It’s almost certain that you’ve heard the expressions “do more with less” and do things “cheaper, faster, better”. If we think about Information Technology (IT) we can do more software development, projects and maintenance and support activities with less effort, money and time. These changes can be driven by lower costs resources (people, tools, technology), automation and outsourcing, and through process improvements (rationalization, streamlining, optimizing).
Let me assert the following about cheaper, faster, better:
- Cheaper does not always result in better.
- Faster does not always result in better.
- Better done cheaper and faster will accelerate results.
- Results driven by specific metrics and measures tied to your business strategy and its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the results your business wants to accelerate. At TIMIT we call this “Smarter IT”.
So then what business value can be driven by each component of these ideas? Understanding the business value makes us think about the cost of effort, and the volume of effort. Doing effort cheaper that has little or no value to your business may reduce your cost but creates no real value. Doing less of something that is of little or no value to your business may also reduce your cost but also creates no real value.
Doing things better means you do them smarter. This is done by optimizing your business processes by taking out the “Muda” (waste), streamlining what’s left and making sure every activity is tied to your business strategy and measured by your business KPIs. Then effort done cheaper and faster increases business value since it produces the results your business expects. An IT Services Partner can help work you work through this, but it must be a collaborative effort based on your business strategy and KPIs.
So, when an IT Services firm sells you on doing more for less; or on cheaper, faster, better, the discussion needs to be about how all of that will produce the results your business expects. There is certainly some collaborative work that needs to be done with your IT Services Partner to produce that outcome.