Why is storytelling essential to management?

Although storytelling has been a traditional form of passing on knowledge and wisdom for thousands of years, it is only recently that it has been utilised by managers and executives. Corporate giants such as Nike, Microsoft and Saatchi & Saatchi are using storytelling as a leadership tool. 

So how can storytelling help IT project managers and leaders? 

The rise of storytelling

Although there are a range of important aspects when managing a project, the ability to communicate your story or that of your company's is also an essential skill. Unfortunately, business organisations tend to prefer other forms of knowledge, ones that can be categorised, ​labelled, organised and calculated.

Yet, in recent years, there has been a push to incorporate the art of storytelling into the job descriptions of executives and CEOs

Yet, in recent years, there has been a push to incorporate the art of storytelling into the job descriptions of executives and CEOs. The renewed interest in the value of narrative and anecdotal information is an interesting phenomenon. Could it be that organisations are moving away from a purely quantitative state by employing qualitative methods?    

Once storytelling was an added bonus, today it is has become a requirement. 

But it is not just executives who can use narratives to get a message across. Storytelling is a handy skill graduates can utilise during a interview. For instance, say you have just graduated from a Cobit 5 course, using a story to introduce yourself may just be the platform that separates you from the other candidates.

Storytelling: the art of persuasion 

Lets look at a case study. Peter Guber, CEO and chairman of Mandalay Entertainment, wrote in a 2010 HBR article that storytelling lies at the heart of our ability to motivate, sell, lead and inspire. 

He wrote about his time working on a programme called Oceanquest. The show revolved around a team of divers and scientists who explored some of the worlds best underwater adventure spots. One of the episodes was set in the Havana harbour, where the sea floor is littered with a treasure trove of sunken galleons and pirate ships.

Yet, both the US and Cuban governments were against having a group of Americans filming in Cuba. After receiving the all clear from the US state department, with the help of Henry Kissinger no less, they set sail for Cuba, gambling they could win approval.

As it turned out Castro was a environmental and scuba enthusiast, and when he arranged a 10 minute visit to the set, Mr Gruber articulated the story of the harbour. He told a story that weaved together 16th century history with his desire to bring to life Cuba's past.  

Storytelling is essential to all forms of project managementStorytelling is essential to all forms of project management

"The seas belong to all humankind and so does history. You are the steward of Havana's history, and it is up to you to share it with the world," he reminded Castro.

After delivering his story, Mr Gruber was granted unlimited access to the harbour and a personal 4 hour visit from el Presidente himself. 

Storytelling and IT management

Although the example came from the movie industry, where stories are already prized, storytelling can still make a difference in whatever IT project you are managing.  

Central to project management is the ability to inspire your employees. Getting across your message and making sure your employees understand what it is you want them to do is essential. 

Many top executives, such as Microsoft's Irada Sadykhova, use stories to open a meeting or during an interview. They are a great way to build relationships with people: they let them know who you are and why your story matters. 

A good narrator always believes in their story. As such, truth is an essential ingredient in any good narrative. 

This can come in many forms, an insightful piece of information about yourself or about your company. Whatever it is, believing in yourself and your tale is essential. 

Storytelling is a key skill every project manager should have. The next time you have to persuade employees to believe in your decision, be it 15,000 or 5 people, telling a good story may make the difference for your project. 

Now you can master the essential skills and knowledge of BRMP with ALC’s powerful 3-day Foundation course.

Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP) is a world-class professional development program designed to provide a solid foundation-level knowledge of Business Relationship Management.It embodies a set of competencies to foster an effective business value-producing relationship between a service provider and its business partners. These competencies can be leveraged through:

  • organisational roles (e.g. in an IT organisation, the CIO typically has a role of BRM for the enterprise)
  • a discipline (e.g. all business partner facing service provider roles should be skilled in Business Relationship Management)
  • an organisational capability (e.g. a service provider organisation should be effective in shaping and channeling demand to the highest business value opportunities).

BRM’s focus is on increasing the value proposition of services and reducing the perennial challenge of the gap between ‘the business needs’ and that of service provision (often referred to as the ‘Alignment challenge’). As the gap reduces through the skills of the BRM so the value to the business increases and value leakage slows.

The BRM Role therefore is a crucial link between a service provider and the business acting as a connector, orchestrator, and navigator between the service provider and one or more business units.

