O&A Works with leading IT organizations from all industries including insurance, banking/financial services, utilities, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and government. Whether large or small, for-profit or not-for-profit, each of our clients share a commitment to creating an IT workforce and culture that can compete and succeed as "provider of first choice."

The following profiles are based on ongoing client engagements and results. To protect confidentiality, company and individual names have been withheld.

 IT Service Culture Initiative

A global aerospace giant called on O&A to build a "client-focused IT workforce with the requisite awareness, processes, and skills to carry out the IT business vision."

The corporation had grown through acquisitions, inheriting multiple cultures, each with its own way of conducting business. And the 4,000-person IT shop was spun off to independently compete for business in an open marketplace.

Working together we outlined a multi-phased approach to shape the vision, increase the commitment, reskill the workforce, and sustain one service-oriented culture.

Legions of IT teams from this corporation have participated in O&A's "IT as a Service Organization" workshop. Exceeding even the highest expectations, the IT mind set has evolved from an internal, technology-centric workforce to one that is more external, and client-centric. Rather than worry about "how we used to do business," people from different cultures are teaming to deliver exceptional, seamless service to clients.

 Marketing IT

An International pharmaceutical company had grown through acquisition. Their U.S.-based IT organization suffered from a poor image. IT morale was low because "we work 50- to 60-hour weeks and it's still not enough." O&A was brought in to turn this situation around. Working with selected IT leaders, we utilized our process for "Marketing the IT Organization Internally." We facilitated the development of their first ever IT marketing plans. One was geared toward the internal IT staff, helping them to better understand IT's value and direction. The other marketing plan focused on the business community.

Implementing these plans, management has been able to prepare staff for their role in communicating a consistent message and to position IT as a value added business partner. With the business community they have been able to create an awareness of their value and position IT as a strategic player in the corporation.

 A Consultative Approach to Business

A major U.S. retailer was rebounding after years of slumping sales and lost market share. Their large IT organization, under new leadership, embarked on a major partnering initiative to ensure their continued role in the strategic operation and growth of the business. O&A was called in to provide the new mind set, skills, and behaviors needed at every level of IT to pull this off. By participating in our highly-successful "Consulting Skills for the IT Professional" workshop, hundreds of IT managers and staff now have the confidence and tools to build trust and rapport, and effectively partner and negotiate with clients. This program has become so successful that it is used as a standard to develop all new IT employees.

 IT Project Management

A large, mid-western healthcare organization wanted to build a new project management culture and enhance their ability to manage projects more consistently and successfully.

Rapid growth and increased demand for strategic IT projects had exposed the existing project management practices to be inconsistent, inefficient and unable to deliver the products needed to support the needs of the business in a timely, effective way.

O&A developed a two-tiered approach to address these deficiencies. First, working with IT leaders and project managers, O&A delivered sessions of its' IT Project Management: The Human Side of the Equation workshop to establish the sound, repeatable practices that are needed to achieve project success. Second, O&A consultants helped design, build, implement, and market a new Project Management Office to encourage and support a consistent organizational approach for executing and delivering projects.

As a result of these efforts, project managers now perform with greater competence and confidence and have developed a consistent approach that allows them to deliver their projects more efficiently and effectively, while the PMO continues to refine methods and tools and serves as the most visible reminder of the organizational commitment to project management excellence.

 Gathering & Managing Business Requirements

A global software development company was struggling to deliver critical projects needed to support key business initiatives. The inability to develop clear and complete requirements in a timely manner was identified as the major problem.

"We all gather requirements differently around here" observed one of the senior analysts. "There is always pressure to get it done quickly but if we rush, we miss important pieces. We know we need to be better; we're as frustrated as our clients."

Working first in the U. S. and then in Europe, O&A delivered sessions of its Business Requirements Management workshop. Following the sessions, the analysts introduced a new process for gathering and managing the critical requirements needed for project success. The process has dramatically improved communication and has made the requirements phase more efficient and effective.

Because of the consistency and the quality of the requirements documents, the process has now become the global standard for analysis within the organization.

 Sourcing and Vendor Management

An international aerospace corporation decided to move towards a more aggressive sourcing model to reduce it’s IT spend and gain greater access to timely skills. This new strategy presented many challenges to the IT leadership team.

To prepare for this undertaking, the senior IT leadership sponsored O&A’s “Leading Change Across IT and the Enterprise” workshop for all senior and middle managers. These customized workshops provided a practical framework, skill set, tool kit, and the confidence to lead the organization through tremendous change.

Next, O&A facilitated a “Sourcing Strategy” working session with the senior leadership team. This helped them determine what should be outsourced versus insourced, and develop a comprehensive strategy based on these decisions.

Knowing that the new sourcing model would change the required skill set, O&A’s “Managing Vendor Partnerships” workshop was leveraged to help people make the transition from “managing people to managing relationships.” In addition to expanding their skills and tools, teams of participants developed highly customized action plans and strategies that were immediately applied to each vendor relationship.

 IT Leadership Development

A major global pharmaceutical company had grown through acquisition and was responding to the pressures of a global economy and changing healthcare environment. Based on the new demands that were placed upon the IT organization, this CIO embarked upon a leadership and professional development initiative to ensure his organization was prepared to meet these demands head on.

First the leadership team identified their “high potential” employees from all areas of IT. Over 75 managers and staff were hand selected to participate in a highly customized program that consisted of five tailored workshops and real world application activities rolled out over six months:

• Consulting Skills for the IT Professional – Builds skills to help participants influence others, even if they have no direct power and become the organization’s IT provider of first choice.
• Internal Negotiating Skills for the IT Professional– Provides a new philosophy, skill set, and tools that help participants leverage their negotiation skills, building a climate of win-win outcomes while building trust and IT credibility.
• Partnering For Success – Reorients, re-skills, and retools participants to strengthen client partnerships, build better solutions that are accepted by the client, and increase overall client involvement.
• Achieving IT Service Excellence – Provides a fresh approach and new ideas for tackling the most difficult service challenges. Participants take away practical skills, tools and techniques that help build a service culture and position your IT organization as the competitive “provider of first choice.”
• Leading Change Across IT & The Enterprise – Equips participants with the knowledge and tools to be an effective change leader. Participants come away understanding what is involved in leading successful change initiatives, how to develop a positive approach to resistance, and recognize how their leadership behaviors can move all stakeholders in a new direction.

This IT leadership development program was such a success in North America that it was expanded to include another 50 “High Potential” IT staff from across Europe and Asia.

According to one of the sponsoring leaders, this was an “Excellent investment of time, money, and resources. We will see a benefit quickly.”