Observations: A recently published report, based on a wide global survey, has concerning news for IT managers and their career prospects. The report issues a timely warning for senior IT management as follows

“More and more executives are acknowledging the strategic value of IT but also honing in on the shortcomings many organisations suffer and are more negative about IT’s performance than they were in 2012 and are more likely to suggest replacing IT management as the best remedy.”¹

In addition a recently published European Union report² further underlines senior managements’ dilemma and concern regarding IT’s critical role in managing systems complexity and managing the ensuing risks. It states:

“As further advances in IT are made, IT systems are becoming increasingly complex and the volume of data and the degree of specialisation are growing. That in turn has significantly increased the risk of no longer being able to safely control these systems and budgets for IT systems and related internal controls should be protected”

Whilst the EU report is focussed on financial institutions, its findings apply equally to organisations relying on IT services such the public sector to collect taxes and levies, disburse them and provide client services.

Managements’ Dilemmas: Based on the findings above and concerns voiced recently by the CIO of the Commonwealth Bank that ‘85% of the IT budget³ is spent servicing IT infrastructure including the millions of interactions between (legacy) applications leaving only15% computing for customers’, it could be argued IT management has little scope to improve performance and reduce systems complexity.⁴

Understand Today’s Problems and Consequences: Before seeking ways to resolve the dilemma above it is important to find out whether business management is dissatisfied or not with IT’s performance and their reasoning. Potential indicators and their reasons are likely to be:

Possible Performance Dissatisfaction Indicators	Potential Reasons	Likely Priority to Fix
Late delivery of business solutions, i.e. new and enhancements	Multiple, e.g. underestimating time needed to manage systems complexity and staff skills shortfall	High due to organisation-wide visibility
Low Client service satisfaction based on recent surveys	Unresponsive Help Desk or not engaging clients sufficiently while developing business solutions	High – an irritant that unless fixed can change management’s perception overnight
Abnormally high ratio of systems maintenance to development hours	Not replacing legacy systems and/or high maintenance load due to complex systems testing	Medium and a drag on resources that could be deployed elsewhere
Over-spending IT Operations budget while under-spending IT Capital budget	Not replacing outdated and inefficient IT Infrastructure with current technology	Low – probably only an issue if services are sub-optimal
Unable to provide clients with consumer and Cloud equivalent services, e.g. mobile systems and social media	Long lead times due to need to acquire skills and provide secure access to business data	Medium – may only be an issue if pressure to reduce IT spending

The list above, including priorities is indicative and not exhaustive.

Optional Solutions for Management: Assuming there is a reasonable level of dissatisfaction, use the checklist of possible initiatives below to identify ways to enhance performance and client satisfaction. The checklist is designed to stimulate wider discussion in the search for solutions, which are typically canvassed in management meetings.

Possible Initiative	Rationale	Focus Area
Make business management more accountable	Unless accountable it will not be a priority, e.g. by linking a percentage of the manager’s bonus to leadership in IT	Business management
Increase Help Desk resources and enhance existing skills	Help Desk may be only contact with IT and quality of service will be reflected in responses to satisfaction surveys	Business management
Provide data for deeper analysis	Enable business professionals to identify opportunities to grow revenue base	Business management
Sequester funds when actual costs are lower than estimated in IT capital budget	Use the funds to develop innovative and low risk customer facing systems	Client services
Increase time spent interacting with IT staff, i.e. ‘walk the talk’	Meet staff informally, e.g. at their desks soon after lunch and socially and seek feedback on performance in a relaxed setting	IT management
Appoint an IT Talent Sustainability Manager	Needed to provide thought leadership and knowledge sharing to staff to improve client services and IT performance	IT management
Delegate more responsibilities, when feasible, to line management	Faster decision making, e.g. hiring and buying commodity IT infrastructure Reduces idle time, e.g. waiting for approvals. Prepares managers for next role	IT performance
Conduct activity related peer reviews for major projects, including documentation quality	Fewer errors and faster resolution of operational incidents as using quality documentation	IT performance
Only engage skilled contractors when no option but to do so	Reduce risks as contractors may use shortcuts compromising system quality	IT performance
Avoid non-compliance with agreed IT Architecture	Variations increase systems complexity and long term support costs	IT performance

Notes

In the McKinsey survey:

• 20% of respondents surveyed wanted their senor IT manager replaced

• Business management accountability (46%) ranked highest as the way to improve IT performance, whereas ‘improving governance’ (30%)

• Reducing costs was a priority for 31% of respondents and ‘outsourcing’ a priority for 17%

• Only 23% of respondents reported they had effective talent management programs in place

Next Steps: Consider:

• Conducting regular IT performance effectiveness surveys to identify areas for improvement

• Implementing initiative that can make an immediate difference, e.g. increasing Help Desk resources or developing a system to accelerate preparation of Board reports

• Making business managers more accountable for benefits accruing from IT projects they have sponsored and insist the findings of reviews are reported to senior management.