ALC’s Foundation course on Business Relationship Management is fully accredited by APMG in association with Business Relationship Management Institute (BRMI), the world leading go-to source of up-to-date BRM knowledge and practices and the forum to exchange ideas with other BRM practitioners in the field.

Staying agile: The future of technology and business

IT managers will no doubt be familiar with the importance of agility and innovation in technology. However, businesses are increasingly opening their eyes to the possibilities of technology and the implications for their firm in the future. 

Changes to data management

The ability to properly manage data is becoming an increasingly pressing matter for businesses in Australia and around the world. It seems that every process can be quantified and the growing output of information can be a handful.

However, managing this data could become much more efficient in the future. Although software-defined data centres (SDDC) are currently not at the point of universal usability in businesses, Gartner believes that this technology will become more significant in the future. According to their predictions, 75 per cent of Global 2,000 enterprises will consider SDDC a necessity to hybrid cloud systems and other modern applications by 2020.

This system takes existing infrastructures and revitalises them so they can be outsourced to a third party, allowing firms to become more flexible and adaptable to change.

Whether dealing with current or future systems, ITIL training will always be useful for gaining skills in data management. Even if your business moves to third-party providers for its data needs, knowing how to collect, store and categorise this information will be of great value.  

Turning to digital becoming key

McKinsey & Company explained that business are starting to see significant financial value and growth potential in adopting digital technologies. Nearly three quarters of executives stated that they expect to see a rise in top line revenues from digitalisation. A further 64 per cent were hopeful that adoption will increase profit margins in their business. 

However, there are significant barriers that could potentially hamper these expectations. The most widespread of these in a lack of leadership and talent.

Having strong IT skills within your company is of vital importance. Having strong IT skills within your company is of vital importance.

Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb emphasised the urgency in upskilling in a recent release from the Australian Council of Learned Academics. 

“We need to be agile as a nation and we need to decide whether we want to equip ourselves with the skills and knowledge to forge our future or allow others to impose a future on us,” he said.

“In reality, of course, there is no choice about whether – the only choice is about how.”

Upgrading your knowledge through channels such as IT project management training will become critical in keeping your business relevant.

IT influence spreads across industries

Technology application are becoming more commonplace across all sectors, even in professions that are traditionally resistant to new technologies. A survey conducted by GlobalX Legal Solutions found that 60 per cent of law firms are planning to adopt electronic conveyancing software into their practice in the next two years. 

60 per cent of law firms are planning to adopt electronic conveyancing software.

Overall, the legal sector is becoming more sensitive to the effects of technology on their operations. While electronic conveyancing was the most popular, 52 per cent of survey respondents pointed to cloud technology as having a significant impact on their organisation. Not far behind was mobile technology (51 per cent), integration (48 per cent) and data security (41 per cent).

“These technologies affect the day-to-day operations of legal professionals, require them to put their trust in new systems and to develop new habits,” said GlobalX Chief Executive Officer Peter Maloney.

The legal industry is a fine example of how far technologies can be successfully applied. With the right knowledge, possibly aided by IT governance training, any organisation in Australia can become agile in the near future. 

Get up-to-speed with the latest in project management – AgilePM(R) Foundation/Practitioner Certificate

* Increase project success rates

* Keep up with important trends

Agile Project Management has really taken off in the past couple years as organisations grapple with the frustrations of traditional project management approaches and the need to find ways to increase project success rates.

There are many stereotypes about what traditional project management is and what is Agile.  In reality, Agile and traditional project management approaches are complementary to each other rather than competitive. An Agile Project Manager is not someone who only does Agile projects. It is someone who has a deep knowledge of both Agile and traditional plan-driven principles and practices and knows how to blend them together in the right proportions to fit a given situation. Significant rewards await organisations and individuals who get it right.

Key benefits of Agile:

Want to become qualified in the world’s leading framework and certification for Agile Project Management? Sign up to our AgilePM® Foundation / Practitioner Combined course

 

 

How can your business integrate multiple technologies?

Think back to the bygone era of the early 2000s, when we had somehow managed to survive the Y2K bug and chokers, peasant tops and ties as belts were all the rage. Business technology was generally separated into one machine for each single task and the functional capabilities of these were limited, to put it mildly. 

However, the scope of IT has expanded significantly in the past 15 years and companies can no longer afford to idle along without considering how to utilise technology across the breadth of their operations .

