Want to Justify Your IT Investments Faster? Measure Business Outcomes.

Achieving strategic business outcomes in today’s fast-paced digital climate is a key imperative. Digital transformation, better customer experiences, increased productivity, and cost savings are rated as the most important business outcomes, according to a recent IDC survey (Future of Digital Infrastructure Sentiment Study, June 2023). Unfortunately, achieving these outcomes is not an easy undertaking. Organizations embarking on the journey to define their own measurable outcomes need to ask important questions:

• How do we define relevant and attainable business outcomes?
• How do we strategically align our infrastructure investments to these outcomes?
• How do we know if we have successfully achieved the desired outcomes?

In a business climate where all IT investments are under greater scrutiny, today’s IT teams must be able to clearly articulate how digital infrastructure investments deliver measurable business outcomes. To do this, they must adopt processes like agile and new skills such as DevOps, DevSecOps, and Infrastructure as Code. They must also use methodologies aimed to connect technology initiatives to business outcomes, be able to measure impact toward those business outcomes, and communicate their plan and results using language that the organization understands.

This is why IT teams need to expand their relevancy across the organization, their understanding of business priorities, and their ability to execute and communicate more effectively. Having access to the right tools, data, and resources is an essential component. Using telemetry data coupled with AI/ML techniques can provide IT teams with valuable insights on how the infrastructure (in near-real time) is meeting the technology and operational objectives that align with defined business priorities. Arming IT teams with insights and new skills is a great first step.

However, combining these resources with an actionable strategy and execution roadmap to achieve these business outcomes may prove a bit more difficult. IT teams must now illustrate to stakeholders across the business why network infrastructure matters and how their investments are driving the business forward. For some IT teams, proficiency with these newer skills is nascent, requiring assistance from a services partner. A services partner can work collaboratively with an organization to help:

• Crystallize business outcome priorities
• Develop a roadmap for outcomes achievement
• Define measurable milestones
• Educate teams on how to best leverage data to measure achievement of milestones
• Provide expert guidance to move faster and with less risk
• Accelerate time to value for the business

Becoming an agile digital-first business that can meet new customer and employee demands, quickly take advantage of new opportunities, and drive innovation requires continual investment in digital infrastructure, new operating processes, and modern skills. The pace of change and infrastructure complexity will only continue to accelerate, leaving IT teams struggling to meet the daily demands of the business and deliver business outcomes. As a result, IDC believes that organizations will continue to leverage the expertise, processes, data, and insights from a services partner to deliver these capabilities. Doing so will enable organizations to accelerate measurable achievement of business outcomes and value to the business. To learn more, download the Cisco-sponsored IDC Spotlight, Business Requirements Demand Strategic Thinking About Networks.

Message from the Sponsor

Cisco Customer Experience (CX) service offerings help organizations realize tangible business outcomes faster with Cisco software, products, and solutions – at every step of their technology lifecycle journey. From architecting and deploying new solutions, and streamlining operations, to optimizing the IT environment, Cisco and its partners can help IT teams achieve their desired outcomes faster.

To learn how to transform with less risk and effort, visit Cisco Services.

For more information on how to accelerate business outcomes, visit Cisco Lifecycle Services.

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