Module –I

Introduction: IT development and its significance, People Management in

IT organizations – developing a learning organization, Acquiring
executive support, organizing and staffing for system management,
Customer service.

IT DEVELOPMENT AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

Information technology (IT) has become increasingly vital for creating and
delivering the products and services in the industrialized nations. The rapid pace
of innovation has meant an unprecedented growth of job opportunities, fuelled by
an ever-increasing need for skilled managers. The growth of computer
applications such as decision systems, computer aided design and computer aided
manufacturing, rapid dispersion of technology in telecommunications and
personal computing hardware and software has created demand for skilled
executives. This developments has thrown open lot of opportunities with high
challenges. The challenges arise from
 Volatility of the technology and from the relationship of the
evolving technology to the structure of the firm.
 Expectation held by the members of the firm at many levels.
 Declining technical content and increasing managerial content in
information systems managers' job.
 Recognition of changes in organization (size and functions and
competitive structures) and increasing need for change agents.

Information Systems
A system is an array of components that work together to achieve a common goal
or multiple goals by accepting inputs, processing it and producing output in an
organized manner. An information system consists of all the components that
work together to process data and produce information. An information system
has become synonymous with the computer based information systems.

In an organization and information system consists of data, hardware, software,

telecommunications, people and procedures.

Several trends in information systems are:

1. The power of computers has grown tremendously while their
prices have dropped.
2. The variety and ingenuity of computer programs have increased.
3. Quick and reliable communication lines and access to the internet
and Web have become widely available and affordable.
4. The fast growth of the internet has opened opportunities and
encouraged competition in global markets.
5. An increased ratio of the global workforce is computer literate.

A computer based information system also uses a logical process to

decide which data to capture and how to process it. The process consists
of four main operations.
1. Entering data into the IS (input)
2. Changing and manipulating the data in its IS (data
processing)
3. Getting information out of IS (output).
4. Storing data and information (storage).

Challenges of IT professionals
 IT mangers must not only be prepared to be successful within their
organizations, they must be prepared to take leadership positions in
 formulating and shaping them.
 Build their technology vision to develop strategies that permit the firm to
gain competitive advantage.
 Prepare executives in the firm with technology vision enabling them to
anticipate future structural changes and prepare them to meet it.
 Inspire the executive team with a realistic and practical view of the IT future
 Be at their best when dealing with expectations and measure their
performance based of expectations.
Senior executives expect
 To use information technology for competitive advantage and attaining bottom
line results.
 IT organizations to conduct affairs in a businesslike manner and confirm to
practices common to their corporations.
 IT mangers to respond to numerous sources of information as the senor
executives are themselves assessable to lot of information.
 Gain good understanding of Corporate culture (basic beliefs and basic
ideas) and behavior patterns.
 Develop a supportive IT environment which includes Tools and Processors,
management systems in which these processes can operate effectively within a
corporate culture, and all players engages in the activity bear some
responsibility for the success of the organization.
 IT managers have been trained in technology but lack the general management
skills. Their job demands knowledge of people management and
organizational consideration. Their skills must include managing
expectations and coping with personal and structural changes.
 IT managers must be the organization’s technological leader and a superb
generalist as well.

ORGANIZATION AND INFORMATION

Information technology has altered completely the structure of business. Large
volume of accounting and record keeping data can be manipulated, organized,
stored retrieved and used for specific purpose. Bills and statements can be
processed and sent to customers in much less time and with much less effort
than could be required for the same processes done mutually. Financial
projections are made with greater ease, as information technology helps
managers to organize and manipulate financial data. Planning and decision
making thus become more efficient and accurate. In manufacturing industries,
computers direct production, guide machine tools, control quality, design parts
and monitor inventories.

In modern offices, word processing saves time for people at all levels of
organization and helps ensure accurate reports and memos. Automated filing
uses far less storage than endless stacks of paper and enables workers to retrieve
documents rapidly when they are needed. With more organized and consistent
file systems, data management has become a more efficient task.

Modern banking would be impossible would developments in IT. In the health

care sector Medical record keeping is vastly improved and medical research is
aided by IT that analyzes data and create reports. Developments in information
technology have simplified analyses of scientific data, test variables and monitor
experiments in almost every scientific field. The economic and demographic
statistics are collected, analyzed and reported more easily.

The success of information technology in all fields has lead to professionalism in

developing, implementing and managing organizations information systems and
this has created careers in information technology management.
IT organization functions as a business within a business supporting many other
functional units in a variety of ways. Functions usually supported and some
typical applications in support of these functions are:

TABLE: 1.1 Function and Applications Supporting Them

Functions Applications Supported
Product Development Design Automation, Parts Catalog.
Manufacturing Materials logistics, factory automation.
Distribution Warehouse automation, shipping and receiving.
Sales Order entry, Sales Analysis, commission accounting
Service Call Dispatching, parts logistics, failure analysis
Finance and accounting Ledger, planning, accounts payable
Administration Office systems, Personnel records
The typical large firms use IT extensively throughout its business functions, and
the examples above reflects a small part of the total portfolio of computerized
applications. A typical structure of the IT organization and the main activities for
the elements within the structure are depicted below:

TABLE: 1.2 Information Technology Organization

Applications Computer Technical Systems
Development Operations Support Planning
Develops and Operates & Installs and Develops and
maintain manages the maintains maintains plans
applications in computer and operating systems & strategy and
support of the communication & communication manages the
firms equipment & runs software information
application center
systems

Not all IT functions follow this pattern. The industry within which the firm
operates and the culture of the firm is the governing factors. E.g. the role
of technical support in High tech firms may be enlarged and expanded while in
other firms it is delegated tot eh development group or computer operations. IT
organization / department is structured with departments that have specific
responsibilities, reporting through department managers and hold a position
similar to that of marketing, accounting or manufacturing. This has given rise to
new positions commonly known as Chief Information Officer – CIO- responsible
for information activities dispersed throughout the firms in organizations.

Difficulties of IT Management
The new technology innovations in organizations pose great challenges to IT
managers
 Technology complexity
 Pervasiveness of technology - the penetration of electronic information
processing into the fabric of human activity will continue to challenge the
foreseeable future.
 Application and Data – databases grow in size, acquisition and
maintenance of the vast program resources, application program and
database resource is the cornerstone of the information-based
organization of the future.
 Production Operations - firms’ process hundreds of revenue – producing
transactions per second, loss of service for even a few seconds has serious
consequences to the firm’s financial health and to its reputation (e.g.,
ERP).
 Business controls – Weak and ineffective controls or loss of control leads
to additional threats. Sophisticated human and business operations must
 be neutralized through careful attention to business controls.
 Environmental changes – internationalization of business, growing
international competition, the role of governments in changing the shape
of business enterprises, the pace of change in the business sector, partly
as a result technology advances is altering the way firm’s conduct their
affairs. This challenges the increased management task of IT executives.
 Strategic Consideration: Information technologist and their
organizations are expected to provide the tools with which the firm can
capture strategic competitive advantage.
 People and Organizations: Tom Peter speaks forcefully of change due
to Technology “Hierarchies are merely machines that process and
agglomerate information, each level adding a further degree of synthesis.
So as we develop technology based information processing (and adds
twists such as expert systems) and especially as we link systems in
networks, inside and outside, the corporation hierarchy’s reason for being
recedes. It must go.

