Borland delivers IT management, governance solution to help companies more efficiently select, manage software initiatives

Borland Software Corporation today introduced a complete, personalised IT management and governance solution to help organisations achieve IT business alignment, increase visibility and control over IT projects and investments, improve execution with more effective resource utilisation and manage regulatory compliance.

The solution combines Borland`s process improvement and skills training services with a new version of Borland Tempo, packaged and delivered in an integrated way that can help IT organisations manage their investments, projects and resources more efficiently and cost-effectively.

The Borland IT Management and Governance (ITM&G) solution is the first of several solutions Borland will offer this year to address core process areas for achieving software delivery optimisation (SDO). In addition to ITM&G, Borland also plans to provide solutions for requirements definition and management, lifecycle quality management and change management.

Each complete Borland solution will include a tailored combination of team training, process improvement services and application lifecycle management (ALM) technology, designed and implemented by a Borland solution architect so it best fits a customer`s unique needs. This personalised and balanced approach is designed to help IT organisations conquer the fundamental pain points that repeatedly hinder successful software delivery, helping them make software development a more manageable and predictable business process.

"Unfortunately today, software and failure are too frequently linked, and we as an industry need to start tackling the software problem with the urgency it deserves," said Rick Jackson, chief marketing officer at Borland Software. "The root cause of this problem is often the complex and inefficient way that software is delivered. To reduce the complexity and increase the predictability of software delivery, we are offering customers a series of packaged, maturity-based solutions that leverage our global process expertise, our comprehensive library of process assets and templates, and our award-winning ALM technology."

Aligning the objectives of the IT organisation with those of the various lines of business is perhaps the most challenging task faced by IT leaders, especially amid the growing complexity of compliance requirements, distributed teams and the ever-changing aspects of technology. IT management and governance holds the promise of controlling this chaos, providing organisations with the ability to better focus, manage and measure their IT and software investments. This enables individuals and organisations to answer three key questions that will help maximise the business value of software:

* Are you making the right investments?
* Are you executing in the right way?
* How do you know?

IDC predicts that the IT project and portfolio management (ITPPM) market, a primary discipline of good IT management and governance, will experience nearly 15% compound annual growth in the next four years.1

"IDC sees a growing confluence between IT project and portfolio management and application lifecycle management processes, organisational strategies and automated tools to enable stronger coordination between IT and the business," said Melinda Ballou, program director for IDC`s application lifecycle management service. "Given current industry pressures, Global 2000 organisations need to be able to leverage core data and capabilities across these areas so that quantitative information can help to inform qualitative choices about IT resources, and project/program portfolios to enable more adaptive business support."

The Borland ITM&G solution is specifically designed to link top-down, business-driven decision-making (IT governance) with bottom-up, day-to-day IT execution (IT management). It includes support for demand management, portfolio management, financial and resource management, asset management and project and portfolio management. This solution arms IT teams with the skills, services and products they need to efficiently evaluate and prioritise investments from across the organisation based on costs, benefits and risks.

It also provides a complete set of automated best practices and capabilities for successfully planning and executing initiatives at the project level, as well as across the broader IT portfolio. As a result, organisations can be more effective in focusing their investments, more predictable in their performance and more accountable for their results.

"IT management and governance is critical to the success of IT organisations. P&O Ports North America currently relies on Borland to help prioritise IT projects efficiently, enabling us to focus only on those projects that align with our corporate objectives," said Mark Manuel, senior director of IT for P&O Ports, a worldwide leader in cargo handling services and port management with more than 25 000 employees. "We`ve learned that the processes and methodologies our organisation follow to manage and govern IT are just as important as the technology itself, and we`re very impressed with the unique, process-centric way in which Borland is approaching this market."

The Borland ITM&G solution includes the latest version of Borland Tempo, an integrated and fully Web-based technology suite with new dashboard, project, portfolio and document management feature enhancements. Going forward, Borland intends to integrate quality verification metrics into Borland Tempo for more complete tracking of progress and results across projects. For more information on Borland Tempo, please visit: www.borland.com/us/products/tempo/index.html.

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Borland solutions are applied via Borland Accelerate, a proven approach for customer success that evaluates an organisation`s existing process maturity and identifies specific areas for improvement. Borland Accelerate is designed to transform an organisation`s process maturity level using a flexible four-phase improvement framework that applies best practices, training and technology in a way that is tailored to the customer`s unique needs.

The Borland ITM&G solution is now available. For teams that wish to quickly address specific sub-processes within IT management and governance, Borland also offers Accelerators, a set of packaged offerings that include process guidance, technology and skills training for these specific areas. For instance, Borland offers a Portfolio Management Accelerator for organisations seeking to address critical gaps in their portfolio management infrastructure. Borland will make more information available about new solutions offerings targeting other areas throughout 2006.

To learn more about how effectively your organisation handles IT management and governance, take the Borland Self Assessment at www.borland.com/itmg.