How to implement changes in an IT organization

Business Problem
Technology up gradation projects are very time consuming resulting in delays and poor data quality. Major reorganizations in the last year had a tremendous impact on our project management resources. Due to lack of project management resources, our projects coordination is suffering. Even after employees working for 60 hours a week, we are not able to meet project deadlines. We have a high no. of obsolete applications running in our environments.

Managing projects with globally spread resources is another major challenge for our organization. Our Business partners are not satisfied with the business processes and capabilities.

Change Goal
Upgrading to latest systems for IT Infrastructure

We need to adapt the latest technologies so that our customers can enhance their supply chain management. Being a global organization, supply chain is the core of any business. Supply Chain Applications supported by us need to be at the cutting edge of technologies. We also need to maintain a SLA of 98 % uptime for our systems while undergoing all those changes.

Standardizing our Application Environment

We run hundreds of applications in our company – adding to the business capabilities and increasing productivity of our employees. We need to reduce the quantity of applications (about 33 % reduction in 2 years)



Develop a highly cohesive and agile organization structure

We need to provide a single stop solution – for all information technology needs of our clients. This involves setting up the org structure in line with the Functional Organizations. At the same time, we need to be a flexible service organization – ready to implement new projects/systems for clients reducing the Program Life Cycle.

Metrics

New IT Systems for Supply Chain implemented in less than a year.
Some of our enterprise applications are very complicated with many interfaces. We need to ensure that we don’t take more than 3 Quarters to implement any up gradations/migrations.

Projects not delayed by more than 10 % of the target deadline
Some of our projects almost take double the time to implement than anticipated. This happens for a variety of reasons. To meet client targets and to avoid cost escalation, we will try to finish all projects within the margin of 10 %

No Legacy Applications on Waivers for more than 1 year.
Legacy applications are a kind of liability for an organization. They are critical, but expensive to support. Typical life of an IT System is 5 years. We want to implement/upgrade new systems as soon as they are available – so that we do not have to keep our applications on unsupported systems for more than 1 year.

No Engineer working for more than 50 hours a week.
Engineers should not be doing the PM work also. This reduces their productivity and disturbs work life balance. No engineers should be working for more than 50 hours a week unless there is a crisis.


Best Known Methods for any CHANGE Implementation

Creating a shared vision

We will ensure that our vision reflects the values of the company. It is important that we remain proud of our teams, peoples, services & products. We need to ensure that our goals are aligned with corporate business objectives.

Effective Communications

We will use all channels of communication to convey the positive impacts of the change. Our focus will be to make the change less threatening to the people. We will start small and simple; make information readily available to our employees, business partners and stakeholders.

Develop Enabling Structures

Our most important goal is to develop a cohesive team that is willing to accept the change and work towards a common goal. We will conduct extensive team building activities – which will include trainings, off site workshops, new reward and recognition system.

Creating a Sense of Urgency

We operate in a highly dynamic industry. Employees need to recognize the importance of the change and the need to implement it in targeted time frame. Any changes will linger for years lose their purpose.

Time to adapt

Our team members will be given sufficient time to adapt to the changes and get themselves comfortable and acquainted with the new structures and processes. We will celebrate milestones at all stages of minor achievements.

Commitment from the leadership

Management needs to show resolve to implement new ideas. This will ensure that we get the funding for the changes.

Buy in from the Work Force

No change effort can succeed if the resources that will ultimately implement the change are not on board with the new ideas. We will involve the engineers in the participative decision making. We will reinforce the change and reward those who take informed risks.



HELPS
BARRIERS


Educated and Skilled Employees
Comfort Zones
Educated workforce understands the needs for change in order to remain competitive. Skilled engineers know how to take informed risks and love to innovate.
Fears of the unknown - Some employees don’t not want to come out of their comfort zones. Although in the long run change is better for our organization to remain competitive so that our services are not outsourced, sometimes people are happy where they are instead of venturing into unknown territories.
Teamwork
Too many Organizational Changes at the Executive Level
We have a very solid team of engineers and team collaboration is at its best. Our skilled workforce is extremely dedicated and devoted to meeting the organization objectives.
If the upper management is getting changed at a frequent interval, then the purpose and direction of change is lost. Any change needs strong leaders to steer thru the pain and challenges of change.
Multiple Modes of Communication
Influence of others – Not to support CHANGE
Our team members meet at regular intervals thru staff meetings, 1:1 meetings, business update meetings, project update meetings. Also we utilize variety of communication technologies which include Video Conferencing and Instant Messaging Tools.
Sometimes our valued business partners are not supportive of what we are doing – because it will involve them to come out of their comfort zones.
Cultures and Values
Fast changing Complex Enterprise Technologies
Culture of long term solutions and identifying the root casue helps us in implementing process changes effectively. We try to take a holistic view of the problem and look for continuous improvements in our processes
In our group, any changes are particularly difficult to implement because there are myriad of technologies involved in our business processes. Any change to implement new technologies is risky, time consuming and very demanding.

ACTION PLAN
Key Actions
Responsibility
Target Date
Establish an EOL program to remove outdated and redundant applications
EOL Program Team
End of 2010
We have to prevent our application environment from becoming complex and inflexible. Generate an accurate list of all applications. 50 % of the the legacy applications to be EOLed in next 3 years. Create and document processes to identify opportunities, execute EOLs, and archive the source and data. Net present value savings from this will be 40 million dollars


Implementation of ITIL Practices
CMMI Compliance Team
Ongoing
We will start implementing industry standard ITIL practices for Incident Management, Project Management of IT projects. All our business processes will follow the ITIL framework.


Setting up of a centralized PMO office for new business engagements
GM - IT Operations
Q2 - 2008
All new engagements for landing new systems and applications will be handled thru a centralized Program Office. This Program office will gather all the requirements from clients, translate them into technical requirements and assign the projects to respective technical teams


Separation of Duties
Branch Managers
Q2 - 2008
We will define a clear separation of duties between Engineers and Project Managers. An engineer can do the PM work on a rotation basis – but he/she will not manage the PM role for a system for which he is also doing the technical work. Seperation of duties will also ensure compliance with major government regulations.


Localization of Resources for similar types of Projects
Project Managers
Q1 - 2008
We can ensure efficiency of operations by localizing the resources for similar types of projects. This will result in speedy implementations. Every project will have a local manager. We will form Tiger teams to work on mission critical projects.


Periodic business reviews & Open Forums about our service delivery model
GM - IT Operations
Quarterly
We will listen to our business partners on a more regular basis and get their feedback on our operations and performance. Plan is to have a business review every quarter.


Change the Org Structure to match the Vertical Organizations
GM - IT Operations
Q2 - 2008
We will change the Org structure to match the business functions. There will be separate teams of IT personnel for HR, Finance and Supply Network – each having an Account Manager. Our clients have a single point of contact for all their IT requirements


Adopt a culture of Continuous Improvement
GM - IT Operations
Q2 - 2008
We will clearly define our objectives and work on continuous improvement in the areas of employee morale, communication & organization building. We will be more responsive to improving manager & leader quality.