There are many approaches organizations use to help make key IT decisions –decision trees, rate of return, strategic analysis, TCO, ROI, etc. Which one is right for you and your organization? Each of these can be effective and have their respective merits. They also need to match your organization’s goals, culture, and capabilities.

1. Thrive. Grow. Achieve.
IT Decision Making
Technology Guidance
Paul Williams and Nate Solloway
September 15, 2016

2. AGENDA
Strategy – Who needs a Strategy ?
–Business Strategic Plan
–IT Strategy
–Tactical Execution
Project / Strategic / Change Management (doing new things)
–Core Business Competences
–Differentiators / Competitive edge
–Commodities
–Governance
Operational Imperatives (Run the engine)
–Compliance
–Maintenance / Obsolescence
–Prioritization / Resource Management
–Measurement
Build or Buy, Rent or Own (How to do it better)
–How to help you choose
–Where’s my data
Can your business
survive without
technology ?
Can your IT team
help you achieve
business goals ?
Are you compliant
with the law ? With
best practice ?
How can you manage
change? What’s the
right priority ?
Who can assess
vendors
independently ?
Is there a different
way to do this ?
IT Decision Making Page 2

3. WHO NEEDS A BUSINESS STRATEGY ?
- EVERYONE
Can be as simple as a single sentence
• Is the yardstick for decisions
• There can be no wrong or right decisions unless there is an objective
• Cannot measure progress towards a goal without the goal
Needs to be Communicated (to)
• Everyone who makes decisions (about priority or using resources, including time)
• Stakeholders (who manage resources you need)
• Contributors (who actually perform the work)
•Provides for Common objectives
• Different functions have common alignment: Fund raising, Marketing, Finance, IT
• Allows for Authority to be delegated
• Supports accountability
• Allows contribution towards organizations objectives
I understand what
my role is and
what the
organization
expects of me
I am doing what
the business needs
me to do
My contribution
towards the
business goals can
be measured
I can help the
business meet its
goals
IT Decision Making 3

4. THE IT STRATEGY
HOW TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTES
Technology supports the business by
Meeting Basic needs: Commodity Services
• Communications, Equipment, Capabilities (Phone, Email, Fax, Word, Excel, Computers,
Printers)
• Efficiency, cost control, non differentiating services
Servicing Operational needs: Specific Applications
• Digital web presence, Storage, Data, Accounting, Business process, network, Payments
• Effectiveness, fit with business goals, moderate differentiation, Value model
Enhancing efficiency and execution: Custom and configuration
• Automation, Workflow, Integration, reporting, management and exploitation of data
• Differentiators, investments, Improvements, Returns on investment
Risk Management
•Backups, resilience, disaster preparedness, security, compliance
•Compliance, Mandates, Best practices ‘cost of doing business’
Very little work
gets done today
without technology
Many different
ways of doing the
same things: Apple
vs PC vs
Chromebook,
Microsoft vs
Google
Business strategy
will determine best
fit strategy for IT
Having even a
small IT footprint
means
maintenance and
support will be
required
IT Decision Making 4

5. CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY: DO YOU
HAVE WHAT YOU NEED ?
•How does my Inventory translate into Capability
• What you HAVE today is a constraint – created by past decisions
• Resources are focused around status quo and stability (reliability,
repeatability, Routine, Maintenance)
–Not the best environment for change – but do you need to change ?
–If the Inventory doesn’t match the Enterprise you can change the
inventory !
What you have
and what you
need may not be
aligned
IT tends to over
estimate capacity
and capability to
deliver change
Result is delivery
below
expectations
Processes and
people are harder
to change than
systems
Page 5IT Decision Making

6. WHAT’S YOUR TECH INVENTORY ?
End user computers
(and software)
Back Office
Computers, Storage,
Data (and software)
Security: Passwords
and more
Network:
All the connected
devices
How important is
technology to your
enterprise ?
Critical ?
Essential ?
Peripheral ?
Will it stay the
same?
What are your
technology
lifecycles ?
• Hardware ?
• Software ?
• End of Life ?
• End of Use ?
IT Decision Making Page 6
Expensive.
Don’t last
long (3-5
years)
Hate power
spikes, heat,
water ~ 5 year
life
Keys to the
kingdom
The
Domain,
LAN or
WAN

7. WHAT’S YOUR SKILLS INVENTORY ?
How many people / what
people
Generalists
• Helpdesk : Internal or External
• Supporting Functions:
Supervision, Project Management,
Business Analyst
Specialists
–Administrators
–Engineers
–Developers
What resources do
I have ?
What are their
competencies
Certifications ?
What do I need ?
Is there a gap ?
What’s most
valuable to my
business ?
Where are my
biggest risks ?
IT Decision Making Page 7
•Future specialists
•Can be a commodity
•Low investment
•Generic Skills
•Specific Skills
•Privileged Access
•Out of hours support ?
•Key System architects
•Hard to replace
•‘On demand’ ?
•Should not have ‘1’
•Need governance

