- Organizations are becoming increasingly focused on the customer and much of this focus places technology at the center. However, the business units feel uncomfortable working with IT for customer-related projects because they don’t believe that IT understands the customer. IT struggles to understand what they should be doing different to support this growing customer-focus.
- Often by the time feedback from the customer reaches IT, it has been passed through many layers of the organization, altering the message. This process of passing on feedback is typically slow, delaying changes to customer solutions.
- Despite being uniquely positioned across the organization, IT is generally removed from decisions regarding the end customer. IT staff are unsure how to come forth with ideas that could benefit the end customer resulting in many good ideas going unnoticed.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Becoming aligned with the customer is doable. By taking a step-by-step, holistic approach, the CIO can build a customer-centric IT department.
- Business unit heads are a key partner throughout this project. IT must engage the customer with the business.
- To minimize surprises, build an iterative process called a feedback loop to continually respond to customer preferences.
Impact and Result
- Being successful does not require turning your developers into sales representatives. Instead, take a process-driven approach, grounded in what you know.
- IT and the business must collaborate to talk to the customer together rather than the business passing on customer feedback to IT. Changing the process is absolutely essential to the success of this project.
- Develop feedback loops between IT and the customer. Balance the feedback mechanism you choose with the size of investment and the delay your organization is willing to undertake.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
8.0/10
Overall Impact
20
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Town Of Marana
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
20
Workshop: Align IT with the Real End Customer
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Investigate the Challenges and Review the Benefits of Aligning IT with the End Customer
The Purpose
- Identification of the issues that arise when IT is not properly aligned with the customer.
- Identification of potential benefits that will be achieved when IT is aligned with the customer.
- Assessment of what is necessary to be ready to align IT with the customer.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Clear conceptualization of the challenges and benefits associated with IT and customer alignment.
- Readiness to proceed with the rest of the blueprint, following a step-by-step, holistic approach for aligning IT with the customer.
Activities
Outputs
Identify current pain points
- List of current pain points
Identify opportunities
- List of opportunities
Review the readiness checklist
- Go/No-Go Decision
Module 2: Build the IT and Customer Alignment Charter
The Purpose
- Socialize the project and gain buy-in and support from business units.
- Make certain the business is on the same page with regards to customer-centricity to ensure project success.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Have a solid understanding of stakeholders and specific strategies for addressing each group.
- Ability to align the project benefits with business drivers.
- Identification of key success metrics and establishment of baselines and targets.
Activities
Outputs
Identify and interview key stakeholders
- Stakeholder interview guide and strategy
Identify business drivers
- Business drivers and project fit
Tie project benefits to business drivers
- Project benefits tied to business drivers
Define metrics
- List of direct and intermediary metrics
Module 3: Assess Current IT and Customer Processes
The Purpose
- Gain an understanding of the starting point for IT and customer processes.
- Identify what is and is not working to help structure target state.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Thorough and structured review and assessment of your current IT and customer processes.
- Evaluation of the pain points associated with those processes.
Activities
Outputs
Map current IT and customer processes
- Current process flow diagram
Identify process pain points and drill down on root causes
- List of process pain points and root causes
Module 4: Select Target IT and Customer Processes
The Purpose
- Gain an understanding of the starting point for IT and customer processes.
- Identify what is and is not working to help structure target state.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Clear idea of what IT and customer processes look like in a target state.
- An assessment of feedback mechanisms and their different use cases.
Activities
Outputs
Examination of the last project completed and whether or not feedback mechanisms could have alleviated pain
- List of pain points that feedback mechanisms could have eliminated in the last project
Discuss feasibility and use cases of different feedback mechanisms
- Idea of which feedback mechanism is best suited to your unique needs
Draft target state process flows
- Target process flow diagram
Module 5: Determine Process Mofications
The Purpose
- Determine what initiatives are necessary to close the gaps between the current and target state process flows.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Understanding of which initiatives to implement, which to disregard, and which to save for a later implementation date.
- Ability to begin thinking about the initiatives that are necessary to complete first and being to move forward with preparing for them.
Activities
Outputs
Brainstorm initiatives to close gaps between the current and target state
- List of gaps that exist between current and target state
Prioritize initiatives by importance
- List of initiatives necessary to close gaps
Create timeline of initiatives
- Prioritization and timeline of initiatives
Module 6: Refine Organizational Design
The Purpose
- Organizational design should reflect a smooth flow of customer information to match newly designed processes.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Recognize the importance of designing an organization that fosters collaboration with the customer.
- Conduct a thorough examination of the options for embedding IT in the business.
- Define key organizational design objectives and outline organizational design initiatives.
Activities
Outputs
Establish culture
- Checklist to assess culture
Define key objectives
- List of key objectives
Embed IT in the business
- Assessment of options for embedding IT in the business
Tailor model to fit organization
- List of questions to consider when right-sizing to fit the organization
Outline organizational design initiatives
- List of organizational design initiatives
Module 7: Motivate IT Staff
The Purpose
- Given that the target processes for many IT staff have now changed, it is essential that the methods in which they are measured and motivated reflect this.
- Motivate IT staff beyond building a system that works to one that is truly innovative.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Understand the importance of updating IT staff motivation to fit with new processes.
- Examine how IT staff are currently measured and motivated.
- Determine desired behaviors and new metrics and motivation strategies to match.
Activities
Outputs
Examine IT’s current metrics
- Inventory of IT’s current metrics
Identify new metrics based on desired behaviors
- Outline of desired behaviors in IT and associated new metrics or values
Brainstorm and tie motivators to new metrics
- List of motivators by employee groups and motivation strategies
Determine gaps and draft initiatives to address gaps
- Draft of gaps and initiatives to address gaps
Module 8: Communicate Effectively
The Purpose
- Having a shared vision is important, but stakeholders will want to know what this project means to them.
- When preparing messages for each group identify the impact this change will have on their role.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Define the project vision and identify the communication plan for each stakeholder group at a high level.
- Recognize what should be included in the initial presentation to stakeholders.
Activities
Outputs
Define the vision
- Outline of the vision
Create communication plan
- Communication plan
Develop the stakeholder presentation
- Stakeholder presentation
Module 9: Train IT Staff
The Purpose
- Experiential training is an excellent way to “break the mold” with your training methods and provide IT staff with the opportunity to interact with the customer and to better understand their needs.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Recognition of the methods of experiential training and their feasibility in the organization.
- Draft a proposed training plan including activities, timeline, and other key components.
Activities
Outputs
Determine experiential training
- Assessment of appropriateness for experiential training methods
Build a training plan
- Training plan