Governance
There will always be more demands than company resources can bear, so making good decisions about how and where resources are allocated is a huge challenge for corporate Chief Information Officers (CIOs). A good governance process can be an effective tool for managing this challenge. Governance covers a broad range of subjects including the strategy of how IT will be used to address the needs of the business, which projects will get done and which ones will not, total spending on IT, and the performance and accountability of the IT function.

These are all issues that clients have asked Transition Partners to help resolve.

Out of a company’s discussion on strategy and the business plan come a broad set of action programs, initiatives and requests proposed by business and function managers that require

• Balancing the firm’s business portfolio,
• Determining the availability of funds and resources, and
• Defining the process and the criteria for deciding which resources
  will ultimately be allocated.

The resulting prioritization process is the starting point for delivering benefits against the business plan and the company agenda. Properly done, IT will have been involved as an important contributor and stakeholder as well as one of the critical resources that requires prioritization and allocation. At the company level, the prioritization process is mostly strategy and project driven and is focused on building tomorrow’s environment. Anytime a company desires to change a business process or introduce new products, it usually requires modified or new IT solutions.

The other critical part of the prioritization process occurs day to day in operating and maintaining the existing IT infrastructure. Activity here is service or delivery driven and involves repair of or minor enhancements to existing capabilities. Much of the demand is dealt with on a reactive basis and requires constant juggling of resources to meet the need.