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Preparing Your Organisation for a TBM Implementation
Please note: This conversation was based on peer-to-peer engagement and shared experiences, not formal research. The insights shared reflect personal perspectives from within the community.
Brewing Up Success: Insights on Preparing for a TBM Implementation
Hello everyone! The TBM Council recently hosted an engaging "Coffee Chat" focused on "Preparing Your Organization for a TBM Implementation." This session brought together members of the TBM community to share insights and discuss the evolving landscape of technology business management. Attendees from various organizations shared valuable perspectives on this topic. Our hosts, John Sober, TBM Consultant at Rrebos and Amy Byalick, a Vice President of Strategic Portfolio Management at Johnson Controls, led a dynamic discussion around crucial questions concerning TBM implementation and readiness.
In this session, we covered key topics such as identifying the right sponsors for TBM programs within finance and technology organizations, preparing existing systems for TBM, and building familiarity with the TBM Framework and Taxonomy.
What is a TBM Council Coffee Chat?
TBM Council Coffee Chats are informal, peer-to-peer engagements that create a relaxed space for community members to share real-world insights, ask questions, and learn from one another. It's all about connecting and growing together. These are not webinars or open forums, so there are no slides or demos—just real conversations led by our own community members. You won't see any formal slides, just honest, practical conversation focused on the 'how-tos' of implementing and evolving TBM in your organizations.
Hosted by fellow TBM community members, these 30-to-45-minute chats take place every 4 to 6 weeks. We encourage you to participate—ask questions, drop thoughts in the chat, and let this be a space where you feel comfortable sharing. It's the community that makes these chats valuable.
Key Insights from the Discussion
The conversation centered on the challenges and best practices of implementing a TBM framework, especially when dealing with organizational culture and different departments' priorities.
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Co-Sponsorship is Key: A successful TBM implementation requires dual sponsorship from both the CIO (or equivalent IT leader) and the CFO. A finance-only or IT-only approach can lead to limited success.
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TBM as a "Translator": TBM acts as a bridge between the "languages" of IT and finance. It helps translate technical costs into a financial language that executives can understand and a business language that shows value to the rest of the organization.
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Cultural Change is a Must: Implementing TBM isn't just about a tool or a new process; it's a cultural shift. IT teams often lack financial literacy, and TBM requires them to adopt new ways of capturing data, from fixed assets to service tickets.
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Start with a Goal, Not Just the Taxonomy: Instead of getting bogged down in the minutiae of the taxonomy from day one, it's more effective to define the business goal first. Focus on what you want to achieve with TBM, such as understanding application costs or driving cost efficiencies.
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Granularity Reveals Hidden Costs: Moving from high-level spending to a granular, bottom-up view of costs can uncover surprising inefficiencies. A detailed approach, like linking fixed assets to specific services, can reveal where real costs are hiding and inform better business decisions.
A Deeper Look into the Conversation
The discussion opened with an exploration of executive sponsorship. While some participants have seen successful, finance-led implementations, the consensus was that a co-sponsored approach between IT and finance is most effective. One participant shared an example of a TBM implementation that was co-sponsored and, ten years later, is still a successful part of the organization. This dual partnership ensures both sides are invested in the outcome and share in the success of running IT more efficiently.
A key challenge raised was the difficulty in getting full buy-in from all parts of a large organization, particularly when a leader wants to start with a "piecemeal" approach. A powerful anecdote about an organization that discovered a hidden half-million-pound fixed cost for a call center technology was shared to illustrate the value of TBM. By using a granular approach, the organization was able to strip out the cost, reallocate it appropriately, and avoid a costly, unnecessary expansion of their call center. This example highlighted how TBM can affect business strategy by providing a transparent view of costs.
The conversation also touched on the cultural shift required for IT teams. It was noted that IT professionals are often not fluent in financial language, and TBM serves as a "Google Translator" to bridge this gap. This requires IT teams to adopt new data-capturing practices, which can feel cumbersome at first but ultimately helps them better understand how their services are consumed. The discussion also mentioned the challenge of "orphaned" equipment and applications—IT assets that don't seem to be linked to a service or user—and how TBM helps to connect these pieces, leading to greater transparency and efficiency.
The importance of using the correct jargon for the audience was also discussed, with the hosts and participants agreeing that speaking the language of finance to a tech team (or vice-versa) can create a disconnect. This reinforced the idea that TBM's role is to provide a common language and framework for all parties.
Next Steps: Engage and Learn More!
To continue your journey with Technology Business Management, we invite you to explore our website, log into TBM Connect here, dive deeper into the TBM framework, learn the fundamentals of TBM modeling, and review our latest research here—including the State of TBM report and our ongoing study of TBM salaries. Consider enrolling in a TBM course, joining the TBM Council to connect with a global community of peers, or attending the next TBM Conference to engage with thought leaders driving innovation at the intersection of technology and business. You can also explore our network of partners for additional resources and expertise, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about the latest insights, events, and tools in the world of TBM.
Ready to connect, learn, and grow? Join one of our TBM Strategy Communities on TBM Connect to participate in open forums, attend upcoming Coffee Chats, and contribute to our growing body of shared knowledge!
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