Service Area · IT Strategy & Transformation Advisory

Where the technology agenda
is shaped and tested.

IT strategy and roadmap design, technology portfolio rationalization and modernization, and a sustained independent advisory relationship. Three offerings for the leaders who set the technology agenda and own the decisions that carry it.

3 Offerings

What this service area covers.

Each offering is a discrete engagement with defined deliverables that can be tailored to fit the client's needs, scoped individually, sequenced together, or delivered through any of AXD's two engagement structures.

IT Strategy & Roadmap Design
Strategy

A strong IT strategy is one that drives technology and services toward what the business needs to advance capabilities and meet its objectives. AXD works with IT organizations to build the strategy that sets the direction and the roadmap that delivers it. The strategy aligns that direction to the capabilities the business is working to build, and the roadmap turns it into a sequenced plan of initiatives the organization is ready to absorb. Where the strategy reshapes the IT operating model, AXD ATOM provides the design.

Outcomes
  • Multi-year IT strategy anchored to business outcomes
  • Sequenced execution roadmap with quick-win track
  • Investment case framed in business-outcome language
Sample Deliverables
  • Business model deconstruction and value drivers map
  • Business-to-IT alignment map
  • Multi-year roadmap with phased milestones
  • Executive playback deck
Technology Portfolio Rationalization & Modernization Strategy
Strategy

A common reality impacting enterprise IT organizations is the accumulation of technology over time. A new project, a system renewal, or a recent acquisition are just some of the reasons for this growth. AXD provides a solution to this problem using a methodical process that evaluates each application, system, and platform against the business capabilities each asset supports. Every asset is assessed for the value it returns, the cost it carries, and the risk it holds, then assigned a clear decision: retire, consolidate, sustain, build, or acquire. Technology portfolio decisions are based on what is needed to advance business capabilities, and sequenced into a modernization path that fits what the organization can absorb.

Outcomes
  • Technology that no longer earns its place is retired, lowering the cost and risk the business carries.
  • Technology spend concentrates on the systems that advance business capabilities, so investment follows business value.
  • Leadership has a clear view of the entire portfolio and the reasoning behind every keep, retire, or replace decision.
  • Modernization proceeds at a pace the organization can absorb, keeping operations steady while the portfolio is reshaped.
Sample Deliverables
  • Application, system, and platform inventory scored on business value, cost, and risk
  • Portfolio rationalization decision matrix
  • Modernization roadmap sequenced to organizational capacity
  • Investment case tying portfolio decisions to business value
Independent Advisory
Advisory

The decisions a technology leader carries are hard to test from inside the organization, where reporting lines, vendor relationships, and internal positions all hold a stake in the answer. AXD provides a sustained advisory relationship that works through those decisions from outside that dynamic, on a standing cadence across strategy, operating model, sourcing, and platform direction. The same relationship reviews programs already under way, assessing health, sequencing, and risk against the outcome the program was funded to produce, and reporting where it stands to the leader who owns it.

Outcomes
  • Major technology decisions tested against outside experience before they are made
  • An independent read available on the calls that cannot be tested inside the organization
  • Independent assessment of in-flight programs against the outcome they were funded to produce
  • Risks surfaced and reported to the leader who owns the program while they can still be addressed
Sample Deliverables
  • Defined advisory cadence with the technology leader
  • Decision memos on the strategic questions in front of the leader
  • Documented record of the counsel provided over the engagement
  • Independent program review covering health, sequencing, and risk
  • Course-correction recommendations as program signals warrant
Start the conversation

Let's start with a conversation.

Engagements begin with a direct conversation about what you are navigating and where AXD can help.