Caturano and Company IT Trends - Thoughts?

We had a good turnout last week at the Caturano IT Trends Event: "Deliver Premium Returns on Your IT Investments". Bill Kracunas, VP of Caturano's Consulting Practice, talked at length about the role and value of IT in an organization. I thought his analysis about moving the ratio of new projects/maintenance spending from 80/20 to 60/40 particularly interesting. This would certainly allow for more spending in strategic areas of the business rather than just "keeping the lights on".

Also, Bill's analysis of the typical IT investment portfolio mix is a helpful guide for CFO/CEO/CIOs trying to balance their own portfolios. According to Bill, about 50% of projects are infrastructure focused, 25% transactional, 20% information, and the remaining strategic. He also points out that infrastructure projects are among the easiest to develop an ROI for.

Jean Bua, CFO of American Tower and another event speaker, added her experience to the discussion of capital IT expenditures. She noted that at American Tower 10% of the capital budget is already preallocated to infrastructure projects. Without this, it would be difficult to internally sell these projects against strategic projects that may be revenue generating.

The common them across all the speakers was that sound IT begins with business strategy articulation and understanding of business process. Only then can IT be used as an enabling tool to support growth, create efficiencies, and generate revenue for your business.

If you would like a copy of the presentations please email me at diego.rosenfeld@caturanoandcompany.com.