If you’re a public sector CIO, knowing how your IT
priorities line up with your budget is a necessity. And in the
post-Recovery Act world, having access to accurate spending data is
more than just a smart business decision – it’s the law.
Industry observers and major software players are expecting 2009 to
be a big year for Project Portfolio Management (PPM) applications. “IT
departments are being much more diligent about spending, and this type
of technology can help IT plan better and spend smarter.” Evelyn
Hubbert, senior analyst at Forrester Research said in a recent Network World article
about the emergence of Project Portfolio Management software. And one
San Francisco-based company is positioning itself to bring its
on-demand version of the software to state and local IT departments
nationwide.
Innotas is a leader in PPM software, and the exclusive provider of
on-demand IT Governance. Innotas’ IT dashboards manage budgets and
resources across an IT department’s inventory of projects, portfolios,
applications assets, and service requests. Current Innotas clients
include Tacoma, Wash., Memphis, Tenn., the State of Alaska and, most
recently, Jefferson Co., Colorado. Innotas CEO Keith Carlson spoke withCivSource this week about their software, where the company sits in the marketplace and where they plan on going in the future.
According to Mr. Carlson, Innotas sits in a space traditionally
occupied by Hewlett-Packard, CA and Oracle. But Innotas has carved out
a niche based on a mantra of quick implementation, low costs and
streamlined outcomes. In fact, this niche has worked out well for
Innotas as their year-over-year numbers for the last fiscal quarter was
up 30-40 percent – in a recession.
“Our biggest growth area is state and local governments – we’ve seen
tremendous growth during Q1 and Q2 of this year, both of which saw over
30 percent of our revenue coming from state and local government
deals,” Carlson said. “And we expect next quarter’s numbers to be even
higher than that.”
For Innotas, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been an
important factor in two ways: money is beginning to flow towards state
and local IT departments, and the addition of new reporting and
transparency requirements. Both scenarios bode well for the company,
Carlson says.
“We’re paying significant attention to the Recovery Act. With ARRA
money comes a significant amount of reporting and transparency
requirements – in terms of jobs created, jobs retained, number projects
delivered on time, budget use – it plays very well into what we’re
already providing to clients,” according to Mr. Carlson.
But perhaps just as beneficial for Innotas, Carlson says, is the
direct and indirect infusion of stimulus money to IT departments across
the country. “Stimulus moneys have been slow to come down – I think
were just beginning to see the tip of the stimulus iceberg.” But since
Innotas is focused on IT, they benefit from dollars received
specifically for the IT department, as well as for any department that
wants to implement information technology in their projects. In fact,
its part of a natural growth strategy called “land and expand,” Carlson
says.
If a customer’s transportation department has projects they need
tracking and portfolio management for, “we see our solution expand from
IT to other departments,” Carlson said, owing this significant growth
strategy to the solution’s deployment speed and ease of implementation.
“We’re not directly marketing to other departments, but nearly 30
percent of our customer growth comes from expanded use.”
Perhaps the most valuable asset of having the complete package – the
real-time reporting, resource scheduling and tracking, budget
monitoring – is that it allows stakeholders to connect the dots, to see
what constraints are limiting time and money, and to see where problem
areas exist.
“Our tool really allows agencies to collaborate and make decisions in the benefit of whole,” Mr. Carlson concluded.
To view the original article, click here. Or, go to CivSource to read more on how state and local leaders are leveraging technology.
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