Under such a circumstance, the IT mangers should have knowledge on the

adaptation process, key issues in IT industries and the strategic areas and actions
to support success. This has also paved way for careers in information systems.
the career opportunities include that of: System Analysts, Database
Administrator, Network Administrator, Webmaster, Chief Security, chief
information Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

Technology Assimilation
Organizations go through predictable stages of growth as they adopt and
implement technology. Nolan and Gibson identifies six stages of technology
assimilation as follows:
Six Stages of Growth
1 Initiation: The technology is initially introduced into the organization and
. some users begin to find applications.
2 Contagion: As more individuals and departments become acquainted with
. its, demand increases and use of the technology proliferates.
3 Control: During the control stage, the issue of costs versus benefits
. intensifies and management becomes increasingly concerned about the
economics of the technology.
4 Integration: Systems proliferate within the organization and databases
. continue to grow. Management becomes interested in leveraging integrated
systems and their databases.
5 Data Administrations: Functions are created to manage and control the
. databases and to ensure that they are utilized effectively.
6 Maturity: Technology and management process are integrated into an
. efficiently functioning entity.

Knowledge of the important problems facing the IT executives and their

organizations is necessary. The two important Factors for success lie in gaining a
clear answer for:
 What actions must IT executives carry out successfully?
 What management systems and processes are vital for their personal
success and for the success of the IT organization?

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Strategic information systems are information systems in which primary function of the system is
either to
 process predefined transactions and produce fixed format reports on schedule or
 to provide query and analysis capabilities.
The primary use of SIS is to support or shape the competitive strategy of the enterprise, its plan
for gaining or maintaining competitive advantage or reducing the advantage of its rivals.

Major types of Strategic Information Systems are:

Transaction processing systems (TPS) – handle routine information items,
usually manipulating the data in some useful way as it enters or leaves the firm ’s
database.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) - are computer programs that provide

support to the users in reaching a decision. They support the personal decision-
making style of individual managers. DSS are interactive computer based
systems that provide the user with easy access to decision models and data in
order to support semi structures and unstructured decision tasks.

Management Information System (MIS) – provide a focused view of

information flow as it develops during the course of business activities. Report
generation of prominent in management information system.

Expert Systems – knowledge based systems are software packages aimed at

providing expert consultancy advice and assistance with problem solving in
limited specialist fields of science, engineering, mathematics, medicines,
education etc.

Office Automation Systems – systems that facilitate incorporation of

appropriate technology to help people manage information. The system includes
electronic mails, word processing, electronic filing, scheduling, calendaring
capability, and other support to office workers.

End User computing- places computational capability into the hand of the users
to initiate the execution of programs or to develop programs for later execution.

These systems form part of the spectrum of strategic information systems based
their contribution to gain and maintain competitive advantage.This has given rise
to two types of information systems based of levels of management, they are:
 Transaction processing systems/structured decision systems.
 Executive Information Systems.

Transaction processing systems/ structured decision systems.

Transaction processing system is the most widely used information systems. The
function of TPSs is to record data collected at the point where the organization
transacts business with other parties. TPSs include cash registers which record
sales, automatic teller machines which record cash withdrawals, deposits and
transfers, and purchase order systems which record purchases.
Information employed by individuals at the base of the pyramid is likely to
originate within the firm. The information will have value over a short time
measured in hours or days and will require relatively little judgment in its
application. The expression that is most applicable to this activity is data
processing because the commodity in use is data rather than information.
Systems to do this type of work are generally called transaction processing
systems or structured decision systems.

Executive Information Systems

Information of value to the CEO is more likely to originate outside the firm. This information will have
value or meaning for a much longer period- one to five years or more – and will require a high degree
of experience and judgment in its application. Executive activity involves information and knowledge.
The system that assists in this work is called executive information system.

The middle level managers utilize information originating inside and outside the
firm, which requires modest amount of judgment for application. The period
applicable is namely 1 to 2 years.

The major types of executive information systems in organizations today are:

 Supply Chain management - Supply chain refers to the sequences of
activities involved in producing a product or services. The information
systems that support these activities and are linked to become one large
information system providing information at any stage of the business
process are called supply chain management systems.
 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - provides information for
planning of shipping resources such as personnel, funds, raw materials
and vehicles.
 Customer Relationship Management - refers to large variety of
information systems from simple ones that help maintain customer
records to sophisticated ones that dynamically analyze and detect buying
patterns and predict when a specific customer is about to switch to a
competitors.
 Business Intelligence systems - consists of sophisticated statistical
models tailored for an industry or organization. The applications access
large pools of data usually transactional records stored in large databases
called data warehouses.
 Decision support and Expert systems -Organizations build information
systems to help in decision making. These systems are called decision
support stems. While DSSs rely on models and formulas to produce
concise tables or a single number that determines a decision, expert
systems rely on artificial intelligence techniques to support knowledge
intensive decision making process.
 Geographic Information systems -can be used to tie data to data to
physical locations. A GIS application access database that contains data
about a neighborhood, city, state, country or even the entire world.

Information Technology Planning

Strategy is a statement establishing the destination and contains a general
direction for reaching it. It is an activity of developing the detailed roadmap in
planning.

IT planning is a combination of four related phases:

 Understand the agreement of the future–business vision & technology
application
 Development of the business ideas for information technology application
 Business and information planning for application and architecture.
 Successful execution of the business and IT plan.

The major ingredients of IT management planning model are:

1. Applications considerations : Project Management, Make or buy
decisions. Resource planning, Feedback, control and future Orientation
2. Production Operations Planning Elements: Service - level planning,
Problem Management, Change Management, Recovery Management,
Capacity Planning, Network Planning
3. Resource plans: Equipment plans, Space plans, People plans, financial
plans, Administrative actions.
4. Administrative actions: Setting boundaries, Effective coordination and
communication of plan, conducting plan review meetings, Install
measurement and tracking mechanisms, Constitute steering committee.
5. Technology areas: New processor developments, Advances in storage
devices, Telecommunications hardware, Operating systems,
Communications software, Programming tools, Vendor application
 software, Systems management

Today, IT functions in an organization is viewed from the systems management

point of view

Systems management
Systems management is the activity of
 Identifying and integrating various products and process
 In order to provide a stable and responsive IT environment.
It is clear from the definition that
 This is a management activity
 It does not mean just creation of hardware and software products, nor
separately installing some products or services.
 It does that we look at a group of products and processes that interact
with each other to bring stabile and responsive IT environment.

The overall objective of systems management is to bring stability and

responsiveness to an IT infrastructure.

Stability means that systems are always up and accessible as scheduled.

It is normally measured as a percentage of available uptime for both online and
batch applications, other related gauges include the actual downtime measured
in minutes per day or hours per month, the elapsed time between outrages,
commonly referred to as the mean time between failures (MTBF) and the
average time spent in recovering from an outages, usually called the mean time
to recover (MTTR).

Responsiveness refers to how quickly batch jobs or more commonly online

transactions can be processed and completed. For the batch environment,
throughput is measured as the number of jobs processed per hour;
turnaround is the average time required to complete a job. For the online
environment, response time is measured as the number of completed
transactions per second, or the average time in seconds to complete a
single transaction.

The popularity of general-purpose computers in 1960s demonstrated the

need for the primary systems management functions of batch performance and
system availability. During the 1970s as online transaction processing with
its large supporting databases - became more prevalent, functions such as
online transaction tuning, database management and asset security were added
to the responsibility of systems management. In the 1990s, midrange
computers and client–server platforms change and moved closer to each
other, PCs continued to grow substantially not only in sheer volume but also
in assortments of models that manufacturers offered their customers. All form of
network computers, the proliferation of interconnected PCs, led to critical
emphasis on the performance and reliability of the networks that connected all
the various clients and servers. Later the worldwide use of Internet and the
advancements in telecommunication saw drastic change in the intranet
and extranets used by the firms. The growth and development of the IT
technology and its impact on the systems management arena is summarized as
follows:
 Discipline 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Availability Emerge Evolved Evolved
d (for (for (for
batch) onlines) networks)
Performance Emerge Evolved Evolved
& Tuning d (For (for (for
batch) onlines) networks)
Storage Emerged Evolved (for
Management client-
server)
Change Emerged
Management
Problem Emerged
Management
Strategic Emerged Evolved Evolved (for
Security (for Internet)
networks)
Configuratio Emerged
n
Management
Network Emerged
Management
Production Emerged Evolved (for Evolved (for
Acceptance client- rapid
server) application
deployment)
Disaster Emerged Evolved (for Evolved (for
Recovery midrange & Networks)
client-
server)
Capacity Emerged Evolved (for
Planning Networks)
Facility Emerged Evolved (for
Management automated
operations)

People, process and technology are three key ingredients in successful

implementation of systems management. The course covers all three ingredients,
the insights on “people” is intended for infrastructure managers, directors, and
CIOs. The knowledge on Process helps senior analyst, leads, senior systems
administrators and supervisors who are typically involved with designing and
implementing systems management processes and procedures. Technology is
intended for technical professionals such as systems programmers, database
administrators, operational analyst and system administrators who are
responsible for installing and maintaining systems management products. An
overall knowledge of people, process and technology will help one to develop into
an effective IT manager.

