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It’s an exciting time to be in Government IT. Politicians and executives are constantly re-evaluating how IT services should be governed and delivered to public sector agencies. Their aim is not only to reduce the complexity and cost of technology, but also to sustainably enhance public sector efficiency through modern applications. At the heart of many national digital agendas is the concept of Government Cloud and the re-structuring opportunities presented by Shared IT Services models.

Over the last decade, many public sector organisations have embraced the opportunity to join forces with seasoned experts from Cisco. We offer a blend of business and technology expertise, which enables us to understand your business requirements and link them with tangible IT projects. Across a variety of real-world customer engagements, Cisco has perfected a three-phase methodology that we call “Strategic IT Roadmap” or SITR. Main objective: to connect business and IT strategies.

Phase One: Understand the business drivers and pain points from your key stakeholders’ perspective

The foundation of an SITR comprises a series of detailed 1:1 interviews or team workshops held with your key stakeholders. We leverage the COBIT 5 framework to deliver a balanced scorecard of how IT is perceived by the business and users – and ascertain how technology creates value for your clients and what needs evolving.

COBIT Enterprise Goals

Phase Two: Build an IT Value Map to demonstrate how value is delivered and performance measured 

We analyse how to maximise the value that IT should provide going forward. We typically focus on 3 customer-facing operations: • User and workspace services • Business and interoperability services • Infrastructure and platform services

And we describe 6 governance pillars: • People, culture and communication • Strategy and decision-making • Finance and sourcing optimisation • Risk management and cyber security • Internal controls and continuous improvement • Solution architecture and innovation

SITR@GovCloud - Wall Chart (A1 size)

Phase Three: Envision a roadmap of solutions ensuring that IT meets current and future expectations

Finally, our solution architects put together a detailed roadmap of projects built around a number of key IT programmes, which come as a foundation or as a complement to your own Strategic Management Plan. The delivery of the roadmap concludes the SITR engagement, and Cisco, along with our partners, stand ready to engage with you on a project-by-project basis, based on your priorities.

Strategic IT Roadmap

For more details on each of the three phases, please visit:

Phase 1: Business Drivers for Cloud Transformation: lessons from COBIT 5

Phase 2: IT Value Map

Phase 3: Strategic IT Roadmap

Why Cisco?

Public Sector IT organisations looking for that rare mix of transformational thinking, real-world can-do and practical know-how will find their perfect partner in Cisco. It’s a combination that has won us a trusted place at the heart of many Government Cloud initiatives throughout the world. Why are we different? Three reasons:

  1. Leverage best practices. Partnering with Cisco will make your road to success shorter and less risky. We’ve perfected our proven methodology across many client engagements and can leverage the Intellectual Property gathered from government agencies with similar drivers and challenges to yours.
  2. The roadmap is just the start. While other consultants might consider the roadmap creation as a goal in itself (and bill you for it), we view it only as a means to an end. The real objective is to make you successful through the identification of impactful projects and programmes — with a hands-on approach based on delivering tangible impact.
  3. No strings attached. SITR is a Cisco-funded service for Government organisations and builds on our global resources and expertise. We have no hidden agenda: only a desire to better understand your environment so that we can help you build the best strategy and drive future success. Once the roadmap is delivered, there’s no implied expectation that you would choose the solutions we have identified.


Authors

Patrick Bikar

Global Systems Engineer Transformation Programs Lead

Global Systems Engineering