Portfolios That Make a Path to the Future
May 18, 2015
Wednesday afternoon (2 PM Eastern time, US) MB Foster is educating IT managers on the business case for using Application Portfolio Management. (Register here for the free event.) APM has gained a lot of traction in boardrooms and the places where analyst reports score points.
Gartner's researchers report that "Application portfolio management is critical to understanding and managing the 40-80 percent of IT budgets devoted to maintaining and enhancing software." HP 3000 managers, and especially those who are on the move to a new computing path, understand how much of their work has always gone into extending and repairing apps that make a difference.
Foster's team says that APM "changes the way you manage IT assets. Without proper visibility, IT executives can never be sure that they are investing appropriately by acquiring enhancing or retiring, the right application at the right time. Without visibility, APM is simply impossible without an ongoing view of IT investments."
In this Wednesday's webinar, Birket Foster will highlight the business case for APM, and outline "where you should start, mapping your portfolio, building a score card, examining business and technical fit, understanding benefit and risks and other subject related content." Foster's been talking about APM for more than 10 years, just about the whole time 3000 migrations have been in play.
APM can begin by delivering a means to increase the visibility of HP 3000 apps. And if that MPE visibility leads to a more energized transition plan — because now the executive management sees how vital the MPE/iX application is to meeting company goals — that's a good thing as well.
You have to know how to treat applications as assets, to frame software as if it's as essential as cash on hand for a company. APM doesn't get cited much by the 3000 manager who's worked as a technologist to deliver value to a company. This is the business side of business computing. Learning more about that side gives a manager a greater skill set. Best of all, these practices make it easier to justify IT acquisition and expansion and yes, even a migration with its profound expenses.
Foster says that IT organizations and technology leaders are missing out on an opportunity to reduce IT costs, optimize applications, and deliver value back to the business. "With a bottom-up analysis for top-down decisions, IT departments move from an unclear inventory of applications with limited understanding of each, to a defined inventory with actionable information on the business value and technical condition of each application."
IT wants executive management to understand the condition of applications, built, bought, or accumulated through M&A, as well as how the apps affect and grow the business, and how they affect the bottom line and future budgets. APM can show what skills are required to manage and maintain the portfolio, and where succession planning plays a role.