Following our new leader's push for an agile Australia, how can business better integrate multiple technologies successfully? 

Technological trends drive business growth 

Cataloguing and analysing information in the most efficient manner possible will become key to business success.

In Deloitte's Tech Trends 2015 report, one of the most important current aspects of IT management is be the ability of a CIO to link technology with business strategy. CIOs must be aware of how innovations can serve a strong purpose in their particular workplace.

Deloitte also highlighted Big Data as a major consideration for all leaders within a company. Organisations that are unable to properly utilise, store and process data will find they have increasing "financial and intellectual frustration, confusion, and exhaustion", as stated in the report. 

When handling larger data sets from across the company, ITIL training should be a key priority for businesses. According to a recent analysis from IDC, there was a 44 per cent increase in the storage capacity of integrated infrastructure and platforms shipped worldwide compared to the same quarter last year. With the rise in data storage, cataloguing and analysing information in the most efficient manner possible will become key to business success.

Platforms become more streamlined

Even the most tech-savvy companies can rethink how to streamline individual processes and emerging technologies are gaining clout. For example, recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan found the value of the global real-time location systems (RTLS) market will grow to over $4 billion in revenue by 2021. More companies are expected to adopt this application, especially in healthcare, industrial and manufacturing sectors.

CIOs need to be aware of growing technology markets. CIOs need to be aware of growing technology markets.

"The development of software platforms that can support numerous technologies will form the basis for next-generation RTLS," said Senior Research Analyst Nandini Bhattacharya.

"This convergence of technologies will also lead to more robust solutions and strengthen the use case of RTLS."

Platform such as this can add a lot of value to many firms, although business leaders will need to careful analyse how exactly they will contribute to existing processes. 

If your business is ready to expand its technological capabilities, IT governance training can be useful in managing these new systems. 

How CRISC impacts your career and your organisation

How CRISC® Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control impacts your career and your organisation.

CRISC is one of the most highly sought-after qualifications. Established in 2010, it has already been earned by nearly 17,000 professionals worldwide.

CRISC is the most current and rigorous assessment available to evaluate the risk management proficiency of IT professionals and other employees within an enterprise or financial institute.   It is the only certification that prepares and enables IT professionals for the unique challenges of IT and enterprise risk management, and positions them to become strategic partners to the enterprise.

Those who earn CRISC help enterprises to understand business risk, and have the technical knowledge to implement appropriate IS controls.

This three day CRISC course provides a unique study program that will prepare you for a first-time pass in the CRISC exam.

Key Benefits of CRISC:

  1. Denotes a prestigious, lifelong symbol of knowledge and expertise as a risk professional
  2. Increases your value to your organisation as it seeks to manage IT risk
  3. Gives you a competitive advantage over peers when seeking job growth
  4. Gives you access to a global community of knowledge and the most up-to-date thinking on IT risk management
  5. Helps you achieve a high professional standard for continuing education and ethical conduct
  6. The CRISC certification is completely vendor-neutral.

 

Now you can master the essential skills and knowledge of CRISC with this powerful 3-day course.

What part does IT training play in better marketing?

It goes without saying that the internet has radically changed media over the past few years. For marketing departments worldwide, online channels present opportunities to reach new customers in a wider reach of locations. 

With a strong IT link in their marketing department, businesses can better leverage their promotional messages across this growing channel. 

Australians engaging more with online ads 

According to a survey conducted by Roy Morgan, Australians are increasingly likely to click on advertising on the internet. Compared to 2011 figures, the number of those who viewed this type of content on a computer in a typical four week period rose by 25 per cent to 1,248,000.

Online advertising can now be viewed on tablets.Online advertising can now be viewed on tablets.

Four years ago, there was no advertising on tablets at all and now over 200,000 individuals will click on at least one ad a month on these devices. Similarly, 378,000 Australians now view advertisements on a mobile phone, compared to just 60,000 in 2011. A significant group of individuals (one fifth of those surveyed) even utilise multiple devices to access internet advertising.

Increasing connectivity is not just important for the younger generation. As Tim Martin, general manager of media at Roy Morgan explained, online advertising is also crucial for reaching more mature customers. 

"14-24 year-olds are currently much more likely than the average Australian to agree they often notice ads online, including when watching videos – however they are the least likely to say they've clicked through ads recently," he said.

"YouTube, Facebook and other digital content providers and platforms aiming to boost advertising revenue need to broaden their reach among older demographics – those consumers who are ready to click (and shop) online." 

