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Case Study

Operational excellence IT Department

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN AN IT DEPARTMENT

THE CHALLENGE

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Everyone knew that the IT department was critical to the future success of our client's organization, consisting of several thousand employees. But unfortunately, it was also a weak link. Legacy systems had long ago stopped receiving investment dollars. As a result, systems were hard to maintain, and lacked proper processes to manage system outages, causing the business units to complain bitterly. Employee engagement was at a low point. There were little operational metrics or process stability to allow governance or improvement. The leadership team was enthusiastic and willing to pursue operational excellence, but drowning in the many directional changes and day-day firefighting.

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RESULTS

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By the end of the first year of a full operational excellence program, the department had made major progress:

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✓ Major incidents (service interruptions) were down 60% while simultaneously production changes went up by 49%

✓ First call resolution at the support desk increased by 160%

✓ The number of system change projects delivered increased by 53%, while achieving 81% on time and on budget

✓ The employee engagement score increased dramatically from 51% to 72% for the department

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Business units were feeling the changes and acknowledging the better performance. The employees were able to put in a productive day and feel their work was appreciated within the overall organization. Processes had owners, and visible metrics to help in the monitoring and improvements. The leadership knew their strategic priorities, and could focus on them. Operational excellence had become part of the DNA of the organization.

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INGREDIENTS

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➢ Voice of the Customer Analysis - An analysis of the needs of the internal customers that were served by IT allowed the IT department to prioritize their improvement efforts and improve satisfaction of the business units they served

➢ Strategy Deployment - Systematic alignment of goals through different levels of the organization allowed the department to channel their energy

➢ Workshops - Teams were assembled in concentrated working sessions to systematically identify symptoms, root causes, and implement solutions

➢ People - The right skillsets were brought in with the correct organizational structure to enable successful change

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