8. WHAT DECISIONS SHOULD YOU BE
MAKING?
–What Processes you have in place
• WHAT does IT do, HOW is it done
–Are you getting what you need ?
– Are you really getting good value ?
• Main Elements: People, Processes,
Technology (Services, Software, Hardware)
• What Information you are processing and
storing
–Compliance – HIPPA, PCIDSS, PII
–Accuracy / Quality and standards
–Completeness / Controls
–Security
The world is
changing and
your enterprise
needs to keep
up. It’s a
survivability
issue.
Tech is
everywhere.
There are
complex rules
that can hurt
you
Page 8IT Decision Making
• Look at what you HAVE / ARE DOING / CAN DO with technology in your
Enterprise, Compared to what you SHOULD HAVE / SHOULD be doing – and
act to close the gaps.

9. WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM IT
MIS MANAGER VS CIO
When is a CIO the
right choice
May not need a
CIO all the time,
but role is critical :
•During major
change
•When IT is no
longer meeting the
enterprise needs
•New Initiatives /
New Business
IT Decision Making Page 9
CIO Manager / Supervisor
Primary focus is Business opportunities and drivers Primary focus is maintenance / IT Operations
External and Enterprise focus – How IT is
leveraged
Business area inward focused on IT
Proactive, Opportunity seeking to improve Responsive to demands, reactive
Strategy and execution focused – What to perform Process and Procedure focused – How to perform
Critical during times of change or in larger
environments
Works in a smaller or stable environment
Generates and drives strategic plans Requires Strategic leadership from outside, may
generate tactical plans

10. SIMPLE TOOLS AND PROCESSES
IT STRATEGY / DELIVERABLES
Annual or longer
view of multiple
changes or
projects
Simple
presentation of
complex issues
Present IT and
projects to a
board
IT Decision Making Page 10
Time scale /
Item
Q1
16
Q2
16
Q3
16
Q4
16
Q1
17
Q2
17
Exchange Upgrade
ERP Migration
New Location opens
Office 2013 deployment
IP Video Deployment
Intranet / SharePoint
Simple depiction of major initiatives that can be easily
shared and digested.
High level summary – Low level details can be built as
required

11. ITS NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT SEEMS
SOMETIMES YOU NEED EXPERT KNOWLEDGE
Does your business
have a web address
or business email ?
Your web address
Backup and Disaster
Recovery
Do you have legal
exposure for
sensitive data
What does the group
do all day
Outsourced and
Hosted services are
not secure
IT Decision Making page 11
Do you own the web
address
No its Rented – the ‘DNS’ record links that
name with specific “Addresses”
Is your data secure? Do you have it
backed up?
Are copies off site (fire) ? Have you ever
tried to restore data ?
How long could you be down without
irreparable Harm
Do you know your
legal obligations
about data
Employees ?
Customers ?
Donors ?
PII, HIPPA,PCIDSS – who has access and how
Not just digital data. Voicemail, paper records.
Birthday including year ? Address and phone ?
Do you know what
they are doing ?
Do you know what
they can do ?
Expectation gaps:
Never want to say
‘No’. Set up to fail
Keeping the lights on (Housekeeping)
Maintenance (Obsolescence)
Growth (Volume / Size, Projects, Features)
Capacity and Capability
What are you
getting for your
spend ?
Software is not
really a good asset
Maintenance and housekeeping
High Risk
High Cost
Low added value

12. DELIVERING CHANGE: PROJECTS
SIMPLE TOOLS AND PROCESSES
Project reporting
is about how well
change is being
executed
Do you know
what projects IT
are executing on
?
What are your
expectations on
scope and
delivery ?
How are you gate
keeping and
prioritizing
projects ?
IT Decision Making Page 12
USUALLY MONTHLY EXCEL 1 LINE PER PROJECT.
Item Content
Name Name and code for project (if coded)
Description Business name / meaningful to all
Purpose Why do this project (type, benefit, priority, risk)
Budget Project Lifetime (original) budget to actual.
Performance to plan. Estimate to complete,
contingency balance
Scope
management
Changes to scope – Approved, waiting, declined
Dates Approved, planned start, Planned end, Projected
end
Status Green (on plan / target), Yellow (at Risk), Red (off
target –Time, Budget, scope, outcome)

13. ACCOUNTABILITY AND STAYING IN
CONTROL
Where a project
is high risk, or a
large project, with
cross functional
teams or
enterprise wide
impact
E.g. changing
ERP systems
Copies from MS
project
Use Excel data
Bars for complete
%
IT Decision Making Page 13
PROJECT STEERING / STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS
Item Content
Objective /
Milestone
Project Component being reported
E.g. Cleaned up Vendor Master file, Chart of
accounts sign off
Dates Planned start, Due, projected
Completion Percentage Complete
Actions Responsibilities and actions due / performed

