Optimize Performance
Setting the Course for Change with Technology Strategy Assessment
The Client
A municipal corporation and political subsidiary of the State of Colorado providing high-quality water and promoting its efficient use to 1.4M people in the City of Denver. Colorado’s oldest and country’s largest water utility is governed by a Board of Commissioners appointed by the Mayor of Denver.
The Challenge
The client lacked visibility into their Information Technology (IT) operations, decision making, and investments. Resulting in the Board of Commissioners request for an evaluation to determine: a) whether current size and proposed future IT investments were sized appropriately for a comparably sized business or similar utility company, b) appropriateness of the portfolio of user applications and middle-ware tools, c) existence of processes that manage, meet or limit demand for IT services from the business, d) assurance of a governance structure to support the future IT spend for wants versus needs, and e) whether there is alignment between IT investments and the organization’s strategy, mission and vision.
The Approach
- Benchmarked two years of IT staffing and spend analysis against other utilities and public and private companies to identify areas of opportunity.
- Evaluated the Application and Infrastructure Portfolio for insight into the current fleet of applications being used and the cost and maintenance associated with them.
- Enhanced and developed a set of qualitative metrics and performance dashboard to evaluate the applications and the cost elements associated with each.
- Interviewed the Board, CIO, Chief Internal Auditor and other senior staff to understand its current oversight and governance of IT.
- Recommended the categorization of applications to better manage application lifecycle.
The Result
The IT strategy assessment executed by the Dietrich team provides the client a way to identify process gaps and areas upon which to elevate talent and improve efficiencies. Provides education to the Board on IT trends and how to work with and govern technology teams. Aligns IT with strategic projects so that costs and activities naturally associated with large programs are kept with large programs and not carved out, thereby eliminating confusion.