Strategic IT Transformation at Accenture

Key Problem

In the Accenture study, Andersen Consulting separated themselves from Arthur Andersen, their parent company, in 2001. Andersen Consulting changed their name to Accenture and rebranded their organization. It was clear that Accenture needed to rebrand their IT infrastructure and that Accenture was allowed to use Andersen’s technology for only one year. There was a bigger problem as Andersen’s technology had several issues: 1) a legacy system that didn’t interconnect well with each site, 2) obsolete software platforms and 3) no global infrastructure with accounting and human resources software systems. Overall, the key problem was Andersen’s technology was obsolete and it required Accenture to create a new IT infrastructure in a short amount of time.

Assessment of the Three Alternatives

            The first alternative is to use the old legacy systems and software system programs that Andersen was using. Each country would use its own platform and to continue to have difficulties with compiling data in a timely fashion. It is evident that archaic software system would only continue to hurt the business due to its complex solution. Overall, this approach of using Andersen’s product is the least attractive method and would add no value to the company.   

            The second alternative is adopting best-of-breed approach. The best-of-breed approach has several pros: The most up to date applications and more depth and functionality than peer functionality. There are several cons for implementing the best-of-breed approach: Many applications, numerous vendors that need to work together, and a lack of cost effectiveness. The cost is a major concern as there would be numerous applications that would require additional headcount in specialists and an increase in training. I don’t recommend the best-of-breed solution, as it too risky with numerous applications and high expenses. I am looking for an IT solution that provides a less complex solution, which is one of your requirements.

            The third alternative is a one-platform approach. The one-platform approach would resolve the problem of the Pareto effect created by the company’s requirement where there would be less complexity with multiple solutions.  SAP has the capabilities of having a one-platform that provides financials and HR applications. It would be accompanied by Microsoft software and HP and Cisco hardware. Accenture has done a superb job on using Microsoft Visio with a timeline (See exhibit 3). The visual shows the IT transformation program timeline for the last ten years and the significant improvements that were made.     There are two options within a one-platform approach: Cost Center and Running IT like a business. In my opinion, a cost center is outdated and doesn’t provide value for the company. Also, the term cost center makes employees in that department feel like a liability or feel like a “cost” rather than asset. IT running like a business is better approach as it has advantages especially in its e-mail infrastructure. The new e-mail infrastructure is a managed service approach and wouldn’t have high costs in increased storage space and IT staff.        

Recommendation

After reviewing the three Accenture alternatives, I would recommend the one-platform approach. In my opinion, SAP would be the one-platform worldwide application. It would be accompanied with Microsoft software and HP and Cisco are the hardware providers that would enable Accenture to run as one global solution. SAP would add a significant value in the long run for company that was uncommon at Andersen.  There is a significant amount of pros: 1) Integration & consolidated financial statements 2) Global cash flow and 3) Integration of HR applications.

The first pro is the integration of financials. Andersen’s weakness was integrating financials, causing headaches for financial users. The integration of financials creates an easier and time effective workflow for the day to day users. Andersen had a major challenge to reconcile financial data in a timely manner and the consolidated financial statements will save a significant amount of time. The SAP consolidated financial statement will give the CFO and the finance team a clear understanding of the business (1 P/L and 1 Balance Sheet). Also, the consolidated statement will give the finance team data to focus on challenging areas on where the company can improve on expenses globally.   The second pro that SAP provides is a global cash flow, which is imperative for the Treasury department. A global cash flow will enable Accenture to prepare a global cash forecast, which was too complex at Andersen.  The third pro, the SAP HR application, gives visibility for entire company. The HR applications solution will give the HR director and staff a global visual for headcount, timesheets, new projects, and healthcare benefits.

