Managing the IT Capability using IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF)

The IT-CMF comprises four macro-capabilities to emphasize their complexity and their importance in managing IT for business value. 

The IT Budget is essentially the input to the production process, the IT capability as the production engine and IT value as the output. Managing IT like a business closes the loop by providing the feedback mechanism for adjusting inputs to optimize the output value.

IT-CMF breaks down each macro-capability into critical capabilities. These critical capabilities are a specific set of key activities and procedures that must be defined and mastered to enable the IT organization to plan and deliver IT solutions, and to measure the business value consequences of its initiatives and daily activities.

Managing IT like a Business

Managing IT like a Business means running IT like any other business and that involves shifting the focus from technology and production to a focus on customers and services. The IT-CMF describes the internal processes required to move an IT organization from a technology to a service orientation that provides customer-driven solutions to business problems. As an organization makes this change and moves up the Managing IT like a Business strategy, it allies itself more closely with the firm and its overall business objectives. The transformation to running your IT organization like a business is complete when IT moves from a cost to a value centre.

Managing the IT Budget

Managing the IT budget is critical to delivering current and future value. The IT-CMF looks at the practices and tools that can be used to manage your IT budget so that you reduce cost and liberate funds to invest in innovative IT solutions that deliver better value and performance. As you can see from the Managing the IT Budget strategy, the path to a sustainable economic model begins with controlling and managing costs to allow for greater funding in IT investment.

Managing the IT Capability

Managing the IT Capability is what information technology and IT organizations can do collectively for a business. The IT-CMF shows you how to manage the capability of your IT organization by managing IT assets through the value chain and developing core competencies. It also describes some tools available to measure that capability. A properly managed IT capability leads to the continuous development of new strategic applications to deliver sustainable economic advantage. The Managing the IT Capability strategy charts the rise of IT from a technology supplier at level 2 to its full maturity at level 5 where it offers corporate strategic capability.

Managing IT for Business value

Managing for IT Business Value involves tying IT investments to overall business benefits. The IT-CMF outlines the core business practices and tools required to optimize your IT organization's business value. These practices and tools include Total Cost of Ownership (or TCO), Return on Investment (or ROI), the Business Value Index (or BVI) and portfolio management. The Managing for IT Business Value strategy provides a structure for an IT organization to move from managing IT as a technology project to regarding IT as a portfolio of investments that generate value for the entire business.