SPM: bridging digital, R&D, and asset investments
At the 2026 Gartner CIO Symposium in Orlando, conversations around strategic platform management insights took center stage. Gartner’s VP Analyst Robert Handler presented a compelling case: organisations that consistently align, adapt, and act on value deliver stronger business results.
“It’s not about having the right answer,” Handler noted. “It’s about having worked through the trade-offs.”
That line struck a chord. Because in our work with industrial and energy companies, we see it play out daily – strategy rarely fails because it’s wrong; it fails because it’s fragmented. Digital, R&D, and asset portfolios live in silos. IT runs transformation, engineering drives capital, R&D fuels innovation – all powerful, yet too often disconnected.
That’s where Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) comes in – the missing link between these worlds.
SPM: the engine of strategy
Handler, Gartner’s VP, described three defining features of effective SPM – insights that underline why strategic platform management insights matter more than ever today:
Portfolio alignment – every investment must tie directly to strategy, with trade-offs made visible.
Ongoing flexibility – organisations must be ready to reprioritise when strategy or conditions shift.
Value-driven decisions – every initiative should show how it contributes to enterprise-wide outcomes.
His examples made it real: a government agency doubling strategy-compliant projects through lightweight “solution hypotheses”; Nestlé using trigger-based reprioritisation to respond to market change; Allstate cascading OKRs from executives to delivery teams for full transparency.
Each story underscored one truth: strategy is only as valuable as the portfolio’s ability to move with it.
Our perspective: beyond IT governance
Too many still see SPM (and its cousin, PPM) as an IT governance function. In manufacturing and energy, that’s a missed opportunity.
Real performance comes from viewing digital, R&D, and asset investments as one strategic portfolio – a single picture of where bets are being placed. When SPM crosses these boundaries, leaders can:
Balance operational resilience, decarbonisation, and innovation
Invest in asset renewal and technology modernisation through one lens
Identify constraints in capacity, skills, and capital before they bottleneck delivery
Shift resources confidently when markets or strategies evolve
Handler’s emphasis on flexibility rings especially true: governance should keep pace with strategy, not slow it down.
What industrial leaders can do in the first 90 days
From our work with industrial clients, the hardest part of SPM isn’t technology – it’s building new habits. Here’s what we’ve seen make an impact in the first 90 days:
1) Get visibility
Map every live investment in IT, R&D, and assets. Identify where resources are spent, what’s misaligned, and where duplication exists. You can’t manage what you don’t see.
2) Set rhythm
Move beyond static annual plans. Establish a quarterly portfolio review cadence and define triggers for off-cycle changes – new regulations, technology shifts, or performance gaps.
3) Build influence
Bring Strategy, Finance, Operations, and IT together. Not to approve projects, but to make trade-offs visible and deliberate. That’s when SPM becomes a strategic capability, not an administrative exercise.
By the end of the first quarter, perfection isn’t the goal – a new rhythm of decision-making is. That’s where transformation begins.
How Keto helps
At Keto Software, we help asset-intensive organisations make SPM real.
Our platform enables leaders to:
Connect portfolios – align digital, R&D, and asset spending in one view
See dependencies and constraints – expose capacity or capital limits early
Reprioritise intelligently – use scenario planning to adapt ahead of time
Track value, not activity – link every initiative to measurable outcomes
And we help you do it in weeks, not months, and never years.
Why it matters now
Industrial and energy companies are navigating digitalisation, sustainability, and capital pressure – all at once. Without SPM, these efforts remain disconnected. With it, they become a cohesive response to an evolving world.
Handler’s session confirmed what we already see in the market: SPM isn’t an IT toolkit. It’s a leadership discipline. It’s how strategy stays alive when technology, regulation, and market forces move faster than planning cycles.
Our view
In 2026 and beyond, the industrial CIOs and Chief Strategy Officers who succeed will be those who view every investment, digital, R&D, and asset as part of a single system of value.
That’s what SPM, done right, enables.
Ready to connect your portfolios?
👉 Book a conversation with Keto Software and see how SPM can turn strategy into results.