INDUSTRY PROBLEM
Current Overview
An IT department's primary mission is to continually enhance the company's operations, so why aren't they devoting more time to business transformation initiatives? It's because they must spend over 80% of their time on operating the infrastructure and responding to endless support requests.

Currently, IT departments are cobbling together a wide variety of vendor, homegrown and manual systems and procedures (along with information in people's desks and heads) to try and manage all aspects of their operation. It is not currently possible for any individual, in any IT department, to immediately review a comprehensive body of operational IT knowledge. This is THE major contributor to the inability of IT to engage more resources in business transformation activities that significantly impact their company's bottom line.

In enterprise level settings a CIO can turn to various operational groups to provide information, but he/she still must integrate everything into some semblance of a whole. Mid-market CIO's are in a worse position, due to having less support and administrative people on their staff.

The "tools" available to help manage IT operations have not progressed much in over 20 years - much is still done manually. However, the enterprise the IT department supports has seen multiple revolutionary changes in how technology is used to run every aspect of the business.

86% of CIO’s indicated an applications backlog, while 35% said it was significant, but budget constraints hindered their ability to respond.

CIO Magazine poll, 3rd quarter, 2005

"Looking at the history of IT, there hasn't been any process management in place; there haven't been quality measurements or product measurements. Huge pieces have been missing. For CIO's, it has been like trying to run a business before the invention of bookkeeping." says Meta Group Executive Vice President Howard Rubin.
"How to Run IT Like a Business", CIO, May 1, 2004

[Within] the project management market, especially as it relates to IT project management, … the cost of entry can be steep. Licenses for robust systems along with consulting, integration and training can easily become a million dollar investment.

"Tracking The Best-Laid Plans", InformationWeek, May 19, 2003