The importance of data collection

Online marketing isn't just about communicating information. The channel is also useful for collecting customer insights and data that can drive future projects. Having a more intimate knowledge of why, when and how customers interact with your brand can make it easier to meet their future needs.

Gaining an ITIL certification can help manage customer data in a way that makes it easy to store, access and analyse. When it comes to collecting this information, online platforms can offer easy, affordable and wide-reaching methods.

For example, Amazon uses a platform called Mechanical Turk (MTurk). According to research conducted by the University of Texas, this particular service can capture data from a more diverse pool than samples from American colleges. The information obtained is just as reliable as data from traditional methods and survey participants can be recruited quickly. 

How can IT play a part in ad campaigns?

In both the online and offline world, creative technology can create interesting, unique and, most importantly, memorable campaigns.

It is important to understand how the technology will be utilised to engage target audiences.

As consumers become overloaded with information, typical ads may not grip them in the same way and companies will need to think outside the box.

This is where good project management training becomes key. Even for the smallest campaign, it is important to understand how each element will add value and how a marketing department can utilise technology to engage target audiences. 

A fantastic example of simple yet effective campaigns has been seen just across the ditch in the Haka 360 app. In order to capitalise on the excitement surrounding the Rugby World Cup, insurance group AIG created a virtual reality experience that can be viewed on a VR headset or on a mobile phone. In any medium, users are able to get up close to the All Blacks as they perform the famous haka. 

IT and marketing can come together in many effective ways and businesses should consider how these two departments can collaborate on future projects. 

Agile Australia: Will Malcolm Turnbull lead a tech revolution?

Over the past few years, political leadership in Australia has been rather volatile. Prime ministers have come and gone (and come again), each with their own vision for the future of the country.

Like any other new leader, this new head is bringing something a little different to the parliamentary table. As former Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull has been hailed as a technology minded PM and his focus on IT has caused excitement amongst many Australians.

Will his reputation and background help Australia become a leader in IT?

An “agile” government

In his first media address, Turnbull’s words harkened to IT project management training terms as he framed his speech around the terms “agile” and “disruption”.

“The Australia of the future has to be a nation that is agile, that is innovative,” he said, according to a September 15 Sydney Morning Herald article.

“We have to recognise that the disruption that we see driven by technology, the volatility in change is our friend if we are agile and smart enough to take advantage of it.”

The NBN will reach most Australians by 2020.The NBN will reach most Australians by 2020.

One of Turnbull’s most notable campaigns during his time as Minister for Communication was the rollout of high-speed broadband. This was hailed by Senator Mathias Cormann as one of the biggest infrastructure projects that Australia has ever seen and is budgeted at $49 billion through to 2020.

So far, one in 10 Australians are on the national broadband network (NBN) and the recently updated plan is set to connect 2.6 million premises by the end of July 2016. As an increasing number of businesses get on the high-speed grid, gaining an ITIL certification is becoming a key way to stay on top of  these new opportunities.

Australians ready for a change

The new prime minister already seems to have resonated with the wider Australian population.

70 per cent of respondents named Malcolm Turnbull as their preferred leader.

According to a September 15 leadership survey conducted by Roy Morgan, 70 per cent of respondents named him as the preferred prime minister. Only 24 per cent highlighted Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as their first choice and 6 per cent were unsure or named another candidate.

“Turnbull leads clearly amongst both genders, across all States & Territories and leads Shorten across supporters of both major parties,” said Gary Morgan, CEO of Roy Morgan.

As technology continues to become a major part of the wider population’s lives, having a like-minded leader is a good step for the IT industry as well as businesses in general. If Malcolm Turnbull can meet these expectations, Australia may see a significant boost to innovation and technology in the coming years.

Australian government joins forces to combat cyber threats

The ongoing risk of cybersecurity breaches is continuing to plague Australian organisations. However, the government has taken steps forward in addressing these concerns.

At a two-on-two meeting in Sydney, the respective Defence Ministers of South Korea and Australia, Han Min-koo and Kevin Andrews discussed a range of issues surrounding security in the region. They were also joined by Foreign Ministers Yun Byung-se and Julie Bishop.

Cybersecurity was a key talking point, as the two countries stated their interest in continuing the development of international standards and shared practices. Both parties also agreed to jointly focus on risk prevention schemes and ensuring that networks worldwide are aware of conflict resolution methods.

