Introduction:

The  2nd Generation I.T. Organization is better managed than the previous Generation. It recognizes that functional delineation, focused staff, process maturity and clearly defined performance indicators provide the foundation for effective service execution.

Really outstanding organizations can also point toward data driven, customer service focussed, continuous innovation in everything they do.

Managers in the 2nd Generation organization are specialist in their own right, each focused on their specific management portfolio and clearly defined deliverables and outcomes. They appoint well balanced teams with a variety of skills that compliment those of fellow team members.

Most I.T. organizations strive towards this efficient I.T. service delivery model.

Characteristics

1. •Process Maturity is higher: The 2nd Generation organization is more mature, and typically operates at CMM (Maturity Model) level three and upwards. I.T. functions are clearly delineated between “Change” activities like Programs, Projects and Minor modifications and “Operate and Support” activities. These organizations have succeeded in adopting industry standard service operating frameworks for Change (SDLC) and Operations & Support (ITIL).
   

2. •Functional alignment: A 2nd Generation I.T. organization sees value in functionally aligning common activities in the organization to drive out cost and improve resource utilization and efficiency. Operations functions are aligned and grouped regardless of technology elements, because the job remains basically the same across platforms and architectures. “Change” functions are aligned with business strategy execution coordinated within a portfolio of work, and supported by a common Project Management Office (PMO).
   

3. •Organization Roles are well defined: Because the I.T. organization's functions are defined and operate within well established process frameworks, roles are easier to define as well. Position descriptions include both technical requirements and role competency expectations. Employees in these organizations know how they fit into the business of I.T., and know what is expected of them in their roles each day. They know how they are expected to contribute to the success of their service offering. They are not expected to operate in a range of responsibilities and are afforded the opportunity to specialize in roles aligned with specific functions.
   

4. •Outsourcing: There is a level of outsourcing of typical infrastructure elements and services as well as software development and support. This necessitates a more mature vendor management approach. The I.T. organization realizes that there are companies that can supply and manage desktops, systems rooms, networks applications, and other offerings better and more cost effective than they can do themselves. Both new implementations and ongoing operations and support services are contracted from vendors in varying degrees of sophistication.
   

5. •Operations and Change functions are separated and managed as separate business activities: Different teams and individuals are charged with implementing and evolving a solution, to those that are charged with supporting and operating the solution. This allows for better checks and balances between people modifying a solution and people operating and administering that solution. Change efficacy is thoroughly verified before it is allowed to impact the company's operations. Testing and quality control is integral to the solution implementation process.
   

6. •Projects are conceived jointly between I.T. and its business clients: Responsibility for a new solution is shared. There is a tendency to align initiatives, whilst still I.T. managed with a company wide portfolio strategy. There is close interfacing with the business stakeholders for business requirement elicitation and business process analysis. There is also a risk of I.T. projects being directly run by the business outside the controls of the I.T. organization.  Historically this is because many large I.T. projects are directly in support of large business projects, which are for example: Joint Ventures with other companies. In this instance, for cost allocation reasons the budgets and controls are held within the business project.  Having the I.T. budget within the business department control has had the historical benefit of access to budget but has the downside of lack of enterprise architectural control and overall optimization of I.T. expense. Mature organizations in Generation 2 put Enterprise Program Offices in place to address this issue with varying degrees of success.
   

7. •Platform consolidation: The 2nd Generation I.T. organization understands the benefits of consolidating and investing in a few strategic platforms and architectures. They realize that these investments have to deliver their value. They keep a close eye on the life cycle management of these investments in line with future business strategies. There are fewer architectures and platforms, which make the investments easier to manage and administer. A narrower skill base is required.
   

8. •Lower Management Overhead: The management overhead of the 2nd Generation I.T. organization is lower. There are a fewer managers with no overlapping responsibility. Each is primarily concerned with the efficiency of their own operation, and understands clearly how their function interrelates with the other functions of the organization.
   

9. •The relationship between the I.T. organization and its business customers is healthy: They remain separate entities, but realize that they are jointly responsible for the effective utilization of the company's technology and information management assets.
   

10. •Heroism is acknowledged as response to model failure: Crisis is avoided as much as possible and compliance is rewarded. Building robust processes is honored over prowess at holding broken processes together. Crisis management rarely occurs due to a culture of avoiding and mitigating risks well before they manifest.
    

11. •These I.T. organizations are services oriented: They position services to their clients (internal or external) to the business. The I.T. Services Management Framework (ITSMF) helps them to define these services for consumption by their business stakeholders.
    

12. •Applications and their supporting infrastructures are managed together: The 2nd Generation I.T. organization manages infrastructure and applications together under single functions. The organization realizes that the inherent job of implementing, evolving or operating and supporting these two technology components is not different, and therefore to achieve efficiency, the activities are grouped into common functions that span infrastructure and applications.
    

13. •Business and client partnerships: The business with this type of an I.T. organization manages its I.T. function as a partner. It realizes its dependency, and knows that it relies on the success of its I.T. organization to survive as a business. The I.T. business is no longer a risk, but an enabler of business product and service delivery.
    

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