it

1. 8/9/2008
Executing an IT Strategic Plan for
the Corporate Legal Department
Tania Daniels
Director, Business Technology Partner, Legal
The Walt Disney Company
International Legal Technology Association Conference
August 2008
Corporate BTP
Strategic Planning Mandate
Business Technology Partner (BTP) Team Mandate
– Drive the alignment of goals and objectives with effective strategic
planning and prioritization of all technology investments and resources
to produce desired business value-added results
value-
– Promote continuous improvement in the technology acumen of
business leaders and business acumen of IT leaders through guidance
and education
– Ensure synergy, integration and leverage of technology solutions
synergy
across the businesses
– Lead and facilitate the development and execution of IT strategy and
technology planning with the business
BTPs Tasked with Completing 5 Year Strategic Technology
Roadmaps
– Harmonized and rationalized for enterprise and corporate IT solutions
• Business Process Architecture
• Business Application Systems Portfolio Management
• Harmonized and Integrated EIT and Corporate Application Landscape
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Strategic Planning Format
Spreadsheet and PowerPoint Presentation Templates
Current Application Portfolio – RTB
– Ongoing maintenance
– 5 year retirement strategy for aging technologies
New Investments – ITB
– B i
Business C
Case
• Description, Benefits/Justification, Impact of Not Doing Project
– Financial
• Project Capital and Expense Costs
• 5 Year Ongoing Expenses
Industry Specific Benchmarking Included as Appropriate
Written Deliverables Completed as Required
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2. 8/9/2008
Strategic Planning Methodology
Identification of Technology Needs
– Individual Practice Team Sessions Held at Ongoing Points
Throughout the Year
– High-level Workflow Requirements Discussions
High-
• Legal Department-Wide Needs
Department-
• Practice Team Specific Needs
– Gaps in Services/Solutions
– Validated with Legal Executive Management
Prioritization of Needs
– Presentations and Discussions with Legal Executive
Management and General Counsel
– Opportunity to Harmonize the Goals of Legal Executive
Management with Practice Team Requests
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Lessons Learned
Immediately Begin Discussion on Scope of Covered
Technology Initiatives and Client Base
– Unique to decentralized Law Departments
– Critical for sufficient scoping time and financial analysis
– Organizational structure has strong influence on support for
those initiatives that span multiple business units
Focus on Articulating Business Case in Business Terms
– Financial details important, but support more readily available
if business case is easily understood
Incorporate Business Architecture, Process Modeling and
Improvement Tools along with Strategic Planning Process
– Prevents application-centric strategic plan
application-
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Lessons Learned
Benchmarking to comparable industry and
comparable-
comparable-size Legal Departments critical
You WILL spend more time than you think on
strategic p
g planning
g
Strategic planning should become part of
ongoing dialogue with clients about their daily
technology needs
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