Aligning IT project selection with organizational growth

Abstract

This project is an attempt to derive a conceptual framework to leverage project categorization for aligning project selection with organizational growth in IT Services. This project is structured in to 2 sections. The first section analyzes data collated from 15application migration projects executed by Top 3 Indian IT service providers. In this section, we have attempted to categorize application migration projects in to 3categories based on a set of definite attributes 8: behaviours. The need for such a classification was felt because of the absence of any formal commonly agreed frame work to categorise 8: manage such projects from scratch to completion. The three identified categories "vanilla", "value-added" and "total re-design" form a value-chain in terms of the returns and business benefits for the end customer as well as the solution provider. The aim of this classification is to help provide a systematic means of categorisation which can be used by the management team of an IT services firm to distribute and align its project mix to meet the overall organizational objectives. For example: using this framework, a sales and marketing personnel can classify a prospective project opportunity and approach it in the right perspective in line with the organisational goals. Additionally sales personnel can use this system to influence the client and gain higher end projects by highlighting the added value the solution provider brings to the offering. The second section is based on the premise that the project is the fundamental unit, which forms the basis for growth of an account and further leads up to growth of an organisation as a whole. Aligning the business unit's growth strategies with the kind of projects the organisation bids for is extremely critical. In this section, we have made an attempt to derive a conceptual framework that paves the road map for defining an IT service organization's business growth.