The average enterprise company has several mission-critical applications that were first built 20 to 30 years ago, which have been neglected as IT budgets were diverted to the many new technology trends over the last 25 years. These systems are now showing their age and are lacking crucial business functions or are too expensive to maintain and adapt.
This is timely as business leaders today are focusing much of their attention on application modernization. In fact, according to a new survey by IDG company Foundry, 87% of respondents cited modernizing critical applications as a key success driver.
Techtalent.ca sat down with Chris Ford, President of Canadian technology consulting company, Intelliware, this week to talk about how modernization of an organizations dated applications isn’t a one-size-fits-all process but something that must be tailored to fit the needs of each organization.
Having recently deployed a new delivery systems review process, Intelliware believes that the key to effective modernization must take into account the overall structure of a company from team dynamics, collaboration, and culture to make modernization of systems more effective. By modernizing their systems effectively, enterprise organizations could potentially attract the right talent by having high-performing teams.
Tell us a little more about Intelliware’s delivery systems review process. How does it work?
CF: The Intelliware Delivery System Review Process is a collaborative approach to assess partnership and transformation alternatives for the current business needs. The Delivery System Review Process is a highly customized end-to-end approach to working with enterprise companies and their teams to better understand their modernization needs and providing the consultation and technical expertise needed to achieve those unique goals.
The delivery system review process deconstructs the goals of a business’s strategy by analyzing the why, the how and the what/when.
The Why looks at the core business domain and the requirements needed to run the system optimally and as error-free as possible.
The How examines the design and unique processes required to ensure the delivery system executes smoothly and is tailored to distinct business needs.
The What/When considers the engineering and planning to be integrated into the system’s performance and scalability to ensure it is of quality standards.
How do outdated applications affect the productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency of a team?
CF: These outdated and mission-critical applications have been disregarded for a prolonged period, and over the course of the past 25 years, IT budgets were redirected toward emerging technology trends. These systems have begun to reveal their outdated nature, lacking essential business functionalities, or proving excessively costly to maintain and adapt. This circumstance aligns well with the current emphasis of business leaders on application modernization.
For example, major financial institutions use customer-facing platforms that are sluggish in performance, lacking updates, slow or expensive to develop, hard to onboard new developers due to technological advancements, or bottom-line — just out-of-date and inoperable.
How does Intelliware ensure that the steps to modernize an organization’s applications align with the needs of an organization’s team?
CF: The delivery systems process has adapted the considerations that companies need to take into account when modernizing their systems, the priorities that come with modernizing their systems so that the process results in enhanced team productivity and efficiency and is a footprint for how companies can stay on top of keeping their systems up-to-date after the modernization process is complete.
The Delivery System has an end-to-end scope and must be considered as broader than an individual delivery team. The environment in which such teams exist can make or break a delivery team. For example, a lean, agile team that must regularly work with an internal bureaucratic organization moves at the speed of the bureaucracy. To ensure successful delivery, we need to consider the end-to-end scope and include other aspects in the delivery recommendations.
We understand that the delivery system isn’t a one size fits all solution. Instead, it is fit for purpose and has an end-to-end scope. Tell us more about this.
CF: Believing that a one-size-fits-all is not the answer, Intelliware’s approach hinges on collaboration, taking into account an organization’s individual business strategy and operational management style while prioritizing metrics-driven outcomes.
The Delivery System can’t be discussed in terms such as “industry best practices”: the Delivery System must fit the specific need and context in which it operates. Many enterprises are currently thinking of delivery with an eye toward products and enterprise-wide platforms even though many systems that the enterprise will develop have dramatically different
needs. Consider how the following types of delivery systems might differ in outcomes, methodology and implementation. We must develop a delivery system that’s specific to each context. The same organization can have multiple different delivery systems.
You have a three-step approach – collect, create, and collaborate. Tell us about the significance of each step and how that impacts an organization and its teams.
CF: The three-step approach will provide an overview of the review process for all involved stakeholders, both technical and business leaders – to ensure there is a shared understanding of the goals and process, as well as the expected outputs.
Step 1: Collect information, key business documents, systems management history, staff insights and best practices used in similar contexts.
Step 2: Create the necessary design components from subject matter experts, a workshop to prioritize the functional and technical capabilities that will determine objectives, key metrics and barriers to success, then design an effective delivery system to meet the needs of the strategy.
Step 3: Collaborate on a project roadmap, establish and design the functioning of the delivery system team, catalogue the dependent systems and organizations that need to be included in the delivery system design, and work with business owners to determine product management opportunities, existing needs, and potential future milestones.
How does Intelliware’s delivery systems review process help organizations step up their game as employers to result in higher-performing teams and eventually attract the right talent?
CF: Many of our enterprise customers, particularly, are experiencing a similar framing problem — the need to modernize an existing asset — but this delivery system review process is broadly applicable. The Delivery System encompasses the full spectrum of system delivery and management, including business strategy all the way to operational management and metrics-driven outcomes.
The delivery systems review process is crucial in helping organizations enhance their status as employers and build higher-performing teams, ultimately attracting the right talent. It contributes to these outcomes by:
- Identifying the business’s strengths and weaknesses and how to address them.
- Prioritizing optimization: streamlining processes, inefficiencies, and productivity.
- Encouraging enhanced engagement and empowerment opportunities from the team.
- Aligning with business stakeholders in the review process also emphasizes interactions between the delivery system team and business stakeholders.
- Creating employer branding and talent attraction by proving to be an organization actively investing in optimizing their delivery systems, fostering high-performing teams, and creating an engaging work environment, enhancing their reputation as employers of choice.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
CF: At Intelliware, we continue to build enterprise-grade software solutions that enable organizations in complex industries to achieve their business objectives through impactful technology.
The Intelliware Delivery System Review Process entails a collaborative approach to evaluate partnership and transformation options to address the organization’s present business requirements.