IT Governance

I received the memo from the Accenture Chairman in regards to adopting the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT).    COBIT’s business framework provides the governance and management of enterprise IT^[1]. COBIT’s benefits are the following:  maintain high-quality information to support business decisions; achieve strategic goals and realize the business benefits; achieve operational excellence through reliable, efficient application of technology; maintain IT-related risk at an acceptable level; optimize the costs of IT services and technology; and support compliance with relevant laws, regulations, agreements and policies^[2]. Your current practice is projects must be approved through the IT committee team showing a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis. Once a sponsor’s project is approved the project has to be audited three times a year. Management has to audit the projects and they clearly don’t have the time. The manual input and time from managers is an area where you can approve if you chose COBIT. In Exhibit 7, there is a plethora amount of tedious work that is being done in the executive level which COBIT can accommodate. COBIT’s global experts support your goals with the following:  information security, intellectual property protection, compliance assurance, business continuity and risk management^[3]. I can prepare a ROI analysis with more data and resources. The ROI shows the value and cost savings that Accenture will have. Overall, I recommend COBIT as the new IT governance, as this will eliminate the manual work that needs to be done by the business sponsors and managers.          

IT Transformation Results

In Exhibit 8, the IT transformation results are outstanding. Accenture’s went from $11 billion in revenue in 2001 to $21 billion in revenue in 2010. The increased revenue can be contributed not only to the hard work of dedicated employees but also the IT infrastructure. The percentage of satisfied sponsors went from 67% to 87%. There are major IT expense reductions in the last ten years that make the Accenture’s transformation a true success: 1) IT spend reduced by 22%, 2) IT spend as % of revenue reduced by 59% and IT spend person reduced by 69%.  It is unbelievable that Accenture added 100,000 employees in 10 years and reduced IT spend. This is a truly an amazing accomplishment and an excellent achievement to add to the CIO’s resume. It is evident that SAP is the one technology platform that raises the bar for Accenture’s IT infrastructure. This is impressive and remarkable that a company can make this progress and cost reduction in ten years. Well done to the CIO!!!  

Final Thoughts

It’s imperative for Accenture consultants to have the most updated technology as 75% of the employees spend time outside of the office and traveling to client locations. These road warriors need an aggressive advanced technological platform to meet a high level of customer service. SAP, along with Microsoft as the software provider and HP and Cisco as the hardware providers, are an excellent fit for Accenture. The three products meet the companies’ requirements with less complexity.  The reductions in IT costs in the last 10 years are outstanding and the CIO has provided SAP as the perfect IT fit with a one-platform solution. I wouldn’t look anywhere else, as SAP has proven itself as the “number one-platform” with an excellent financial solution, technological service and human resource applications.    

References

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^[1] http://www.isaca.org/COBIT/Pages/default.aspx

^[2] http://www.isaca.org/COBIT/Pages/default.aspx

^[3]  http://www.isaca.org/COBIT/Pages/default.aspx

Visio Reflection

Visio Reflection:

I was amazed with the Microsoft Visio product as it provides numerous capabilities to give businesses a visual organized process model. A visual makes a significant impact on businesses with planning, developing employees, cost savings, and organizing your business to grow. Microsoft Visio gives companies the capabilities of creating diagrams, flowcharts, organizational work charts, timelines and database structure (just to name a few).

         The purpose of creating diagrams is to help organize and assist companies to brainstorm, plan and focus on the key goal in a productive manner. The Visio diagram provides shapes such as circles and lines to enable you to visualize the task in hand. I believe this saves time on planning and developing your goals with your business.

         The Visio flowcharts are an excellent way to see the daily responsibilities or tasks on how to achieve goals. In my opinion, flowcharts can be a training solution for new employees that come aboard. For example, this would save time because an existing employee wouldn’t have to sit down with a new hire and the visual flowchart would help assist a new hire with daily tasks. In my own workplace, I use a solution with Oracle ERP – UPK (User Productivity Kit). The UPK product is very similar to what Visio has to offer with flowcharts making it easier to learn the material in a professional setting.

