Research Studies
ITPI research reports are designed to give IT decision makers empirical evidence about what is proven to work and the performance improvement potential of practices identified in the studies. We combine interviews and statistical analysis of survey data to identify top performers and find out what drives their higher levels of performance. These research reports deliver comprehensive data-driven insights that help justify practice and process changes based on potential improvements in key performance measures and have implications on an organization's cybersecurity practices and processes, driving a high-performing organization in terms of their overall cybersecurity posture.
Private and Hybrid Cloud IaaS Study
Hybrid cloud solutions promise to deliver the best of both private and public cloud strategies. However, cloud projects require changes to people, processes, and technology and can be a significant undertaking for enterprise IT organizations. This research report reveals cloud project success factors based on analysis of over 143 private and hybrid cloud deployments.
Top performer analysis suggests 22 high-impact practices that can be used to achieve better private or hybrid cloud project success.
Study Highlights
- Focus on user service requirements before, during, and after cloud deployment to ensure adoption and change IT service consumption behavior.
Production Server Virtualization Study
IT organizations are aggressively pursuing virtualization as a way to consolidate servers, reduce costs, and improve business service levels. This study identifies production procedures and controls that are commonly implemented at different levels of virtualization maturity.
IT executives can compare their use of virtualization practices that are frequently used by other organizations with similar virtualization objectives.
Study Highlights
- Analysis of outcome measures reveals that organizations at higher levels of virtualization maturity have higher performance in key areas, including reduced sprawl and configuration variance, increased use of automation, and reduced operational risk.
IT Strategic Alignment Study
This study provides evidence that there are a few basic IT value archetypes. The data from nine attributes indicate that organizations generally share one of three different sets of core purposes. Data on 49 alignment practices and 16 alignment performance measures also reveal a short list of practices that have the biggest impact on performance for each archetype group.
IT executives can use the study findings to profile their organization’s archetype to assess and communicate business alignment in business strategy terms. The findings can also be used to ensure your organization is following proven practices to optimize ongoing strategic alignment for your IT value archetype.
Study Highlights
- There are three basic IT value archetypes: 1) Utility Provider 2) Process Optimizer 3) Revenue Enabler. Each has unique building-block competencies that organizations of this type should master as they shift from one archetype to another.
Change Configuration and Release Performance Study
We analyzed 57 industry best practices to determine their impact on 15 key performance measures. We identified seven key performance drivers, including 30 individual best practices, that best predict performance improvement. Some of our findings confirm widely held beliefs, while others may surprise those pursuing ITIL implementations.
This study provides hard evidence about specific change, configuration, and release practices that best predict top levels of performance across 341 IT organizations studied. It offers detailed analysis of specific practices that should be implemented to achieve higher levels of performance. It links seven key performance drivers to specific performance measures and details the performance improvement potential for top, medium, and low performers in the study.
Study Highlights
- Change management is often identified as a logical starting point for ITIL implementations. However, release management should be the destination for organizations wanting to achieve higher levels of performance from their efforts.
IT Controls Performance Study
We analyzed 63 COBIT controls to determine their impact on performance along with 25 performance measures. We identified 21 foundational controls that improve operating performance. IT audit and operations can use the list of foundational controls to monitor compliance and operating performance improvement.
This study provides insights about which controls can improve performance. It helps build a compelling case for the improved payback on IT control and audit initiatives by identifying key areas of control activity focus.
Study Highlights
- IT audit and control-related activities are not just a necessary requirement to meet regulatory requirements, but can actually improve operating performance!