LinTech Global Blog

A recent article from Forrester VP and research director Alex Cullen stated that details don’t belong in the IT strategic plan. “People start to turn strategic plans into project lists,” says Cullen. “Then they don’t know where to stop.”

If our strategic IT plans are our stake in the ground, how do we take these strategic initiatives to the tactical level?  The key is developing user friendly, effective, high-adoption tactics that have a clear impact on your IT organization.

Going tactical is the nuts and bolts, rolled-up shirtsleeves, down to the bone work of your IT operations. It requires front-line IT managers to organize, plan, monitor, and perform the tasks necessary to translate strategic IT goals into specific actions.

We find five key focus points in going tactical:

• What seems simple can be deceptively complex— key participants may be required to develop new skills or change their established patterns of behavior. And the number and diversity of effected work functions must also be factored into the equation.
• Buy-in is not automatic— Decisions, plans, and strategies involve change. And few people welcome change, especially when others initiate it. Senior management buy-in is essential with key users & stakeholders and your system should support the change.
• Surprises must be anticipated and avoided— You can reduce the frequency and severity of surprises by using more experienced teams, engaging in a more focused level of planning, identifying project risks, and developing contingency plans.
• Time pressure is the enemy of effective implementation— If your plan lacks the time to get it right the first time, you won’t have enough time to fix it and get it right later.

There will be problems— Change is inevitable and as you go tactical, you will have to (a) size up the uniqueness of the situation, (b) monitor your environment for signs that modifications need to be made during implementation, (c) determine what to do, and (d) make adjustments when it becomes apparent that the original plan will not succeed

It is the holiday season again and the green abounds. This year it is not just in the wreaths and trees that are around every corner, it is in “Green IT”.

How do you define “Green IT?” We can start with the very real opportunity of energy consumption management in data center operations. Data centers consume more energy per square foot than any other part of an office building. And that includes the building physical plant.

But even more important, the IT department is part of an information and services supply chain according to Denis Du Bois at Energy Priorities. This chain includes the people, the space they utilize, and even the cars they drive. This chain uses a great deal of energy and has the resultant carbon emissions or greenhouse gases.

This brings us back to the discussion of the effective use of resources, people or otherwise. Concepts such as telecommuting, energy-efficient servers, carbon neutral data vaults and hot air/cool air data center layouts are among the top suggestion by experts. Our view on Green IT is basic, why shouldn’t all of our IT resources (human or technology) be more energy-efficient, more material-efficient, less hazardous, designed for greater reusability, and supported by recycling programs?

Are you green for the holidays? Why not test out your organization’s commitment to going green by taking CIO Magazines “Green IT Quiz”? I found it at http://quizzes.cio.com/green_it_quiz/ .

Happy Holidays from the LinTech Global Team.

It’s a different type of relationship with your vendor for small and middle market companies. With the strategic value of each project and each project function enhanced, real success is developing a working partnership. The rest of the success elements are the fruit of that partnership.

We have discussed around here a great deal of reasons why our customer partnerships work, but compatibility of cultures, trust and a feeling that we could work together were the key determinants in making it happen. Creating a team that is an extension of your company and being a coworker – not a vendor – has been the greatest challenge, but also delivered the greatest reward.

How do we manage our team? The foundation of effective team management is rather basic: strong leadership, ownership, understanding team success criteria, well documented processes, and constant communication. The secret is to continually practice it. Each LTG team leader advocates for the interests of our customers and must be the person with the most insight and intuition into the needs and wants of our customers. It is our culture to understand yours.

We also work closely with our client and all members of the team to view our participation as a collaboration, not just a vendor-customer relationship. Bringing new technologies and applications out on time and on budget can depend on delivering the best in total team performance. And this team is made up of your staff and LTG staff. The time for passing off the project to the vendor and sitting in the dark until it is delivered has passed. We know that you expect more.