PEOPLE
People and their organization are critical to the successful functioning of the
modern business firm. Effective use of people within firms requires a corporate
culture within which they can thrive and be productive for themselves and for
their organizations. Employers and managers need to know “how to do things
around”.
Impact of Technology on user organization
Organizational Transitions: Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures lead to
corporate reorganization and international presence (IBM-US, Philips Dutch
electronics, Royal Dutch Shell), Corporate reorganization reduced the number of
white collar jobs, and lead to emergence of MIS organizations and effective use of
communication technology and network organization structures.

Centralized Control - decentralized management: Centralized versus

decentralized management are a corporate restructuring, value addition
strategies and global strategies. The adaptation and use of alliances and joint
ventures to capture the advantage of time, to employ critical skills and to obtain
access to distribution channels or to new markets adds complexity to the firms’
value chain. Firm’s infrastructure and information technology architecture bring
added value to the end product and to keep networked business operating as a
cohesive unit. Organizations have emerged with decentralized management but
with centralized controls. Decision-making and operational control is delegated to
operational units while control information is made available to headquarters on a
real – time basis.

Impact of technology on IT organizations

The new structure recognized that:
 Information processing in IT organizations is best performed centrally but
others must be performed locally.
 IT organizations must have strong leadership to develop, operate and
maintain systems vital to the firm’s centralized operations.
 IT leaders must ensure that both central and dispersed IT activities
conform to and support the firm’s strategic direction.
 IT structures must form partnership and develop alliances with users
throughout the firm to ensure effective use of technology at all levels.
 It must facilitate user adaptation, support growth and development of
appropriate information systems and user tools (Computer Aided Design
Systems (CAD), computer integrated manufacturing systems (CIMS),
office systems and end user systems.
 IT managers should be responsible for the success of these user tools.
 Shared values, goals and objectives must be the norms.
 The structure should engage employees in meaningful work in which they
also attain self-satisfaction and have a chance for self-development.
 Managers understand each individual preferences and motivations and
display respect for each employee’s unique personal characteristics.
 Managers’ attitude reflects that the beliefs that employees are honest and
industrious, act with best interest of firm in mind and they desire self-
fulfillment.
 Managers and the management systems support employee morale. They
enhance employee trust and confidence by
 Maintaining two way communication
 Providing training and complete information to do job effectively and
efficiently.
 Information employees of opportunities for promotions and career
advancements
 Listening to employee suggestions for improving work environment
and respond to good suggestions.
 Sponsoring teamwork and co-operation among department
members.
 Being available to employees when they need consultation.
 Understanding the amount and quality of each employees work
 Using the knowledge of each employee’s work to grant fair salary
increase and promotion.
  Providing enthusiastic leadership to the departments in achieving its
goals and objectives.

People Management in IT organizations and IT user organizations is crucial and

consist of four major components.
 Acquiring Executive Support
 Organizing for systems management
 Staffing for systems management
 Customer service

Acquiring Executive Support

Well designed and implemented systems management processes will succeed
with the approval and support of senior management. Acquiring executive
support is essential because
 At some point of time, almost all requests for systems management
hardware, software or staffing needs approval by IT executives or their
superiors.
 More critical functions of systems management are necessary to run
contemporary data centers effectively, requiring key resources and
management support to acquire them.
 The internal support groups (infrastructure support groups) are
bombarded with requests from the more technically educated and
computer literate user community.
 It executives technical knowledge is just enough to be budgetary
dangerous but not enough technical experience to fully appreciate the
requirements and importance of a well-equipped infrastructure.

The knowledge and skill of acquiring executive support and approvals and how to
ensure their ongoing endorsement is critical for systems management. The three
major issues are
 Building business cases to demonstrate the true value of systems
management.
 Educating executives on technical issues without alienating them
 Developing powerful weapons for executive support.

Building business cases for systems management

Business case is a clear and concise cost justification for the funds to be
expended on technology.

IT supervisor’s senior executive positions are more oriented towards the goals of
the business than they are towards the intricacies of technology. The focus is on
the application of cost effective technology rather than on the technology itself.
The major steps in developing a business case are:

Developing a Business Case for Systems Management Functions

1. Understand which IT business goals are most critical to a company's
business goals.
2. Determine which systems management functions are most critical to
meeting the IT business goals that are aligned to those of the company.
3. Meet and confer with IT senior management to confirm and prioritize the
systems management functions to be acquired.
4. Accurately estimate all costs associated with the implementation and
maintenance of a particular function.
5. Itemize all benefits associated with the function.
6. Convert benefits to monetary values to the extent possible.
7. Solicit customer references for the product being proposed.
Understanding which functions are most beneficial to a company at any point in
time is critical to acquire management support. For example, during the start up
phase of many dotcom companies, the infrastructure function mostly emphasis on
availability, as the number of visitors’ increases, performance and tuning gain
importance. When the web site starts to accelerate capacity planning take
precedence and in the maturity stage formalized processes for storage
management m security and disaster recovery is required.

The most challenging step in developing an effective business case is estimating

all associated cost of implementing a particular function and doing so with
reasonable accuracy. Some of the cost that are overlooked are
Costs Occasionally Overlooked When Implementing a Systems Management
Function
1. Recruiting
2. Training
3. Office space
4. Software enhancements
5. Software maintenance
6. Hardware upgrades
7. Hardware maintenance
8. Scheduled outages
By the same token, all associated benefits need to be thoroughly itemized and
converted to savings. The several benefits of implementing a system
management functions are:
Benefits Overlooked When Implementing a Systems Management
Function
1. Being able to predict capacity shortages before they occur
2. Avoiding lost labor time of users by reducing both the frequency and
duration of outages.
3. Increasing productivity by improving response times
4. Ensuring business continuity during disaster recovery
5. Avoiding the cost of rebuilding databases and reissuing transactions
A final step is to solicit testimonials from customers in other companies about
particular systems management software product.
Educating executives on technical issues without alienating them
The best way to talk to executives is in the language with which they are
comfortable and familiar. For most IT senior managers this means:
 Presenting information and proposals in commonly used business terms.
 Executives need to be educated about the value of systems management
in general and benefits of individual functions or products in particular.
 The cornerstone of the process involves discussions with non-IT users and
their managers about future workload projections.
 While convincing for additional IT expenditure, the senior executive may
be interested in purely bottom –line terms, such as ultimate total cost of
ownership. Others may be more finally oriented and focus on items such
as depreciation, tax implications, or lease versus buy comparisons. Some
prefer narrative while others choose graphs. So align the proposal tot the
comfort zone of the senior manager.
 Three universal principles involving Executive support are:
1. Managers love alternatives
2. Managers hate surprises
3. Managers thrive on metrics.

Developing powerful weapons for executive support – business metrics.

A prudent use of meaningful business metrics is a budgetary weapon that offers
powerful persuasive capabilities when proposing systems management
implementation.

