InBrief: The Intelligent Enterprise 2.0

What It Is: With the advent of AI, the question is how to integrate it effectively at an enterprise level. The long-term view should be a synthesis of applications, AI, and data, working in harmony, providing integrated capabilities that maximize effectiveness and productivity for the end users of technology

Why It Matters: Much like the .com era, there are lofty expectations of what AI can deliver without a fundamental strategy for how those capabilities will be integrated and leveraged at scale. Selecting the right approach that balances tactical gains with strategic infrastructure will be critical to optimizing and delivering differentiated value rapidly and consistently in a highly competitive business environment

Key Concepts

AI is a capability, not an end in itself. User-centered design is more important than ever
Resist the temptation to treat AI as a one-off and integrate it with existing portfolio processes
The end goal is to expose and harness all of an organization’s capabilities in a consistent way
Agentic solutions will become much more mainstream, along with orchestration of processes
The more agentic solutions become standard, the less application-specific front ends are needed
Natural language input will become common to reduce manual entry in various processes
We will shift from content via LLMs to optimizing processes and transactions via causal models
AI should help personalize solutions, reduce complexity, and improve productivity
Only a limited number of sidecar applications can be deployed before overwhelming end users
The less standardized the environment is, the longer it will take to achieve enterprise AI benefits
As with any transformation, don’t try to boil the ocean, have a strategy and migrate over time

Approach

Ensure architecture governance is in place quickly to avoid accruing significant technical debt
Design towards an enterprise architecture framework to enable rapid scaling and deployment
Migrate towards domain-based ecosystems to facilitate evolution and rapid scaling of capability
Enable rapid, disciplined, and governed experiments to explore tools and solution approaches
Place heavy emphasis on integration standards as a means to deploy new AI services with speed
Develop a conceptual “template” for how AI capabilities will be integrated to facilitate reuse
Organize AI services into insights (inform), agents (assist), and experts (benchmark, train, act)
Separate internal from package-provided AI services to provide agility and manage overall costs
Evaluate internal and external solutions by their ability to integrate services and enable agents
Reinforce data management and data governance processes to enable quality insights
Define roles and expectations for those in the organization who develop, use, and manage AI

For Additional Information: Part 1: The Cost of Complexity, Part 2: A Framework for the Future, Part 3: Integrating Artificial Intelligence, Part 4: Evolving Applications, Part 5: Deconstructing Data-Centricity, Part 6: Managing Transition, Part 7: IT Organizational Implications

Excellence doesn’t happen by accident. Courageous leadership is essential.

Put value creation first, be disciplined, but nimble.

Want to discuss more? Please send me a message. I’m happy to explore with you.

-CJG 11/03/2025

InBrief: IT Value/Cost Optimization

What It Is: IT Value/Cost Optimization is the process of adjusting IT spend relative to the value being created through IT services in the interest of finding the optimal balance for an organization

Why It Matters: When organizations face financial challenges, there is often a desire to reduce expense. The challenge is that the activity is often managed as a cost cutting exercise focused on direct labor, without regard to other, less disruptive opportunities that exist if a more holistic approach was taken

Key Concepts

Optimization should be a continual activity. Doing it periodically increases negative impacts
The activity requires a clear understanding of costs (direct and indirect) and value being created
Where spending isn’t governed, it is likely inflated and suboptimized
The scale and complexity of a technology footprint has a direct relationship to labor cost
Direct labor should be the last lever adjusted. It represents the potential to create value
Every $1MM you save in other ways is 8 headcounts (@$125k) you could have to perform work
If you can eliminate >5% of your workforce for performance, you aren’t managing it effectively
In the event labor ever becomes “numbers on a spreadsheet”, ask someone else to manage cost
In my experience, people would take other levers more seriously if their headcount was in play

Approach

IT Operations – Provide critical, minimum data to enable benchmarking and governance
Portfolio Management – Ensure effective prioritization, slotting, and resource utilization
Release Strategy – Have a disciplined to minimize operating disruptions and optimize utilization
Enterprise Architecture – Establish a capability to develop blueprints, simplify, and standardize
Applications – Rationalize on an ongoing basis to manage costs and promote speed-to-market
Data – Promote interoperability, minimize data movement, and avoid monolithic solutions
Artificial Intelligence – Establish a disciplined and governed process for AI introduction and use
Technologies – Minimize duplication and manage end-of-life to avoid disruptive costs
Infrastructure – Unless there is a legal or compliance-related reason, shift to external providers
Cloud – Develop a FinOps capability to review and adjust resource consumption to avoid waste
Licensing – Establish an ongoing process to review, optimize, and manage license transitions
Modernization – Actively modernize solutions to avoid episodic efforts that increase costs
Services – Define a workforce and sourcing strategy, govern relationships, negotiate effectively
Labor – Establish a competency model, manage utilization effectively, handle underperformance

For Additional Information: Optimizing the Value of IT

Excellence doesn’t happen by accident. Courageous leadership is essential.

Put value creation first, be disciplined, but nimble.

Want to discuss more? Please send me a message. I’m happy to explore with you.

-CJG 10/30/2025

InBrief: Application Rationalization

What It Is: App Rationalization is the process of reducing redundancies that exist in an application portfolio in the interest of reducing complexity, cost of ownership, and improving speed-to-market.

Why It Matters: Organizations typically spend anywhere between 50-80% of their IT budget maintaining and supporting systems in place. That limits investment in innovation and competitive advantage.

Key Concepts

Understand that rationalization is more about change management than technology
Ensure there are healthy relationships in place and strong leadership support for the work
Focus in on critical areas of the portfolio that drive cost. Don’t boil the ocean
Don’t worry about creating the perfect infrastructure day one. Clean that up along the way
Start with how your business operates and simplify and standardize processes first
Align your future blueprint as cleanly to your desired operating footprint as possible
Consider your Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud, and security strategies in the future vision
Simplification can come through reducing both unique applications and instances of applications
Address how systems will be supported and enhanced moving forward in your design
Explicitly include milestones for decommissioning in your roadmap. Don’t let that go undone
Expect the work to continually evolve and adapt. Plan for change and adjust responsively
Include rationalization as part of your ongoing portfolio strategy so it’s not a one-time event

Approach

Align – Obtain organizational support critical to defining vision, scope, and facilitating change
Understand – Gather an understanding of the current state and alignment to operations
Evaluate – Leverage something like the Gartner TIME model to evaluate portfolio quality and fit
Strategize – Develop a future state blueprint, CBA, and proposed changes to the environment
Socialize – Obtain feedback, iterate, clarify the vision, and finalize the initial roadmap
Mobilize – Launch first wave of delivery, realign ongoing work as required
Execute – Deliver on 30-, 60-, and 90-day goals, governing and adjusting the approach as you go

For Additional Information: Part 1: Managing the Intangibles, Part 2: Laying the Foundation, Part 3: Executing the Process

Excellence doesn’t happen by accident. Courageous leadership is essential.

Put value creation first, be disciplined, but nimble.

Want to discuss more? Please leave a comment and contact info. I’m happy to explore with you.

-CJG 10/29/2025