January 201619services. We're shifting testing left and making heavy use of automation. We're automating and optimizing our build and deployment infrastructure, leveraging cloud computing. We are also investing in the data capabilities now to be able to measure client behavior and results in real-time, as opposed to months. Our goal is to enable the delivery of business value through software at startup speed. We recognize that if IT just stops at creating a continuous delivery capability, without our business adopting a real "test and learn," flexible approach--we will fail to realize most of the benefits. So we are approaching this as a true "lean" transformation for the enterprise, applying those principles all the way from business idea to funding to production release. In those areas where we are leading the way with these concepts, we have seen it transform our relationship with our business partners. Instead of being perceived as too slow, expensive, and difficult to work with, we are now responsive and innovative.Additionally, we have a full time CISO that also has an embedded IT security office within the organization. Whether or not organizations choose to have a CISO/CSO, or if IT has that responsibility or not--it's important that the security functions maintain relationships with someone that has the entire risk context for the enterprise in mind. They need to be accessible and accountable to people at the highest levels of the organization. Run IT as a BusinessBy that I mean, understand IT's strategic value proposition, create a vision, and articulate a clear strategy to your organization. Define how your teams add value and create initiatives that accelerate the company's objectives. Don't fall into the trap of the service provider mentality and wait for others to dictate your strategy. Technology is the business, and if business leaders don't see it that way, it's your job to convince them. As I reflect our IT journey, I think we followed five very basic steps: First we evaluated the landscape. We examined the challenges and opportunities facing Vanguard IT (globalization, market volatility, cyber threats, pace of technology change, and war for talent)--all defined an enduring "new normal" for IT. We envisioned a different future. Given what we knew about the landscape, we debated the future state of IT, and chartered a mission statement and visioning document to describe it. We defined how we add value. We defined a Jim Collins-style flywheel that described how we provide value to Vanguard and our shareholders. This flywheel has become a framework for which we set goals for our strategic efforts, as well as a communication vehicle used with business leaders and IT employees. We enabled our journey by going through the largest organizational alignment in the history of IT, and we defined a 3-5 year roadmap of initiatives, which will close our gaps and capitalize on the opportunities. We also worked to become a true team focused on a com mon end state for IT. We measure our success. We built an IT scorecard with outcome-oriented measures, to quantify the value that our strategic efforts are producing over time.Understand IT's strategic value proposition, create a vision, and articulate a clear strategy to your organizationBC
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