Taking the Digital IT Operating Model forward

Blog: Capgemini CTO Blog

This is the premise of our new opinion article ‘Reinventing the Digital IT Operating Model for the New Normal’. We argue that traditional IT Operating Models (ITOMs) can no longer meet enterprise needs. For example, they’re increasingly unable to respond to changing market requirements and disruptive events, such as those triggered by COVID-19 and ongoing digitalization programs.

The next evolution

That’s why we’ve previously advocated that ITOMs should evolve from the traditional ITOM to a Digital ITOM. This is also part of Inventive IT, which sees Capgemini advising on how to address technology and operating model transformation simultaneously, while solving business issues. However, as our new opinion article points out, a transformed Digital ITOM must go further than the current agile, product centric and capability-driven model to embrace pandemic resilience and new technologies.

The need for “becoming digital” was already present, but an accelerated push has been initiated by the pandemic. Emerging trends include:

Diversity of digital business opportunities
Personalization of products and services
Increasing velocity of business change
Inevitability of pervasive technology

In addition to these four trends, several more requirements can be added to the list for a Digital ITOM fit for the new normal:

Ability to enable remote working in a timely manner
Reorganization of supply chains, shoring and sourcing concepts
Increasing the scope and effectiveness of business continuity and cyber security measures

Making change happen

But how can the modern enterprise achieve this evolution? We believe it’s a case of enriching and improving the existing Digital ITOMs to create a better fit and more flexible model.

So, we’ve tailored our Digital ITOM offer using the best practice COBIT 2019 governance methodology and framework. Our new opinion article describes the tenets of COBIT 2019 and how applying it results in an ITOM that reflects an organization’s specific IT governance priorities and management objectives. Organizations can strategically manage the benefits delivered by their IT investments and optimize risks to support their rapidly changing environment and strategy.

Following the COBIT 2019 methodology, as schematically illustrated in Figure 1, results in a Digital ITOM that considers an enterprise’s specificities and individual…

IT governance priorities and management objectives
Guidance on focus areas, relevant to an enterprise (e.g. regulatory, data privacy, cybersecurity, automation/RPA, cloud computing, DevOps, pandemic resilience)
Guidance on target capabilities and performance management

Figure 1: Digital ITOM fit to the “new normal”

Further, the opinion article discusses the results of an assessment that reveals a set of prioritized IT processes supporting implementation/ increased maturity of the ITOM to reflect new normal requirements.

Find out more

This blog offers a flavor of our reinvented Digital ITOM. For more insight, examples of best practice, and guidance on what a pandemic resilient Digital ITOM looks like, read the full opinion article Reinventing the Digital IT Operating Model for the New Normal.

Many thanks to the contributing co-authors Viktoria Simon and Felix Middendorf (both Future of Technology – Digital Acceleration), as well as Laura Dahlhaus (Brand & Experience – Automotive).