Application Portfolio Optimization
A structured approach to application portfolio optimization, (APO) is used to optimize the IT applications and assets of the customer organization. HCL's proprietary APO methodology has been developed based on the experience derived from working with large customers having complex IT architectures.
Rather than looking at applications as a static inventory of programs, objects and files, APO evaluates applications on a comprehensive set of intrinsic characteristics like functional quality, technical quality, management quality, scalability, modularity, and stability. Such rigorous analysis helps in classifying the applications into categories like healthy, must-go, and needs technical or functional improvements.
PRISMTM HCL's APO tool is an in-house web-based tool that helps reduce subjectivity and aids in consistency, and in logical decision-making.
HCL's APO strategy has the following key components which make it a comprehensive offering:
- IT Sourcing Strategy
- Application Portfolio Management
- Application Portfolio Consolidation
Representative Engagement IT Sourcing Strategy
The focus for HCL's IT Sourcing Strategy (Figure) service is to assist customers in identifying and prioritizing applications within their portfolio that can be outsourced, to reduce cost of application management, improve efficiency, and enable customer focus on core tasks.
HCL's outsourcing readiness assessment is a combination of qualitative analysis and statistical modeling of various parameters and characteristics like business criticality, technology complexity, and application stability, to significantly reduce the subjectivity of the recommendations.
Representative EngagementIT Sourcing Strategy for a Leading Anglo-Dutch Publisher and Information Provider
Application Portfolio Management
HCL's Application Portfolio Management (APM) service offering audits customer's applications in relation to business goals and develops a plan that better aligns applications with business needs and objectives. HCL leverages a tool based approach through partnerships and in-house tools to achieve the following for the customer:
- Creates a customized portfolio strategy designed to drive business value
- Optimizes enterprise portfolios by identifying underutilized, redundant and obsolete applications
- Helps reduce maintenance and support costs and improve IT investment decisions
- Builds action steps for transformation of the application portfolio to the next generation of IT technology
The result is a finely tuned portfolio that makes the most of the existing systems and incorporates new functionality to fill requirement gaps.
HCL's APM offering follows a 3 step-approach (Figure) with quick-wins and future sustainability
- Assess — Application Portfolio Assessment for identifying opportunities
- Optimize — Implement Optimization initiatives
- Govern — Deploy APM solution for continuous governance
Application Portfolio Consolidation
HCL assists customer in identifying applications within their portfolio which can be considered for consolidation and thus reducing the costs of application management and improving the efficiency. HCL has developed a comprehensive approach for Application Portfolio Consolidation. The appro ach evaluates business-driven application requirements of the entity as a whole, maps them with analysis of cumulative application portfolio, and identifies potential sequences of transformations to realize fast and scalable IT integration.