Traditionally, availability metrics such as percentage of uptime or hours per week

of downtime were not presented as a convincing argument to the budget
approvers but critical measures of productivity (like no of work orders
completed per hr). The quantities of improvements were impressive and
substantiated when presented as meaningful business metrics with which
mangers would identify.

Some hints to gain ongoing executive support:

 Executive support for key systems management is quickly forgotten and
needs to be continually reinforced.
 One way to reinforce is to continuously showcase the successes of the
processes. In case of availability this would mean showing improvements
in systems uptime over the course of weeks and months. For tuning
processes it could involve showing increased productivity of users.
 Speak in the language of your executives and present information in
charts, graphs or tables.
 Executives tend to be very goal oriented and results driven. Their time is
valuable and limited. Use it the best advantage in securing ongoing
support for systems management disciplines.
 Do not assume that because approval was given for previous resources
required by an infrastructure process it will be granted automatically in the
future.
 It environment change rapidly in terms of direction, scope and focus, so
also may the environment of entire enterprise. The best strategy is to stay
informed about the strategies and trends of the enterprise and to keep
your senior manager informed of the synergistic strategies and trends in
IT.

Some techniques used to capture and maintain executive support for

implementation of systems management discipline includes:
 Building and presenting business cases.
 Educating executives on necessary technical issues without alienating
them
 Developing and using meaningful business – oriented metrics.

Organizing For Systems Management

The second important people issue to address after acquiring executives ’ support
is organizing the IT infrastructure for optimal efficiency and effectiveness of
system management processes. If an infrastructure is organized improperly, it
can lead to stifling inaction between departments. The organization structures
need to evolve to succeed.

The three major issues in organizing for systems management are:

 Understanding how IT departments evolve their organization structures to
succeed
 Proposed organizational structures for common scenarios within an IT
infrastructure.
 Desired attributes for eventual owners of each of the 12 system
management processes.

FACTOR TO CONSIDER IN DESIGNING IT ORGANIZATIONS

Few employees enjoy departmental restructuring, and IT professionals are no
exception. Although IT professionals are involved in one of the most rapidly
changing technical industries, they still tend to be creatures of habit that, like
everyone else, prefer stable and unchanging environments. But, in case of IT,
restructuring is often necessary to support company growth, increased customer
demand, changing business requirements, acquisitions, mergers, buyouts, or
other industry changes.

The question then becomes: on which factors should we base the restructuring if
IT organizations, particularly infrastructures? The three key factors on which to
base these decisions are:
 Departmental responsibilities,
 Planning orientation, and
 Infrastructure process.

These factors tend to follow the normal evolution of an IT organization from company start up to full
corporate maturity. The levels of evolution of IT organizations as organizations mature are:
Level One
CIO

Applications Development Infrastructure

& Maintenance

Level Two
As the company grows and IT begins expanding its services an administrative
department is added to the base structure as shown as below.

CIO

Applications Development Infrastructure Administration

& Maintenance

The administrative department is responsible for billing invoices, asset

management, procurement, human resources and other tactically oriented
support activities.

Level Three
As the company and the IT organization both continue to grow, the planning
orientation within the IT group will gradually shift from that of tactical to strategic
planning. Eventually, all strategic planning activities can be centralized in a
separate department. Over time this department will likely subdivide into two
groups along the lines of business requirements planning and IT architecture
plans. The ongoing growth of the company and its customers would cause the
applications, infrastructure, and administration department to similarly subdivide
into dedicated groups. A final modification to the It organizational structure is the
alignment of the applications areas along business units as shown in the figure.

CIO

Applications Development Infrastructure Administration

& Maintenance & Planning

Development Maintenance Technical & Computer

Network services Operations
FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN DESIGNING IT INFRASTRUCTURE:
There are various ways to organize an infrastructure, but there is no single
structure that applies optimally to all situations. This is due partly because factors
such as size, maturity, and orientation of a firm and its IT organization
vary widely from company to company and directly influence how best to
design the IT infrastructure.

LOCATING DEPARTMENTS IN THE INFRASTRUCTURE:

Sometimes the organizational position of a department can play an important role
in distinguishing a world – class infrastructure from a mediocre one. Four
departments where this is particularly the case are the help desk, database
administration, network operations, and systems management.

ALTERNATIVE LOCATION FOR THE HELP DESK:

The proper location of the help desk is critical to the success of almost any IT
infrastructure. There are many reasons for this. Paramount among these is that
the level 1 helpdesk is the first encounter most users have with an IT
organization. Placing the help desk higher in the organization or merging it with
other help desks can increase its effectiveness, visibility, and stature. The initial
impression that customers form when they first dial the help desk
number is often long lasting. Help desk specialist refer to this critical
interaction as the movement of truth: the point at which customers form their
initial, and – in the case of poor encounters – often irreversible, opinions about
the quality of IT services. The number of rings before answering, the set-up of
the menu system, and especially the attitude of the help desk agent responding
to the caller are all factors that influence a user’s perception of the effectiveness
of a help desk. Table 5-1 lists in order of preference 10 things users want most
when they call a help desk.

Table 5-1 What Users Prefer Most in an IT Help Desk

1. Answer incoming calls within two rings.
2. Whenever possible, have a help desk agent answer the call rather than giving
them a menu to select from.
3. If you must use menus design them to be as simple to understand and use
as possible.
4. Sequence most commonly used menu items first.
5. Allow for the bypass of some or all menu items.
6. Calculate and report to callers average hold times in real time.
7. Practice good telephone etiquette by being polite, patient, courteous, and
helpful to callers.
8. When handing a call off to level 2 support give the caller a reliable time
estimate for follow-up and resolution.
9. Follow up with level 2 support to ensure the problem is being worked on.
10. Follow up with callers to ensure problems are being resolved to their
satisfaction.

Another reason the location of the desk is so important is that it defines to what
degree multiple help desks may eventually integrate into fewer help desks, or
into one fully integrated helpdesks usually referred to as a customer service
center (CSC). During periods of initial growth, many IT organizations increase
the number of help decks in response to expanding services and a growing user
base. One of my prior clients had no fewer than seven help desks:
applications, operations, desktop support, technical services, database
administration data network services, and voice network services. The
client asked to assess the feasibility of integrating some, if not all, of the multiple
help desks into a much smaller quantity after assembling a cross functional team.
Much discussion centered on where to locate this new centralized help desk.
Some thought it best to have it outside of the infrastructure, or to outsource
it, but the majority saw there were more benefits in regard to control, staffing,
and measurement by keeping it within the infrastructure.

In the end it was elected the CSC of the infrastructure as a peer to the desktop
support department. Major advantage of this configuration was that it put the
level 1 (CSC) and level 2 (desktop support) support groups both in the
same organization. This facilitated handoffs between levels 1 and 2, drastically
cut down on the finger pointing between these two groups, and held each of them
to higher levels of accountability.

ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS FOR DATABASE ADMINISTRATION

Many IT shops locate their database administration group in the applications
development department. The argument here is that the structure and design
of the database is more closely aligned to the requirements of the user with
whom the applications group works directly. But once the database is designed,
most of the ongoing maintenance involves performance and tuning issues; these
issues are more closely aligned with the technical services group in the
infrastructure.

Some IT organizations have the database administration group reporting directly

to the head of the infrastructure group. Another alternative that work well with
large database administration groups is to put the architecture portion of the
group, which is primarily strategic and user oriented, in the applications
development group, and to put the administration portion, which is
primarily tactical and technically oriented, in the infrastructure ’s
technical services group. See Figure 5-7 for an example of database
administration location.

