Operations Integration
Stabroek News
March 16, 2007
This column explores initiatives to improve the business climate of our nation and make Guyana Open for Business a reality. Peter R Ramsaroop, MBA Chairman, RoopGroup
Friday, March 16th 2007
I have written many columns in the past on the need for technology infusion in our private and public sector. The fear of technology infusion becomes an operational issue on how it is integrated with current processes or whether some form of re-engineering is done.
Operations Integration is the application of proven management methods to ensure that organizational performance improvement efforts enabled by new IT systems are completed on target, on time, and on budget. Operations Integration work begins with the setting of business or organizational goals for performance improvement and continues through
* visioning,
* work process modification,
* IT systems selection and implementation, and
* preparation of organization members.
Operations Integration is not complete until the IT system has been fully vested, providing full business value to the implementing organization. The main reason many IT projects fail to be successful is the failure to define the business drivers and requirements prior to selecting a system. Many of our sectors in Guyana still need to take the leap with technology infusion as it will become their competitive edge in the future.
In a White Paper that was co-authored by myself and Dutch Holland, and expanded in his book Change is the Rule it is noted that Operations Integration comprehends the entire organizational change needed for performance improvement, its special focus is the utilization of the enabling IT system. Utilization on the job is the key. While a popular paradigm assumes that full business value (FBV) of an IT system comes from a quality business strategy and a quality IT application, our experience demonstrates that utilization is the often-forgotten piece of the equation.
FBV = QS X QSW X U
The key building block requirements for Full Business Value from a new IT system include the Quality of the business strategy (QS) that is enabled by the IT system, the quality of the IT system (QSW) itself and the degree of utilization (U) of the IT once it is implemented as a part of a business improvement effort. As the multiplication signs in the equation indicate, if any term…including Utilization…is zero, then business value is zero. Operations Integration ensures that organization populations are fully prepared to utilize the new system in their day-to-day operations.
Gaining full business value from newly implemented IT systems is the number one challenge facing the business community today. The reasons for failing to achieve full business value are legion and go far beyond failures in communication and training. In fact, mostly reasons rest outside the IT arena and reside on the users' side of the house:
* No communicated vision of intended business use of system
* No communicated expectation or requirement for business use
* Work processes not aligned with new application/system
* No policies or procedures that describe how the organization's work is to be completed with the application
* Employee roles/contracts do not include aligned work processes or the new
application/system
* Users over-trained on system functionalities
* Users not trained on use of the technology as an integral part of the aligned business process
* No performance management system implemented that (a) encourages proper use and (b) discourages failure to use
As our local private sector and government agencies move into the selection of IT systems, operations integration must be a key focus in the process. Until next week "Roop"