5 Proven Ways to Accelerate Time-to-Value Using Apptio

Accelerating time-to-value and creating “early wins” helps pave the way towards long-term success with Apptio. These early wins help with buy-in and support, guiding better decision-making, helping demonstrate proof of value, and helping show “what is possible” using Apptio. An early or quick time to value helps create buy-in for future efforts.

This first one seems obvious, but often the mark is missed or misplaced. The value needs to be measurable and quantifiable. An example of a poorly defined goal would be “reduce app development costs.” A better goal would be to “reduce app development costs by ten percent within the next two quarters.” Using shorter iterations and Agile principles helps with engagement along the way and helps identify shifts that may be required to accelerate time-to-value sooner.

Not all goals need to be directly monetary. Other types of goals include:

• Process improvements
• Increased automation of routine tasks
• Decreased time to get to critical data
• Improved usage of IT resources

While not directly monetary, these goals affect budgets and influence financial plans, and they can quantify the successful use or optimization of IT assets.

One way to help achieve success is to tie goals to corporate or department initiatives. Some even align goals with corporate values or company goals, increasing exposure and buy-in across more contributors, stakeholders, and departments. The resulting reports can also show how departments contribute to overall organizational goals.

Create a clearly defined roadmap with defined requirements and time restrictions. A phased planning approach can be applied to any business initiative, whether within a small or large operation. This methodology works, and it helps organizations realize ROI (Return on Investment) or acquire information to support decision-making more quickly.

You may find these two popular methodologies helpful in the initial phases of planning:

The idea behind this concept is that you cannot achieve success or meet your long-term goals overnight, and you also cannot achieve Mach speeds immediately either. When building plans, you will want to consider each phase of the project and where you are as an organization.

Crawl
This is the phase where you need to get the stakeholders on board and involved. You will want to utilize proven decision-making exercises to help them define and prioritize objectives. Using the data provided, you can create quick reports that demonstrate the results of their input, and the Apptio tools that may be leveraged in the decision-making processes.

Walk
After getting stakeholder buy-in, you will need to identify the resources required to support the plan. Resources may include human data owners and IT resources. At this phase, you and your team may be considering configurations required, plug-ins needed to automate data sharing or Apptio integrations required. The crawling phase is like “showing off” compared to walking when the more challenging work begins.

Run
This is the phase where things really start moving. When everything is in place, and the wheels are greased, many processes will run automatically. You can obtain the data needed to support outcomes, and your team understands the importance of their contribution to the goals.

This way of thinking helps business leaders make better short-term goals and meet a more immediate outcome. Using this method, you identify a “good” goal or product release before trying to reach for the stars. Think of a company like Slack. They started with the simple goal of “making work more fun” and first released a lean chat tool. If they had attempted to become the “best” with the first release, it would not be the company it is today. It is critical to identify the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) or first goal quickly to accelerate time-to-value.

Good
This is the MVP or first short-term, reachable goal. If you do not reach your first goal quickly, everyone will soon lose interest, including customers, stakeholders, and contributors.

Better
After gathering stakeholder or customer input, you can create a plan that leads towards a better version. Still not what you might imagine as your “ultimate” goal, but better than good.

Best
This is the highest-valued product or outcome. At this point, you should have maximum buy-in, budget support, team engagement, and eager customers (internal or external).

This practice is often used when creating consumer products, but you can also use the methodology for creating plans, roadmaps, and schedules.

Part two of “accelerating time-to-value” discusses relationship building and how you can create more support and buy-in by carefully fostering beneficial relationships.

Our Apptio consultants are senior-level Apptio users, experienced TBM strategists, PPM (Project Portfolio Management) experts, and implementation specialists. One thing that sets us apart from other consulting organizations is that we do not have designated entry- or junior-level associates. Every TBM consultant has over five years of experience working with Apptio and Fortune 20 and Fortune 100 companies.

We can help with technical configuration as well as implementation, adoption, and roadmap challenges. With our proven Agile approach, we deliver results you can see – fast – while reducing time-to-value. 

Rego offers webinars, half-day training classes, and white papers. For more information, see Managed Support for Apptio.