OK, here is the final section of the digital plumbing series…  I mentioned that we have been building a model that can be used to grade, and organize how a company does technology from a digital plumbing viewpoint.  We display it graphically as a pyramid so I will start at the top and work down through the layers.  In each layer, we grade the company’s performance in that layer.  The really useful part of this is to have a framework through which you can evaluate how technology is getting applied.

The top of the pyramid is the concept of matching technology to the business needs of an organization.  So how will do the investments in technology support the company in reaching its goals.  This sounds simple but we often have to grade clients low because they invest in what seems like good technology when the truth is they are implementing things that have much less value than other options they leave on the shelf.  This happens because they lack technology strategic planning, and they invest tech dollars based on who screams the loudest, or has the largest budget – not what would benefit the bottom line the most.

The next layer is a series of technology basics that every organization must be able to do well:

• Normalizing data
• Flowing data
• Storing data
• Analyzing data
• Process improvement
• Process automation
• Device quality
• Training

In each case, we can grade the organizations ability to do this list of foundational activities.  Stand back from which software applications you run, and just consider the general performance in these areas.

The next layer is staffing.  What is the level of technology expertise in the organization?  This includes the IT department, and the user base.  We must measure not only ability of the staff to build, implement, and use tech tools, but also the willingness to adopt and pioneer new technologies.  You can invest in technology forever and if people will not use it wisely, you have wasted your money.

Then we move to the layer of technology strategy processes.  What are the methods by which we do IT budgeting, IT strategic thinking, planning, priority setting, etc.? There are a number of processes at this level that dictate whether an organization is efficiently aiming the resources in the right direction at the right time.

The foundational layer of the pyramid is the operational IT processes.  Things like how you make build versus buy decisions, disaster recovery plans, vendor selection rules, implementation processes, IT hiring processes, etc.  A low grade here means you will not be able to execute on your planning in an efficient way.

By grading each of these layers, an organization will get a clear picture as to the overall health of how they do IT.  Everywhere that anything below an “A” is earned, there is room for improvement.  Added together, this is a scorecard that can help the C-suite work with IT people to improve the holistic application of technology.  The result will be stellar digital plumbing that will result in an organization having a clear path to prosperity.  Fail to improve this scorecard, and an organization is in danger of falling on the rocks of irrelevance over time…

Scott Klososky
Scott@klososky.com