MDCM, Strategic IT Portfolio Management - Case Study Example

Topic: Table of Contents Table of Contents MDCM, Inc. (B Strategic IT Portfolio Management 2 Introduction 2 IT Projects Appropriate for MDCM 2 Recommendation for the MDCM Corporate Board 5 Conclusion 6 Works Cited 7 MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management Introduction MDCM, which is a renowned firm, faces problems in terms of its IT infrastructure. The company pays attention towards its customers and involves them in its profits and losses. The company is continuously seeing loss from fine years and is interested in improving its IT infrastructure by dealing with all IT projects that are appropriate for the firm. Shawn Atkins, the CIO of the company wants to finalize a recommendation for the initiatives as soon as he can for the interest of the company and he wants everything to be done within thirty six months from the implementation of the plan. MDCM is in urgent need to take suitable steps for improving its IT setup to save the company from getting into continuous loss. The company has been suffering loss in the market in spite of all its steps and strategy designed for the customers and company’s benefit. The company shares its benefits and losses with the customers in order to form close relations with the customers. With the passage of time, the company has identified the importance of its global status. This paper evaluates the IT projects suitable for the company and presents recommendations for the MDCM Corporate Board. IT Projects Appropriate for MDCM There was a large audit to find out the IT problems with the company in the past five years. This audit was very fruitful as it informed all the seniors about the IT issues with the company. They had some knowhow beforehand but the detailed audit informed them about the situation of the company in depth. According to the audit report, “MDCM’s IT services had been badly mismanaged” (Jeffery & Norton 2). IT was not working effectively because of this mismanagement. IT was neglected by the management of the company and also wrong investment decisions were taken related to IT due to which, IT suffered a lot and became a reason for giving loss to the company (Jeffery & Norton 2). A global setup for IT was required by the administration of the company. The audit also resulted in some positive outputs such as the customer relationship management (CRM) system and computer assisted design (CAD) system in branches of MDCM working successfully. IT budget was less as compared to its required amount for the upgrade of the company’s IT. There were many project initiatives which were regarded essential for the company’s IT success. Unifying methodology and technological standards was regarded necessary by Atkins and his team. By improving this project initiative, the administration hoped to adjust a sharing knowledge based network and also the future system development hoped to be eased out. The second project initiative was consolidation of data centers and networks as MDCM had thirty seven data centers and nineteen networks that were required to be consolidated. All networking staff was required to be involved in this project for six months (Jeffery & Norton 3). Third project initiative was outsourcing of nonstrategic IT services. Because of this project, the administration would be able to know the savings within a period of twelve months. Fourth one was to standardize server hardware and platforms due to which, the maintenance and support costs required will be minimized and this project will result in saving extra costs (Jeffery & Norton 3). Fifth project was to implement enterprise resource planning, which was crucial for company’s overall IT development and required some costs investment for the development of the system. Sixth project initiative was to create employee intranet portal, which would be a great help for communication and data transfer services in the company. Seventh project was to manage the supply chain due to which, the number of suppliers was to be reduced and a period of nine to twelve months was required for full implementation of the project. Eighth project initiative was to streamline design systems as for the most part MDCM purchased off-­the-­shelf software products like AutoCAD, Cadam, and Catia (Jeffery & Norton 4). The administration showed interest in the improvement of collaboration systems and for global consolidation of these systems, internal resources of IT were required by the company (Jeffery & Norton 4). The other project initiatives suitable for the company’s IT improvement’s program were to begin CRM/create data warehouse, implement e-­procurement system and to develop customer self-­service portal. The IT objectives that are suitable for the company’s competitive status in the market are: To provide access of online services to the customers so that the customers can place orders and can settle their accounts on online basis. To develop a single website that keeps the capacity of organizing the company and it’s all branches over one place. To generate databases and to develop a system that collects and provides all the necessary information related to company’s procedures when the user wants to retrieve any information. To develop a LAN (Local Area Network) and a WAN (Wide Area Network) to handle all global procedures. To make data retrieval and update of information much more efficient and fast to facilitate the customers of the organization. To interconnect all the offices, acquisitions and branches of the company to form a globally connected set up. To allow the customer to check their order status and their access paths within as much less time as possible. To introduce an enterprise resource planning system in the company to connect the company procedures and to facilitate the users with one system. Recommendation for the MDCM Corporate Board The projects that appear recommendable for the company’s success in my opinion and according to the Portfolio Application Model Matrix are implementation of enterprise resource planning system (ERP), development of an intranet and global network for the employees, customers’ self-service portal and unifying methodology and technical standards. These projects keep the capability of accommodating the company is improving its IT infrastructure locally and globally. These projects are valuable for the company and also have the ability to succeed. The risk factor cannot be negated but along with the risk, the projects are very much supportive for success of company’s IT status. By the implementation of ERP system for the company, the company can have a single software system in all branched networks. The ERP system will be there in all the branches of MDCM. This will require cost consumption and the risks associated with this option cannot be negated. Nevertheless, this option is supportive for the company. The other project that is supportive for the company is development of an intranet and internet network for the company’s employees working globally. A global as well as local establishment of a network is essential for the company so that the employees can keep in touch continuously and can share data and information within as much less time as possible. Communication between employees is essential for a company’s success and IT resolves this problem by global networking. Customers’ self service portal is also beneficial for the company as the customers will be allowed to place an order and keep track of their order because of company’s website developed globally. A self service portal will accommodate the customers to keep a check on their own orders. This process will ease out the ordering and receiving procedures and extra staff will be reduced. The unification of methodology and technical standards is also required as this will eliminate the myriad different standards and IT methodologies across the company. Knowledge sharing will be eased out and future development of other projects will also be improved as less effort will be required in assembling the standards. Conclusion MDCM is continuously facing loss in the market because of mismanagement of its IT due to which, its administration shows interest in gaining recommendations that are beneficial for the company. The company has done a detailed audit about the IT project initiatives and after auditing, various problems related to IT are recognized. The company wishes to be recommended for projects that are suitable for the company’s progress. Because of improvement in the company’s IT procedures, the company’s performance will be made better. The company should implement ERP system, should establish a local and global network for employees communication and customer service, should create a customer’s self service portal and unify the methodology and technical standards. Works Cited Jeffery, Mark and Norton, Joseph F. MDCM, Inc. (B): Strategic IT Portfolio Management. North Western University: Kellogg School of Management, 2006: 1-8. Read More