Overview
This month’s client inquiries highlight an enduring focus on operational excellence, particularly within IT departments. ‘IT Operational Excellence’ remained the pre-eminent topic, closely followed by concerns around ‘Value’ and ‘Governance’. There’s a notable and sustained interest in ‘Cyber Security’, reflecting the persistent threat landscape. Emerging trends indicate a growing curiosity around ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Generative AI’, suggesting senior ICT executives are increasingly evaluating these technologies for strategic impact. Overall, clients are balancing immediate operational challenges and compliance needs with a forward-looking perspective on leveraging new technologies to drive organisational value and efficiency.
Hottest Topics
Topical Inquiries
IBRS has summarised several inquiries that are of interest to many organisations.
Solve
Centralised Logging for Essential Eight Compliance
A federal government agency required a centralised logging platform to meet Essential Eight ML2 compliance, specifically needing to ingest logs from Windows, Linux, and Entra ID. IBRS provided advice in the form of a market scan on event logging platform options, focusing on value for money given budget constraints, helping the agency identify suitable solutions for immediate compliance uplift. This directly addressed a critical security and compliance gap.
Advisor: Mark Unwin: Log an inquiry with Mark
Prioritisation and Project Management Frameworks
A local government council, facing a bursting pipeline of work, sought assistance with prioritisation, planning, expectation management, and reporting. IBRS provided a project brief template, a framework for identifying, prioritising, and approving projects, and the IBRS PMO foundations pack, equipping the client with tools to better plan and manage their project workload.
Advisor: Andrew Fox:Â Log an inquiry with Andrew
Plan
VMware Migration to Hyper-V Risk Assessment
A state government court administration sought advice on the risks and benefits of migrating from VMware to Hyper-V due to the high associated costs following Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. IBRS provided a comprehensive analysis of Broadcom’s VMware strategy, discussing future options including replacing virtual machines (VMs) with Windows Hyper-V servers, availability, and resilience while managing costs. This enabled a direct response to rising infrastructure expenses.
Advisor: Mark Unwin:Â Log an inquiry with Mark
Revising IT Steering Committee Charter
A local government council required feedback on a draft IT steering committee charter, aiming to improve resource management and prioritisation at the executive level. IBRS modified the draft, incorporating principles from COBIT, ITIL, and ISO 38005 to evolve towards a well-governed, prioritised pipeline process, thereby assisting with strategic planning for IT governance.
Advisor: Andrew Fox: Log an inquiry with Andrew
Explore
Communicating Low-Code Platform Value
A client sought IBRS’s insights on how low-code platforms like Power Platform can effectively communicate strategic value to C-level executives and differentiate themselves. IBRS proposed an alternative ‘utility model’ for financing consumption-based platforms, challenging traditional ROI, and debated the impact of AI-driven code generation, offering innovative perspectives on platform adoption and automated approaches to articulating value to the business.
Advisor: Joseph Sweeney: Log an Inquiry with Joe
Trending Topics
Document Reviews Conducted
- Review (Job Description): Government Data Platform Manager Role
- Pencil Review of Cyber Security Strategy
- Cost Forecasting and Control: Executive Cost-Benefit Discussion
Whiteboard Sessions Held
- Workflow Optimisation Workshop: Key stakeholders approved the formation of a cross-functional team, based on a previously developed process.
- Project Costing Strategy: Explored parametric costing options and will develop a bespoke model with the team, utilising future whiteboard sessions.
- Advisory Session on Communication Technology Transformation: Provided the client with insights for their communication technology changes, including options for Teams and call centre modernisation.
- Strategic Technology Planning Whiteboard Session: Key technology and business stakeholders gained clarity on future IT direction, target architecture, and necessary skills for 2030.
- Strategic IT Future Planning Session: Evaluated IT’s current state and future needs, outlining a phased approach and next steps.
- Procurement Process Insights Workshop: Project managers gained insights into optimising procurement, focusing on planning, evaluation, and avoiding future challenges.
- Cost Escalation Modelling Discussion: A client gained validated financial modelling assumptions and strategic support options for future ICT cost projections.
