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A Tale of Two Companies
The stories you are about to
read are true. The names have been changed to protect those who don’t want
you to know how bad things really are.
Company A, through mergers and
acquisitions, has gone through some exponential growth in the past few
years. As a result their technology assets have also grown. Now here is
where it gets interesting.
For the first part of their
upward climb they had some Information Technology guys who decided that a
particular type of network architecture (servers, workstations & operating
system) was the only way to handle things. For a variety of reasons those
guys have since moved on, so Company A found a new set of IT guys who, of
course, decided that a different type of network architecture was the only
way to handle things. Add to this the fact that some of the companies they
absorbed were using a totally different type of network architecture.
Now Company A has a new set of
IT guys who aren’t quite sure of where to start. They have inherited a
situation with dozens of servers and hundreds of workstations, some of which
can’t easily share data. Add the fact that the folks who control the purse
strings are “just plain sick and tired” of having to spend more money on IT.
Company B – while not going
through the same explosive growth as Company A – did become large enough to
have outgrown the capabilities of their previous IT guy (a bookkeeper who
secretly called their spouse for advice on how to fix their IT problems).
Over the course of the next
eight months Company B went through six IT Companies and one young
entrepreneur who was freelancing. The last time I checked they were looking
for their seventh IT Company. The young entrepreneur for some reason always
forgot to show up when the weather was really nice or there was snow on the
mountains during ski season.
A coherent IT strategy and
clearly defined expectations would have gone a long way toward preventing
both situations. A coherent IT strategy among other things is one that is
closely aligned with your business strategy and does many things for you.
The following are some of the more important elements:
1. It forces you to actually
plan,
2. It gives you something to
benchmark where you are in your plan,
3. It gives you a way to
determine what is the right way for your particular situation, i.e., if your
business strategy requires using a specific set of software applications and
that software only runs on one operating system, then that is the right way
for that situation.
4. It gives you the ability to
assess new technologies based on your needs, not the whims of the IT guys
who always want the latest and greatest toys to play with. (Trust me on
this. I used to be one those guys).
Clearly defined expectations
should be self-explanatory. If you aren’t sure what you expect, then no
matter how talented your IT guys are they are probably going to get it
wrong. And they will continue to get it wrong until you both get on the same
page.
For Company A having an IT
strategy would have allowed them to include their increasing technology
needs as part of their business strategy sessions. This in turn would have
ensured that their IT guys were doing those things that were the most
beneficial to the company, and not things influenced by their own personal
preferences. They would have known what to expect from their IT guys, and
the IT guys would have known what was expected of them.
Lastly, an IT strategy gives a
company a way to benchmark emerging technology. If it were something that
got them closer to their goals, then they would obviously take a good look
at adopting it. If not they could throw it in the dust heap with all the
other “can’t miss” ideas.
Instead of clearly defining
their expectations, Company B decided that continuing to do the same things
that hadn’t worked for them in the past would eventually give them the
results they needed. (Anyone remember the definition of insanity?) Once
again having an IT strategy would have allowed them to include their
increasing technology needs as part of their business strategy. That would
also have allowed them to better gauge what specific skills they needed to
look for in their IT company.
These are good things to look
for in an IT company:
1. Is a technician required on
standby 24/7?
2. If not, what is the normal
response time for a trouble call?
3. What is the emergency
response time?
4. What really constitutes an
emergency?
5. Is there a single point of
contact or can anyone submit a trouble call?
6. Will there be scheduled
routine maintenance?
Your business objectives drive
your business strategy. The business strategy then drives the IT objectives,
which in turn drives the IT strategy.
In other words, “Ready, aim,
fire,” works much better than, “Ready, fire, aim,” if you intend on hitting
the target.
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2005
- 2009 MWSA