        The Visio organizational work chart helps businesses have a good understanding of the employee business structure. The visual provides human resources with an excellent business structure and it shows the entire company with an organized chart.
      
        Visio offers another visual function to provide an accurate timeline tool using a professional solution. Visio could provide cost savings as a project could even be completed early with using the timeline. Overall, the timeline tool can make companies more efficient because they can complete projects in a more timely and cost effective way.

        The databases are tables for businesses to implement their internal infrastructure. The Visio database makes employees' jobs easier with the database functionality. For example, you can create a table with employee information that would make it easier to view data. This would save time and businesses wouldn't have to file and make copies of employee information. A human resource administrative employee could be reduced due to the database being implemented.

       Overall, Visio provides the visual resources for businesses to grow, plan and develop with shapes, diagrams, timelines and other business functions.

References

http://www.sethi.org/classes/cet415/lab_notes/lab_03.html

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/microsoft-visio-2013-top-features-diagram-software-FX103796044.aspx

https://blogs.oracle.com/eSTEP/entry/visio_repository

 

Reflection P&G

Reflection Case Report

After the presentation that was given from the consultants in the discussion board, I would still recommend the Web-enabled EDC – Electronic Data Capture. The paper-based process and digital imaging are short term fixes and would not benefit P&G in the long run. The goal was to cut the time in half and EDC provides an efficient service.  D’Alonzo saw the value during the six pilot trials and knew that EDC could reduce the amount of time in half to complete clinical trials for prescription drugs.

Steve (my manager), there was a CRF & CRA cost analysis slide in the presentation that showed a significant cost savings.  The analysis had three different phases with a total paper savings and a total CRA visit savings. In phase III, there was $714,000 in total paper savings and $3.2 million in total CRA visits with approximately 3,000 patients. It’s was impressive to see a total savings of $5 million in the three phases.

 Steve, as managers we must have proper training to the sites and must provide employees with the resources so they can learn and perform effectively and efficiently with EDC. I don’t want to be like other pharmaceuticals companies that were slow to adopt EDC. There must be organized training seminars and training classes for our employees. We must value employees’ feedback and try to adjust to their needs when EDC is rolled out. For example, we must find a solution for the edit checks if this is one of the biggest challenges with EDC. I would like to take the lead on implementing EDC once approved from the executives. I can add value and show that EDC can reduce time, save a significant amount of money thus we can continue to be a major driver within the P&G Healthcare division. 

With today’s technology double entry shouldn’t exist…Do you have time this week to discuss  EDC?  

Proctor & Gamble: Electronic Data Capture and Clinical Trial Management

Key Problem

In the Proctor & Gable case study, Ray D’Alonzo the Associate Director for Clinical Data Management at Proctor & Gamble (P&G) was looking for an opportunity to reduce the amount time to complete clinical trials for its prescription drugs. The trials needed to be approved first before entering the US market and it took several months to several years to complete. The delay in the approval process is significant and the product costs the sponsor to lose approximately $1 million a day. The delay in time came from a paper-based process. The paper-based process was the backbone of clinical trial management and the P&G executives knew it was time to make a critical change. P&G was looking to streamline their daily process. P&G’s goal is to reduce the time to complete clinical trials for prescription drugs and reduce the amount of paper.  D’Alonzo knew there was an opportunity to find a practical solution that will help save the time and money. P&G and D’Alonzo implemented six pilot trials using a Web-enabled electronic data capture (EDC) that was completed in May 2001. Overall, it was time for D’Alonzo to make a decision to either use EDC as the primarily source for all future trials or use other alternatives.

Assessment of the Three Alternatives 

            One alternative is to improve the paper-based process. P&G would need to use express mail shipments on a daily basis. The improved paper-based process would add headcount, increase postage and would be an additional expense. D’Alonzo would have to notify upper management that an improved paper-process would require additional headcount. This short term fix of express mail shipments is a pro but this isn’t something D’Alonzo envisioned long term. There are too many cons for an improving paper-based process and adding headcount won’t solve the key issue. Overall, D’Alonzo knew the paper-based process improvement was outdated and P&G would not benefit in the long run.   

