Rationalization Of A Large Application Portfolio
A multi-concept home improvement franchise system with four consumer brands and more than 1,000 locations in the United States and Canada
The Challenge
The client has been growing with inclusion of new services and product offerings, and through acquisition. Over time, the application portfolio had grown to over 700 separate applications being supported by IT. Business required IT to reduce its annual outlay by close to 40%. Reduction of the application footprint by 50% was a key requirement to achieve this goal of annual outlay reduction.
Our Solution
The goal of the project was to rationalize the IT applications portfolio in order to
reduce the footprint by 50% and improve manageability and cost effectiveness. The work required study and
understanding of current state architecture and developing a future state architecture for the enterprise.
We used a best-of-breed and customized IT portfolio rationalization and integration methodology, and carried
out the following, in this project.
- Studied the current state of client application environment from the following perspectives: Application redundancy, Application usage, Application health; Studied the key applications for the organization for the following perspectives: Enterprise applications; Operational applications
- Determined key strategic application vendors with which to form strategic, long term relationships; Worked with the US, Europe, and APAC-based IT teams and identified the best-value future state applications using an objective, quantitative model
- Created a future state application portfolio based on rationalization outcomes, illustrating: To-Be application architecture wiring diagram; To-Be application architecture transition plan, illustrating yearly pace of transition; Infrastructure impact analysis and remediation recommendations
- Created a specific change management plan and communication plan to facilitate end users transitioning from one application to another
- Created a Governance and Application Rationalization sustainability framework to take in to account application lifecycle (including procurement), to-be-Introduced technologies such as cloud based applications and mobile applications, exception processing, communication and management, and ability to serve M&A work
- Created effective communication plans to address actual project implementation, governance procedures and outcomes, decision support related to application rationalization on an ongoing basis
- Developed a disposition plan for each application incorporating human factors, organizational change management, financial/ legal/ regulatory impact, and technology sunset designs for data, integration, and infrastructure
Highlights
We went on to assist the client with the implementation of the rationalization. The rationalization effort saved over $ 40 million in annual outflow for the client.