Page 31 - FCW, July 2020

Commentary|BY CAMMY WEBSTER AND JAROD GREENE
CAMMY WEBSTER is senior program manager at the Washington State Office of the CIO, and JAROD GREENE is general manager at the TBM Council.
TBM: A better approach to IT investments
Technology Business Management can help government agencies build a stronger partnership between the IT and finance teams
Technology Business Management is bigger than any technology or vendor. It is a philosophy and set
of best practices that organizations choose to embody every day. Buying into a common framework advances objectives that go beyond a single organization and enables an entire system to operate in a more unified way. For governments, this translates to better service for constituents.
Based on our collective 25 years of technology experience, including almost a decade of applying TBM to Washington state’s government (where 45 agencies are under one TBM framework), we’ve identified the key steps that make it easier to opt into TBM.
1. Build a strong relationship between finance and technology. There is no greater ally in introducing and maintaining a strong TBM program than a partnership between technology and finance teams. It’s in everyone’s interest to get alignment on controlling costs and demonstrating return on investment. Whether you’re just starting or well underway, collaboration between the technical and finance teams is critical.
For IT organizations, a good way to build a relationship with your finance colleagues is to introduce them to the TBM taxonomy. From there, show them proof points
that demonstrate how TBM has uncovered excess spending or helped optimize operations. As you
help them understand how TBM will support their highest-priority work, they can act as a supporting voice with leadership, which often looks to them to co-sign on major decisions that impact the organization as a whole.
2. Automate processes wherever possible. Washington State’s Office of the CIO has successfully onboarded 45 agencies — including the departments of Agriculture, Corrections, Revenue,
It’s in everyone’s interest to get alignment on controlling costs and demonstrating return on investment.
and Social and Health Services
— onto the same TBM platform. As a result, the state was able to eliminate tasks that were occurring across multiple agencies. This saved time and taxpayer resources. TBM also reduced the burden on agencies, increased success rates and ensured greater accuracy in state data by removing the number of manual inputs and reducing opportunities for error.
3. Create user-friendly resources and share them far and wide. As with any
organizationwide operating principle, ease of use increases the adoption of a new tool or methodology. Taking the time to adopt standards that are relevant to the organization and applicable across teams is worthwhile to get buy-in and ensure that meaningful insights emerge over time.
These standards can include how projects and tools are classified, what terms are used to describe business functions and results,
and even how teams communicate with one another. The specifics will change with each organization, but what must remain true is that standards represent the true reality of the business and can be applied across business units.
Just as important, any organizational standards must
be buttressed by easy-to-access resources that encourage adoption. For example, we created templates and a printable placemat of our standard TBM taxonomy that we shared with each new agency as it came on board. With this and other helpful materials, we saw a 100% adoption rate. It was so effective that even our legislative members are using the same language.
4. Just get started. There is no such thing as perfect data, and even your imperfect dataset can lead
you to pinpoint where you need to spend time and energy. It will reveal what path forward makes the most sense for your agency whenever you reach a decision point about the next IT investment. n
July 2020 FCW.COM 31