Technology

Achieving high performance

through an effective IT strategy
IT leaders must balance
demands to squeeze more
value out of limited IT
budgets and imperatives to
invest strategically in IT to
support the future needs of
the business. Looking ahead,
IT will play a major role
in the renewed focus on
business opportunity, such
as boosting customer
engagement via new digital
channels and winning and
retaining customers in
emerging markets. IT will
also play a critical role in
satisfying the heightened
need for data and insights
as today’s executives seek
accurate, real-time data
to support decision making,
to reduce risk and to drive
improvements across
geographies.
To achieve high performance,
organizations must continue
to control the cost of IT
while determining where
to invest in IT to gain
competitive advantage and
build new capabilities.
Benefits of the Accenture approach to
IT strategy
Working with Accenture to develop a more effective IT strategy,
companies can increase their bottom line by as much as 5 percent.
The following are two examples of leading organizations that
have benefited from Accenture’s expertise.

Global energy company
An energy company that had grown
rapidly into a global business with
operations in more than 27 countries
needed a global IT investment and
organizational plan that was closely
aligned with its business strategy.
Ready to transform IT into a growth
enabler, the company turned to
Accenture for its ability to translate
board-level strategies and objectives
into results-driven technology
capabilities. The Accenture team worked
with the company at each stage of
the transformation, from IT strategy
development through implementation.
As a result, the estimated net present
value of the investment is now three
times greater than when the
investment was originally approved.
With Accenture’s help, the global
energy company has a completely new
IT organization with clearly defined
roles and responsibilities and improved
efficiency. IT governance bodies have
been established to serve as steering
committees between IT and business
stakeholders, and a new enterprise
architecture is supporting both organic
growth and that from mergers and
acquisitions.
Overall, the company enjoys a tighter
link between IT and business strategy,
with new IT applications that are better
able to support business processes.
Consumer goods company
A global consumer goods company
sought to more quickly harness market
opportunities across its enterprise
while reducing product and process
complexity.
Because business information was
seen as a critical enabler to achieve
enterprise goals, the company wanted
to make substantial improvements in
how it managed and exploited
information to deliver strategic value.
The solution developed with Accenture
has helped the company cultivate
information that will facilitate change
and generate both immediate and
long-term value across the business.
The solution also has enabled the
company to effectively manage
information and track progress in
improving the quality and delivery
of critical business information.
Overall, by working with Accenture,
the company gained a business
information road map that supports
the organization’s strategy and
operating model.
Accenture IT
strategy services
Accenture understands the
challenges and opportunities
companies face, and has built
world-class IT strategy consulting
capabilities to help companies
capitalize on emerging growth
prospects while maintaining high
levels of IT efficiency.
An important differentiator of the
Accenture approach to IT strategy is
the breadth of its scope (Figure 1).
In developing an IT strategy, we
focus not only on the core elements
of IT—applications and technology
and the IT operating model—but
also on what often gets overlooked
in IT strategy development efforts:
aligning business and IT so IT can
deliver maximum value. We use a
rigorous executive review process
designed to maintain full support
Figure 1. The Accenture approach to IT strategy addresses the core elements
of IT as well as business-IT alignment and stakeholder buy-in throughout the
development process.
Phase I
Mobilization and As-Is State Assessment
Step 1
Project Start-up and
As-Is Overview
Manage
Project and
Stakeholders
Value-Based
Business/IT
Alignment
Applications
and
Technology
IT Operating
Model
What are the most important opportunities?
of key stakeholders, including both
IT and business leaders. Given the
growing integration between IT
and every function of the business,
addressing the alignment and buy-in
aspects of IT strategy for the duration
of the development effort has
become vital.
Accenture’s approach to IT strategy
is built upon our proven IT strategy
framework, which follows a
five-step process to help companies
develop the right IT strategy for
their business (Figure 1).
In the first three steps, we help
identify the most important
opportunities a company could
capitalize on. Major activities in
these steps include assessing the
current state of IT, determining
and prioritizing opportunities for
