With IT impacting everything from how work gets done to what company achieves status as an industry leader, the question today is less “what are the technologies needed to run the business?” to more “what are the investments that will drive IT innovation?”
Business investments in technology that support corporate goals and priorities are crucial, and, like all important business decisions, should be backed by fact-based data. For IT investments, that means detailed insight into how technology is used and consumed. The focus needs to go beyond, “How much does IT cost?” and instead ask: “How much value does a particular IT technology investment deliver?” Answering that question requires mature IT financial management (ITFM) solutions.
Increased financial rigor for IT management helps organizations understand which IT investments deliver the most value. This requires understanding total IT portfolio costs so organizations can perform accurate comparability analysis and understand the options for technology delivery.
Corporate planning systems do not provide the level of detail needed for accurate IT budgeting and forecasting. They can also keep IT teams and business units mired in Excel spreadsheets, creating an inefficient and difficult to manage process that makes it challenging to consolidate information and perform timely and accurate reporting and analysis.
Increasingly, organizations are looking to ITFM solutions. IT financial business management as a discipline has matured over the last decade, as more organizations seek robust strategic technology planning and demand management.
With a focused ITFM solution, organizations can break down silos and promote transparency of IT costs and expenses between CIOs and the business units. This allows organizations to use systems of record data for strategic advantage, understand total IT portfolio costs and how they correlate to business-facing IT services enabling investments that deliver the greatest technology value to the business.
ITFM applications software drives continual improvement, supports more efficient IT deployment and healthier bottom lines. Working with a partner experienced in ITFM solutions helps organizations communicate the value of IT as a strategic partner – not a cost center – and better align IT with the needs of the business.
CIOs that advance maturity of ITFM solutions in their organization can elevate the relationship between IT and the rest of the enterprise – ensuring technology investments deliver on strategies that drive new revenue and help differentiate the business from its competitors.