I work with Finance and Operations executives who are sponsoring major IT projects and are frustrated by not getting results from IT
You may be familiar with one of these situations.
1. You’re feeling frustrated by poor results from IT.
You’re spending a lot on IT, but the new projects just don’t seem to get finished. Or they overspend and still fail to deliver what you really need. Up to now nothing has worked to improve things.
2. You feel burned by prior IT projects that have left people struggling to get their jobs done.
Even when projects have finished, they have left users with an unsatisfying system. Everyone complains about the system, yet you don’t really trust IT to do it over and you don’t want to pay for it again.
3. You doubt IT’s ability to understand what the business needs.
IT misinterprets your inputs and you have to correct them over and over. No one in IT seems to have a good grasp of what your business is doing or how it works.
4. You’re in a struggle with the CIO regarding future directions.
The CIO emphasizes infrastructure and upgrades, while you know the business needs a new approach to some of the systems. You’d rather spend your budget on projects you can control directly, rather than hand over the money to the IT department with all of its overhead charges. You’re considering contracting directly with outside contractors who say they can do what you want, but this would undermine the CIO.
5. You suspect that IT is not being managed well, but you do not feel competent to evaluate IT options or IT organizational efficiency.
If you could get an independent assessment of IT as an organization, you might have some leverage in getting things to change. Meanwhile, you just see the confusion caused by IT’s failure to deliver what you need.
6. You have a “something is wrong here” feeling about IT.
You’ve noticed that there is a lot of turnover among the IT staff. Your own people complain about their interactions with IT. You think the problems have to do with management rather than technology, but you can’t put your finger on it.
The people and organizations I work with …
… have a budget of at least $1.5 million per year for IT
… are responsible for the business of the company, division or department – P/L, Finance, Operations
… are sponsoring a major IT project that is critical to the business
… are ready to get much better at producing results from IT
Here are some scenarios where you may need my services:
A. Your company has merged with or acquired a new business entity.
You have to integrate two sets of business processes and two IT organizations without over-spending and without interrupting operations. You need to set priorities and focus on critical changes while keeping the business running. You see an opportunity to set things right, but you can’t afford to drop the ball.
B. You just became CFO or COO and inherited an IT project that is behind schedule and over budget.
You need a clear assessment of where things are, but you don’t think the people working on the project are going to give you an unbiased assessment. You’re ready to shake things up if you have to, but you want to give the project a fair chance to succeed. Quick action is needed.
C. You have just decided to shift focus in the business.
You need to cut existing IT spending in order to reallocate funds to new IT initiatives. Nobody is going to volunteer to have their budget cut, so you need an outside perspective on what part of IT is critical to the new business focus.
D. You are aware of widespread dissatisfaction with existing IT business support.
You are ready to launch development of new systems, but you want to make sure that regular progress is made so you don’t waste money or time. You’ve heard about Agile development and you’re ready to try it out. Now you need to know what Agile will mean for you and your business.
E. You are responsible for on-line support of multiple lines of business but you can’t get new features and content added fast enough.
Something always happens to slow down the deployment of your new features. There’s a lot of finger-pointing between your people and the IT people. They say they’re becoming Agile, but you’re not seeing anything speed up. You wish you knew what’s really going on in IT.
My ideal client will have …
… a strong sense of commitment to business success
… a reputation for integrity and ethical action
… a sense that IT is different from other parts of the business, but should be cost-effective
… openness to learning new ways to interact with IT
… a commitment to practical solutions with real results
… willingness to invest time to build a relationship with IT
… a reputation as a fair-minded leader
… a desire to develop trust and respect for (and from) IT
… a commitment to delivering outstanding products and services to customers
… ability to break organizational barriers to get great things to happen
Where to go next
Now that you know who I work with, please go on to learn more about How I Work.
You can also go on to read What Clients Say about my work with them.