Squeezing the balloon

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!When you start charging a business for their use of IT, your consumers suddenly find that by changing their behaviour they can change what they pay. This can bring out positive and negative actions, and in this episode we start to look at these and how to prepare and react to them. Some of the examples used in this episode, particularly those of bad behaviours, are anonymised but based on real-life experience. As we say in the episode, don't follow the bad examples, or you may find that the punitive effects are not favourable!

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!What's the best organisational design for IT? Should you have a centralised of distributed organisation and cost base for your IT? What happens when someone thinks that IT is too expensive and they can do the job themselves more cheaply?All these questions can affect how you control, manage and demonstrate both your IT costs and the value that they bring to users. We run through these questions and more in this episode, and some of the ways of thinking that can help you understand the context you're working in.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!One of the targets you can aim for with TBM is to reach the point of charging your users for their IT spend. A lot of effort goes in to working out how much of the total cost they are generating and this can be the next step; converting that from a large number into something that they can see details of and ask questions about how to control.This is the start of a number of conversations about how to take that step, and what to look out for.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!When you start building a model of your IT Cost, how do you know whether you're doing well? There are several ways to look at the quality of your work in this context, and we talk through some of them in this episode. This isn't a one-off set of measures, and you can track your progress and effectiveness over time.If there's a topic you'd like to hear more about, or if you'd like to join us on the podcast, drop an email to [email protected] and [email protected] .

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!The range of information that's available with a well constructed TBM Cost Model, particularly the synthesis of it to expose views that are otherwise not available, can have huge impacts. As the owner of a TBM system you need to think carefully about how the information you can provide will be used, particularly when it could affect the business and the people around you.Listen to our thoughts on how to understand the technical and business context of your analysis, and to validate and position results, before you take the plunge with sharing more sensitive outputs.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!How much information can you take in? If you're deluged with data, with changes, or other sensory inputs, there comes a point at which you struggle to deal with them all and need to find mechanisms to cope.That's as true in a work (and TBM) context as any other, and in this episode we chat about when and where we've had to look out for those situations and cope with them.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!We're joined by special guest Amy Byalick, who co-chairs the TBM Council's Adoption Workgroup, to discuss why you should use the TBM Taxonomy rather than use any other related structure.To find out more about the TBM Taxonomy and Framework more directly, the links are:https://www.tbmcouncil.org/taxonomyhttps://www.tbmcouncil.org/framework

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!When you are making a change to your organization's Cost Model, you'll sometimes be accused of just moving money around, a bit like moving the air in a part-filled balloon.In this episode we'll dive into how to how to show that what you're doing is reasonable, defensible and helps show the value of IT over a longer period. You're not just 'squeezing the balloon' - or some alternative phrases that say something similar = but helping make meaningful and valuable changes.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!How detailed do you need to be when building a Cost Model for technology? This episode discusses the question in terms of how well you need to understand the relationships between components of technology cost, so that you can set up a logical allocation of cost between them.Do your allocation mechanisms need to be highly specific and based on consumption, or can a simpler approach work some of the time?This conversation was prompted by analysis published by the TBM Council about the attributes of winners of their annual awards.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!With the levers to the business that are provided when you implement Technology Business Management, you can find yourself in a position where the advice and information you provide can have significant impact. In this episode we review some of the ways in which you need to think about how best to approach that responsibility, including when to say "no".