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September 19, 2005

Productizing IT Resources for Business

Directly or indirectly, a "business-view" of IT always asks the basic question, "what do we have and how can I use it?" This perspective connects IT capacity with business capacity, implicitly relying on provision being managed to the requirements of the business.

Given the dazzling diversity of options and sources in all things IT, a framework of "business requirements" will put pressure on the provider to work not just as a supplier but as an agent. In that case, the availability of "appropriate" and "manageable" IT is assumed by the business but realized by the provider. The business attributes value firstly to the provider's process for satisfying business requirements -- and relies on that process.

Successful realization of the right IT for business is essentially the same problem of "bringing the right product to market"... Timing, cost, quality and availability are all success factors in the value of production and provision. Among the worst case scenarios are to bring the right thing at the wrong time or the wrong thing to the target location -- emphasizing why the definition of demand is a dominant issue.

The basic challenge for the provider is to manage value end-to-end from production through provision. Using a simple working definition, practical "value" is the effective difference made towards intentions. In that light, we can easily see that "value" is generated in different ways under different circumstances while across all of that variety it also maintains a common focus on the intention of meeting the demand.

Functioning like a business, the provider has four key stress-points along the course to fulfilling demand. At each stress-point, the balance amongst the success factors cited above can be manipulated to some degree. As seen in the illustration below, each point (bottom left to top right) can significantly support an adjacent point in the chain, so improvements at each point can optimize the overall throughput of value to the final provision. The process alignment cultivates value.

This example highlights the management related to minimizing the risks to the stability (reliability) of the IT environment, as seen from a business point of view. This view features the concern for the value of "what we have" and "how we can use it" -- each as supported through managing capacity and controls.

Posted by Malcolm Ryder at September 19, 2005 7:47 AM

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