Saturday, November 13, 2004

Managing Technology Chaos

So now you have staff PCs attached to an internal network (intranet) that becomes more complicated everyday. Staff can surf the Internet, send email and instant message people to their little heart's content. You have an Internet presence with a web site. You're implementing various software applications for improving productivity, so clients are served more efficiently. Oh, and you have ancillary business partners using your network infrastructure to increase profitability for all organizations. To make things even more chaotic, your organization has several technology vendors providing services and products. Oops, you recently had a security breach on your network which potentially exposed sensitive information. Are you dizzy yet?

Relax. Take a deep breath. Say to yourself, "I love you and this too soon shall pass". This works better than counting to 10.

You are not alone. Many organizations are experiencing this same situation. Using technology to accomplish more with less staff and financial resources is the current mantra for all organizations, including the big boys and girls.

How are the big boys and girls managing technology chaos?
Outsourcing technology has been a proven cost effective solution. In 1994 JP Morgan (now called JPMChase) contracted with IBM to perform a business analysis. The analysis indicated that JP Morgan spent 25% of its operating budget on in-house technology implementation and support [staff]. In 1995 all eyes were on JP Morgan when it established a "pinnacle alliance" to outsource all technology to 5 major technology players. Computer Sciences Corporation was assigned as the lead organization for the other outsourcing partners. The 7 year "pinnacle alliance" experiment proved to be fabulous outsourcing success.

Outsourcing allows an organization to utilize technology to focus on its core mission, without the high expense of information technology staff. This usually requires multiple vendors providing different technology products and services. Learning from the JP Morgan experiment, one "lead" vendor should be tasked with managing all the other technology vendors. The lead vendor is then responsible for reigning in and managing all other entities assosciated with providing technology solutions. The lead vendor will develop procedures and methodologies for managing the entire technology infrastructure. This also creates an efficient single reporting entity to the organization, eliminating finger pointing between vendors, while establishing controls for managing technology chaos.

C.E. Reid
President & CEO