Opportunity
The executive leadership team of the North American division of a global manufacturing giant was unhappy with the service and focus of IT, and were growing increasingly frustrated with the IT related problems and issues their employees were experiencing.
Solution
Pepper Foster was engaged to facilitate and conduct a year-long series of focus groups and workshops with over 50 key IT and business stakeholders. These stakeholders had been identified by the executive leadership team, and represented all areas of the business and IT. The full day, quarterly workshops provided a safe and productive forum within which frustrations, issues and constraints were raised and worked; solutions and workarounds identified; progress and changes communicated; and IT and business stakeholders collaborated building solid working relationships. In between the workshops, Pepper Foster worked with the IT stakeholders and leadership to identify and manage changes to the policies and way IT was delivered, supported and communicated to the user community.
Outcome
There has been a complete turnaround in the perception and relationship between IT and the business. North American executive leadership is very happy. 100% of the business stakeholders now agree that IT cares about users. In a survey to measure progress, the average score to the question “On a scale of 1 – 5, where 1 is ‘it’s gotten much worse’ and 5 is ‘it’s gotten much better’, how would you rate your overall IT user experience now compared to a year ago?” was 4.6. The business stakeholders who participated in the workshops now act as IT Champions within their departments. The worldwide CEO suggested to the North American CIO that the changes made as a result of this project be adopted worldwide.