This article was originally published by Authority Magazine
Listen and Learn — Optimizing IT isn’t just about technology; it starts with understanding where work is getting stuck. No one knows this better than your team. Engage them in meaningful conversations with them about their workloads and responsibilities to uncover opportunities for improving and streamlining processes.
In the dynamic realm of Information Technology, resource optimization stands as a cornerstone of efficiency and innovation. Balancing the triad of infrastructure, people, and processes is crucial for IT organizations to thrive and to provide consistent value. Yet, how can IT leaders ensure that every resource is utilized to its full potential? How do the principles of modern infrastructure align with human capital and streamlined processes to ensure that IT departments are agile, robust, and forward-thinking? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Tiffany Willis.
Tiffany Willis is a Field CTO with Praecipio with over 30 years experience in technology who works at the intersection of technology, process and talent. She is a strategic advisor that bridges the gap and effectively aligns business strategy and technology. She’s passionate about helping technology organizations do great work through leveraging modern technologies and modern ways of working.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?
An important part of my story is that I started my career a bit suspicious of technology, even going so far as to proclaim that I would never work in the tech space during my senior year of undergrad. And then, as the universe will do, I was offered a job in a hospital’s IT department directly following college. The combination of being part of a purpose-driven organization and leveraging technology to improve patient outcomes and support the hospital personnel and families had me completely hooked on technology’s potential impact.
Since that first job, my work has always revolved around how to deliver great products, applications, and functionalities. I’ve always felt that it’s people who make companies succeed, so if we can help them succeed with technology, our company will as well. With this perspective, I’ve always focused on innovation, efficiency, collaboration, and the seamless integration of people, process, and technology.
Let’s talk about how to optimize IT Resources. How do you assess the current state of your IT infrastructure? What metrics do you use to measure its efficiency?
My focus is on getting the greatest value from the tech stack and on simplifying it. I look at usage trends, capabilities, and DORA metrics to identify areas where there is an opportunity for optimization.
How do you prioritize and allocate resources for hardware and software upgrades to maximize performance?
Aligning your hardware and software assets with the organization’s strategic and financial objectives is paramount. Also, ensure that your platforms are fit-for-purpose, reliable, secure, and scalable to support your organization’s growth.
What security measures do you have in place to safeguard your IT infrastructure while optimizing its performance?
At this point, we hear more headlines about data breaches than we do pop culture. As organizations collect more data, effective governance and access management frameworks are key to successfully managing data within a secure environment. Continuous monitoring and regular audits also help identify and mitigate unauthorized access or vulnerabilities.
How do you identify the skill sets and competencies required for your IT team to effectively manage and optimize resources?
Obviously, expertise in areas like cloud architecture and data integration are important, but given the dynamic nature of the modern enterprise, I think we need more than just technical know-how. Companies need a unique blend of technical and interpersonal skills to build collaborative, cohesive teams that have the ability to connect technology and business outcomes. We also want talent that’s curious and eager to upskill in order to bridge knowledge gaps and drive innovation.
What strategies do you use to foster professional development and continuous learning within your IT team?
We try to create an environment that rewards curiosity and learning through collaboration, fosters communities of practice, and provides financial support for professional development.
Can you share examples of how cross-functional collaboration has contributed to resource optimization in your IT department?
Cross functional collaboration has allowed us to get better at prioritizing work, which means we are better at aligning and optimizing resources and have less work stuck in progress. We’ve also been able to find ways to streamline our internal processes by bringing together sales, operations and delivery to ensure we are removing bottlenecks and optimizing our process for onboarding.
How do you identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies in your IT processes that might hinder resource optimization?
I am a big fan of flow metrics, and I think aged work is one of the most valuable and underutilized metrics. Tracking the duration of work in progress helps identify potential bottlenecks that need to be addressed. Aged work also serves as a starting point in attributing the issue to a people, tool, process, or knowledge gap problem.
How do you ensure that your IT processes are aligned with business objectives and contribute to overall organizational efficiency?
More than just alignment, I think IT executives should shift their focus to a full-blown integration. IT is an inherent part of every business process and enterprise function. IT leaders must cultivate relationships with key stakeholders that are built on trust, and shared value creation. We’re past the point of IT being an internal “supplier” to other departments; IT is a partner in business. We must redefine IT’s role in the organization, understand how IT contributes to business outcomes, and embrace a partnership mindset over bureaucratic governance.
Can you share experiences where you’ve successfully automated routine tasks to free up resources for higher-value activities?
Automating approvals for code promotion to lower environments. Work spends too much time in wait states, which delays ROI and requires people to “chase down” others. With creating standards that can be tracked and auditing, we were able to automate certain approvals and validate that necessary steps were met. This allows our program managers to spend more time on higher value work like managing risks and dependencies.
Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are your 5 Tips to Optimize IT Resources Through Infrastructure, People, and Processes? Please share a story or example for each.
1 . Listen and Learn — Optimizing IT isn’t just about technology; it starts with understanding where work is getting stuck. No one knows this better than your team. Engage them in meaningful conversations with them about their workloads and responsibilities to uncover opportunities for improving and streamlining processes.
2 . Have a Clear Vision — Be crystal clear about what success looks like. What needs to improve? What are the goals? How will you measure progress? When your team understands this vision and sees how their efforts contribute, they’re more likely to actively participate and engage in their work.
3. Prioritize DevEx — Baseline how your development teams are doing using a combination of objective metrics (Can you deliver what customers want when they want it? Can you accurately forecast value delivery within an accepted degree of uncertainty?) and subjective metrics (job satisfaction, culture, and psychological safety). Then take an experimental approach to productivity improvement by focusing on a process, tool, or cultural shift. Set a date to assess the results and have a blameless conversation around what improved and what still needs to be addressed.
4. Build a Scalable Tech Foundation — Modernizing your applications and adopting flexible solutions are keys to maximizing your resources. Use cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) to scale resources based on demand and free up your IT resources from server maintenance, backups, and hardware issues. Opt for containerization and virtualization and use tools like CI/CD pipelines to streamline development and deployment.
5. Let AI Do Your Busywork — Think of AI as your partner in productivity. From summarizing issues to creating content for your knowledge base and automating service management support, use AI to streamline your workflows and enhance organizational efficiency.
How do you maintain a balance between short-term resource optimization goals and long-term strategic IT planning?
Planning for the next month, year or even decade is a delicate dance. It requires aligning immediate objectives with long-term strategic goals while ensuring priorities are clear at every level of the organization. This means understanding how each piece of your portfolio — whether it’s a small task or a major project — contributes to your broader strategic initiatives.
What role does feedback from end-users and stakeholders play in shaping your resource optimization strategies?
Feedback is the heartbeat of organizational success, especially for IT organizations. Regular feedback loops — whether from end users or business stakeholders — help identify what’s working, what’s not, and where opportunities for improvement lie. Ultimately, I think feedback is a tool for growth and integrating it into your decision-making process helps foster a customer-forward culture.
How do you adapt your resource optimization strategies to accommodate technological advancements and industry trends?
Many companies continue to maintain legacy platforms, but they need to evolve if they want to stay competitive. Teams already use emerging technologies like AI to be more productive, so as the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them you might as well join them.” Organizations must embrace these tools by incorporating them into their ecosystems and adopting new ways of working.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
This article was originally published by Authority Magazine
