You're seen as necessary but not well aligned with the strategic needs of the enterprise.

Challenge

Clients may not understand the value you deliver and its relevance to their strategies. They think of you as a "necessary evil" and "overhead" -- something to be minimized -- rather than an investment opportunity that's critical to their success.

This may occur for two reasons:

• It may be that your priorities really aren't well aligned with the business.

• Or it may be that you are delivering strategic value, and people just don't know it.

In either case, clients don't feel that they are getting from you what they most need.

How can you ensure, on an ongoing basis, that your priorities are driven by clients' business strategies and that they understand the value they're getting?

Solution

One solution -- a poor choice -- is for you to study enterprise strategies and decide how to best serve them. This doesn't tap clients' understanding of enterprise strategies, nor does it build their understanding of your value.

It's far better to empower clients to decide what they'll "buy" from you (set your priorities, whether or not money changes hands). They're in the best position to decide, since they know their individual roles in enterprise strategy and what they need from you to deliver it.

Of course, their choices have to be constrained by available resources, and much of your budget may be consumed by "keep the lights on" operations. Clients need to understand the entire budget, and what all that money is buying.

Investment-based budgeting clearly defines what the business gets for a given level of funding. It helps executives decide your priorities in light of enterprise strategies. And it builds clients' understanding of your contribution to their strategies.

"In the end, our approved budget grew by over 35% over the last year, driven by new business from our internal customers who realized our value and wanted more of it!"

David Caldwell Director, Compassion International

Comprehensive solution....

Other Resources

Case Study: From Adversaries to Advocates
how budgeting and product/service costing improved relationships between IT and its clients

Case Study: Re-inventing the Budget Process
the cost of success: interviews with CIOs on the benefits of budgeting for products/services

Column: Portfolio Management....

Column: Governance....

Anecdote: Start the Year Out Wrong
why budgeting is a form of portfolio management

Anecdote: Attempting Portfolio Management
why a shift in the budget process is prerequisite to dynamic portfolio management

Anecdote: Client-driven Portfolio Management (Out On a Limb Alone)
you're expected to defend the budget that's really there to benefit your clients, and blamed when you don't get enough

Book on resource governance processes....

Speech abstract: The Big Picture
how all the pieces of financial management processes fit together