Introduction
In my previous post I focused on the human factor related to the match between the Business Strategy, Business Processes, Data Processes and Legal requirements” – a topic I believe should have top priority these days.
When talking about the Management Team I am referring to both the CxO level and all other management levels in an organization.
Any role defined to have a management responsibility must understand, that the future will only leave room for the organization, where the team spirit are alive and kicking at all levels.
IT systems of today are very complex as the use of data has increased dramatically due to the available technology. Proper IT Design is very expensive and timeconsuming to implement whether it is on-site or as a hosted service – unfortunately there are no shortcuts available if you want a stable and flexible IT Platform supporting your business activities.
You will have to see your IT Platform as an Iceberg – the majority is hidden under the surface.
Here in my second article I will address why the Management Team have to take ownership of securing the match between the Business Strategy, Business Processes, Data Processes and Legal requirements.
Education and training is a must
Before continuing I would like to step aside and address one very important activity no matter what you are dealing with: TRAINING & EDUCATION.
Everybody need both training in & education matching the role they are expected to fulfil. Training is best achieved by practical exercises in “real time”, where education can be handled in a more theoretical manner, i.e. as a course or e-learning.
Business Strategy
Over the years I have seen a Business Strategy process being handled as a “Top => Bottom => Top” process with the result, that the bottom level in the organization did understand his/hers role in the big picture and the expectations for the next year related to performance targets.
When you meet employees from this organization you meet proud people fully aware of their role in the big picture.
I have also seen the Business Strategy process being handled as a management activity, where the lowest level engaged in the process happened to be the department manager. One outcome using this process made the customer satisfaction index turning the wrong way.
In my humble opinion the best Business Strategy process is the
“Top => Bottom => Top” process,
consisting a 5 year strategy at top level, a 2 year strategy at medium detailed level and a 1 year detailed action plan (created by the business units), where there are a direct relation to the targets in the 2 year and the 5 year strategy.
Business Process and Data Process
Documenting the Business Process is no simple activity as it requires valuable manhours and needs to be maintained. As there are no direct measurable relation to the generated revenue, this activity often is given less if any attention as long as there are no critical errors.
When referring to the Data Process I have in my mind any manual or by an application action like data captured in the business process and data captured electronically, data manipulation executed manually/ electronically and any data exchanged with other systems – manually or electronically.
Today most of the companies are using several IT Applications to support their business teams. In order to achieve the benefits many of these applications are exchanging data via interfaces or by manual input from printed forms.
Technically no big deal, but how is this documented and matched to the Business Process and the Legal requirements?
Any organizational change, i.e. acquisitions, staff reductions or changes in Legal requirements requires a review of both the Business Process and the Data Process.
Legal requirements
My understanding of the role as Enterprise Architect is that this resource was meant to have the full overview within the business of active applications, interfaces, which data exchanged internally and externally and where they are stored.
With the upcoming GDPR regulation many companies would have benefited if they had kept the Enterprise Architect position alive. Unfortunately this role turned up on the list of head counts to spare during the past decades.
The IT Platform – the hidden part
Once upon a time the IT platform did consist of following environments: Development, Test, Quality Assurance and Production.
As this design requires a major investment in hardware, software licences, controlled process for implementing changes and execute testing, i.e. version control management, then many companies have chosen to live with two environments; “a low-budget development/test/QA” and Production.
This choice has increased the risk for issues related to data quality, security and stability.
With the technical solutions available today hardware cost should not be a major issue any more.
Review and Quality Assurance are strategic priorities
I have mentioned a couple of times that I believe reviews are important and I have talked about the Quality Assurance process. I used- like many others – to be of the opinion that an audit was time-consuming and the time could be spent more wisely. On the other hand most of my audits turned out with no errors, a few comments and my customer got a stable solution implemented, so the team must have been motivated to things right.
With the present treat scenario the audit could be your lifebelt. Sometimes a question like: “Why is this solution not using the “Best Practise” for the industry?” would make you aware of a potential risk.
In my objective then reviews, audits and the Quality Assurance process cover critical strategic activities – unfortunately not measurable on the End-of-Month financial report, but errors are very costly to repair when things have gone bad.
Review and Quality Assurance are strategic priorities
I have mentioned a couple of times that I believe reviews are important and I have talked about the Quality Assurance process.
I used- like many others – to be of the opinion that an audit was time-consuming and the time could be spent more wisely. On the other hand most of my audits turned out with no errors, a few comments and my customer got a stable solution implemented, so the team must have been motivated to things right.
With the present treat scenario the audit could be your lifebelt. Sometimes a question like: “Why is this solution not using the “Best Practise” for the industry?” would make you aware of a potential risk.
In my objective then reviews, audits and the Quality Assurance process cover critical strategic activities – unfortunately not measurable on the End-of-Month financial report, but errors are very costly to repair when things have gone bad.
With the present treat scenario the audit could be your lifebelt. Sometimes a question like: “Why is this solution not using the “Best Practise” for the industry?” would make you aware of a potential risk.
In my objective then reviews, audits and the Quality Assurance process cover critical strategic activities – unfortunately not measurable on the End-of-Month financial report, but errors are very costly to repair when things have gone bad.
Relation to the threats of today – the human factor
So far I have just addressed the activities we were thought to prioritize back in the mid-nineties.
It is my opinion that many companies would be in a different position today if they had maintained this way of dealing with IT.
An activity in a continuous training program for the end-users could here be used to address the issues related to the use of data, both technically and legally.
Insights can often turn an end-user from being very negative to a neutral even sometimes positive end-user accepting the actual limitations.
In my next article I intend to give the reader my point of view on where I see a benefit using some of the global reference models issued by ISACA, Open Group and UK Government.
Thank you for having read my second article – hope you have enjoyed it and that it has given you some inspiration.
This article was published initially on LinkedIn on 26 July 2017 (Some modification of the wording has been executed in this version).
Image Credits:
| The Iceberg | Dreamstime |
| Chimpanzee | Dreamstime |
| Group Whiteboard Session | Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash |
| Bored Lion | Photo by Stefan Rayner on Unsplash |
| Internal Meeting | Photo by Paul Bence on Unsplash |
| The Helicopter Perspective | Sketch by the author himself |
Thank you for having read this article – hope you have enjoyed it and that it has given you some ideas of where to start improving your own business or individual role, when it comes to the use of IT.
Best wishes for the future.