A Demanding Environment

Today’s business environment places increasing demands (rapid change, financial constraints, security and reliability concerns, global interconnectedness) on IT organizations in order to meet the expanding needs of a wide variety of stakeholders. Technology advances have enabled IT organizations to better meet these demands and have created many new business opportunities. One drawback, however, is that teams dealing with new technology can quickly lose track of its business intent, and the business perception of the value of IT can be questioned. At the same time, technology projects continue to challenge IT—many projects are unsuccessful or squander precious resources through poor quality results. Moreover, enterprise businesses are increasingly dependent on their information technology systems and are therefore more vulnerable to failures in those systems. While rock-solid technology is necessary to meet demands for reliable, available, and secure IT services, technology alone is not sufficient; excellence in processes and people (skills, roles, and responsibilities) is also needed.