Finding 10: Complexity of IT Systems Has Business Consequences
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Complexity may add operational risk - because the system becomes more fragile to change. Humans overlook the consequences and implications of changing one component and then the system breaks.
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Complexity increases cost of management - because when you change one component you have to change another, and another.
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Complexity reduces business agility - because to change one thing you have to change lots of other things.
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Complexity makes it more difficult for teams to diagnose and fix problems.
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Gartner and others estimate that 65-80% of IT budget is spent managing the existing IT portfolio.
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CIO and CEO surveys highlight complexity as an inhibitor to business growth.
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An Introduction to IT Complexity and the value of measuring and understanding it
By
Abhishek Mudgal, Bertus G Eggen, Phil Tetlow, Jose M Sanchez Mañes, Mike Marin, Neil Toussaint, Peter Bahrs, Raul Gomez Corrales, Robert Weir, Roman Malina, Srinivas Gundugola, Enric Delgado Samper
March 2014
IBM Academy of Technology IT Complexity
IBM Corporation
What Are Your IT Pain Points ?
Is Your Business At Risk ? It Is If ....
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Presence of Undue Complexity in the Systems, Process, Project and Programme Management ?
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Poor Business/IT Alignment ?
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Knowledge Silos ?
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Inadequate Project / Programme Management ?
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Lack of and / or ineffective “Soft Skills” ?
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Incomplete understanding of the Business Requirements ?
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Ineffective management of Business Stakeholders expectations ?
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Ineffective Problem Solving - leading to constant "Fire-Fighting ?"
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Lack of sufficient Quality in the Information Systems developed ?
Complexity can be the situation
When You Don't Know That You Don't Know Something
So What?
1) The business cost of complexity is huge
2) Facing the challenge of Fintechs is difficult
3) Complexity is a Hurdle for Digital Transformation
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You Are Constantly "Fire-Fighting"
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You Are Not Prepared for a "Digital Transformation"
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And Thus You Cannot "Embrace Disruption"
Occamsys's Unique Value Proposition
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Occamsys uses a multitude of widely researched strategies and a pinch of "Wisdom" as our Toolkit for the delivery of the engagement - Systems Thinking, Psychodynamics, Systems Engineering, to name a few. These are needed in any project to be used as applicable, but are neglected, as they are not widely known.
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Occamsys offers an opportunity for your team to be part of the engagement. This facilitates a close interaction between your stakeholders and Occamsys, which is a critical factor for the success of any project.
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The Knowledge Transfer from Occamsys to your team is initiated right from the start, instead of it happening as a post implementation activity.
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​The knowledge from the experience of using these strategies in your project, will be inculcated in your team by the completion of the project.
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Your team would then have their expertise built up, and this enables the creation of Centres of Excellence in your organization.​
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Once you have these Centres of Excellence established, you need not engage external consultants any longer, unless the particular business initiative warrants it absolutely.
The Occamsys Commitment
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A System Study we did resulted in the removal of almost half of the Database(DB2) Files in the application.
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The outcome was a more optimal run time performance and a significant reduction of computing resources usage.
An Example of a Complete Picture of a System "A Systems Engineering Concept Map"
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Redrawn by Occamsys with source from:
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"The Engineering Design of Systems: Models and Methods - Dennis M. Buede
Services From Occamsys - As Simple As They Should Be
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Legacy Systems Support (COBOL, CICS, NATURAL, ADABAS)
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Project Governance
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Systems Analysis
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Business Information Orientation & Flow (Knowledge Management)
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Project / Programme Management
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Systems Integration
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Systems Conversion
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Data Migration
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Quality Assurance for End-2-End Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
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Quality Assurance in Problem Resolution of Production Incidents
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Testing (Manual)
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Systems Documentation
Complexity Reduction is Cost Reduction
$200bn is the p.a. pre-tax profit that is not realized by mature banks due to complexity as per the IBM report “IBM Institute for Business Value From complexity to client centricity”
Where Is It Leaking?
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What percentage of your IT Budget is being spent just "to keep the lights on" ?
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​70% says a report from Deutsche Bank Research - "IT in banks: What does it cost? High IT costs call for an eye on efficiency".
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​This report also says that "Banks appear to spend a big share of their technology budgets on IT staff."
WHY ?
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Undue Complexity and lack of sufficient Quality in Information Systems are a major contributor to the current trend of escalating IT costs.
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Complexity coupled with insufficient Quality has a multiplier effect !
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It is thus imperative that corporations address before it exacerbates and causes a loss of competitive advantage and pose a real risk to the sustainability of the business.
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Why Occamsys ?
The Client - Occamsys Business Outcomes
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Contained Reputational Risk
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Organic Growth Focus
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Reduced Costs for "Keeping the Lights On"
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Synergy for Innovation
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Long Term Sustainability through Symbiosis
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The Business Outcome for you, the Occamsys Client, is an opportunity for organic growth from performance and cost efficiencies.
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We have over 25 years of experience in the delivery of highly integrated systems in Banks.
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This has made us fully conversant about the risks that Complexity pose to the achievement of the Business Outcomes of a Project.
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We offer a "Tabula Rasa"(Blank State) mindset to look from an external perspective into your IT Systems and Processes.
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We use widely researched strategies and a pinch of "Wisdom" for problems identification and resolution.
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Your need for a Trusted Advisor can be met by Occamsys.
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How Can You Decide To Choose Us ?
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Occamsys Abides By The Pointers Mentioned In The References Listed Below.
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This Is Our Unique Value Proposition And Is The Occamsys Differentiator.
Reference (1)
How to Buy / Sell Professional Services
Harvard Business Review (Issue of March-April 1966)
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Reference (2)
