When corporate division heads complain about how technology isn't working, or that a change is needed to improve systems, few of the complainers propose solutions or ideas to propel the wanted change. Executive management simply sees an "IT problem".
They may provide a small budget and a mandate--fix the problem and find the perfect package. Or they may decide to hire a "big bucks" consultant to find the "perfect fit" for the organisation. In either scenario, the project rarely makes proper headway, and the resulting system can end up as inefficient as the old one.
CIOs can avoid this all-too-common path by determining what needs to be changed, the best tool to implement the change, and how to effectively manage the risks inherent in change.
In this article, I'll describe how my organisation, a large industrial service and supplies company, initiated its search for a new business application. My company wanted to replace an archaic Platinum software application used for general accounting and reporting purposes on the back end. All transactions were done manually, which was time-consuming and often redundant because the data was eventually plugged into the data program. This system had been in place for five years.
The company wanted front-end automation capabilities, more useful management reports, improved system stability, and real-time transaction and processing capabilities. We started by conducting an investigation to determine the best tool.
Establishing a cross-functional team
The first step was to establish a strong cross-functional team consisting of middle management staff and the CEO and/or an experienced business management consultant (not an IT consultant).
I think the CEO is the better team member choice, since the person in that position needs to understand the business better than anyone. However, in our case, the CEO's time was too constrained, so we hired a business management consultant. The CEO was responsible for choosing the right consultant. The minimum requirements were a master's degree, 15 years of experience in the industry, and at least 10 years as a consultant.
The core team consisted of the consultant, an accountant, the materials manager, the HR manager, and me, the IT manager. We had an initial, general meeting with the core team, the CEO, and a few members of the board. During that meeting, the consultant discussed his proposed approach.
The consultant outlined a time frame for the stages he expected the project to span: investigation, request for proposal (RFP) creation, vendor choice and planning, implementation and training, and tweaking and customisation.
At this meeting, we discussed only general ideas and focused on a simple overview with a proposed budget and ROI. The budget was to be reviewed by the consultant and the CEO at a meeting the next day; the CEO would then seek approval from the board of directors.
After the next board meeting, we received the news that the board had given the project and budget final approval. We contacted the consultant and the project kicked off.
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