IP Convergence: Beyond VoIP, Beyond Cost Savings

Time and time again I meet with technology leaders who ask a similar question - that is "How do we continue to cut costs while increasing productivity?" I know it sounds somewhat like an age old question that has been solved several times but I think its important to look deeper at the answers since they are as important as ever. Revisiting prior days as an IT leader whether at Global Crossing or my prior days at Kodak in their IT organization it can be stated that we were faced with many of the same challenges faced by most enterprise IT organizations leading to the above questions. That is "How can we continue to cut costs while increasing productivity....." or variants of that such as "driving operational efficiency while lowering the velocity of spend all the while increasing functionality by offering new and innovative services."

Such questions are based essentially on a few key areas:

1) Cost reduction - there is a need to continuously evaluate how services are delivered, while reducing costs without impacting performance, function and availability. Eliminate unnecessary costs ..... always!

2) Infrastructure Simplification  - always evaluate how IT operations are delivered to find faster and more effective delivery mechanisms, while reducing administration and, thus, overhead.

3) Increase productivity by leveraging investments in key areas such as convergence technology - converged communications over a secure, reliable network in order to meet the demands of the business needs can and will provide increased value while maintaining or reducing costs. The key here is to make strategic investments that further extend and continuously enable services at or reduced costs.

4) Continuous Innovation - Chose to focus on innovation in customer experience where improved application performance and real-time interactive applications to improve users quality of experience can be realized. That is - make investments that will pay back dividends by focusing on customers and overall care management.

With these similar challenges Global Crossing's IT organization needed to drive change by delivering on infrastructure services that were not only forward-looking, but also eased our business transformation in a way that helped us meet the demands of the business, as well as prepared us for what was coming next. Fast forward now a few years and when technology leaders ponder solutions to those questions I like to point them down the direction of solving the problems by embracing technology that will not only help them change their business delivery model but also keep them  aligned to some core tenants and objectives:

� Information technology and business leaders should align IT strategic plans with corporate and business vision/goals. Don't just have a plan, be sure to align with the corporations goals.
� Provide IT architecture foundations and fundamentals that will facilitate corporate transformation or be the catalyst for it. IT shouldn't be viewed as a cost center rather as something that can be transformational. That said its important that IT leaders lead and be able to see around corners to adapt and be ready for the business needs not just wait for the business to come to them.
� Maximize IT operational efficiencies by investing in key targeted technology areas enabling the future of services. You should be continually assessing whether or not technology investments (old or new) are adding value and returning on investments. If they are not then its time to pull the plug ... but be sure to only do so after you have secured support from business functional leaders otherwise your plan might not make it past the proposal.

In closing don't be afraid to answer the question on how to save money and still provide value. As noted above IT organizations should transform themselves so that they are truly leading not just following.