Webinar Reveals Key Findings in Rethink IT

On Wednesday, October 30^th at 12:00 p.m. (ET), we hosted a live ReThink IT webinar, analyzing the greatest issues facing IT and providing actionable strategies to drive business value from IT.

During the webinar, Wavestone US CEO Harry Wallaesa, introduced forward-thinking points of view around IT strategy, capturing the unprecedented transformations facing the industry, and answering the questions on how IT leaders need to think about IT to create value for the business. Whether or not these changes are embraced, they are happening, and as such, the role of the IT leader is transforming from manager of data centers and programmers to advisors to the business. As more companies embark on transformative IT projects, ranging from sourcing initiatives and shared service models to vendor management organizations, governance processes and ITSM implementations, high performing IT leaders must adapt or risk marginalization.

The most disruptive trends that were discussed included:

• Responsibility for IT is moving to the business
• Convergence of ITO and BPO
• Social, Big Data, mobility, and analytics
• Commoditization of IT and business services
• Consumerization of IT

While these are not new, the difference between today’s leading edge IT leader and those who risk marginalization is how they choose to manage, react, and leverage these trends to their advantage. Integral to this is the role of the next generation IT leader who needs to manage IT as a business as internal resources compete with global service providers.

Essential new viewpoints to ReThink IT which were also discussed included:

• New IT Management Disciplines: Successful implementation of the ITSM framework enables IT leaders to manage the full cycle of IT by promoting efficiency and defining best practice processes to manage IT. Most importantly, this includes Demand Management, Service Management, Vendor Management, Governance, and Service Integration.
• New Roles, Responsibilities and Skills: As businesses become more global, IT leaders and CIOs have new roles that include creating strategic partnerships, exploiting global trends, delivering cost-effective results, and optimizing service capability.
• New IT Supply Chain and Outsourcing: The next generation outsourcing has resulted in an influx of new and proven service providers that have opened a number of opportunities for multi-sourcing. Emphasis is now placed on measuring performance and delivering business value. It is the role of IT leaders to manage and nurture new relationships that are a result of the new IT supply chain and outsourcing.
• Beyond Traditional ITO Approaches: Traditional approaches to outsourcing no longer work. Instead, IT leaders must identify what outcomes the business requires and which provider can best resolve the outcomes. IT service strategy needs to be built on business solutions that result in both cost savings and value creation.
• New Definition of Business Value: Business value is driven by business outcome, and in the new world of IT, this applies to both internal and external services. IT leaders need to answer questions, such as how IT exploratory investments results in new products or competitive advantage, and how quickly IT can enable a company’s reaction to new market conditions and changing strategic direction.

To learn more about what Wavestone US can do for your company, visit http://www.wavestone.us/capabilities/.