What is Application Portfolio Management (APM)?
Application Portfolio Management (APM) is a framework for managing enterprise IT software applications and software-based services. APM provides managers with an inventory of a company’s software applications and metrics to illustrate the business benefits of each application. This management discipline is essential for organizations seeking to rationalize their application portfolio, streamline operations, and align technology investments with business goals.
APM encompasses various aspects, such as:
- Portfolio Management: Overseeing a collection of business applications as a strategic portfolio, focusing on the applications’ performance, value contribution, and lifecycle.
- Application Rationalization: Evaluating existing applications to determine which should be kept, replaced, retired, or consolidated to optimize resource usage and support business processes efficiently.
- Software Asset Management: Managing the procurement, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within an organization.
- Technical Debt Management: Identifying and addressing the costs of maintenance associated with older or less efficient applications.
- Business-IT Alignment: Ensuring that the application portfolio supports and is in line with the strategic goals and capabilities of the business.
By implementing APM, organizations can achieve cost savings, improve application performance, and make informed decisions about technology investments. This aligns with the broader context of Enterprise Architecture, enabling businesses to have a comprehensive view of their technology landscape and its impact on their operations and strategies.
Examples of APM tools include ServiceNow Application Portfolio Management, which offers features for application inventory and analysis, and Torii’s Shadow IT discovery solution, crucial for uncovering and managing undocumented or unauthorized software within an organization.
Examples of Application Portfolio Management
In high-tech companies, where IT landscapes are complex and rapidly evolving, Application Portfolio Management (APM) plays a crucial role. Here are some examples that resonate with IT managers or directors in such environments:
Rationalization Project: An IT director at a software company initiated an application rationalization project. By evaluating their existing applications, they identified redundant apps, consolidated similar functions, and decommissioned outdated systems, leading to significant cost savings and efficiency gains.
Integrating Business and IT Goals: A high-tech enterprise used APM to align its application portfolio with its business capabilities. This process involved mapping applications to business processes and goals, ensuring that each application added value to the company’s operations.
Managing Technical Debt: An organization tackled its technical debt by assessing the long-term costs associated with maintaining older applications. This assessment led to the modernization of legacy systems, enhancing performance and reducing maintenance costs.
Shadow IT Discovery: In the case of Lunchbox, a real-world example, the use of Torii’s Shadow IT discovery tool in their APM process revealed four times more applications than initially known. This discovery was critical in managing their application portfolio effectively and led to substantial cost savings.
These examples demonstrate the diverse applications of APM in a high-tech environment, from rationalization and cost management to aligning IT with business goals and uncovering shadow IT. The strategic use of APM tools like ServiceNow and Torii can transform how organizations manage their software assets, leading to more informed decisions and optimized operations.
Best Practices for Effective Application Portfolio Management
Implementing effective Application Portfolio Management (APM) involves a series of best practices that ensure a strategic approach to managing software assets. Here’s a step-by-step guide for IT managers and directors:
Inventory and Documentation: Start by creating a comprehensive inventory of all existing applications. This includes not only officially sanctioned software but also any shadow IT present in the organization. Tools like Torii can help in discovering hidden applications.
Evaluate Business Alignment: Assess each application for its alignment with business goals and processes. Determine how each application supports or hinders business capabilities and objectives.
Rationalize the Portfolio: Conduct an application rationalization process. This involves deciding which applications to keep, replace, consolidate, or retire based on their value, cost, and alignment with business needs.
Manage Technical Debt: Identify and address technical debt. Prioritize upgrading, replacing, or retiring applications that are costly to maintain and do not meet current business needs.
Monitor Application Performance: Regularly review the performance and usage of applications. Use metrics such as user satisfaction, cost, ROI, and contribution to business goals to evaluate their effectiveness.
Incorporate Feedback Loops: Establish channels for receiving feedback from end-users and stakeholders. Use this feedback to make continuous improvements in the application portfolio.
Integrate with Enterprise Architecture: Ensure that APM is integrated with the broader enterprise architecture strategy. This alignment ensures that the application portfolio supports the overall IT infrastructure and strategy.
Implement Governance: Establish governance policies and procedures to manage the application lifecycle effectively. This includes processes for introducing new applications, modifying existing ones, and decommissioning outdated or redundant applications.
Leverage APM Tools: Utilize specialized APM tools, like ServiceNow and Torii, to automate and streamline various aspects of portfolio management, from inventory management to performance monitoring.
Continuous Improvement: Treat APM as an ongoing process. Continuously assess and adjust the application portfolio to adapt to changing business needs and technology advancements.
By following these best practices, organizations can ensure that their application portfolio is optimized, cost-effective, and aligned with their strategic business objectives.
Related Tools for Application Portfolio Management
Several tools are pivotal in implementing and maintaining effective Application Portfolio Management (APM). These tools aid in inventory management, performance analysis, cost tracking, and alignment with business goals. Here’s a list of some essential APM tools:
Torii SaaS Management Platform: Specializes in uncovering shadow IT and managing SaaS applications. Its automated discovery capabilities are crucial for maintaining an accurate and comprehensive application inventory. You can design custom automation to flag and follow up with users any time they introduce a new app to the portfolio. Torii also helps you manage spend management, employee lifecycle automation and more.
