The Client
One of the countries largest technology and career-development institutes
The Challenge
The organization had experienced significant growth over a short time period. As a result, new technology was constantly being introduced in order to “help the business.” While the institute grew, the IT department (IT) remained essentially unchanged and was challenged in keeping up with the organization’s daily demands.
Day-to-day challenges included the following:
- A growing list of service requests that outpaced the IT department’s ability to respond in a timely fashion
- IT management structures that were not designed to handle the evolving demands of the organization
- Poor communications between IT and key stakeholders
- Uncontrolled introduction of technology into organizational business units
- A rapidly degrading perception of the IT team and its level of service to the business
Senior management recognized that they needed to re-align the IT department with the rest of the institute. It was their desire that change be introduced in a manner that would not jeopardize the already strained relationship with the business units.
The Haverstick Approach
Haverstick Consulting’s business consulting services team met with the client to define an approach that would provide immediate relief to some of the most pressing problems while setting a road map for re-aligning the IT department with the rest of the institute.
This approach was defined by two distinct phases. The first phase involved identifying the root causes for the misalignment between IT and the rest of the organization and proposing operational changes that could remedy the misalignment. This phase also defined limited organizational changes that could have a significant positive impact without disrupting daily operations. The second phase was characterized by the final organizational and operational recommendations.
By using a two-phased approach to define the new IT governance model, change could be introduced in an evolutionary fashion that enabled the organization to slowly assimilate the necessary change. It also enabled key members of IT to migrate into their new roles without risking interruption of day-to-day operations.
Haverstick Consulting delivered a comprehensive IT governance model with a phased implementation approach.
Key to the model’s development was an extensive interview process. Key stakeholders shared their insights of the type of IT services needed to better service their needs. Haverstick Consulting also conducted interviews with members of the IT team in order to understand their perspective of organizational demands. Once all information was gathered, Haverstick Consulting leveraged its knowledge of industry best practices in order to recommend the key operational and organizational changes that would facilitate a realignment of IT with the rest of the organization. From an operational perspective, new vehicles were recommended to enhance communication, develop SLAs, and prioritize workloads. From an organizational perspective, several new roles were introduced to establish key links between IT and the business community.
Haverstick Consulting then worked extensively with the client’s senior management to introduce the recommended changes to the rest of the organization.
The Result
Senior management was extremely pleased with the approach and plan that Haverstick Consulting presented to realign the IT department. After deploying the initial phase of the plan, the organization has experienced the following benefits:
- A renewed confidence in IT’s desire to become truly service-oriented
- Improvements in IT efficiencies in response to the recommended operational changes
- Improved effectiveness and control at the senior IT management level
- No visible opposition among key stakeholders to the main tenets of the new governance model
As the second phase of the governance model is rolled out, the client is anticipating:
- Better management of key vendor relationships, resulting in an overall reduction in IT expenditures
- Even greater alignment between the organization and IT with the deployment of IT business liaisons
- Enhanced productivity as knowledge bases are developed and day-to-day activities are streamlined
- A more efficient utilization of IT resources across the various business units
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