Agreements will also be settled between computer emergency response teams from both countries to work together as a united force. For business, keeping on top of information security training will be critical in addressing changes in cyberspace and supporting efforts made by the two nations. 

The Australian government is also looking at developments a little closer to home. On September 30, students from various TAFEs and universities will have the opportunity to participate in the Cyber Security Challenge.

Described as a "hacking" competition, contestants will be tested on their communication and technical skills over a non-stop 24-hour period. This year's challenge takes the form of a traditional "capture the flag" scenario, in which teams will gain ground through each challenge they solve.

The aim of the event is to introduce young people to the possibilities for a career in the field of information security. As Australia starts to focus its outlook on global cybersecurity, preparing the future workforce as early as possible is a great step in providing stability in network safety moving forward.

How can HR take advantage of digital disruption?

The very mention of the phrase digital disruption can bring a sense of apprehension to many business professionals and HR is no exception. However, with the right mindset, technology can radically improve HR processes across the board and offer benefits to both workers and employers.

What does digital disruption mean for Australia?

According to Deloitte, the Australian economy has already seen major changes due to a number of emerging innovations. 

The urgency to address the next wave of technological change is dependant on the industry a company is in. Deloitte's report categorised sectors based on how rapidly disruption will affect firms and to what extent. 

Industries that were pegged for both fast and impactive change included finance, information and communications technology, retail and media. HR professionals in these sectors especially should prepare themselves for oncoming shifts in their operating environment.  

Consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture believe that in the future, HR will start to closely resemble a marketing department. Rather than relying on pre-established management models, HR professionals will become increasingly more reliant on data analysis for solving problems. Seeking ITIL training may be useful in dealing with growing amounts of information.            

HR professionals will need to become accustomed to data analysis.HR professionals will need to become accustomed to data analysis.

HR employees will also work more closely with other parts of the business, including the IT department. This is due to flattening organisational structures and less rigidly defined job roles. 

Lack of software holding HR back

According to an Advanced Business Solution's survey, 73 per cent of HR employees believe that analytics software is important for strategic decision making. However, only 17 per cent have access to the relevant programmes needed.

HR was also the least likely to understand the nuances of this software, highlighting the need for IT governance training to evaluate risks and possible management issues. Out of the HR professionals surveyed, 30 per cent didn't know the difference between business intelligence systems and analytic systems.

"Without the right technology in place, HR departments will struggle to effectively nurture the talent of employees and obtain vital information, which can be transformed into actionable insight to help their company obtain a competitive edge," said Simon Fowler, managing director of Advanced Business Solutions.

As HR departments will likely become more involved with technology, it is vital that business leaders prepare their professionals early. Through improved IT literacy and understanding of how programs can be applied to their pre-existing tasks, HR employees will be better prepared for the future.

Addressing security concerns

Despite the many benefits that technology can bring to the HR department, it is also important to be aware of potential security concerns.

HR professionals were rated as the second-most likely department to cause a security issue.

In a survey conducted by security technology company Clearswift, global data security professionals were asked which parts of a company poised the biggest security risk.  HR professionals were rated as the second-most likely department to cause a security issue, with 42 per cent of respondents highlighting this risk area. 

There were two main issues that affected HR security; a particularly sensitive database and a lack of universal knowledge regarding proper security.

Heath Davies, chief executive at Clearswift, explained that HR intermediaries presented the biggest risk to a company.

"Middle aged, middle managers [have] access to the data but no obvious stake in the consequences of losing it. They are also more likely to be under time and financial pressure, and so may be more inclined to take risks," he said. 

Investing in information security training courses for your HR intermediaries may be a useful solution as the workplace digitises. 

Although technology will spur many changes in the HR department, the right training can help make sense of this new environment. With a strong IT knowledge, this particular area of business will excel in the future. 

Should you use ITIL or COBIT?

You have come to the realisation that the pain that you are suffering can no longer be treated with simply more palliative quick fixes… it is time for a more permanent cure.

Symptoms include:

For a while now, your staff members have been pointing to best practices such as ISO20000 (service management), ISO27000 (security), ISO31000 (risk), ISO38500 (governance) and ITIL, COBIT, TOGAF and PRINCE2.

You have sent them away to find out which might be useful to and appropriate for your organisation.

