SaaSkatoon: All Things SaaS!

Outsourcing seems to be a dirty word in the IT community, despite the fact that it has become necessary to consider the outsourcing of non-core activities as a strategic option in the end-to-end management of Information Technology.  While outsourcing for outsourcing’s sake is a fatally flawed strategy, the outsourcing of non-value-adding processes and services has to be taken into consideration by any IT organization that hopes to meet changing business needs in a timely and consistent manner.  A common tendency of some IT organizations is to adopt a defensive attitude towards outsourcing and either attempt to indefinitely stall what in many cases is already inevitable, or struggle to somehow demonstrate value to the business by wearing as many hats as possible and providing every IT service in-house; as talented as a team might be, the velocity and breadth of emerging business requirements makes it impossible for most internal organizations to provide services at the levels of availability, performance, functionality, and value required by the business.  The result of trying to be everything to the business is that the aggregate level of service gets watered down with each new service introduced and brought under management, until eventually the model becomes completely unsustainable.  At some point, the realization needs to be made that IT requires the focus of a laser beam, not a shotgun blast, to deliver world class results.  Outsourcing is not an either/or proposition, and organizations that learn to look beyond this duality and view outsourcing as an opportunity to leverage external resources to accomplish activities outside of the scope of core competencies - to reduce costs, increase the velocity of service delivery, and free internal resources to focus on value-adding activities – will gain an inherent advantage over peers that do not capitalize on the opportunity.

The Mikan Group’s position on outsourcing is that no viable option can be left off the table by either the business or the Information Technology organization when planning and executing an organization’s strategic vision.  We understand the general apprehension towards outsourcing and its implications, but we also understand that much of the resistance is based on speculation and hype.  And to be clear, while outsourcing and offshoring are terms that have become nearly synonymous, there is a very clear distinction between the two.  But for the sake of addressing the fear, uncertainty, and doubt associated with the topic, we will cut to the core and address the issue of jobs being sourced globally at the perceived expense of American workers.  Not to put too fine a point on it, nobody wants to see American jobs arbitrarily shipped overseas – especially us.  The Mikan Group believes absolutely in the business value of Information Technology, and we believe in the technology leadership position of the United States, but we are also realistic in our assessment of the current state of the IT function; there is a growing disconnect between the services that IT delivers to the business and the services that the business expects from IT.

We must take responsibility for the fact that the track record of Information Technology producing sustainable business value is less than consistent, and we must find ways to restore faith in IT by leading a fundamental change in the way IT supports the business in a manner that is nothing less than revolutionary.  The defensive strategies of survivalism and protectionism only make the situation worse, and while we realize that some businesses have engaged in wholesale offshoring of entire functions as a fairly short sighted reaction to cut costs and improve margins over the immediate term, the harsh reality that we can no longer deny is that IT has reached what Andrew Grove referred to as a “strategic inflection point” and we can either lead IT to new heights by focusing on tight integration with business strategy and objectives, or we can cling on to the past and hope to weather a storm that is only going to wash away IT as we know it today.  Whether you are an executive looking to maximize the value of your enterprise IT investment, a business leader looking to improve the effectiveness of your function by leveraging process and technological innovation, or an IT leader looking to align your team, systems, and processes with core business strategy, The Mikan Group can enable you to reach your objectives and deliver business results within the framework of the organizational model best suits your business: in-house, outsourced, or anywhere in between.

This entry first appeared in The Mikan Group Blog on August 25, 2007. It is being published on SaaSkatoon in an effort to archive selected content acquired by Delivered Innovation in 2008.

Complexity is understood to be an omnipresent underlying challenge in any IT organization, but what exactly is complexity and how should it be managed in order to maximize the effectiveness of IT? The answers to such questions are in themselves complex.

Just how complex is complexity? A quick lookup of the word “complex” at dictionary.com produces 13 definitions. If a word in and of itself is so difficult to nail down that it requires 13 different ways to define it, the abstract concept behind the word is presumably no cakewalk either. This is precisely the case with “complexity.”

While complexity may imply difficulty, and indeed the two words do seem interchangeable when applied to managing information technology and information systems, it is important to differentiate the applicability of the words. It can be argued that complexity and difficulty are both relative terms, but for the sake of understanding complexity it should be viewed as a more quantitative concept than difficulty; complexity implies a multidimensional representation of the elements and relationships contained within a finite context, and difficulty refers more to the ability of an entity to achieve a desired outcome.

When complexity is cited as a reason for failure to meet criteria or realize an objective, what is actually implied is that the failure was predicated on the inability of an individual or group to overcome the relative difficulty of mastering the complexity of a problem in order to achieve a successful outcome. The logical response to this is to assign the task to an individual or team that can navigate the complexity of the circumstance to achieve the desired results, in which case the relative difficulty for such a situation would be diminished. The other option is to lower expectations of the assignment, which is self defeating and does not warrant further discussion.

A methodical approach to addressing complexity in any form is to first understand the elements that comprise a complex situation, system, or environment. Once the individual elements have been identified, the challenge is then to logically separate the elements and view them in a disaggregated manner. After each element has been broken down to its core function and its intricacies have been analyzed, it is then necessary to identify the relationships between the elements, taking note of interdependencies, commonality, balance, and relevance to the whole. The final step is to reassemble the elements in a manner that optimizes understanding and manageability.

While this process does not necessarily reduce complexity, it does enable understanding of complex subjects, which is a fundamental prerequisite to any activity or initiative intended to minimize actual complexity within a given context. To reduce complexity is to reduce the number of (or the influence of) elements contained within a specific context; to manage complexity is to understand it and minimize its impact by incorporating it into a framework of effective holistic management. There is no reason to fear complexity or to deem it too difficult to overcome; complexity is simply a fact of life in the world of managing information technology and information systems, and should be viewed as an opportunity to improve effectiveness rather than an insurmountable obstacle.

This entry first appeared in The Mikan Group Blog on August 9, 2007. It is being published on SaaSkatoon in an effort to archive selected content acquired by Delivered Innovation in 2008.