            The second alternative is to move to digital imaging. Digital imaging has several cons like the paper-based process. Digital scanning still needs two entries and would require the same amount of time like paper-based process. There is no advantage with digital imaging especially with large studies as it requires memory and capacity.  P&G did implement International Records Imaging System (IRIS). IRIS did have some short term improvements but wasn’t a long term investment. Often times, there were   delays and the review process wasn’t any better than the paper process.      

            The third alternative is the Web-enabled EDC for the data management content. There was a six pilot trial completed in May 2001 using the Web-enabled EDC for collecting data trial data. The pilot trials suggested that the Web-enabled EDC could significantly shorten time for clinical trials. The new technology would be an excellent tool for trial management both within P&G and between the physicians and hospitals throughout the world via internet.  D’Alonzo did have several concerns about price and was uncertain about the benefits, but the six pilot trials did extremely well. Overall, the Web-enabled EDC is the most efficient solution and had the most significant reduction in time by reducing the time by fifty percent to complete clinical trials.

Recommendation

After reviewing the three P&G alternatives, I would recommend the Web-enabled EDC as the standard default for all future trials. In my opinion, the Web-enabled EDC would add a significant value in the long run for P&G’s company. There are five major pro’s: 1) reduction in time, 2) reduction in paper-based methods, 3) a possible reduction in administrative staff, 4) adding lost sales to sponsors and 5) increasing growth/sales.

The first pro is the reduction in time and the Web-enabled EDC would significantly cut the time in half. There were several Web-based EDC trial runs and the amount of time reduced by two weeks after each trial run. The first EDC trial was eight weeks and the second trial was six weeks. The next three weeks for trial were from four to five weeks. Lastly, the fifth week was down to half amount of time and this was a clear indication that Web-enabled was the most efficient process. The second pro was the reduction in paper. There is less data entry errors and less clinical research associates (CRA) needed to visit the sites. The third pro could be a reduction in administrative staff with the coordinators or entry level employees. The Web-based EDC could reduce the hours or even some coordinators since this would eliminate the paper work filing. The reduction in headcount could offset the cost of the implementation of the EDC. The fourth pro is P&G would keep key sponsor roles happy as the potential $1 million a day lost in sales wouldn’t be delayed. The last pro would be increasing sales/growth. P&G has the opportunity to take on more clients due less administrative type tasks.

There are several cons I see with P&G. There needs to be adequate training sessions and seminars to get all employees on board with the new program.  In my opinion, there was a lack of training and the inability to get employees trained with Web-Enabled EDC during the six pilot trials. Some of the feedback from the site coordinators focus group, August 9, 2001 was not positive with the EDC trials. There were a lot of issues with the edit check and this is an area where D’Alonzo can partner with the web developers and find ways to customize the edit check field. The Web-enabled EDC is going to take time and will require training employees and support from the web developers. The employees are not equipped with the paperless program and would need assistance and support.

I would recommend a contest with the P&G employees for sites who have adapted to EDC in a timely manner. For example, the coordinator who performs the best and finds the most efficient process on EDC could earn 2 free extra days off throughout the year of EDC implementation.   A contest is a good ice breaker and would ease the “pain” of learning EDC.          

Financial

P&G did pay $250,000 to $500,000 per-trial fee for EDC depending on the size. This is a significant amount of money but P&G needs to look at their Rate of Investment – ROI. You need to see the benefits or the long term investment that EDC would provide. P&G can continue to grow and take advantage of EDC especially that healthcare was a major driver of growth within the company. 

  I don’t think the computer expenses would even be a con or a concern for several reasons. The costs of new computers were $1,200 each employee for each site, $400 per site assessment and $50 a month for a monthly service fee. The sites had old computers and it would be good opportunity to provide new laptops for the staff. The staff struggled as some of the new laptops didn’t have any instructions and I would recommend training session to help assist them.

