Lontra
Strategic Experts for ‘Running IT Like a Business’

The air of clarity gained through experience is refreshing as Boris Pevzner reflects on the management of information technology. “These are exciting times in the management of IT,” he begins. “We are in the midst of a transformative and disruptive change in how IT is delivered, a change that goes to the very core of how businesses think about their IT organizations.” Several systemic and technology drivers contribute to this change, particularly the need to quantify the economic value that IT provides, and the emerging view of IT as a strategic “product house” rather than merely a reactive “job shop”. All these developments are taking place against the backdrop of major technological innovations that are transforming enterprise computing—including BYOD, cloud computing, enterprise social networks, and hot new technological capabilities such as AR and VR.

To thrive in this high-octane environment, Pevzner believes that IT organizations must be incredibly innovative and yet intensely disciplined—a delicate balance that his company Lontra has been helping its clients to achieve. A boutique IT strategy consulting firm, Lontra assists the Global 2000 companies in implementing the “running IT like a business” operating model.

Lontra believes that IT organizations ought to be run like product-centric businesses serving their internal customers. Backed by a team of former C-level IT executives and IT Service Management practitioners, the company has developed a methodology—Lontra SUCSESS™—that focuses on ‘quick wins,’ rapid ROI, and clearly defined IT service management goals to incrementally transform any IT organization into an agile digital business-within-a-business.

Lontra’s “running IT like a business” framework is based on an industry-standard portfolio of well-defined IT business services.

We have a very strong vision of how IT organizations ought to be run

This service portfolio clearly delineates the boundaries between IT and the business and enables delivering the services to customers in a standardized way, while also implementing demand-driven budgeting and capacity management processes. This translates into an agile, accountable, transparent, and strategic IT operational framework that conforms to business needs and supports innovation.

The Lontra SUCSESS methodology is designed to benefit all IT organizations, regardless of their level of maturity in realizing the principles of business-aligned IT management. “The beginning of every engagement is a workshop structured to provide the background knowledge required to begin implementing an efficient service portfolio, unit costing, pricing, and planning infrastructure for your IT business,” adds Pevzner.

Over the last fifteen years, Lontra has developed a proven track record of its “running IT like a business” methodology through impactful engagements with global companies including BP, Union Pacific Railroad, McGraw-Hill Companies, and many others. Yet, Pevzner sees this success as just the beginning of Lontra’s journey. “We have a very strong vision of how IT organizations ought to be run,” he says. “As the industry transformation toward more business-aligned IT keeps accelerating, it will continue to fuel our growth and expansion.”