serving our needs (anchors) and use their removal and associated savings, as a source to fund new capability that supports or accelerates what we are trying to achieve? Can we also balance spend and savings while achieving the desired business outcomes? Even more, if we are working on a 20% margin and we are able to save $10,000,000, did we not just add $2,000,000 to the bottom line? Said another way, by adding $2,000,000 to the bottom line, have we not added $10,000,000 in revenue equivalence? In most businesses this is very difficult to do.

The question is then – how do we make this happen?

First, we must create transparency across the ecosystem in order to enable strategy alignment. If we can’t see where we are and analyze what we have, we can’t identify opportunities for value optimization.

Second, we must be able to tie the total cost of ownership to every component and every system in the environment. Once we understand each element of cost we can begin to understand if we can make different choices which become levers that can be pulled to impact the bottom line. The leaders in the lines of business, once presented factual data can see precisely how business demand (behavior of their organization) drives the cost of applications and services and in turn, identify the consumption of infrastructure towers and resources? This is powerful information. Not only does it enable IT and business to create a financial plan based on how resources are allocated and consumed, it connects everything IT does to specific business outcomes and as a natural consequence aligns IT with the strategy and objectives of the business. In effect, now everyone exists as a necessary and crucial part of the same team.

In addition, understanding the cost, consumption and intended business outcome of each device and service in the environment provides the data required to develop a business case for even the most complex technology transformations, quickly and accurately – every time!

The bottom line is, you would be able to balance investment and savings while achieving the desired outcomes and ensuring that everyone involved in the process understands the business impact of every reduction and the intended business outcome of every investment.  

I am writing a book and delivering the maximum value of technology through alignment with its intended business outcome is one of the subjects I will include. I would greatly appreciate your feedback, critical and otherwise. Let’s discuss it!

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1 https://www.cbs.com/shows/star-trek-discovery/photos/1006913/50-terms-you-know-because-of-star-trek/15/