14. SIMPLE TOOLS AND PROCESSES
RUN THE ENGINE
Cyclical tool to
manage a
department
Formal
communication
between execution
and management
Over time see
trends and
patterns
Suggested Weekly
or bi weekly
Can have meeting
notes on reverse
or second page
IT Decision Making/ Page 14
Broad Focus Areas
■ What’s Important in the function at the
moment
■ Where are we spending time money
and effort
New Information
■ What’s New this cycle
■ What did we achieve in the last cycle
■ What did we find out
Targets for this cycle / week
■ What are we going to get done
■ Who is doing it
■ What’s the status of ongoing efforts
Open items / Roadblocks
■ Open Decisions
■ Things I am waiting for others (who)
on
■ Carried forward open issues
THE 4-BLOCK REPORT : DATE / PRESENTED BY

15. GROWTH VS MAINTENANCE
PROJECTS VS SUPPORT
Good support
requires active
management
Metrics make
support
accountable as
well as proving
value proposition
to the business
Recognized stress
point in many
methodologies:
ITIL, Six Sigma
TQM
IT Decision Making Page 15
Constant Conflict:
New Imperatives vs Maintain current status means
Generally:
• MINIMUM 30% of resources dedicated to maintenance
(normal range is 40-70%)
• Business wants new capabilities but neglects support for
existing needs
• Lower cost / value resources dedicated to maintenance
•Helpdesk
•Configuration management
•Hardware support
•Patching and upgrading
•Low value perception (until it breaks !)

16. ACCOUNTABILITY
ROUTINE KPI’S / METRICS
Usually Monthly
Aligns with
Enterprise
Objectives /
Strategic Plan
Meaningful
indication of
performance
IT Decision Making Page 16
MONTHLY IT METRICS DATE / PRESENTED BY
Item Content
Budget Operating budget with narrative. Performance to
Plan / Last year
Reliability Uptime %, failure rates, downtime stats. Trended
over time (Network Phones, Backups, Servers)
Helpdesk Tickets handled, average time to close,
Outstanding unresolved by importance (critical)
Capacity Utilization: Storage, Compute, Network
Inventory Bought, Broken, Repaired, Retired, Lost/Stolen
(phones and aircards if owned as well)
Staff Gaps, new, exits, promo’s, Training, Skills
Services SAAS provider performance by provider
Change
Management
Planned and Deployed changes. Outcome
summary

17. WHAT SHOULD I BUY OR RENT TODAY
Possible Strategies
/ viewpoints
Are we BIG enough
to have enough
skills to support
specific
technologies in
house ?
Using SAAS we
can avoid having to
hire skill set
specialists
Should IT functions
be a primary
competence of our
business ?
Can also consider
full outsource
models
17IT Decision Making Page
Product SAAS Status Impact Results
Email Common High Reliability, resilience, Frees resource for
Enterprise mission
Payroll Common High Compliance, Security, Risk
SharePoint Rare (but growing) High Resilience, Accessibility
Website Common High Security, Reliability, Capacity
ERP / Accounting Becoming common High Reliability, Accessibility, Key skills
Helpdesk (system) Common Med Reliability, Accessibility - Stays up even if
you are down !
Telephony Becoming common Med Depends on installed base and
equipment
HR Systems Common High Security
CRM systems Common Med Reliability, accessibility
POS Common is small orgs High Risk, compliance. Can be more efficient
in house but higher risk
Network /
Connectivity
Growing High In house skill is expensive. Key man
dependencies. Critical infrastructure

18. CLOSING VIEWPOINT
Things change – Entropy vs Development
•We make decisions with what information we can gather and digest
• Research
• Experts
• Evaluations
•As new choices (and mandates) become available
• Need to re-evaluate options
• Context of past decisions and current status
• Some ‘trigger points’ – Obsolescence, Contracts, Strategy, Staff turnover,
Compliance, Growth
•Not all new options are right – Change vs Stability
• Lots of marketing hype. Don’t get sold on shiny toys
• Biggest benefits are not always cost
• Will it help achieve the goals of the enterprise - how
How do you stay informed ?
•People like us. Field experts, Benchmarks, Peer review, Sector
experience, Passion in our fields.
Where am I
compared to best
practice
Where am I
compared to my
peers
For my type and
size of enterprise
What keeps me
awake at night
Am I happy with
what IT is doing
for me now
IT Decision Makin Page 18

19. THANK YOU!
Paul Williams
Direct: 202.730.7237
E-mail: PGWilliams@raffa.com
Seth Zarny
Direct: 301.279.6500
E-mail: SZarny@raffa.com
Q
A
Who needs a CIO? Page 25