From crisis to recuperation, CIOs and IT management quickly adapted to changes in business technology budgets to serve shifting priorities throughout the pandemic.
The spending framework of technology business management (TBM) implements IT spend metrics and other stats to help leadership view tech spend holistically. Companies report data-driven decision making as one benefit of the TBM framework, but others prefer to leave technology spending decisions with the finance department.
With TBM tools in place, Stanley Black & Decker was able to smoothly pivot to pandemic-era changes — and transition back to recovery mode when it was ready, according to Rhonda Gass, CIO at Stanley Black & Decker, at the TBM Conference 2020 on Tuesday.
When the pandemic hit, Stanley Black & Decker shifted focus away from advancing AI and machine learning projects and toward continuity of operations and establishing a work from home environment instead.
"We were focused on the basic operational needs of the company and our IT strategy and planning capabilities, along with TBM, served us well as we pivoted," Gass said.
At Stanley Black & Decker, the TBM framework keeps the company on track to make the most of its IT budget. "It's all about driving sustained value realization," said Gass.
During the pandemic, TBM provided a deep understanding of changing IT costs and user consumption of IT products to fuel rapid decision-making, according to Gass.
"For example, around cost-saving actions, we can determine the value of a divestiture or office closure, the value of an investment decision," Gass said. "We can compare opportunity A against opportunity B with real, all-in impactful data."
Using the methodology, Stanley Black & Decker identified the highest priority initiatives across the business, solved staffing problems and ultimately funded the most important programs first, according to Gass.
"We made certain that time was allocated to the highest-priority projects and we limited discretionary items such as training and administration," Gass said.
Stanley Black & Decker used TBM to benchmark against industry standards to see immediate cost-savings opportunities. Through benchmarking, companies establish a baseline it can weigh progress against.
Stanley Black & Decker will use TBM to help inform decision-making to maximize tech investments as it plans past the pandemic.
"TBM has allowed us to support operational targets with data-based decisions, new ways of working and all while delivering near term, as well as long term, results," Gass said. "The great news is we've now shifted the company to a focus on post-COVID[-19] transformation and growth. Once again, TBM is steering our efforts as we make informed decisions to maximize our technology investment."
