Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Beware of quick and easy wins

IT managers using low-hanging fruit, quick runs on the board and easy wins to sell the virtues of new technology deployments to management need to ensure they are not creating lemons in the process.

Speaking about the lessons learnt from implementing what is now a highly successful business process and IT restructure, Don Kofoed, chief operating officer of the Queensland government employees' superannuation fund QSuper, said both technology departments and business and need to check the use-by date and potential consequences of their pilot projects.

Having amassed $17 billion in members' money to manage since the introduction of compulsory employer surperannuation payments, Kofoed said that, while his organization is now electronically fighting fit, it had learnt that a fast return on IT investments doesn't always deliver immediate benefits.

"We were seduced by easily measureable benefits [to prove our business case]. My feeling now is that we should have gone broader rather than deeper," Kofoed said of QSuper's rollout of new technology.

Part of the problem for so-called quick wins is that while they may demonstrate value to various lines of management, the true benefits of an IT-enabled business process restructure comes from the ability to transform an entire organization rather than merely parts of it, Kofoed added.

He frankly concedes the pervasive appeal of fast success in management and vendor cultures alike.

Less glamorous aspects of an IT project, like accurate scoping, can be easily overlooked in favour of sexier numbers.

"We should have reviewed our processes more thoroughly - we paid the price. But we wanted the technology quickly," Kofoed said.

Kofoed said the use of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) had paid off in spades, reducing operational costs by 14 percent.

Additionally, the fund identified that up to 30 percent of pre-restructure, customer-initiated transactions [rather than automatic deductions] were unnecessary, because they were the result of "failed processing the first time around".

Another bugbear put to bed was manual processes that created poor data quality for customer service staff, which pushed-up costs and created a bigger risk for the fund.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: HIS Limited, Queensland Government

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Oracle Enterprise Gateway
    Oracle Enterprise Gateway is a standards-based, policy-driven, standalone software security solution that provides first line of defense in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) environments. Learn more.
    Learn more »
  • Look both ways - Protecting your data with content inspection
    Today’s threat environment is as dynamic as the business world in which we operate. As the communications channels we use continue to proliferate and evolve, so too have the vulnerabilities. Finding the right balance between ensuring the security of sensitive data, enabling the free flow of information and making full use of the latest web-based technologies can be a challenge. Deep content inspection is a vital layer in any unified information security strategy, helping organisations to take control over their information assets while proactively protecting against malware and data leakage. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Eight threats your antivirus won’t stop - Why you need endpoint security
    News headlines are a constant reminder that malware attacks and data loss are on the rise. High-profile incidents that make big news might seem out of the ordinary. Yet businesses of every size face similar risks in the everyday acts of using digital technology and the Internet for legitimate purposes. This paper outlines eight common threats that traditional antivirus alone won’t stop, and explains how to protect your organisation using endpoint security.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments