Organizational Principles

Based upon management maturity, employment of the BTM 360™ suite of products results in implemetation of the following key organizational principles:

Principle 1: Organize to foster coordination between business and technology

Principle 2: Nurture relationship networks for visioning, innovation and sourcing

• Visioning networks involve senior business and technology executives and the board. They foster collaboration for creating and articulating a strategic vision about the role and value of business technology. Visioning networks help top management teams describe their perspectives on the role of business technology, their strategic priorities for its use, and the links they see between it and drivers of the business strategy.
  
  
• Innovation networks involve business and technology executives. They foster collaboration for conceptualizing and implementing business technology applications. An example of organizational mechanisms that promote innovation networks is a corporate and divisional project approval committee. Whereas visioning networks engage the board and the top management to shape overall enterprise perspectives about the strategic role and value of business technology, innovation networks focus on specific innovations and strategic applications.
  
  
• Sourcing networks are relationship networks between business technology executives and external partners. Their purpose is to foster collaboration between these internal and external parties when they are negotiating and managing multi-sourcing arrangements, joint ventures or strategic alliances. Attention to sourcing networks must be emphasized in key organizational units that deal with the technical architecture and infrastructure (e.g., Office of Architecture and Standards), and the management of technology investments (Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO)).

Principle 3. Organize to explicitly manage three categories of processes

• Foundation processes are aimed at managing supply side pressures and relate to the two fundamental competencies of infrastructure and human capital.
  
  
• Primary processes are aimed at managing demand pressures and relate to the delivery and support of business capabilities through enabling business technology and services. The three primary processes are:
• Value Innovation - conceptualizing strategic business technology needs and opportunities in the form of applications.
• Solutions Delivery - building business technology applications.
• Services Provisioning - providing helpdesk, desktop configuration, and other support services.
  
  
• Secondary processes are related to administrative needs and requirements. Their contribution is measured by how well they support and enable the foundation and primary processes. The two secondary processes are strategic planning and financial management.

Principle 4. Develop a modular organizing logic

The effectiveness of these modular organizational units in nurturing visioning and oversight networks, innovation networks, sourcing networks and in supporting foundation, primary and secondary processes varies. Specific modular organizational units have different levels of relevance and impact depending on the type of governance network or value creating process.

Business technology executives must understand how these organizational units should be configured into an overall organizational model for the firm. Also, as business conditions change they must determine the best way of adjusting and improvising specific governance networks or BTM processes. This must be accomplished without disrupting the organization of other networks and processes.

Traditionally, firms have designed their organizational structures using a monolithic organizing logic, by choosing either centralization or decentralization of BTM decisions. However, today’s organizing logic requires a much more sophisticated perspective that blends the virtues of centralization and decentralization.

Principle 5. Develop a strategic sourcing logic

Sourcing decisions permeate many of the value-creating processes for business technology management. For instance, infrastructure management processes should include leasing of technology assets (e.g., desktops), licensing of software, and outsourcing (e.g., data centers, network management). Similarly, with the growing sophistication of outsourcing and offshore firms, solutions delivery processes include extensive partnering with external firms. As a final example, with the growing tide of interest in enterprise risk management, external-auditing firms should become partners in technology risk management and audit.