Business Technology Optimization Auditing

These services help companies better understand their technology investments and how those investments yield – or fail to yield – business value. The audits look at strategic, tactical and operational issues connected with business technology optimization. The outcome of these audits consists of recommendations for re-engineering the business technology relationship to improve business results and reduce costs. We use an explicit save money/make money filter to prioritize investments with the greatest potential return.

Technology – hardware/software/ communications – plays a relatively minor role in the overall effectiveness equation. Technology is obviously critically important, but optimization is as much about people, processes, organization and strategy as anything else. Optimization is also about synergy. If one piece is out of sync, then it’s likely that many of them are.

The premise of the optimization audit is the acknowledgement of the width and depth of change occurring in the field. Business technologists – not mired in brush fires – understand just how profound the changes are. Renting? Leasing? From strangers? Clouds? Hardware-as-a-service? Servers for 50 cents a day? What’s going on? It’s extremely likely that three things are occurring:

1. You’re paying too much money for the wrong things and failing to save enough money with technology
2. You’re missing opportunities to really help the business achieve its objectives and failing to make enough money with technology
3. You’re leveraging the wrong best practices with the wrong people

We’ve developed the optimization audit in response to new opportunities and old pitfalls. We also developed an audit that we believe touches all of the high leverage areas. We believe that the pieces are interdependent and synergistic. The optimization audit – like all audits – should be actionable. We’re not dealing with “theoretical” or “perfect” circumstances here. There are limits to what can be accomplished. Realistic business cases for each recommendation to save money and make money are developed as part of the audit’s final report.

Current state reporting develops SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses for all of the areas. Recommendations for how to make money and save money extend from the SWOT analyses; they are informed by our applied research, industry best practices, industry benchmarks, technology trends analyses and our experience that cuts across multiple vertical industries. The business case is the result of the current state assessment and the save money/make money recommendations. Our business cases are always organized around value, cost and risk.

The audit often results in a set of projects designed to address specific problems and opportunities; we assist in the pursuit of post-audit projects and programs.