Also, it was noted that data entry costs were $4-$6 per page manual paper compared to $3-$4 per page via EDC. P&G would have cost savings in data entry costs with the implementation of EDC.     

Final Thoughts

I don’t think new technology is too early for the pharmaceutical industry especially after running Web-enabled EDC trials as this successfully reduced the amount of time in half to complete clinical trials for subscription drugs. D’Alonzo sees the value of new technology and he has the opportunity to grow P&G business with a faster approval method.  In my corporate experience, employees tend not to like change especially in technology. The coordinators are going from a paper-based environment to a paperless environment which is a significant office culture shock.  Also, technology can sometimes replace staff so employees can be resistance at times with any technological changes. Employees can feel intimated and may not cooperate on training on a new IT product. The Web-enabled EDC will have long term benefits for P&G and this could eventually become the future for all pharmaceutical companies.         

 In my opinion, the Web-Enabled EDC will become a technological platform for P&G. I would recommend D’Alonzo to be confident as he has an opportunity to change the culture within P&G. There needs to be positive reinforcement with EDC and P&G must support their employees. P&G can learn from other pharmaceutical companies that were slow to adapt EDC, that training is a critical part of business.  Employees need the education and need the resources to bring them up to be speed on today’s technology.  I would use EDC as the default standard for all future trials and start training staff. In this case, the IT change is good!!!  Don’t look back and go for it!!! Go D’Alonzo!!!

Homework Assignment - Blog about a Blog

     I do like to use Google Blogger than Montclair's Blackboard Discussion Board. In my opinion, Blogger is more user than friendly Montclair's Blackboard. Google has done a nice job on Blogger making easy to import photos, videos and links.  Blogging is a great way to network and communicate with friends, family, classmates and co-workers. Google Blogger may even compete with Facebook or other related social media websites. 

I like the Google Blogger features but I have reservations with Google Drive...

I added a link below to see if this works...
Here is the accounts payable automation demo: http://www.bottomline.com/demos/tap/transformap.htm

Homework Assignment - Blog about Google Docs/Drive

     After 15 years of using my AOL e-mail account, I had to create a Gmail account for INFO563 Strategic Information Systems for Dr. Peterson's class. Unfortunately, I didn't even know that Google created Gmail. Also, I didn't know that Google created Google Docs/Drive (I have a lot to learn).  I find it challenging that you have to toggle back and forth from Google Gmail to Google Drive. I have spent the last several days trying to understand the benefits and efficiencies of Google Drive.

    There was 1 major concern in Google Drive that I didn't feel was an efficient process. In my opinion, the Google Drive Spreadsheet was not as efficient than Microsoft Excel. I used Microsoft Excel for my entire corporate career and it's faster way for me to calculate my figures with this program. I struggled to use the Google Drive Spreadsheet on the IPAD and on a laptop. I had an extremely hard time trying to prepare formulas on the IPAD. It took me approximately 10 minutes to use a simple auto sum. I feel Apple should have created a number pad on IPADs similarly to a standard keyboard. It is a challenge to type numbers using the horizontally way on the IPAD. It was easier for me to use the Google Drive Spreadsheet on a laptop but I wouldn't use this for my work. My team and I have 1 central folder where we save our Microsoft Excel material. My network drive at work is easy to find and more convenient for my 10 employees. Google Drive wouldn't be practical in my current role.

     Overall, I have 15 years of experience of the Microsoft programs compared to 5 days of learning Google Drive. I need to be open minded as we learned in class that change is a critical part of technology.  This class is an excellent opportunity for me to grow and develop my Google skills, Dropbox and other technological programs. I have been too conservative and this course will allow me to break out of my IT shell. Maybe, it's time to ditch the AOL account and the flip phone and get an IPhone.