Quieting the Noise – Adding Objective Analysis to the CIO’s Decision Making Process

The digital environments of companies today have created a bigger decision making workload for CIO’s. Business strategies entail IT aspects that directly incorporate into the more traditional decision making roles. Without the right information and direction, the white noise accompanying these innovative environments makes CIO onboarding even more difficult.

Individuals stepping into this position for a company must be able to:

• Efficiently Monitor & Manage IT Costs
• Work with Current & New IT Talent
• Manage their Application Portfolio
• Stay on Top of IT & Business Strategies
• Implement & Use Decision Making Aids
• Grasp Every Piece of the Puzzle

Today, it is a constant uphill battle as new CIO’s try to “get the lay of the land” each time they accept a new position. CIO onboarding can take as much as two years due to the complex environment of an organization. Objective analysis is a CIO’s first line of defense for staying ahead of the curve and making a lasting impression.

IT From a Leader’s Perspective

IT strategies are imperative to any new CIO because the wrong decisions in this area will have a negative impact. The first step toward success involves knowing how digital demand and technology affects the business. This might be how your company will utilize new technologies to produce an innovative product or service. Additionally, it could be the process of understanding and managing the current technologies of an organization.

Your IT strategy must align with business objectives to not only understand how the organization utilizes technology, but also how competitors are putting these innovations to use. For learning curve time to be minimized and the transition to be successful, any new CIO must have the following:

• An Innovative Approach (Not Following Status Quo)
• Understanding of Organizational Technology
• Real-time, Reliable Decision Making Information
• A Way to Objectively Assess Their IT Portfolio
• Reliable Analytics for Risk & Cost Management

Of course, having the right informational instruments will make it easier to manage the IT side of your organization. Without accurate data and proper application portfolio management, it will be difficult to develop the right strategies for meeting business objectives.

APA – A Reliable Path Toward Objective IT Analysis

Getting up to speed with an organizations current application portfolio and properly managing these items often proves to be a difficult task. Application Portfolio Analysis (APA) is a capability that uses code-level analysis to ease the troubles of managing your portfolio. With APA, it is possible to have reliable analytics at your fingertips for the following decision making areas:

• IT Budgeting & Planning
• Technical Debt and Risk Management
• Software Maintenance Effort Estimate
• Application Size and Complexity
• Portfolio Demographics

It is also easier to benchmark your applications against peers to assess complexity or risk and to determine if current strategies are paying off. Since APA can be done quickly and painlessly, it’s a great way for CIO’s to capture the risk and complexity of their application portfolio in just a few days.

APA isn’t going to solve all CIO issues, but it finally gives them a level of objectivity they’ve never had before. This should make tough decisions like application retirement or consolidation easier, as they are no longer relying on opinions to decide. Fact-based analysis sets the foundation for these discussions and will increase confidence at all levels of the decision-making process.