I often get questions about when is the best time to use insourcing. Insourcing in the IT industry involves bringing in specialists to fill temporary needs or to fill requirements that your staff is not best suited to perform. Work that would otherwise have been outsourced is performed in house by these specialists or in combination with your internal team.

In our new white paper that will be coming out later this year, “Searching for the Source”, we look at the right mix of insourcing vs. outsourcing or rightsourcing. Business focused technology leaders are more likely to draw on a broad range of sourcing strategies, including outsourcing (both local and offshore), insourcing and inhouse. The biggest reason to use an insourcing strategy has been identified as wanting control of select IT processes back in house with the best team.

Focusing on insourcing today, we look at critical tasks such as supplementing the expertise of an existing project team, working with your team to develop project requirements, handling documentation development, and training as functions well suited for insourcing experts.

In companies that are returning outsourced functions to your internal team, insourcing assistance is a vital bridge to making a smooth transition. As you build and train your team to understand both the technology and business requirements, insourced personnel can fill in the gaps. Budget constraints and strategic objectives sometimes make it a better business decisions to continue to use insourced personnel in tandem with your team.

We use the term sourcing today to describe LinTech Global’s offerings because it is reflective of our commitment to understanding each customer’s objectives and how best to fulfill them.

Recently, I was asked about what you should do when you are considering outsourcing as part of your sourcing model. Here is my to-do list:

Identify your core functions

Generally, the intelligent strategy is to hold on to certain operations that define the core functions of your IT department. Then, consider sourcing the other functions that are not as strategic.

Also, think through what elements of your model are best served through external sources including offshore outsourcing. Traditionally, small businesses have sourced local specialists and not had access to the economies of outsourcing especially offshore outsourcing. The elements best suited to offshore services are the performance of functions such as application development, maintenance, diagnostics and testing.

Understand the big picture

Before sourcing an IT function and as you look at your company’s own goals and culture, it is essential to understand the business objectives are you trying to accomplish by outsourcing this particular function. How will sending this function to a sourcing partner impact the workflow within the company?  A valuable sourcing partner will do more than lighten the load; they will lend expertise to ensure an optimum blend of in-house and sourced functions.

Move forward with deliberation

The advantage of sourcing will vary with the requirements, the level of services and, of course, the quality of your sourcing provider. It is highly advantageous to move forward with deliberation and commit little by little. Don’t sign multi-year agreements before testing your sourcing partner’s performance and the strength of your relationship.

To get a feel for the sourcing process and to understand the right combination for your team, first try sourcing one stand-alone project, and then evaluate your sourcing provider’s performance before partnering on other functions or ongoing needs.

Consider the real costs

Sometimes sourced IT services look good on paper but you end up eating the savings in delays, training, and management costs because there was no foundation for accurately documenting and sizing the work to be performed.
The sourcing partner must capture the strategic problem/solution as well as execute the project and long term goals to realize true cost saving.

Know what you are buying

As you get closer to making a sourcing decision, it is important to agree upon a set of service level expectations or objectives.  Measurement objectives can include developmental schedules, budget performance, and work quality with all activities pointing to an improved bottom line.

What matters most is to agree in advance on the sourcing service to be delivered and especially on the measures that will be used to determine satisfactory performance.

Be prepared for the challenges

It takes a while to build the sourcing relationship and synchronize the workflow of the two teams into one. Finding a sourcing partner that provides one point of contact is your best option for effective communications and sustained team performance. Make sure you know in advance how the chain of communication will work so you can meet challenges in building and executing your sourcing model.  Be prepared for an evolving model.

LinTech Global Inc is a premier software and information technology sourcing provider to the middle market and global enterprises. We work closely with our clients to allow them to employ the optimal mix of internal and external sources to get the job done - the right source. We offer the options of a locally based account team, back-end services provided through the LinTech Global Network in China, and highly qualified professional to work onsite.

We provide our clients a wide range of services including web services, custom application development, software quality assurance, architecture consulting, testing, professional IT services and more.