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Making Time for

the Strategic Initiatives

Exploring Ways to Obtain a Better Balance

EDUCAUSE Enterprise IT Leadership Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, April 16-18, 2013

David Weil, Director, Enterprise Application Services, Ithaca College, dweil@ithaca.edu

An IT organization must adjust the services it offers and how it provides

them so that it can have the ability to focus on initiatives that help theinstitution address its strategic objectives and needed transformations.

Join us for an interactive discussion to share ideas on how an IT

organization might achieve a better balance between "operational" and

"strategic" activities. Suggestions to be explored include service

portfolios, service delivery models, IT governance, and departmentalorganization as well as using a "balanced scorecard" approach to

categorize and define service delivery criteria.

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Our time today

• Brief overview of the “problem” 

• Some sample approaches to generate some ideas

• Discussion / brainstorming

• Wrap-up

Goal: Leave the session with the seed of an idea or two that will

help you start thinking about how to make more time for

strategic initiatives.

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Strategic InitiativeFrom Wikipedia

A strategic initiative is an endeavor intended to achieve three

interrelated outcomes:

• A boundary-spanning vision or “strategic intent” 

•

Realization of important benefits to “strategic” stakeholders and • Transformation of the organization

Strategic initiatives are collections of finite-duration discretionary

projects and programs, outside of the organization's day-to-day

operational activities, that are designed to help the organizationachieve its targeted performance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Initiative

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Strategic Initiatives… 

• Help the institution grow, advance, evolve

• Move the institution forward

•

Are Transformative• What is your definition?

 –  

 –

  –  

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1. Updating IT professionals' skills and roles to accommodate

emerging technologies and changing IT management and

service delivery models

2. Supporting the trends toward IT consumerization and bring-

your-own device

3. Developing an institution-wide cloud strategy

4. Improving the institution's operational efficiency through

information technology

5. Integrating information technology into institutionaldecision-making

6. Using analytics to support critical institutional outcomes

7. Funding information technology strategically

8. Transforming the institution's business with information

technology9. Supporting the research mission through high-performance

computing, large data, and analytics

10. Establishing and implementing IT governance throughout the

institution

   E   D   U   C   A   U   S   E

   2   0   1   2

   T   o   p  -   T   e

   n

   I   T   I   s   s

   u   e   s

http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/top-ten-it-issues-2012

Issues that

will help

move the

institution

forward

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“Although colleges and universities are doing 

many things well with I T, for many campus 

off icials the return on the institutional 

investment in information technology often 

fal ls short of both expectations and need.”  

Kenneth C. Green,

2012 Campus Computing Survey 

http://www.campuscomputing.net/sites/www.campuscomputing.net/files/Green-CampusComputing2012.pdf 

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% of Presidents, Provosts and CIOs who

rated their institution’s IT investments as

“very effective” 

0

10

20

30

4050

60

70

80

90

100

On-Campus Instruction Administrative

Information Systems

Analytical Efforts

Presidents Chief Academic Officers CIOs

Data from 2012 Campus Computing Survey & 2011 Inside Higher Ed surveys by Kenneth C. Green.

http://www.campuscomputing.net/sites/www.campuscomputing.net/files/Green-CampusComputing2012.pdf 

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Finding the balance

How do you decide what to work on?

How do you do the work?

Operational Strategic

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Helping to decide what to work on

Governance Structures and Policies

Project Management

Service Portfolio ReviewSaying No

Categories / Tiers

Balanced ScorecardEvaluating ROI / Strategic Value

… 

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How to do the work

Service Delivery Models

Insource vs. Outsource vs. Hybrid

SaaS, Cloud, Onsite

Resource Organization

Staff Roles

Structures

Distributed vs. Centralized

… 

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Strategic Value

&Categories

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“The out of the box

solution won’t work forus.” We are different. We are different.” 

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We should be different in

places where the differenceadds (strategic) value to the

institution

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One way to approach this is to

think about our services

in terms of categories

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Category Description Example

Utility No or limited value-addto the institution, unless

they are not there.

Network, ResNet,eMail, MS-Office

Tactical Solves a specific businessneed.

Payroll, HR system

Strategic Helps move an institution

forward to where it’s

trying to go.

Prospective student

recruiting services,

Analytics program

Every institution will define what goes into each category differently. What is

viewed as a utility at one institution may be strategic at another.

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Debra Allison at

Miami University,

Ohio, refers to

Tiers of Services

Miami University IT Portfolio Board Proposed Prioritization and Metrics, January 2013

Operations

Regulatory or

mandated

Lights on

Partner request /

demand

Grow & transform

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Getting more granular

   U   t   i    l   i   t   y

   T   a   c   t   i   c

   a    l

   S   t   r   a   t   e   g   i   c

Instructional

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Getting more granular

• Each category can be

subdivided by area served.

• The goal is to be able to assign

an appropriate category orbucket for each of your

services and projects.

• Develop a target mix (what %

of your resources should be

spent on any one category at

any particular time).

   U   t   i    l   i   t   y

Instructional

Infrastructure

Administrative

Research

   T   a   c   t   i   c

   a    l

Instructional

Infrastructure

Administrative

Research

   S   t   r   a   t   e   g   i   c

Instructional

Infrastructure

Administrative

Research

25%

35%

40%

30%

30%

30%

10%

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Saying No

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“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve

 got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means

 saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there

are. You have to pick carefully.” 

 Attributed to Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.

“I'm as proud of what we don't do

as I am of what we do …”  

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Governance

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The Role of Governance

• Who gets to decide what you take on?

• How is it prioritized?

•

How is it connected to the overall strategy of the institution?

• Is there one front door, or do requests and

new initiatives come in from multiple places?

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Service Delivery Options

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Who does the work?

Outsource?Insource?

Hybrid?

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Category Delivery Method Example

Utility Strong candidate foroutsourcing. Off-the-shelf 

solution. No or minimal

customization.

Network, ResNet,eMail, MS-Office

Tactical Consider outsourcing all

or part. Candidate for

hybrid solutions. Minimal

customization (bolt-ons).

Payroll, HR system

Strategic Usually insourced. May

be highly customized.

Prospective student

recruiting services,

Analytics program

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Organization

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Organizational Questions

• Outsourcing

 – Contract review and management

• Legal and technical review / approval

 – Engagement (project) management

 – Integration Services

• Application / data integration

•Infrastructure services

• Security

• Development vs. Operations

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What are your ideas for how an IT

organization might achieve a better

balance between "operational" and"strategic" activities?

How do you decide what to work on?

How do you go about doing the work?

Discussion

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Thanks!

Slides will be posted to

the conference website shortly.

David Weil

Director, Enterprise Application Services

Ithaca College, dweil@ithaca.edu

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What techniques do you use

to balance the mix of operational and strategic

activities?

Discussion

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What is your process for

regularly reviewing whatyou do, and for identifyingservices to be discontinued

or handled differently?

Discussion

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What policies and

procedures do you have inplace for determining whatis appropriate to outsource?

Insource? Hybrid?

Discussion

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How do the roles within

your organization align tosupport various delivery

strategies?

Discussion

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Other suggestions for

obtaining a better balance?

Discussion