improvement based on the business
value they are expected to generate,
and developing the future-state IT
Phase II
To-Be State Definition and Strategy Formulation
Step 2 Step 3
Opportunities and Value To-Be State Architecture
Context and IT Operating Model
architecture and operating model
that can enable the company to
capture those improvement
opportunities. Throughout these
first three steps, we answer key
questions related to how IT can
best help the enterprise achieve
its mission (Figure 1).
In the last two steps of the process,
we focus on determining how the
company’s IT should move forward
and how best to create the IT
capabilities that will support the
enterprise in the future. Major
activities in these steps include
creating the business case for new
IT initiatives and investments and
developing a road map for moving
from the current IT state to the
future IT state (Figure 1). The
framework consists of integrated
components that can be customized
to fit the needs of any company.
Phase III
IT Road Map Development
Step 4 Step 5
Programs and Business Implementation Road Map
Case and Finalization
How should IT move forward?
Another advantage of the Accenture
approach is our ability to tap quickly
into the collective knowledge of the
global Accenture organization. At any
point in the IT strategy development
process, we can involve Accenture
professionals with deep experience in
enterprise architecture, IT infrastructure,
systems integration and outsourcing,
as well as functional, industry or
business strategy experts and IT
innovation experts from Accenture
Technology Labs.
Differentiated value
from a proven
approach
Accenture is a leading provider of
information technology consulting
and is uniquely positioned to help
organizations address their IT strategy
challenges. We have provided
technology consulting expertise to
nearly two-thirds of the Fortune 100
during the past two years, and as a
company we have more than 20 years
of experience executing hundreds
of IT strategy projects with clients
around the world. Through this
experience and our ongoing Accenture
High Performance IT research, we have
developed powerful intellectual
property, diagnostic tools, templates
and frameworks that enable us to
deliver better, faster results for our
clients.
The Accenture global organization
includes an experienced core practice
of IT strategy and transformation
professionals focused on creating
effective IT strategies and world-class
enterprise architectures for companies
across industries. This specialist team
is backed by Accenture’s broad
technology and outsourcing team, with
more than 100,000 people covering the
entire range of technology capabilities—
from IT strategy development to
solutions for optimizing IT infrastructure
and applications to systems integration
and outsourcing—and a global network
of experienced industry and business
process experts.
Accenture is committed to developing
pragmatic strategies that can be
implemented rapidly and effectively.
Indeed, our people are experienced
strategists who are also experienced
implementers focused on real results.
Using IT to help
drive high
performance
As companies focus on growth, IT
becomes an even bigger competitive
differentiator—not to mention a
potentially greater driver of operational
cost. The way companies manage this
critical capability has a major impact
on an enterprise’s competitive position
and ability to make the most of
emerging opportunities. Recognizing
this, leading companies are setting
their sights on more effectively “Accenture has one of
aligning their IT investments with the
overall mission of the enterprise—and,
the largest and most
in the process, providing short- and comprehensive IT service
long-term IT support that generates offerings. Accenture was
the greatest value for the business.
found to have strong
By working with Accenture on these
mission-critical initiatives, enterprises
capabilities within all four
can gain access to some of the best evaluated IT Strategy and
thinking in the industry, paired with Planning segments, including
powerful, tested tools and assets
that help companies produce results Business Performance, IT
faster. In this way, companies can Management, Enterprise
forge an IT strategy that lays the
groundwork for the development of
Architecture and Systems
an IT organization that can serve as a Strategy and Architecture."
powerful leverage point in the pursuit
Source: Kennedy; “IT Strategy &
of high performance.
Planning Consulting Marketplace
2009”; © BNA Subsidiaries, LLC.
Reproduced under license.
Copyright © 2010 Accenture
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than 181,000 people serving clients in
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capabilities across all industries and
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with clients to help them become
high-performance businesses and
governments. The company generated
net revenues of US$21.58 billion for
the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2009.
Its home page is www.accenture.com.