The IT Leader as a risk manager for Application Portfolio Management

[Lilly Souksamla]

Risk is a good thing.  Without the ability to embrace risk, organizations wouldn’t be able to drive innovation, set themselves apart from their competitors, or achieve the levels of success that only bold and forward-thinking organizations can deliver.  But that risk must be understood, and it must be managed. 

Organizations must be continuously aware of where their risk exposures are, and of how well those risks are being controlled.  They must be consciously accepting the risks that will help them drive their business, while eliminating those that pose threats.  It’s never an exact science, but it’s something that can be a differentiator. 

For many organizations, that ability to manage risks has been a challenge when it comes to technology, but it doesn’t need to be.  While the pace of technological advancement will always pose a risk that must be monitored as it can’t be controlled, most other technology related risks are easily managed as long as they are understood.  But many IT departments just haven’t had that understanding. 

They have been dealing with forgotten applications, shadow IT, isolated pockets of obsolete technology and a piecemeal approach to managing their applications that more often than not relies on spreadsheets and manual updates.  That not only doesn’t help an organization to manage technology risk, it introduces a lot of additional, and unnecessary, risk. 

Application portfolio management – APM, can change all that.  When an organization has a detailed inventory of all its applications in one place it is much easier to understand where the strengths and vulnerabilities are.  And when that inventory is managed in a largely automated fashion in an enterprise tool, it’s much easier to understand how and when things change. 

Just as importantly, an accurate and complete application inventory allows an organization to take action, confident in the knowledge that those actions are the right ones.  Existing risks can be addressed by eliminating those islands of abandoned technology.  The outdated, unsupported applications can be replaced, the duplicates eliminated, and the solutions that don’t meet the current standards for security, performance and privacy can be upgraded to applications that do. 

IT leaders are also able to leverage APM to aid them in forward looking risk management and control.  APM supports effective management of application lifecycles, helping to ensure that key solutions are retired and replaced before they cause increased risk exposure.  And with integration between APM and strategic portfolio management (SPM), the required changes to the application portfolio can directly feed the organization’s demand funnel.  This ensures required replacements are approved, funded and scheduled – executing on the risk management work and delivering a world-class technology environment that can enable organizations to take smart risks, confident that they are being well managed. 

To create an environment that is supported by world-class technology, you need world-class technology.  If your APM solution isn’t capable of not only managing your application portfolio and supporting your plans and technology lifecycles then it isn’t giving you what you need.  If it isn’t integrated not just with every element of your technology operations, but also with your business planning and delivery, it’s adding additional layers of risk.  That’s why you need ServiceNow APM. 

As part of the Now platform, and with seamless integration across all of ServiceNow’s business and technology management solutions, you couldn’t get further from a spreadsheet.  And you can’t find a more powerful, more integrated APM tool.  It’s a risk-free approach. 

Interested in learning more? Visit us online and find out how ServiceNow APM can help you plan for a new tomorrow.  

Read the previous blog in the series here.

Learn more about Application Portfolio Management here.

Learn more about Strategic Portfolio Management here.