ServiceNow Application Portfolio Management: Offers a comprehensive suite for managing applications, focusing on cost, usage, and performance metrics. It integrates well with ServiceNow’s broader IT service management platform.
Planview: Provides tools for portfolio and resource management, ideal for aligning IT investments with business strategies.
Apptio: Focuses on technology business management, helping organizations understand and manage the cost, quality, and value of their IT applications.
CAST Software Intelligence: Analyzes software health, complexity, and technical debt, offering insights for rationalizing and optimizing application portfolios.
Micro Focus: Offers solutions that include portfolio management, application modernization, and software delivery automation.
Flexera: Provides software asset management solutions to optimize software licensing costs and compliance.
BMC Helix: Offers a cloud-based ITSM platform that includes application portfolio management features, focusing on aligning IT services with business needs.
Snow Software: Specializes in software asset management, helping organizations optimize software spending and compliance.
LeanIX: Aims at enterprise architecture and cloud governance, supporting organizations in managing their IT landscapes effectively.
These tools vary in their specific features and focus areas, but collectively, they provide a robust set of capabilities for managing application portfolios efficiently. By leveraging these tools, organizations can gain better visibility into their application landscape, make informed decisions about technology investments, and ensure alignment with business goals.
Related Concepts in Application Portfolio Management
Understanding Application Portfolio Management (APM) involves familiarity with several related concepts. These concepts help in comprehending the broader context of APM and its role in organizational strategy and IT management. Here are some key related concepts:
Enterprise Architecture (EA): This refers to the conceptual blueprint that defines the structure and operation of an organization. EA aims to align a company’s strategy with its IT infrastructure, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness.
Software Asset Management (SAM): SAM involves managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within an organization. It’s closely linked to cost management and compliance in APM.
Business Capability: This is the expression of what a business does and can do, often mapped in APM to ensure applications support these capabilities.
Technical Debt: This concept refers to the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer. Managing technical debt is a critical aspect of APM.
Application Rationalization: This is the process of strategically identifying business applications to determine which should be kept, replaced, consolidated, or retired to streamline operations and reduce costs. It’s a core activity in APM for optimizing the application portfolio.
SaaS Management: In the context of APM, this involves overseeing and optimizing the use and cost of Software-as-a-Service applications, which are increasingly prevalent in modern IT environments.
Project Management: This encompasses the planning, initiating, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals. In APM, project management skills are essential for implementing changes to the application portfolio.
Business Process Management (BPM): This is the discipline of improving a business process from end to end by analyzing it, modelling how it works in different scenarios, executing improvements, monitoring the new process, and continually optimizing it.
Application Lifecycle Management: This encompasses the supervision of software from its initial planning through retirement. It involves making informed decisions about investment, maintenance, and decommissioning of applications.
Cloud Computing: The practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data. In APM, cloud computing plays a vital role in determining the infrastructure strategy for application deployment.
Understanding these concepts helps IT managers and directors manage their application portfolios more effectively, ensuring alignment with business objectives and optimal use of IT resources.
FAQs on Application Portfolio Management
Q: What is Application Portfolio Management?
A: Application Portfolio Management (APM) is the practice of managing a collection of software applications in an organization in a coordinated way. It involves evaluating, rationalizing, and planning applications to ensure they align with business objectives and are cost-effective.
Q: Why is Application Portfolio Management important?
A: APM is crucial for ensuring that an organization’s software applications are optimally supporting its business processes, maximizing ROI, reducing costs, managing risks, and aligning IT strategy with business goals.
Q: What are the key components of APM?
A: Key components include application inventory, business alignment, application rationalization, cost management, technical debt management, and lifecycle management.
Q: How does APM help in managing technical debt?
A: APM helps identify and prioritize technical debt by assessing the long-term costs and risks associated with maintaining outdated or inefficient applications, guiding decisions on upgrades, replacements, or retirements.
Q: Can APM assist in cloud migration strategies?
A: Yes, APM plays a critical role in cloud migration by helping organizations assess which applications are suitable for cloud migration, plan the migration process, and manage applications post-migration.
Q: How does APM integrate with other IT management processes?
A: APM integrates with processes like IT governance, enterprise architecture, software asset management, and project management, ensuring a holistic approach to IT strategy and operations.
Q: What role does APM play in managing SaaS applications?
A: In managing SaaS applications, APM focuses on tracking application usage, optimizing subscription costs, ensuring compliance, and aligning SaaS solutions with business needs.
Q: How do tools like Torii SMP enhance APM?
A: Tools like Torii SMP enhance APM by automating the discovery of applications (including shadow IT), providing insights into usage and performance, and helping manage SaaS subscriptions effectively.
Q: What is application rationalization in APM?
A: Application rationalization is the process of analyzing an organization’s application portfolio to determine which applications should be kept, replaced, consolidated, or retired to streamline operations and reduce costs.
Q: How does APM contribute to business agility?
A: APM contributes to business agility by ensuring that the application portfolio is flexible, scalable, and responsive to changing business needs, thereby supporting rapid adaptation and innovation.
