IS Planning. Team 3 Tolu Adeleye Tahsin Alam Fabio desouza Mazen Manasseh

Transcription

1 IS Planning Team 3 Tolu Adeleye Tahsin Alam Fabio desouza Mazen Manasseh

2 Agenda Introduction Overview of IS Planning Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and its IS Planning approach Microsoft Consulting and its IS Planning approach Conclusion Q&A

3 Overview of IS Planning

4 IS Planning and Rationale IS Planning means: for it defining where to go with IT, assessing where the company is related to its objective determining what ought to be done in order to achieve its objective. IS planning aligns decisions about IT elements (infra-structure, governance, portfolio, etc.) with business objectives. IS planning is motivated by several factors: High costs of some IT investments Long-time frame for important initiatives Need to get buy in from top managers Fast-time time for obsolescence

5 Types of IS Consulting 3 2 Alignment of IT strategy with business objectives performed by IT arm of management consulting firms, for example 1 IT Strategy BCG Definition of specification for IT portfolio elements, such as transactional applications, infra-structure, etc. performed by consulting arms of product Specifications for IT portfolio companies, for example Microsoft Systems Integration Integration of different systems in a company typically performed by consulting arms of Big Five accounting companies

6 BCG vs. Microsoft The Boston Consulting Group 1 IT Strategy 2 Specifications for IT portfolio Microsoft Choice of consulting firm depends on level of IS planning needed

7 BCG & IS Planning

8 BCG - mgmt consulting firm with an IS planning group BCG is organized around functional and industry practices Functional: IT, Organization, Strategy, Corp Dev IT practice in existence since 1987 Most are general BCG consultants, very few specialized BCG does 5 different types of IS planning projects IT issues in a mgmt consulting project E-commerce Processes inside of IT Organization and governance Post merger integration

9 IT Strategy is a Key Pure IT strategy service offering CIO: We don t know what the business does you do, so figure it out and tell us what the IT strategy should be Often no clear business strategy! Steps in engagement: Check the business strategy Check the IT strategy Check the alignment Key disconnect Business focus is earnings this quarter IT can t build a system in a quarter need a vision BCG often acts as the IT champion in top management

10 BCG has no strict IS planning methodology No methodology per se Best practices Specific analysis techniques Highly customized Same tools as in rest of BCG Customer segmentation Microeconomic analysis Preferences for quantifying and scoring

11 BCG s criteria for success A successful engagement was with an electronic component distributor Issue: How to cut costs in IT? Outsource or insource? Analysis Step 1: Ideally, what is the lowest possible cost? What is the cost of a mainframe second? Step 2: Where are we today? Step 3: What would it take to get us to the best place? Realized it would be too expensive to get there Help select an outsourcing vendor Criteria for success: Is the client happy? Does BCG get references?

12 Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Strength of management consulting firm to IT Tools and techniques Credibility with upper management: IT champion An unbiased point of view with regards to IT product choice Weakness No methodology for IS Planning Success measurement is amorphous

13 Microsoft Consulting & IS Planning

14 Microsoft Consulting Consulting arm of a product company Not a profit center Loss leader to support sale of products Primarily provides consulting services for Microsoft s products

15 MCS s Client and How They are Who is the client? CIO CIO s direct reports Served The Five Business Contexts Architecture Infrastructure Applications Operations & Processes Performance management

16 MCS has a structured framework REJ Rapid Economic Justification (REJ) is used to come up with: Quantifiable benefits to the business from IT investments Bridge of common language between IT and business executives Characteristics: Business Centric: align business priorities and IT investments

17 REJ Process Model Five Steps Financial Metrics Computation Business Assessment Risk Identification Solution Definition Estimation of Benefits & Cost

18 MCS s criteria for success is breakeven and product sales Breakeven on consulting services (sometimes even loss) Client buys next version of product Client satisfaction surveys, realizing value added Explicit goals on engagement letter are met Deliverable depicts current state of client

19 Flextronics - A Sample Case Overview Study $13B electronics manufacturing service provider >70,000 employees 150 locations in 28 countries Situation Lack of single customer support system Non-integration among suppliers and customers Solution & Benefits Standardized business documents Simplified business process Reduced IT costs Accelerated integration of new suppliers and customers

20 MCS- Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths In-depth know-how of Microsoft s products Ability to integrate multiple products for the same solution Shorter engagement cycles let solution provided depict clients current state Weakness Biased toward Microsoft s product when consulting with clients Lack of profit incentive may lead engagement mismanagement Emphasis on product rather than on the underlying strategy

21 Conclusion

22 BCG vs. MCS Different Approaches BCG Undifferentiated for its main strategy business Profit-driven Emphasis on IT strategy rather than IT infrastructure No specific IS planning framework MCS Consulting arm of product company Non-profit Technically-driven approach More structured framework

23 Q & A