Figure 5-7 IT Organization Highlighting Database Administration

Infrastructure

Technical Network Computer Customer

Services Services Operations Services

Systems
Administration

Database
Administration
ALTERNATIVE LOCATION FOR NETWORK OPERATIONS
To many it would seem obvious that the network operations group belongs in the
network services department. After all, both groups are involved with
providing reliable, real-time network services.. But as the network operations
group grows, and particularly as network and computer operations assume critical
responsibilities, a compelling case can be made to have network operations report
to computer operations. Groups have around-the-clock monitoring and
troubleshooting responsibilities, both can benefit technically from cross-training
each other, and both could give each other more backup support. IT
organizations with mature infrastructures can locate their network operations
group within computer operations as shown below:

Figure 5-8 IT Organization Highlighting Network Operations

Infrastructure

Technical Network Computer Customer

Services Services Operations Services

Network
Operations

ALTERNATIVE LOCATION FOR SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

The existence and location of a system management group is one of the key
characteristics that make an infrastructure world class. The systems management
group is a separate solely responsible for those infrastructure processes
determined to be most critical to a particular IT environment. At a minimum,
these processes include change management, problem management, and
production acceptance. Depending on the maturity and orientation of the
infrastructure, additional system management processes, such as capacity
management, storage management, security, and disaster recovery- may
be a part of this department.

This department usually reports to one of three infrastructure groups,

depending on the processes receiving the most emphasis. When change
management or production acceptance is the key process, this group often
reports to computer operations. In a traditional mainframe environment, this
department would have been called production support and could have
included batch scheduling, batch processing, and output processing. When
problem management is the key process, this group usually reports to the
customer services or help key process, this group usually reports to the customer
services or help desk department. In a world-class infrastructure, all of the
key processes are managed out of a single systems management group
that reports directly to the head of the infrastructure. This optimal
organization scheme is shown in figure 5-9.

Figure 5-9 IT Organization Highlighting System Management

Infrastructure

Technical Network Computer Customer Systems

Services Services Operations Services Managements

Summary:
It is clear that IT environment evolves and matures from a reporting structure
into a more expensive, sophisticated organization. The three key factors by which
infrastructures can be organized are: departmental responsibilities, planning
orientation and systems management process.
 STAFFING FOR SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
People are the most important resource in any organization. This is certainly true
as it applies to systems management. Skilled professionals are needed at the
outset to develop plans, design processes and evaluate technologies; then they
are needed to transform these ideas form paper into realities.

The staffing process in an IT organization involves

 determining required skill sets and skill levels
 assessing the skill levels of current onboard staff
 identifying alternative sources of staffing
 recruiting infrastructure staff from outside
 selecting most qualified candidate
 retaining key personal

Phase- I DETERMINING REQUIRED SKILL SETS AND SKILL LEVELS

Staffing for systems management also has a requirements phase in the sense
that necessary skill sets and skill levels need to be identified and prioritized early
on.

A skill set is defined as technical familiarity with a particular software

product, architecture or platform.
For example, one enterprise may use primarily IBM mainframes with IBM ’s
information management system (IMS) databases while another may use mostly
Sun Solaris platforms with Oracle databases. The skill sets needed to implement
systems management functions in these two environments would be significantly
different.

Within a skill set there is another attribute known as the skill level. The skill
level is simply the length of experience and depth of technical expertise
an individual has acquired and can apply to a given technology.

The process of determining and prioritizing the required skill sets and level has
several benefits:
 First, quantifying the skill sets that will be needed to implement
selected functions forces you to more accurately reflect the
diversity if technical experience your environment will require.
 Second, estimating necessary skill levels within each required skill
sets will reflect the amount of technical depth and expertise that
will be needed.
 Finally the quantifying and qualifying required skill sets and levels
are valuable aids in building the business cases
Developing a skill set matrix that is customized for your particular environment
can help simplify this process. Table 6-1 shows an example of a skill set matrix
for a for a relatively typical mainframe environment.

Table 6-1 Mainframe Environment Skill Set Matrix

Skill Level
Area of Focus Platform Junio Associat Senio Lea
Intern
r e r d
IBM
Operating
Support products
Systems
Other
IMS
Database
CICS
Management
Support products
Systems
Other
 LAN
Network WAN
Systems Support products
Other

Table 6-2 is similar to table 6-1 except that it applies to a midrange environment
rather than a mainframe one. Several of the platforms have a consequently
changed reflecting the difference in environments.

Table 6-2 Midrange Environment Skill Set Matrix

Area of Platform Skill Level
Focus Intern Junior Associate Senior Lead
IBM AS400
HP/3000
Operating DEC/VAX
Systems Support products
Other
IBM
Database HP
Management DEC
Systems Support products
Other
LAN
Network
WAN
Systems
Support products
Other

Table 6-3 applies to a client-server environment. The major platforms are UNIX
and Microsoft NT, and manufacturer delineates each.

Table 6-3
Client-Server Environment Skill Set Matrix
Area of Skill Level -
Platform Manufacturer
Focus Intern Junior Associate Senior Lead
IBM|AIS
SUN/SOLARIS
HP/HPUNIX
DEC|ALPHA
UNIX
REDDOGI
Operating
LINUX
Systems
Support
products
Various
NT Support
products
Database Oracle
Management Sybase
Systems Informix
UNIX
Support
products
Other
NT MS SQL
Server
Support
products
 Others
LAN Various
WAN
Network
Support
Systems
products
Other

Phase II ASSESSING THE SKILL LEVELS OF CURRENT ONBOARD STAFF

Once the level and set of skills essential to supporting a particular systems
management function are identified, then the potential candidates who have
acquired the necessary experiences are identified. The first place to look is within
the company. Potential candidates who are already on board usually are proficient
in one or more technologies, but not necessarily in the systems management
function being implemented. Redeploying a database administrator into the role
of a systems administrator or as a network analyst may be a more challenging.
The very pertinent qualities that have to be considered in assessing potential
candidates are: attitude, aptitude, applicability and experience.

1. Attitude - implies that the outlook and demeanor of an individual closely

matches the desired culture of the enterprise.

Exactly what constitutes an acceptable or proper attitude may vary slightly form
firm to firm. But there generally are a few traits that are common to most
organizations. Among these are
 Eagerness to learn skills
 Willingness to follow new procedures
 Dedication to being a team player

This last trait contrasts with that of aptitude, which emphasizes the ability to
learn new skills as opposed to simply the desire to do so.

2. Applicability refers to an individual’s ability to put his or her skills and

experience to effective use. Employees may have years of experience with
certain skills sets but if lack of motivation or poor communications skills prevents
them from effectively applying the knowledge, it is of little value to an
organization.

3. Experience is normally thought of as the total number of years a person has

worked with a particular technology. Depth, variety and currency are three
component of experience that should be factored into any assessment of a
person’s skill level.

Depth refers to the level of technical complexity a person has mastered

with a given product or process. An example of this would be the ability to
configure operating systems or modify then with software maintenance releases
as opposed to simply installing them.

Variety describes the number of different platforms or environments an

individual may have worked in with a certain technology. For example, one
person may have familiarity with a multi-platform storage backup system but
only in a single version of UNIX environment. Another individual may have a
deeper understanding of the product from having used it in several different
platform environments.

Currency refers to how recent the person’s experience is with a given

product or technology. IT in general is a rapidly changing industry, and specific
technologies within it may become outdated or even obsolete within a few years.
A database administrator (DBA), for example, may have extensive familiarity with
a particular version of a database management system, but if that experience
took place longer than four to five years ago, it may no longer be relevant.

