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Flexibility Key During Project Implementation

January 26th, 2012

Organizations are constantly in the midst of implementing or rolling out huge projects that impact the business, users, and customers. This process is rarely easy when you have deal with unexpected challenges, whether it is technology related, a scheduling conflict, or whatever. That is why it is critical for the success of the project that you and your team remain flexible throughout the implementation. Rob Murphy, a Program Manager for the U.S. House of Representatives, recently led one of our Web Forums and he discussed the idea of project flexibility. The House is in the process of implementing a Financials ERP so Rob spoke about some of the challenges they have encountered and how being flexible has enable them to be successful thus far. You can read the full IMF Report on Rob’s presentation here.

Below is a snippet from the report where Rob talks about the advantages of limiting project customizations…

“When it comes to large technology projects, many organizations tend to stay pretty close to vanilla in terms of their approach. Certain companies may flat out say “no we are not going to have any,” “you can have one or two different levels” or “if you have some they have to be this type of characterization.” They can have only so much effort and impact, which is excellent. You definitely want to limit it because these are very complex applications, even without customizations. They still roll out patches and fixes regularly whether it is desktop computers and very simple software or more complex. There will always be patching and fixing taking place. Vendors and IT organizations know that so any time you can limit the complexity on your end it is an advantage.

You will reach a certain point on most projects where customizing becomes a necessity, whether it means minimally invasive tasks like designing your own reports or possibly more invasive items. The project team at the House started out with the idea that they were going to stay vanilla and only do a couple of items, some of which were required. They may have been for reporting or regulatory needs but there were certain items they had to produce. The software package that was selected may not have all of the features, fields, and data that are needed. Consequently those fields and reports will need to be created…“

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Posted in IMF Updates, Strategy

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How to Work with an Executive Recruiter

January 13th, 2012

Many people in today’s workforce think they know what an executive recruiter is or how to go about attaining a position through such a person. However, there are many misconceptions when it comes to this particular field. Derek Wilkinson, Managing Director at Boyden Global Executive Search, gave a presentation at our last Sr. Executive Meeting that he referred to as “A Candidate’s Guide to Working Successfully with Recruiters.” He spoke about t a recruiter’s dilemma, where the job market is heading, and what individuals can do separate themselves from the pack. Members can download the full report here: IMF Published Reports.

Here is a brief excerpt from the report that points out the importance of a candidate understanding exactly what a recruiter does…

“It is important to understand what an executive recruiter does and does not do because that will help the candidate out immensely. They DO NOT help people find jobs. There are search people out there who will help their friends or install someone in a job. It does happen. Recruiting is not a regulated industry so a lot of “stuff” happens. On the whole though, someone in the executive search field is out there trying to identify opportunities with their potential clients so they will pay They are there to filter out candidates throughout the process, like a funnel. If an executive search person is not working on something that specifically fits your skills there is a good chance they are not going to be able to help you. If you call them at that point that is ok but keep in mind they probably will not return that call every time. Executive search individuals are very introverted by nature because it is perceived they have the “goods.” In other words, you only want to talk to them because they have the jobs. The equation is not that easy. Again, as a candidate, understand what that recruiter does and seek to understand their role. If you start to build a relationship with a search person and you do not understand something about how they operate then ask a question. They will share that information with you, they to just typically do not offer it up very easily.“

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Posted in IT Workforce, Member Identified Trends, Strategy

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Take Advantage of a Tiered Network

December 15th, 2011

Advance Persistent Threats are a challenge to any IT organization. Security’s rapidly changing landscape makes the problem that much more difficult. Brent Conran, CIO and CISO for the U.S. House of Representatives, gave a presentation on APT at The IMF Fall Sr. Executive Roundtable in Baltimore back in October. He spoke about security operations today and provided some counter measures to combat these threats. Below is a brief excerpt from the presentation’s report on the advantages of tiering your organization’s network (Download the full IMF Report here):

“If your organization has a flat network you should really consider moving away from it. You constantly hear about the need to be agile these days. The reason a lot of companies are not agile is because they have these large flat networks. If you want to put a new piece of technology in you have to perform your risk evaluation process based on the entire network. If you tier your network (fig. 4 page 11) it allows you to look at stuff on the internal enclaves as a different risk model than perhaps something out in the DMZ. The House has tiered a lot of their networks now. They have made the decision to let people do a lot more in the middle or out in the DMZ but they are going to be extremely cautious about anything that enters those internal enclaves. The enclaves contain the payroll system, HR system, and Remedy among other things. They have found that utility architecture saved a lot of money because they are not building point solutions each time. If a new technology is introduced with a web tier, app tier, and data tier it can snap in pretty seamlessly because the infrastructure is already in place. In other words you are just integrating a new application as opposed to buying all of those components.

At this point your conversations will focus on needs and fees, not the cost of building a new point solution. This tiering system has helped the House of Representatives become more agile and benefit its members, staff, and constituents. They receive better information because when a new technology becomes available IT will let it go a lot easier. The House recently installed Skype but without that tiered network environment it probably would have never happened. With that tiered architecture they were able to push a lot of stuff further down into their enclaves, thus making it much easier to bring in Skype…”

Join us this February for our Sr. Executive Retreat at One Ocean Resort Hotel & Spa in Atlantic Beach, FL. Visit the meeting page for more details or view the current agenda.

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Posted in IT Innovation, IT Security, Member Identified Trends, Strategy

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