They have reported back that ITIL is no longer focused on information or technology or infrastructure … it is a Library, and you wonder why it isn’t just called ‘—L’.

The have explained that COBIT no longer has any ‘control objectives’ and it occurs to you that it should now be called ‘—IT’.

And PRINCE2 has nothing to do with royalty!

In 2011 we saw an updated version of ITIL; now known as the 2011 update, version numbers have been officially removed from ITIL world.

In 2012 we saw an updated version of COBIT; now known as COBIT 5, yes version numbers still exist here.

So… what to do?

You need to find something that creates the right balance between:

But which framework should you choose?

 

Option A – Neither

This implies that you have decided that the way you are already doing things fully meets the needs of all your various internal and external stakeholders.

I wonder what they think about this, have you asked them?

Score 0/10

 

Option B – ITIL

You can decide to do ITIL. You will get all the benefits of effective and efficient IT Service Management in your organisation.

You will be using internationally recognised good practices to deliver processes that will be effective in the delivery of efficient services to your customers and users.

ITIL_vs_Cobit

Indeed ITIL will tell you that (take a deep breath…) you will be able to deliver value for customers through a focus on services, enable the integration of the strategy for IT-related services with the business strategy and the customer needs and be able to manage the IT investment and budget, manage risk, manage knowledge, manage capabilities and resources to deliver services effectively and efficiently.

ITIL includes details of how to measure, monitor and optimise IT services and service provider / supplier performance and enable you to adopt a consistent approach to service management across the whole enterprise.

ITIL provides information on how to change the organisational culture to support the achievement of sustained success, improve the interaction and relationship with customers, co-ordinate the delivery of goods and services across the value network and, at the same time, optimise and reduce costs and risks.

Within the scope of the ITIL publications are five stages of a service lifecycle and include 26 processes and 4 functions.

It provides details on the activities needed to achieve success for the process outcomes. It defines roles and responsibilities and suggests (lists) success factors and performance indicators.

Overall, ITIL provides a clear and comprehensive solution to the objective of providing effective IT Service Management within an organisation.

But what about programme and project management and where is the governance? ITIL Service Strategy section 5.1.1.1 states that “the governance process itself is out of the scope of this publication”.

So maybe you should look elsewhere?

Score 6/10

 

Option C – COBIT

You can decide to do COBIT. You will get the benefits of value creation through good governance to ensure you have effective benefits realisation, risk and resource optimisation in place.

ITIL_imageCOBIT will give you the essentials at the governance layer. Effectively it will ‘overpin’ and set the direction across a range of frameworks needed to cover the enterprise from end to end. These include PRINCE2, TOGAF, ITIL, ISO 38500, ISO 31000, ISO20000, ISO 27002.

COBIT has tied all these separate but complementary frameworks together so that an enterprise (any kind of enterprise, large or small) can achieve its goals and deliver value through effective governance of enterprise IT.

COBIT will:

With COBIT you will be able to provide the direction setting that is needed to satisfy your stakeholder needs, but will need to utilise other frameworks to achieve the direction that you have set that will be owned internally, within the IT organisation.

COBIT outlines 37 processes across five domains that it sees are needed for the delivery of enterprise wide end to end delivery of governance and management of IT. It includes the link from stakeholder needs to enterprise goals to IT goals to IT enablers (your people, policies, processes services, management structure infrastructure and applications and more).

Within these 37 processes are 208 key practices (15 for governance and 193 for management). Each of these practices pre-define a RACI (responsible, accountable, consult and inform) chart so you are able to see clearly defined business and IT roles and responsibilities.

The COBIT 5 picture is nearly complete. At present there are COBIT 5 publications on:

Publications on Risk and Assurance are in the pipeline and ISACA are reviewing the issue of translations into other languages.

But it is high-level. Although it does cover all of programme and project management and service management and it does describe the practices and the related activities that need to be performed, it does not explain how to do them.

It does include a generic method of implementing these practices but does not include the definitions of roles, the process flow diagrams and the detailed guidance for executing procedures.

Score 6/10

 

D – Both

Congratulations! You have realised that there is not a single solution, there is no panacea to take away your pain, no single quick fix to the challenges facing organisations with respect to leveraging value from the investment in IT.

By having an overarching governance framework you are ensuring that IT is doing the right things in the right way and setting the right direction for all aspects of IT within the enterprise.

With a service management framework to underpin this, you are ensuring that the direction set by the governance body is aligned to the needs of your stakeholders.