The summary of the four key characteristics used to assess an individual ’s skill
potential in transitioning from one infrastructure to another are:.
Characteristics
-Empathy, patience, team player, active listener
-Polite, friendly, courteous, professional
Attitude -Helpful, resourceful, persevering
-Eagerness to learn new skills
-Willingness to follow new procedures
Aptitude -Ability to learn new skills:
-Ability to retain new skills
-Ability to integrate new skills with appropriate old ones
Applicability -Ability to apply knowledge and skills to appropriate use
-Ability to share knowledge and skills with others
-Ability to foresee new areas where skills may apply
Experience -Number of years of experience in a given skill
-How recent the experience has been
-Degree of variety of the experience

RECOMMENDED ATTRIBUTES OF PROCESS OWNERS

One of the most critical success factors in implementing any of the 12 systems
management processes is the person you select as the process owner. This
individual will be responsible for assembling and leading the cross-functional
design team; for implementing the agreed-upon process; for communicating it to
all appropriate parties; for developing and maintaining the process’s
documentation; for establishing and reporting on its metrics; and, depending on
the specific process involved, for administering other support tasks such as
chairing change review boards or compiling user workload forecasts. The
important attributes are
1. Knowledge of: applications, company's business model, system software
and components, network software and components, software configurations,
hardware configurations, backup systems, database systems, desktop systems,
power and air conditioning systems
2. Ability to: rate documentation, work effectively with IT developers, meet
effectively with customers, talk effectively with IT executives, inspire teamwork
and cooperation, manage diversity, analyze metrics, think and plan strategically,
think and act tactically

Table 5-2 lists 19 attributes that apply in a high, medium, low degree to process
owners of one or more of the 12 disciplines.

Recommended Attributes of Process Owners

Attribute AV PT PA CM PM SM NM CF CP SE DR FM
Knowledge of Low Med High Low Low High Low Med Med High Med N/A
applications
Ability to rate N/A N/A High Med N/A N/A Med High N/A N/A High Med
documentation
Knowledge of N/A N/A Med Low N/A N/A Low N/A N/A Med High Low
company's
business model
Ability to work Low High Med Low Med High Low High Med Med Low Low
effectively with
IT developers
Attribute AV PT PA CM PM SM NM CF CP SE DR FM
Ability to meet N/A Low Med N/A Med N/A High N/A Med Low Med N/A
effectively with
customers
Ability to talk Low N/A Med Low N/A N/A N/A N/A Med Med High Med
effectively with
IT executives
Ability to inspire N/A Low Med High High N/A N/A Low Med N/A N/A Med
teamwork and
cooperation
Ability to Low Low Med High Med Low Low Low N/A N/A N/A Med
manage
diversity
Knowledge of High High Low Low Low Med Med High High High Med N/A
system software
and components
Knowledge of High High Low Low Low Low High High High High High Low
network
software and
components
Knowledge of Med High Med Low N/A Med Med High Med Med Med Low
software
configurations
Knowledge of Med High Low Low N/ A High Med High Med Low Med High
hardware
configurations
Knowledge of Med N/A Med N/A Low High Low N/A N/A Med High High
backup systems
Knowledge of High N/A N/A Low Low High N/A N/A Low N/A Low High
database
systems
Knowledge of Med Med Med Low Low Low Med Med Low Med Low N/A
desktop
systems
Ability to N/A N/A Med Low High N/A Med Med Low High N/A N/A
analyze metrics
Knowledge of High Med N/A Med High Low N/A N/A Low N/A N/A High
power and air
conditioning
systems
Ability to think Low N/A High Med Low Med Low N/A High High High High
and plan
strategically
Ability to think High High N/A Med High High High Med N/A Low Low Low
and act
tactically
AV-Availability Management , PT- NM-Network Management, CF-Configuration Management
Performance/Tuning, CP-Capacity Planning. SE-Strategic Security
PA-Production Acceptance ,CM-Change DR-Disaster Recovery, FM-Facilities Management
Management,
PM-Problem Management ,SM-Storage
Management

Phase III ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF STAFFING

Several alternative sources for infrastructure staffing are available inside most
reasonably sized enterprises. One source involves cross training existing
infrastructure personnel in related skill sets. For example, if a company
decides to change from one type of UNIX platform to another a systems
administrator who is familiar with only one variation of UNIX may be cross-
trained in the alternative version. Similarly, an NT systems administrator may be
cross-trained on UNIX.

A more challenging transition, though nonetheless viable, may be between

systems administration, database administration and network administration. In
some instances, suitable candidates may be found outside of the
infrastructure group. Application departments may be able to supply DBA
prospects or performance specialists, and planning groups may offer up metrics
analysts in certain cases even business units outside of IT may have personnel
qualified for selected positions within an IT infrastructure.

Recruiting infrastructure Staff from the Outside

Not all infrastructure positions can be filled from inside a company. Larger
companies normally have human resources departments to assist in
recruiting, scheduling interviews, and clarifying benefits and compensation issues.
Smaller firms may need to recruit from the outside directly, or use professional
recruiters to fill IT infrastructure openings. Recruiting directly saves cost but
requires more time and effort on the part of managers, and it may take longer to
locate qualified candidates this way.

Several direct recruiting methods exist to aid in this approach. Word of mouth
recruiting by coworkers and staff can be surprisingly effective. Many companies
now offer lucrative incentives for job referrals. Advertising in leading trade
publications and local newspaper can also attract qualified talent. Perhaps the
quickest and simplest method today is to use the Internet, which businesses of
all sizes are now using to post job openings.

The use of outside recruiters is a common practice today, particularly when

filling positions requiring critical or advanced technical skills. Recruiters are
becoming much more specialized, enabling managers to pick and choose firms
that best meet their particular recruiting needs. Care should be taken to ensure
that recruiters have a proven track record, and references should be
requested and checked whenever possible.

Once recruiter of choice is selected, very specific information about the type of
individual sough is provided. Most reputable recruiting firms have a sizable
database of prospective candidates and should be able to match most of your
requirements. The most detailed the job description; the more likely they will
be to find a desirable candidate.
 Do not specify merely the skill set and level of experience
required.
 Describe the specific kind of work you anticipate the new hire to
perform, the types and versions of software products and
platforms involved, and
 The amount of recent practical experience expected.

USING CONSULTANTS AND CONTRACTORS

Another alternative available to infrastructure managers needing to fill positions is
the use of consultants and contractors. Outsourcing, company downsizing,
acquisitions and mergers, and global competition are leading to significant
reductions in full-time IT staff. This trend towards reduced IT staffing- especially
in larger, more established shops- is also feeding the supply of ready consultants.
Many of the previously displaced IT personnel elect to become independent
consultants. Frequently many of these former workers enter into service contracts
with their previous employers. Others market their skills to companies with IT
environments similar to their previous company to ensure a good fit between the
skills they can offer and the technical requirements needing to be met.

Integrating dissimilar architectures-database software, desktop operating

systems, and networking technologies for example- often requires specialized
skills. In many cases managers find it is easier to contract with a consultant for
these specialized skills than to attempt to grow them from within. A heightened
awareness of the benefits of new, replaced, or migrated systems is pushing
implementation schedules forward. Accelerated schedules are well suited for the
immediate availability and short-term commitments offered by consultants and
contractors. The shortened project life cycles of open system applications, the
rapid deployment of Web-enabled systems, and the intensifying of global
competition are some of the forces at work today that fuel this demand for
accelerated implementations.

Consultants come in a variety of types, and they contrast slightly with

the notion of a contractor.

Consultant normally refers to someone hired to do an analytical task such

as a capacity study, a security audit, or a re-engineering assignment. This
contrasts with the term Contractor, refers to someone hired to perform a
more specific task such as coding an interface or developing a software
enhancement.

Consultants are commonly supplied from one of the major accounting firms or
from major computer hardware or software suppliers. Contractors, on the other
hand, are more likely to come from software development companies or are in
business for themselves. Consultants tend to be oriented towards issues of
strategy, service process, and management. Contractors tend to be
oriented towards the issue of coding, documentation, technology and
deliverables.

Knowing the specific type of person to be hired helps in one other important area-
that of teaming with onboard employees. For example a consultant hired to
develop IT customer service levels needs to show empathy towards the
customers that he or she is dealing with. Similarly a contractor hired to work with
an existing team of onboard developers needs to be able to fit in with the
members of the group.

