International Company Rail Logistics - IT Strategy and IT Operating Model
A new IT strategy and operating model to foster digitalization and rebuild central business processes and systems following new paradigms.
Initial Situation
The company is successfully operating internationally in providing rail logistics services. Constant margin pressure is a challenge for all corporate functions. Therefore, part of the corporate strategy is to push business process standardization and automation constantly. Towards clients and suppliers, more efficient ways of operating are searched with a strong focus on digitizing and automating most operational processes.
Corporate IT is a critical success factor in reaching the goals of the corporate strategy. A historically grown application landscape, previous company reorganizations, complex IT processes, and an aging workforce increase the difficulty level of reaching the goals of the envisioned digital transformation.
Overall Goal
The goal of the project was to develop a new IT strategy and IT operating model to foster digitalization, considering the following key points in particular:
- Align with the updated business strategy and drive digital transformation
- Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the current IT landscape, the IT operating model as well as the context of architecture, IT sourcing, the project portfolio, and business / IT alignment
- Reflect the needs and priorities of the business functions
- Develop an overall target picture and roadmap for the application landscape and a corresponding IT operating model to reach this target state
- Finalize, sign off and communicate the new IT strategy and IT operating model
Project Concept
The following approach has been taken to develop a new future-oriented IT strategy and IT operating model with the interim CIO:
- Interviews with the board, IT leadership, IT management, and representatives of business functions
- Analysis of the existing IT strategy and key documents
- External view on the as-is situation (IT-SWOT, maturity level subsumption, special topics)
- Development of an updated IT vision and guiding principles
- Development of target pictures in particular for the application landscape and the IT operating model
- Derivation of a strategic roadmap to operationalize reaching the defined target states
- Alignment with the board and detailing of selected elements
- Finalization, sign-off, and communication of the formal IT strategy and target IT operating model
Project Duration
The project length for developing a new IT strategy and IT operating model was approximately 10 months.