Despite industry gurus` assurances that IT and business are integral processes, business and IT still don`t always "speak the same language" when defining IT needs and strategies, says Jurgen Muller, SA head of the Cartesian Service Management Group (CSMG).
CSMG, a consultancy aimed at bridging the gap between businesses and IT, recently opened in SA, following three years of operation in the Netherlands.
Muller says the local business environment is now mature enough to admit that businesses often need the services of an independent consultancy to audit their IT needs and help plan future IT strategies. IT companies, in turn, may need to learn more about sound business principles.
CSMG services include auditing companies` IT processes, defining their future IT strategy, and training their staff in business and IT skills.
Muller says: "Our contracts range from helping facilitate large organisational change, interim management, project management, training and second-line support, to coaching infrastructure conversion projects."
Analysis and adjustment of operational management is based upon the optimal professional situations described in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library by the UK government`s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, as well as on other business process methodology literature.
Muller feels the potential market for this type of consultancy in SA is huge. "As an example, in The Netherlands, where there are around 16 million people, more than 300 companies focus on business and service management. In SA, where the economy is more dynamic than in many European countries, there are only a handful of consulting companies, including AST Consulting and Foster-Melliar, and their services are not identical."
IT analyst/consultant Paul Booth comments that there is still an immense need for "interpreting" services between IT and business. "There is always room in the market for these sort of consultancies. Not all IT companies fully understand the strategic problems of business. And in businesses, you will often find older employees, in particular, are completely uninformed about the latest in IT," says Booth.
Muller comments: "Companies need help defining and stabilising their services. In many companies - in the manufacturing industry, for example - IT tends to be placed in an `ivory tower` and costs are cut in areas where they need not be. A proper IT audit might reveal that the IT in place is not fully cost-effective and efficient."
He says CSMG`s arrival in the marketplace has been well received, with a number of JSE-listed manufacturing and IT clients already making use of its services.
"We also have service providers among our clients," says Muller. "We teach them to communicate in business terms, to better understand the needs of their clients. For the manufacturing sector, we can carry out an IT scan to audit their current processes, list their strengths and weaknesses, help plan a future IT strategy, mentor processes and train their staff."
CSMG has three local and 50 international consultants who, according to Muller, are all certified service managers with strong IT and business backgrounds, spend periods working overseas to broaden their knowledge, and are required to regularly update their skills and knowledge.
The company has links with technical universities in The Netherlands and SA, and plans to expand on its local university links with a local research and testing environment.
External links:
http://www.csmg.co.za
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