Benefit of using the consultants and contractors are that they provide readily
available technical expertise. Highly specialized consultants can provide
technical expertise needed in these diverse areas.

Another benefit that consultants and especially contractors offer to an enterprise

is that they can assist in accelerating critical development schedules. The
schedule to implement some major applications is often dictated by specific
needs. For example, a critical distribution system in a major toy company may
have been cost justified based on its absolute time deadline of being able to meet
the Christmas rush. New systems that were designed to correct the Y2K problem
obviously had to be in place prior to the start of the new millennium.
Organizations may have the necessary quality of skilled employees onboard, but
simply not an adequate quantity of them to meet critical schedules. In these
instances, consultants and contractors may quickly be brought in to assist in
keeping projects on schedule.
Summary of Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Consultants and
Contractors
Benefits Drawbacks
Immediate availability High costs
Ability to Accelerate schedules Occasional inefficiencies
Pay only for effort expended Potential source of morale
problems
Can supply rare or unique technical expertise Hidden expenses

Phase IV SELECTING THE MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE

Once a perspective has been identified, a relatively formal interview process
should follow. For key positions it may be appropriate to have several key staff
member interview the candidate to ensure that a variety of viewpoints are
covered and to arrive at a consensus about the candidate.

Telephone interviews sometime are necessary to accommodate conflicting

schedules, especially if multiple people will be involved in the interview process.
Face-to-face interviews should be conducted to evaluate personality body
language and other nonverbal cues not apparent over a telephone.

For positions involving leadership and supervisory roles, companies should

almost always require references. Request a minimum of two and preferably
three or four, and then thoroughly follow up on them. When company benefits
are explained to prospective candidates the explanation must be through.

Phase V RETAINING KEY PERSONNEL

Once a key candidate has been found, has been offered employment, and has
accepted, the challenge of staffing now shifts to retaining this person, along with
all other highly talented personnel.

Some of these new approaches involve creative compensation such as

supplying personnel with free cell phone use, remote Internet access from home,
laptop computers, or mileage compensation. Recent research suggests that
several non-monetary factors often come into play as much as the quantity of
pure cash salary. These include the amount of on the job training to be
provided, the currency of technologies used, attendance at conferences
and seminars, the meaningfulness and significance of the work being
performed, the likelihood of promotions, and the stability of the
management staff.

More often than not, skilled technical professionals will change jobs because of
some key ingredient missing in the relationship they have with an immediate
manager. E.g., Over the years several highly skilled IT professionals have left an
otherwise excellent job opportunity simply because of poor communication with
their managers. Lack of recognition, little career planning, and inability to
convey an organizations vision, direction, and goals are some other
common reasons employees give when discussing poor management
relationship. The quantity and quality of these benefits would become a part of
our evaluation criteria in selecting an eventual winner of the contract.

The benefits are: Medical coverage, Dental coverage, Base salary, Training in
client-server, Vacation, Vision care ,Career advancement ,Company matching
,Training in networking , Sick leave, Proximity to home ,Medical leaves, Training
in PCs/intranet/Web, Flexible work hours, Flexible work week, Training in
operations, Personal leaves, Personal time off, Compensation time for overtime,
Distance to workplace, Opportunity for overtime pay, Van pools or car pools,
Bonuses ,Absence of overtime
The list of additional benefits are: Long-term disability, Life insurance,
Floating or additional holidays, Bereavement leave, Direct deposit of paycheck,
Pension plans, Attendance at conferences, Education reimbursement, Early
retirement, Quality management High degree of teamwork, Respect for all ideas
and abilities

CUSTOMER SERVICE
IT IS A SERVICE ORGANIZATION
Most IT organizations began as offshoots of their companies accounting
departments. As companies grew and their accounting systems became more
complex, their dependency on the technology of computers also grew. The
emphasis of IT in the 1973s was mostly on continuously providing machines and
systems that were bigger, faster and cheaper. During this era, technological
advances in IT flourished.

By the 1980s, the role of IT and customer service began changing. IT was
becoming a strategic competitive advantage for many corporations. A few
industries such as banking and airlines had long before discovered how the
quality of IT services could affect revenue, profits, and public image. As online
applications started replacing many of the manual legacy systems more and more
workers became exposed to the power and the frustration of the computers.
Demand for high availability, quick response, and clear and simple
answers to operational questions gave rise to user groups, help desks,
service level agreements (SLAs), and eventually customer service
representatives, all within the confines of a corporate structure.

Good customer service was now becoming an internal part of any well-managed
IT department. Demands for excellent customer service grew to such a
degree in the 1990s that the lack of it often led to demotions,
terminations, and outsourcing.

Whether IT professionals were prepared for it or not, IT had evolved

from a purely accounting and technical environment into a totally
service-oriented one. Companies hiring IT professionals now often use traits
such as empathy, helpfulness, patience, resourcefulness, and team-orientation as
requirements for the job. The extent to which these traits are in evidence
frequently determines an individual’s or an organization’s, success in IT today.

THE FOUR KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

There are four elements that are key to providing good customer service: they
are
 Identifying your key customers.
 Identifying key services of key customers.
 Identifying key process that supports key services.
 Identifying key suppliers that support key processes.

I. IDENTIFYING YOUR KEY CUSTOMERS

One of the best ways to ensure that excellent customer service is to consistently
meet or exceed the expectations of key customers. In transitioning to a service-
oriented environment, infrastructure professionals sometimes struggle with
identifying who their key customers are, the answer is: all company employees
must be our key customers.

In reality, there are usually just a small number of key representative customers
who can often serve as a barometer for good customer service and effective
improvements. For example, you may design a change management process that
 dozens or even hundreds of programmers may be required to use. But you would
probably need to involve only a handful of key programmer representatives to
assist in designing the process and measuring its effectiveness. An IT
department should identify criteria that are the most suitable for identifying the
key customers in their particular environment.

Characteristics of key customers of a typical infrastructure are:

1. Someone whose success critically depends on the services you provide
2. Someone who, when satisfied, helps assure your success as an
organization.
3. Someone who fairly and thoroughly represents large customer
organizations
4. Someone who frequently uses, or whose organization uses, your services
5. Someone who constructively and objectively critiques the quality of your
services
6. Someone who has significant impact on your company as a corporation
7. Someone with whom you have mutually agreed-upon reasonable
expectations

1. Someone whose success critically depends on the services you

provide. Infrastructure groups typically serve a variety of departments in a
company. Some departments are more essential to the core business of the
company than others, just as some applications are considered mission critical.
The heads or designated leads of these departments are usually good candidates
for key customers.

2. Someone who, when satisfied, assures your success as an

organization. Some individuals hold positions of influence in a company and can
help market the credibility of an infrastructure organization. These customers
may be in significant staff positions such as those found in legal or public affairs
departments. The high visibility of these positions may afford them the
opportunity to highlight IT infrastructure achievements to other non-IT
departments. These achievements could include high availability of online
systems or the reliable restorations of inadvertently deleted data.

3. Someone who fairly and thoroughly represents large customer

organizations. The nature of some services provided by IT infrastructures
results in these services being used by a large majority of a company’s workforce.
These highly used services include e-mail, Internet, and intranet services. The
heads or designated leads of these departments would likely be good key
customer candidates.

4. Someone who frequently uses or whose organization frequently uses

your services. Some departments are major users of IT services by nature of
their relationship within a company. In an airline company, it may be the
department in charge of the reservation system. For a company supplying
overnight package deliveries, the key department may be the one overseeing the
package tracking system. Representatives from each of these groups were solid
key customer candidates.

5. Someone who constructively and objectively critiques the quality of

your services. It’s possible that a key customer may be for or high column use
of IT service. A non-critical and low volume user may qualify as a key customer
because of a keen insight into how an infrastructure could effectively improve its
services. These individuals typically have both the ability and the willingness to
offer candid, constructive criticism about how best to make IT services better
6. Someone who has significant business impact on your company as a
Corporation. Marketing or sales department representatives in a manufacturing
firm may contain key customers of this type. In aerospace or defense contracting
companies it may be advanced technology groups. The common thread among
these key customers is that their use of IT services can greatly advance the
business position of the corporation.

