IT Maturity vs. IT Value

Hi everyone,

Today I am writing an article about the essential thoughts to drive Digital Transformations in companies from an IT point of view.

Context

CIOs, CISOs, and a few CTOs are still fighting to get their budgets approved but rarely win. And, though we are all speaking about Digital Transformations, we still lack a proper adoption.

But why?

One big reason - still - is the view of IT as a commodity that provides the same value on a daily basis. And this is extremely paradoxical, as many companies are already running Cloud Transformations to make use of the Cloud values, e.g., improving their agility and scalability, but do not focus holistically on the value of IT and the required tasks to implement it.

IT Value

We start with the explanation of IT Value, which is the value that IT can bring to the business, like in the previously mentioned example of a Cloud Transformation with the values of scalability and agility.

Another good example would be the aimed results of a Digital Transformation (DX), which you can see here in the following picture:

So, to drive IT Value, you need to have regular exchanges and discussions with your business.

Typically, the IT departments can provide insights into the growth areas worth exploring, as the business typically lacks information on technical feasibility and the required investment costs.

But finally, these goals need to be aligned together and communicated as one global Vision and Mission by your top management.

Okay - and what is the difference between IT Value and IT Maturity?

IT Maturity

IT Maturity is the requirement that a company needs to set up to be able to drive IT Value. Without having a dedicated IT Maturity level, you will not be able to drive IT Value effectively, as the solutions will not be able to implement or add too much complexity.

For example, you cannot drive IT Value from your data without having a data catalog, data governance, a good data quality, nor without the data itself.

And you will need to increase your IT maturity in various areas:

• Focusing on Cloud Transformation, you should transition into CaaS, PaaS, or FaaS, implementing microservices with an underlining "API First" strategy and automating as much as possible with coded workflows, Infrastructure as Code, and natively used monitoring and logging.
• Focusing on Cyber Security, you must implement a Zero-Trust based approach, starting with identity, then clients and servers, network, infrastructure, and data.
• Focusing on Cyber Resilience, you will need to know about your threat model, and you should have an established data classification model, backup, and disaster recovery plan.
• Focusing on Modern Work, you will need a modern client that is properly secured and manageable from everywhere (e.g., via an MDM), as your employees will work from everywhere. Topics like MFA, TPM-based security features, and modern authentication focusing on modern Apps should be on the list.
• And this list can be continued for many more topics.

A good architect should be able to identify the most important areas of investment for your business, considering the IT Value for the following years.

As an executive manager, you need to understand that these areas exist, and you will need to prioritize and invest in them!

Recap

• IT Maturity is required to set up the basic requirements to build upon.
• IT Value should be an additional measure when speaking about IT so that you start recognizing it as a qualifiable value.
• IT as a qualifiable value always connects to business value.
• IT investments should always be measured against IT Maturity and IT Value.
• IT investment costs need to include the resulting impact on business value to prevent wrong decisions by only reviewing the costs.

Please stop looking at IT just as a cost center or a commodity and start investing in IT Maturity to focus on IT Value because you will not be able to run your Digital Transformation without it!

Thank you very much for reading! And now, it is your time to provide feedback. Comments and messages are highly appreciated!

• What basics should be included here as well?
• Do you agree with this quick article and the underlining message?
• Do you have a different opinion? Why? Please elaborate.

I would love to hear your feedback, and don′t hesitate to reach out directly!

Best regards,

David das Neves, CEO, shiftavenue