The Hackett Group

Hackett provides CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and senior IT executives with benchmarking, transformation and advisory services that enable objective performance evaluation, utilize proven and leading best practices and guide the design and implementation of client-centric transformation solutions.

Hackett's IT transformation practice focuses on enhancing the business value of information technology through: the business of IT, governance between IT and internal/business users; management of demand and supply for resources; prioritization of investments and controls; IT performance measurement and the agility to scale and overall align with business objectives.

These services include:

• IT business value management
• Business-driven IT strategy
• IT governance
• IT organizational design
• IT capabilities assessment
• Performance management framework
• Enterprise project management office (EPMO)
• Transformation management office (TMO)
• IT project management office (PMO)
• Project portfolio management (PPM)
• IT enterprise architecture
• Application portfolio rationalization
• Service catalog
• Mergers & acquisition due-diligence
• IT transformational finance (including chargeback, transparency, financial models)
• IT transformational benchmark
• Sourcing strategy
• IT organizational change management

IT Business Value Management

Hackett research has found a strong correlation between company financial performance and capabilities related to IT business value management. The Hackett IT business value management (IT BVM) framework, facilitated by IT transformational personnel, allows organizations to assess and improve their IT BVM core processes, and establish a common business/IT framework to measure the impact of IT solutions and services on business performance.

Hackett research indicates that IT BVM top performers exploit capabilities concerned with repeatable processes (such as in application portfolio management and performance measurement), as opposed to capabilities concerned with discretionary activities (e.g., project portfolio management). Ultimately, the performance gap is simply explained by the fact that top performers have put the processes and resources in place to address the business value management issue, driven by senior executive recognition that IT BVM is a core competency.

The business value topic has risen to the top of most CIOs' agendas and with good reason: The financial performance of successful companies that are able to consistently deliver business value makes for a compelling case.

Business-Driven IT Strategy

The need for organizations to develop a business-driven IT strategy is becoming more urgent. In today's world, there simply is no major business change or strategic initiative that is devoid of information technology. In many instances, the capabilities of information technology yield opportunities for new strategic initiatives, or new means by which to pursue existing business strategies. Over the past few years, The Hackett Group has observed that one of the distinguishing features of world-class companies is a higher level of investment in IT, coupled with significant improvements in business performance. An effective IT strategy is critical to identifying the IT capabilities and components that enable improved business performance, and defining the implementation path for achieving these capabilities.

The Hackett team works with the sponsoring organization to:

• Develop a plan for fully leveraging technology to meet business needs and goals;
• Define an approach for making investments that significantly increases the value of IT to the organization;
• Identify initiatives to operate more efficiently and effectively;
• determine the business case considerations for the future-state initiatives;
• Establish an IT organization that is efficient;
• Balance an organization's strategic goals;
• Determine technology direction and corporate culture with industry trends to create a distinct IT strategy;
• Create an achievable implementation roadmap and clearly communicate the role and value of IT throughout the organization.

IT Capabilities Assessment

As the demands on IT to support the business increase and become more challenging, there is also a correlating expectation for IT to function more efficiently. Furthermore, mergers and acquisitions add to the complexity of understanding what an IT function needs to deliver to support the organization, and how best to deliver it. When a company understands it has IT limitations or that there's room for improvement in a specific capability area, a general assessment of IT is needed to better understand the gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Hackett's IT Transformation teams of specialists will assess the services IT provides to the business and help to determine the capabilities needed to align with the strategic direction. Hackett teams also assist organizations in establishing a framework to track progress to planned goals for service delivery and rationalization of applications/technologies.

Hackett provides the specific recommendations and insights that companies need by utilizing data-driven analysis; key performance metrics; Hackett-Certified™ Practices; top-performer reference materials; industry reference models and methods; and deep industry experience and capabilities.

Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO)

Through benchmark and best practice research, Hackett has found a high correlation between the ability of projects in an organization's pipeline to successfully deliver the expected results and the oversight of a Program Management Office (PMO) for those projects. A PMO that spans across the enterprise (an EPMO) is able to capitalize on the efforts of the business and functions to deliver projects on time, on budget and to specification to realize the intended benefits. By aligning the strategic direction through a streamlined project portfolio using balanced prioritization criteria, a company can achieve greater success by having a common approach to project delivery, reporting and benefit tracking.

Hackett has developed a phased approach in assisting organizations with establishing or maturing a Program Management Office to an enterprise capability level. Specific tools for aligning delivery approach, benefits realization, project tracking and project reporting are tailored and implemented according to the organization's maturity, change-readiness and need. Hackett's top-performer processes and a program framework are established to allow efficient synchronization of data and visibility into project progress, enabling speed and accuracy of executive-level decisions.

With the experience of implementing EPMOs and PMOs across the world, with varying sizes, scopes and maturity levels, Hackett is able to deploy solutions rapidly and effectively to enable a company to realize immediate returns and govern its projects successfully.

IT Organization Design

In Hackett's research, there is a strong movement for IT organizations to balance effective service with efficient pricing. To achieve this goal, it is critical for an IT organization to understand that it has the right talent, delivery structure and alignment in place to provide its services and is capable of effective communication and effectively tracking and managing performance. IT leadership needs to have the confidence that support will be delivered by an organization that is properly aligned, well-trained, has clear roles and responsibilities, and understands the career opportunities within the IT organization holistically and for each team member. Hackett has the empirical data and experience to review an IT functional organizational structure and associated processes and recommend improvements to the alignment, process improvements, or structure to improve IT's delivery and employee satisfaction. The Hackett team uses a specific methodology, taxonomy and toolset for assessing the current state, determining the targeted future state, identifying the necessary changes to achieve the future state, and recommending specific and coordinated actions to facilitate the changes. The focus is on the key areas of an organizational model and service delivery: IT services to be delivered, roles and responsibilities defined, processes for interaction within IT, competencies and skills required, scaling and staffing ratios, governing frameworks, communication effectiveness and performance management expectations.

Turning an IT organization around, or melding cultures after a merger, are challenging transformations. Hackett has the experience and insight to help companies correctly address the root of the problem and outline specific, tailored and best-practice methods for effectively designing an IT organization.

For more information on any of the Advisory Programs, Benchmarking Programs, or Transformation Programs, contact us.