And, of course, the complete approach is more than just governance and service management. Other frameworks that involve architecture, security, risk, and programme and project management and so on will also need to be considered adopted and adapted.

Score 10/10

 

The next step is to gain awareness of the similarities and differences, benefits and potential pitfalls of the various frameworks.

Then and crucially, determine what are the drivers for change and whether your organisation is ready, culturally, to accept the need for change. You may have recognised the need to act now but if there is no widespread desire for it, it will not succeed. Start preparing for it and then, when there is a significant event (a merger / acquisition, a shift in the market, economy or competitive position, a change in business operating model or sourcing arrangements or new regulatory or compliance requirements) you will have your business case already prepared.

Prepare one business case for the overall programme including the budget for an assessment of your current state and the building of a long term road map.

Once prioritised and mapped to the enterprise goals, each subsequent improvement initiative will also need its own business case.

COBIT5 is designed to assist you with the mapping to / from your enterprise’s goals.

As we all know, medicine is never easy to swallow and it is a long course of treatment. It is a journey that does not end.

Well, there is a reason that it is called ‘continual’ improvement!

———————————————-

Neil Broadhead

Principal Consultant, ALC Education & Consulting Pty Ltd

How can Australian organisations fully utilise digitalisation?

The digital arena is one of the most fast-paced and exciting places for a business to be. However, with strong talent across countries worldwide, how can Australian businesses keep pace with global competition and create innovative consumer offerings?

Recent research conducted by Gartner revealed how quickly this sector is growing. Out of all the businesses earning over $250 million in revenue per year, 32 per cent were involved with the digital market, a 10 per cent increase from the previous year. 

Improving customer relationships and engagement was the key driver for this sector, with 83 per cent of businesses anticipating improvements in this area through digital ventures. Patrick Meehan, research vice president at Gartner​, pointed to an evolutionary business model as the key to growth in this market.

"Digital business moments of untapped opportunity and competition can rapidly change the dynamics across industries," he said.  

"Innovative companies are tailoring digital business moments to complement their existing products and services."

Reaching a new-age consumer

The introduction of online channels has done wonders for engaging customer bases, according to a survey from Adobe and the CMO Council. In the Asia-Pacific region, 66 per cent of businesses found they were able to create more touch points through digital media.

Increasing efficiency in customer acquisitions was also highlighted as a key benefit amongst 47 per cent of respondents. An additional 41 per cent saw an increase in customer loyalty.  

In-depth analytics is one of the most important drivers for success in these schemes. Understanding the exact needs of your target market can help give you a direction for future projects. Delivering innovative solutions to problems at a fast pace will set your business apart, especially if you can leverage both online and offline offerings to your customers. 

How can Australian organisations stay ahead?  

Australia has strong potential to become a notable contender in the online marketplace. However, there are still greater actions that need to be taken to ensure continued success. 

Although much of the focus of digitalisation is around marketing in particular, collaboration between this department and IT is a key step to moving forward. According to a Harvey Nash survey, 66 of CIOs have been affected by digital disruption, forcing them to rethink how their organisation approaches projects. In order to remain competitive, firms must create adaptive business models and employ greater flexibility between different business functions. 

The nature of IT functions is not limited to one part of the company alone and objectives need to be shared between different departments in order to execute new strategies. IT project management training is becoming more relevant to marketers as they must understand the inner workings of their new promotional spaces. 

Marketing professionals need to have an understanding of digital channels. Marketing professionals need to have an understanding of digital channels.

Government going digital 

Businesses aren't the only organisations that can benefit from a more cohesive digital strategy. According to Deloitte, the Australian government could reap a high amount of economic and social benefit by changing the channels of communication between departments and citizens.

By digitising customer transactions, Deloitte estimates that the government can save $16.2 billion through productive and efficient gains over a lifetime. Consumers are also expected to see time saving benefits from the reduction of travel and waiting times, accounting for a $8.7 billion reduction in "lifetime present value terms". 

John O'Mahony, Partner at Deloitte, predicted that digital transformation projects will offer benefits four times over the total cost. However, these need to be enacted with care to ensure the whole culture is aware of the implications of this change. 

PRINCE2 training is not just of benefit to business leaders, but for IT professionals in the public sector. With clear benefits well within reach, the demand for IT leadership is becoming key to success in all sectors of the economy.