IT OUTSOURCING: NOW A COMPETITIVE, COST EFFECTIVE OPTION FOR MIDSIZED COMPANIES

Around the globe, Fortune 500 organizations drive the market for IT outsourcing through contracts that have significant off-shoring components. As the market matures, outsourcing and off-shoring of technology and business operations are becoming more affordable and available for a new category of companies.

Providers are now using smaller contracts to entice midsized companies to enter the outsourcing arena. These smaller contracts have led to “tiering” of outsourcing providers. For example, offshore India-based providers are now being distinguished as “Tier One” or “Tier Two” based on revenues, expertise, and market strategies. Offshore providers in each tier are under tremendous pressure to meet 30-35 percent growth projections to maintain their high stock values and are now looking to the midmarket to continue their growth.

Midsized companies view this as an opportunity for cost savings. Smaller energy producers, pipeline companies, manufacturers, and trading and marketing companies are now beginning to take advantage of IT outsourcing and off-shoring.

As 2009 streams ahead, companies that best understand IT trends will be positioned to use outsourcing and new technologies. Cost is decreasing for new technologies like remote infrastructure management, and outsourcing contracts are becoming more competitive. Now more than ever, midmarket companies can cut costs, add 24/7 capabilities, and boost productivity by capitalizing on outsourcing. Mature outsourcing providers offer proven business processes, faster and cheaper connectivity options, and improved understanding of business practices. Outsourcing IT operations onshore, near-shore, or offshore is much less risky than in the past, making IT outsourcing an attractive option for midsized companies.

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PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT = GREATER ROI

Organizations are looking to sustain operations in 2009 with frozen budgets and constrained capital expenditures. At the same time, project prioritization is emphasized to maximize return on investment (ROI), manage resource utilization, and position organizations for success when the economic environment improves.

Project portfolio management (PPM) is a process to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve an organization’s overall goals. Using the PPM process, technology and business leaders identify business goals, and then use predetermined criteria to prioritize projects to achieve the highest value from their IT portfolios. All projects are evaluated in relation to one another, not on a stand-alone basis. Continual re-evaluation allows key decision makers to optimize the value of their IT project portfolios.

Keys to the successful use of PPM include the following:

• Identifying an organization’s goals and corporate strategy that will be used to evaluate projects
• Developing a sound and transparent governance process
• Defining a prioritization matrix
• Clearly communicating which projects will be funded and which will be re-evaluated at a later date
• Regularly re-evaluating all projects to ensure the optimal mix of projects are funded, especially as goals change or company direction shifts
• Using lessons learned from PPM in other enterprises and organizations to avoid pitfalls and identify keys to success

PPM takes the guesswork out of investment decisions by aligning project selection with overall corporate strategy and giving key decision makers the ability to look at projects from an enterprise perspective. Using PPM will help organizations focus spending on those projects that add the most value.

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IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT – OPTIMIZE YOUR INVESTMENTS IN BUSINESS-DRIVEN IT SERVICES AND END-USER SUPPORT

Whether your company is an energy super-major or a 100-person manufacturing firm, the reliable delivery of IT services is essential for predictable business operations and growth. The delivery of IT services to business users must be repeatable, reliable, and consistent. In fact, many of the IT support departments Enaxis has served spend up to 80 percent of their time on support activities, so support is a large and critical part of their success.

Today, IT service delivery models in many companies are now shifting away from IT-driven service models to give business leaders more ownership in defining their IT services. The most proven and common approach is adopting the Information Technology Infrastructure Library™ (ITIL) framework to better support end-to-end IT service management (ITSM).

According to a Gartner report, a majority of organizations will have implemented some portion of the ITIL framework by 2010. Many companies, however, have experienced challenges trying to implement this framework to its fullest extent. Enaxis has several years of experience with ITSM engagements for Fortune 500 clients focusing on defining overall objectives, assessing their business value, and developing the overall approach/roadmap as well as helping to manage project or program delivery and technology enablement.

Lessons the Enaxis team has learned through its experience optimizing ITSM implementations include the following:

• Reducing the scope of the ITSM components implemented. In some cases this may involve selecting different focus areas by business unit (e.g., focusing on incident management for overall IT organization, but adding a configuration management database only for a specific business unit).
• Incorporating ITSM system constraints into process development. Although this sounds counterintuitive for consultants, it has been necessary to reduce process rework based on what the technology solution can or cannot do in real life.
• Utilizing blended consultant and customer resource teams. This allows the client support organization to retain more of the ITSM knowledge and truly feel ownership and accountability for the design.

The bottom line is that a company does not need to deploy all of the ITIL processes to realize its benefits. Each company should select and deploy only the processes that will result in significant improvements in service quality to its business.

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ENAXIS HONORED BY THE SOCIETY OF GREEN BUSINESS

The Society of Green Business presented Enaxis with the coveted Green Eco Seal™ signifying that Enaxis officially joined the ranks of green-certified businesses. This certification reflects Enaxis’ commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible business practices. The Green Eco Seal™ is granted to businesses that comply with all federal, state, and local regulations and is based on the implementation of resource conservation, waste minimization, and pollution prevention practices required by the comprehensive Green Eco Seal™ criteria.

Along with this certification, Enaxis was granted honorary membership in the Society of Green Business. While Enaxis had already implemented an officewide recycling program, discontinued the use of nonbiodegradable coffee cups, and issued its consultants laptops with energy-saving settings, the process of certification revealed additional measures the company adopted. During the certification process, Enaxis established an internal “Green Team” to enact and sustain the Green Eco Seal™ initiative, established new energy efficiency and waste reduction policies, and expanded its recycling program. Most importantly, the certification process served to increase awareness for all employees. Going forward, the Enaxis “Green Team” will meet regularly to find additional ways to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner.

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