3gamma Insights: Driving business value through IT innovation

Ideas in brief

Jens Ekberg, Director Head of Group Insights

Disruptive technologies and turbulent change

demand new IT capabilities

2

3gamma Insights: Idea in brief

Technological disruption is impacting IT organisations that must develop new capabilities to

meet ever-changing business requirements. 3gamma has defined five essential capabilities

that we consider to be the pillars of a modern IT organisation:

Business insight

The capability to understand, anticipate and participate in the formulation of the

strategic business direction

Innovation insight

The capability to drive, understand and embrace technological innovation—and take it

from concept to enterprise class application and solution

Market insight

The capability to understand vendors’ capabilities in new technologies and their

capacity to support the business

Business change management

The capability to drive change based on a clear understanding of the business, the

opportunities of new technologies and new delivery models

Vendor change management

The capability to manage a complex portfolio of vendors and different delivery models,

including their respective lifecycles

Devising pragmatic and effective ways of

working is a top priority for IT

3

3gamma Insights: Idea in brief

IT’s ability to acquire and integrate new capabilities has become increasingly important.

Cloud-based delivery models increase access to new solutions and the lifecycles of existing

solutions become more and more compressed.

To become agile, IT organisations need to…

Shift focus from internal processes to outside events

Increase communication efforts – both in frequency and in width

Shift focus from big bangs to continuous improvements

Focus on removing obstacles to flexibility and agility

…but not everything is innovation and development

Robust deliveries are still key for major parts of IT but not suitable or compatible with

innovation activities and approaches

IT needs to operate in two different modes: agile and explorative vs. planned and

predictable

Different logic requires different organisations

IT needs to move from passive procurement to

active service integration

4

3gamma Insights: Idea in brief

IT’s ability to acquire and integrate new capabilities has become increasingly important.

Cloud-based delivery models increase access to new solutions and the lifecycles of existing

solutions become more and more compressed.

There is an ongoing shift from cost focused outsourcing to value creation and capability

acquisition. Companies are looking for partners that can contribute with a piece of the

innovation puzzle. They are looking for a unique competitive capability that complements their

internal capabilities.

IT needs to become an agile service integrator that can manage and govern a portfolio of

ever-changing internal and external capabilities

IT sourcing needs to move from being oriented towards transactions to relationships and

joint innovation, this requires a life-cycle and portfolio approach to IT sourcing

Companies should “forget about outsourcing and think smart-sourcing” and adopt new

collaborative contract models and a supporting operational model

Strategic technology management is critical

to align IT and the business

5

3gamma Insights: Idea in brief

To realise the true value of technology, companies should actively align their technology

management with their strategic logic (customer intimacy, operational excellence or product

leadership). Strategic technology management is key to align the underpinning IT architecture

with the business model.

1. Perform a gap analysis to understand alignment between business processes and current IT

architecture. Identify the preferred position for each business process/business domain

2. Map the preferred position to the required IT architectural pattern to define the primary

purpose and ensure business alignment

3. Define performance indicators for integration and development within the company, e.g. in

the dimensions of time to market, stability and/or cost

4. Implement the IT architecture and integration using iterative methodologies, i.e.

incremental value realisation, to avoid a big-bang approach. Measure continuously and

provide feedback across the organisation, both to business customers and within IT

5. Continuously improve the IT and integration architecture through feedback and learning

mechanisms and by revisiting the assumptions for the design regularly (frequency

depending on the frequency of business change)