Case Study: Strategic IT Management
at a Large Corporation
In past years, a Fortune 500 company has relied heavily on outside IT consultants to develop and maintain its systems. The CIO has taken a decentralized approach to systems management. User groups hire whomever they want to do the work and pay from their own budgets. Each group can negotiate its own terms as long as the CIO's technical standards are met.
Facing forever increasing hourly rates for IT personnel, the user groups have now reversed course and are demanding the CIO take over responsibility for managing IT costs. The CIO has no experience or interest in negotiating contracts with vendors.
Hiring contracts managers is not enough. What is really needed are processes and methods for not just controlling IT costs but getting business value from vendors. James River's outcome based performance methodologies and effective procurement business processes are implemented corporate-wide, establishing governance of IT contracting immediately and successfully.