7. Someone with whom you have mutually agreed-upon reasonable

expectations. Most any infrastructure user, both internal and external to either
IT or its company, may qualify as key customer if the customer and the IT
infrastructure representative have mutually agreed upon reasonable expectations.
Conversely, customers whose expectations are not reasonable should usually be
excluded as key customers.

II. IDENTIFYING KEY SERVICES OF KEY CUSTOMERS

The next step after identifying your key customers is to identify their key
services. This may sound obvious but in reality many infrastructure managers
merely presume to know the key IT services of their key customers without ever
verifying which services they need the most. Only by interacting directly with
their customers can these mangers understand the wants and needs of their
customers.

Infrastructure managers need to clearly distinguish between services their

customers need to conduct the business of their departments and services that
they want but may not be able to cost justify to the IT organization. The IT
infrastructure may be able to meet their expectation of the former but not the
latter.

III. NEGOTIATING AND MANAGING REALISTIC CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

The issue of reasonable expectations is a salient point and cuts to the heart of
sound customer service. When IT people started getting serious about service,
they initially espoused many of the tenets other service industries. Phrases such
as the following were drilled into IT professionals at several of the companies
employed:
 Customer is always right
 Never say no to a customer
 Always meet your customer’s expectations
IT service providers may actually be doing more of a disservice to their customers
and to themselves by not saying no to an unrealistic demand. This leads to the
first of two universal truths come to embrace about customer service and
expectations. An unreasonable expectation, rightly demanded by an
uncompromising customer and naively agreed to by a well-intentioned supplier is
one of the major causes of poor customer service.

In their zest to please customers and establish credibility for their

organizations, IT professionals will agree to project schedules that
cannot be met, availability levels that cannot be reached, response times
that cannot be obtained, and budget amounts that cannot be reduced.
Knowing when and how to say no to a customer is not an easy task, but there are
techniques available to assist in negotiating and managing realistic expectations.

Effective methodology for negotiating and managing realistic customer

expectations is: The first part involved thorough preparation of face-to-face
interviews with selected key customers and the second part consisted of
actually conducting the interview to negotiate and follow up on realistic
expectations.
Face-to-face interviews with primary customers were the key to successfully
negotiating reasonable expectations that in turn would lead to improved customer
service, but customer service organizations were reluctant because they did not
have any formal training on effective interviewing techniques and felt ill equipped
to deal with a potentially belligerent user.

Intense interview-training program that specifically emphasized how to

deal with difficult customers is essential. Traditional techniques such as
open-ended questions, active listening, and restatements were combined with
effective ways to cut off ramblers and negotiate compromise, along with training
on when to agree to disagree. The feedback received from both the IT
interviewers and our customers as validate, negotiate, and escalate.

Validate: Within the guidelines of the prepared interview scripts, the interviewers
first validated their interviewees by assuring them that were, in fact, key
customers. They then told the customers that they did. Indeed critically need and
use the services. Interviewers then went on to ask what the customers' current
expectations were for the levels of service provided.
Negotiate: If customers' expectations were reasonable and obtainable, then the
parties discussed and agreed upon the type and frequency of measurements to
be used. If the expectations were not reasonable, then negotiations,
explanations, and compromises were proposed. If these negotiations did not
result in a satisfactory agreement, as would occasionally occur, then the
interviewer would politely agree to disagree and move on to other matters.
Escalate: The interviewer would escalate the unsuccessful negotiation to his or
her manager who would attempt to resolve it with the key customer.

The validate/negotiate/escalate method proved to be exceptionally effective at

negotiating reasonable expectations and realistic service levels. The hidden
benefits included clearer and more frequent communication with users, improved
interviewing skills for leads and managers, increased credibility for the IT
department, and more empathy of the users for some of the many constraints
under which most all IT organizations work.
.
IV. IDENTIFYING KEY PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT KEY SERVICES.
Negotiating realistic expectations of service leads into the third element of
identifying the key processes. These processes comprise the activities that
provide and support the key services of the customers. For example, a legal
department may need a service to retrieve records that have been archived
months previously. In this case, the activities of backing up the data, archiving
and storing it off- site, and retrieving it quickly for customer access would be the
key processes that support this key service.

V. IDENTIFYING KEY SUPPLIERS THAT SUPPORT KEY PROCESS

Identifying key suppliers is the fourth element of good customer service. Key
suppliers are those individuals who provide direct input, in terms of products or
support, to the key processes. In our example of the prior section regarding the
legal department, some of the key suppliers would be the individuals responsible
for storing the data offsite and for retrieving it to make it accessible for users.
Similarly for the human resources example, the developers of the commercial
software security products and the individuals responsible for installing and
administering the products would be key suppliers for the data security
processes.

VI. INTEGRATING THE FOUR KEY ELEMENTS OF GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

The four key components of good customer service are:
 identifying key customers,
  negotiating and managing realistic customer expectations of service
 identifying key processes, and identifying key suppliers
 Understanding the relationships between these four entities can go a long
way to ensuring high levels of service quality.

Input Process Output

(Suppliers) (Processors) (Customers)

For an IT production control department this could be data being fed into a
program stream that is part of a job execution process, or it could be database
changes being fed into a quality assurance process. The out- put of the first
process may be updated screens or printed reports for users, and the output of
the second process would be updated database objects for programmers. The
problem with the traditional workflow model is that it does not encourage any
collaboration between suppliers, processors, and customers, nor does it measure
anything about the efficiency of the process or the effectiveness of the service. In
Figure 7-2 the model is revised in several aspects to improve the quality of
customer service.
Key Key Key Key
Customers Services Processes Suppliers

Reasonable Critical To Adds value Provides High

Expectations Customers’ Quality Input
Met Success

A narrative interpretation of the Figure 7-2 workflow model in each direction may
serve to clarify its use and importance.
 Key suppliers provide high-quality input into a key process.
 The streamlined key process acts upon the high- quality input, ensuring
that each step of the activity adds value to the process;
 This results in delivering a key service to a key customer.

Next we will go in the left-to-right direction.

 Identifying a key customer and then interviewing and negotiating
reasonable expectations with this customer.
 The expectations should involve having key services delivered on time and
in an acceptable manner. These services are typically critical to the
success of the customer's work.
 Once the key services are identified, the key processes that produce these
services are next identified.
 Finally, having determined which key processes are needed, the key
suppliers that input to these processes are identified.
The revised workflow model in Figure 7-2 serves as the basis for a
powerful customer service technique we call a customer/supplier matrix.
It involves
 Identifying your key services, determining who the key customers of those
services are, seeing which key processes feed into the key services, and
who are the key suppliers of these key processes.
 A more succinct way of saying this is:
Know who is using what and how it's being supplied.

The who refers to your key customers. The what refers to your key services.
The how refers to your key processes. The supplied refers to your key suppliers.
An enhancement to the basic customer/supplier matrix is shown below.
Key Service Metrics Key Key Process Metrics Key
Customers Services Processes Suppliers
Measure Measure Quality
Quality of of Input
Services Suppliers
Delivered Provide

THE FOUR CARDINAL SINS THAT UNDERMINE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

While there are excellent suggestions on what to do right, including the use of the customer/supplier
matrix, they also uncovered several common tendencies to avoid. The four of them are:

Four Cardinal Sins that Undermine Good Customer Service

1. Presuming your customers are satisfied because they are not complaining
2. Presuming that you have no customers
3. Measuring only what you want to measure to determine customer
satisfaction
4. Presuming that written SLAs will solve problems, prevent disputes, and
ensure great customer service