Benchmarking and Performance Management:
Industry: Technology
What Was Our Client’s Problem?
Our client was a world leader in high technology consumer goods. Faced with
fierce competition, narrowing profit margins, and a rapidly shifting landscape,
they knew they had to leverage their IT systems more effectively to support
product design and delivery, and to rapidly exploit new market opportunities.
While their IT organization was skilled and reliable, the company had not
implemented metrics to measure their performance and therefore did not know
whether this critical component of their business strategy was a strength
or a weakness. Moreover, they lacked strong linkages between global business
leadership and IT, so that IT did not have the information it needed to be
ready to respond in the most effective way to change.
What Did Semeron Do for Our Client?
Using a structured process, Semeron worked with business executives at all
levels of the organization to identify the core strategies and needs of the
business as they relate to IT. We matched these against the skills, resources,
priorities, and procedures of the IT organization and identified the most
critical gaps in IT support for business success. Based on our analysis, the
client worked with us to develop a long term plan for more tightly aligning
IT with business decision-making, and a series of short term, quick win steps
to shore up the most serious weaknesses we identified.
In addition, we provided process improvements for IT and the business units
to work more closely together on an ongoing basis to ensure that IT could
function as a more strategicpartner, ready to respond to business needs as
soon as they emerged.
How Did Our Client Benefit?
Both the IT organization and the business have a deeper understanding and
respect for one another, and an increased comfort in a set of roles and responsibilities
that are explicit and supportable. The business has increased confidence that
the level of budget allocated to the IT organization is reasonable and provides
a high return; the IT organization knows more clearly what is expected of
it, and can develop and measure against performance targets to ensure that
business needs are being met. The company is now better prepared to meet its
competition with improved customer information and product delivery processes
developed and implemented by a focused, rejuvenated business/IT team.