By Lisa J. Downey, Lead Program Manager, WW Optimization Strategy, Microsoft Corporation

Email:  lisadown@microsoft.com

In yesterday's Optimization session, “Bridging IT and Business: A Structured approach,” Yoav Land, Sr. Platform Strategist on the WW Optimization Strategy team and Jean-Pierre Beelen, Principal Consultant at Getronics illustrated how connecting business solution areas to IT capabilities is essential to helping business decision makers better evaluate what IT solutions will help drive the business vs.  IT solutions designed to maintain and support systems and people.  In today’s hypercompetitive economy, business leaders are looking to their IT leaders to steer IT investments towards solutions that provide business value, while minimizing investments perceived as “cost center” oriented IT investments.  By adopting Optimization as part of  your selling strategy, you can help your IT customers better prepare for and position their IT investment rationale during key executive meetings leveraging the Microsoft Optimization methodologies.

New in FY09, we’ve developed a set of resources to help you help your IT customers better illustrate to their business counterparts the value of optimizing their organization’s infrastructure and platform.  We call this framework the “IT to Business Bridge” or (IT2B).  These resources range from Business Priorities Guides (solution attributes) and Platform Discussion Guides (Platform Capabilities) to Customer Decks and Architecture Guides.  The IT2B Framework offers you a powerful way to help impact the outcome of your Optimization customer conversations.

For more information on how to leverage the IT2B Framework as part of your Optimization selling strategy, please contact your Microsoft representative for more details.  You should also try to meet with Yoav (yland@microsoft.com ), while you’re here at the conference if you have any questions.

Regards,

Lisa J. Downey