By Joanne Moretti

The challenges facing CIOs have never been greater. In this economy, every IT dollar must be fully justified before it’s allocated for new hardware, software or services.

There’s much CIOs can do to ensure that their technology acquisitions produce tangible savings and return on investment (ROI) over a shortened time horizon. Having a carefully thought-out approach is key. Such an approach minimizes risk and creates a sequence of well-defined, largely self-contained phases, beginning with the low-hanging fruit and then building on each phase of the project.

Good project management starts with good governance. This means establishing teams that possess the necessary skills and knowledge. Effective communication is another key contributor to success. So is understanding accountability and responsibility for every deliverable — as well as who should be informed and consulted along the way. Together, these moves can have a dramatic impact on any IT project.

It’s also essential to have a detailed business case that maps the costs and savings — both hard and soft — to each phase on the project road map. This business case should be linked to all affected business areas. Also powerful is having an executive-level champion who will support the project’s business impact and benefits.

The IT project team also needs to align its technology solution with the business drivers and requirements. We rely on a maturity model that describes four stages through which enterprise IT management solutions evolve. This model also shows what the value solutions are likely to deliver at each stage. For example, a solution that initially helps reduce operational costs might later help align IT with the overall business.

Depending on what’s needed from a new solution — and what the user’s IT environment already comprises — the project team can also select a sequence of new subcomponents that will deliver the maximum business value in the shortest time. Then, to make sure these components are installed and implemented smoothly, the project team should adopt formalized best practices. These are essentially playbooks, based on in-the-field experience, that describe precisely how to configure, test and integrate each component.