CCDirector™ Case Study: IT Investment

A product focused company operating in a highly competitive market had under-invested in IT investment due to expense and capital constraints caused by margin erosion.  The management team decided it was time to invest in IT in order to provide market differentiation through minimizing operating costs and maximizing customer service.  The IT investment program brief was to enable as much customer self-service as possible. 

Using CCDirector™ acapability model was constructed and data collected from within the business as well as from suppliers and distribution partners.  The CCDirector™ capability profile below shows the current situation following the assessment.  Although the IT capabilities are clearly absent from the profile, the business is only aiming to operate at 1st Base.

However when the approved IT program was added to the profile (blue blocks) together proposed further investment (green blocks) it became clear that the 3rd Base IT environment investment was well beyond both the planned business direction and the customer process changes.  As a result the IT environment was scaled back to 2nd Base and using the CCDirector™ gap analysis, programs were put in place to align the business direction and customer processes with the new IT capabilities.  In addition IT program management was also enhanced to ensure the investment was fully realized.