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| Trusted Adviser |
| Building a long-term relationship with IT keeps technology investments aligned with business goals. |
By G. Patrick Pawling
Illustration by Gerard Dubois |
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Getting the most from your Internet technology requires business management to work in tandem with the IT department—and its partners. Technical initiatives no longer fall solely in the domain of IT. Making the effort to develop a long-term relationship with your company’s internal technical staff and external technology consultants and integrators will go a long way toward ensuring that business objectives tie to IT investments. That way, technology investments are more focused and align with business goals including driving productivity, profitability, and cash flow.
“A lot of companies get in trouble when their new online systems fail,” says Eugene Lee, vice president of worldwide enterprise marketing at Cisco Systems. “People build the business around the technology limitations. That’s not the way it should work. They should be using technology to help with their existing business processes.”
In today’s environment of corporate belt-tightening, many IT departments are turning to technology consultants and integrators for technical advice and support. In doing so, they must make sure their IT partners also understand the company’s business objectives.
“The good IT advisors understand that if they are going to succeed, they have to get into their customers’ minds and figure out what is important to them,” says Tyler McDaniel, director of Application Services at Hurwitz Group.
Armstrong World Industries, a subsidiary of Armstrong Holdings Inc., specializes in the design, innovation, and manufacture of floors and ceilings. The company was expanding its business globally and wanted a technology consultant to help put the necessary technology systems in place to support new global business processes. This included a global enterprise-resource planning (ERP) system and a single worldwide data center to run the ERP system and support the company’s global e-mail and global-information management infrastructure in 40 locations worldwide.
Bill Hutchinson, manager of infrastructure services at Armstrong, turned to the company’s longtime IT partner, Infonet, for strategic and technical support. David Buckenheimer, vice president of sales at Infonet, says one of the reasons Infonet fit well with Armstrong from the beginning is that Armstrong executives had a clear understanding of their business objectives—and they shared this vision with Infonet.
“Hutchinson had some clearly stated objectives, so we were able to come in with the right people and the right tools to analyze how the applications would affect the network,” says Buckenheimer. “They weren’t just looking to buy equipment, they were looking for someone who could understand their multiple business objectives.”
Armstrong’s business needs were straightforward but far from simple. Management wanted to work with a single technology adviser to build a seamless and efficient network, and it wanted to do so while reducing costs. Its growth and revenue targets demanded that Armstrong consolidate its network applications.
Infonet began the process by trying to understand Armstrong’s business goals. “Over a period of two months, we had several meetings with Armstrong to understand the key business goals,” says Kathleen Quinn, a special programs manager at Infonet. “We included Armstrong’s CIO Bob Richards in meetings and brought our executives to explore the challenges he was facing. It’s a true partnership.”
Similarly, when Fallon Worldwide, an advertising agency whose clients include Ben & Jerry’s, CitiCorp, and United Airlines, was switching to an Internet protocol (IP) telephony system while moving office locations last summer, IT partner Enventis Telecom started the relationship the right way: It listened.
“We are an advertising agency where you rarely see a suit and where feet are usually on the table during meetings, and Enventis fit right in with our culture,” says Marty Enerson, system operations manager at Fallon. “They weren’t just business partners, they were friends—friends who worried about our business and wanted to make things work.”
Companies must also develop a clear strategy for which projects they outsource and which IT projects they assign internally. Most businesses are reluctant to outsource core processes and applications but are willing to outsource context services like desktop PC support and maintenance. As with all partners, companies should make sure that internal IT staff clearly understand the business goals of a project before moving forward.
Often, companies struggle to balance outsourced services with internal services. In addition to evaluating core and context processes, they should consider both mission-critical and non–mission-critical functions, says John Bruno, vice president of Technology Marketing at Cisco.
“Mission-critical activities, if performed poorly, pose an immediate risk to the company whereas non–mission-critical activities do not,” Bruno says. Cisco, for instance, keeps core mission-critical activities, such as integration and architecture, in house. Context mission-critical activities are a 50/50 partnership wherein Cisco IT defines the rules but a partner does the work. Cisco hands off non–mission-critical context activities to vendors.
Linking Technology to Business Goals
With the resources in place and an understanding of business goals, the next step is to build a technology plan that will meet those goals. For instance, with an understanding of Armstrong’s business objectives, Infonet profiled and analyzed the data traffic of Armstrong’s network applications and assessed the impact of the new ERP application using Application-Defined Service, its application consulting service. The analysis helped Infonet develop a network configuration finely focused on Armstrong’s enterprise applications requirements.
As a result, Infonet invoked a class of service for Armstrong “which allows for prioritization of critical applications,” says Quinn. “In addition, we have worked very closely with the Armstrong team to design policy routing so that different kinds of traffic receive preferential service where necessary.”
Infonet regularly identifies technology solutions to meet Armstrong’s business needs and challenges. Armstrong’s factory in China, for example, was spending $6,000 a month for e-mail using dialup Internet connections with costly international tolls. Infonet installed a local connection in Panyu, China and reduced Armstrong’s network-connection costs by 40%.Fallon and Enventis also worked together to develop technology strategies. Fallon’s need for an IP telephony system directly results from the company’s business goals to expand globally, increase return-on-investment, and reduce staffing. “Money is always an objective,” says Enerson. “Enventis explained to us that with a bigger investment now, we will save money on [office] moves and global expansion.”
Enerson also made it clear to Enventis that Fallon could not experience any business interruptions while moving to the new IP phone system. “Months before we moved, we had already become very close [with Enventis],” Enerson says.
“Our partners understood our company and IT’s expectations.”
“With the limited capital that companies can invest given this tough economy, if you are not aligned with their business goals, you are irrelevant,” says Michael Farabelli, vice president of Services Marketing at Cisco.
Often, technical advisers and integrators will also play the much-needed role of mediator between business units and IT when a company is considering deploying a new technology—such as voice over IP—because the deployment has both technical and business concerns.
Long-Term Benefits
While projects may end, the relationship shouldn’t. “Without question, we always talk about new technology and whether it makes sense to move Armstrong to a new technology,” says Buckenheimer. “That is what keeps the relationship strong.”
A good partner will understand a company’s needs in both positive and challenging business environments. If the company and its partner mutually trust each other, the partner is more likely to provide candid, constructive feedback.
“Part of the value of the relationship with Infonet is the candor that has been established,” says Stan Stepenaski, senior network analyst at Armstrong. “If a vendor advises me that it thinks I’m making a mistake, I want to listen, I want to hear why, and I want to candidly evaluate the reasoning. There are times those questions have been raised, and I really value that.”
Evaluating Your Partners
The best way to discover a good partner is to first discover your company, says Bob Hafner, vice president at Gartner. “It’s a ‘know thyself’ kind of thing,” he says.
The softer benefits, including culture and trust, are often the most important. “The biggest indicator of how you can trust them is how much time and effort they put into understanding what you are about—your limitations as well as your strengths,” says Hurwitz’s McDaniel.“Look for a proven track record,” adds Lee, “especially given today’s economy. Today you have to evaluate every single dollar. Cisco has its own channel program, with channel partners that specialize in key technology areas, so instead of talking about individual products, it’s much more about, ‘Let’s look at your environment and decide what solution is best for your business.’”
Enventis is a member of the Cisco Powered Network™ program. That membership is a real plus to Enerson. “It means interoperability, power, and less learning on my part,” he says. For Fallon, Enventis is a trusted adviser. “I still call them for information and help,” says Enerson, “and they don’t have go to their notes to see what we have for a network set up. They know right away and can give me advice on exactly what should be done. That can be hard to find in any partner.”
July/August 2002
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