Gartner Says Enterprises Must Learn How to Better Manage Business Complexity or Risk Increasing Costs and Slowing Productivity
Analysts Discuss Business Complexity and Risk at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2003
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla, Oct. 20, 2003 — As new enterprise business models and globalization are creating new demands, complexities and pressures for the IS organization to contend with, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) predicts that through 2007, 65 percent of enterprises will grossly mismanage complexity and risk, stifling productivity and earnings, and inflating costs by at least 25 percent.
Gartner analysts presented these findings today during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2003, which is taking place October 19 through October 24 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
"Business and IS leaders must realize that globalization, virtualization, competition and transparency will change most aspects of most business sectors in almost all countries and regions," said John Mahoney, managing vice president at Gartner. "The rising trend of strategic sourcing and offshore outsourcing, along with the continuing role of traditional outsourcers, bring about another wave of restructuring - one that frequently involves both people displacement and individual departments and functions moving between, as well as within enterprises. The shift to the real-time enterprise as a source of competitiveness will cause massive discontinuities in and between enterprises and many industry sectors."
Enterprise leadership and IS staff must cede to the necessity of certain core disciplines for complex business models to succeed. First, IS leadership should develop an understanding of the complexity drivers and solutions, then develop the relationship skills to educate, communicate and sell the need for those solutions to the enterprise."
Gartner analysts said that while each of the primary complexity drivers has a distinct solution, those solutions can be managed and delivered through the adoption of three core disciplines - governance, which dominates investment prioritization, strategic decision making and leadership accountability; IT service management (ITSM), which dominates internal IT service utilization and strategic sourcing; and enterprise IT architecture, which dominates IT technical design, capabilities and standards.
The average enterprise should have a robust capability in at least two of the disciplines and at least a modest capability in the third. Which disciplines are emphasized will depend greatly on the enterprise's industry, geographical reach, internal culture and level of outsourcing. Enterprise leaders should determine which disciplines offer the greatest opportunity for managing complexity in the enterprise and prioritize development plans accordingly.
"Harnessing complexity inevitably means investing in these disciplines and then carefully examining the leadership requirements to drive change, the processes and structures required to execute against the disciplines on an ongoing basis, and the roles, participation, competencies and skills needed to nurture and develop the competencies over time," said Mahoney. "Business today is simply too dependent on IT, and there are simply too many potential variables involved in delivering IT products, services and infrastructure for them to go unmanaged."
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the IT industry's largest and most strategic conference, providing business leaders with an insightful look at the future of IT. For more than 10,000 IT professionals from the world's leading enterprises, Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of their annual planning efforts. For more information about Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2003, please visit www.gartner.com/symposium or call 1-800-778-1997.
About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. is the leading provider of
research and analysis on the global information technology industry. Gartner serves more
than 10,000 clients, including chief information officers and other senior IT executives
in corporations and government agencies, as well as technology companies and the
investment community. The Company focuses on delivering objective, in-depth analysis
and actionable advice to enable clients to make more informed business and technology
decisions. The Company's businesses consist of Gartner Intelligence, research and
events for IT professionals; Gartner Executive Programs, membership programs and peer
networking services; and Gartner Consulting, customized engagements with a specific
emphasis on outsourcing and IT management. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut, and has 3,700 associates, including more than 1,000 research
analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide. For more information,
visit www.gartner.com.
