This lopsided focus is largely the legacy of a long-standing project-centric worldview. Using portfolio-optimization techniques to decide how much funding to give to IT projects is now common and has been seized upon by software vendors. AXA Financial, for instance, relies on software from UMT "to prioritize projects in a rational, objective way," says CFO Curcio. "It's an interactive process. We're constantly adjusting as we decide if we have more or less money to spend." And close to 20 companies, including Business Engine, ITM, Mercury, Niku, ProSight, and even SAP, now sell similar products.
But Forrester and other consultants say that "application portfolio management" is getting more attention. Some new products attempt to discover all software objects and hardware boxes in an enterprise and map their many interdependencies, while other products scan an application's source code and, with some degree of accuracy, determine its structure and complexity. In theory, at least, this information can provide transparency that would be helpful to projects focused on integrating applications, as well as to the ongoing maintenance of the systems involved in such tasks. It can also help, of course, with charge-backs to the business units in an enterprise, providing reports that show each unit exactly what assets are deployed in its name, the number and degree of changes made to its systems, and other costs.
"I'm a fairly curmudgeonly type," says Murphy at Forrester. "I've been in IT for 23 years and I don't get excited too easily. But I'm highly optimistic about these new tools. It won't happen overnight, but it's going to happen sooner rather than later."
Murphy says that companies should avoid viewing this software, still in its "preconception phase," as a cure-all. First, he advises, have a project-management office in place, or at least feel good about your company's approach to IT oversight. Start small, with an obvious area of weakness, and extend the use of this software over time. Large companies have the most to gain from these new applications, he says, and at smaller firms, a focus on improving IT-management processes should achieve the same results.
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