IMPROVING IT EFFECTIVENESS

Archstone Consulting helps top business and IT executives make and implement the strategic and tactical choices they need to improve their company’s IT strategy, operations, investments, governance and management controls.  Today’s CIOs are challenged to balance three competing and often opposing objectives –

• Building flexible infrastructure and application architectures that can quickly react to changing business needs
• Running cost-efficient IT operations, reducing the cost of existing operations to make room for new initiatives
• Delivering innovation and business value through the development of new IT capabilities or applying existing capabilities in new ways

What makes this so challenging is that there isn’t a single right answer.  Finding the right balance point between flexibility, cost efficiency, and innovation requires CIOs to consider many factors – current IT capabilities, the company’s business strategy, technology trends, competitive dynamics…  A best practice from one company can lead to the wrong answer in yours – generic solutions are no longer sufficient.

We help CIOs meet this challenge by providing independent advice from experienced consultants.  We work side-by-side with our clients to combine insights and deliver the best solutions for their companies.  Our teams cross traditional silos, bringing the right combination of capabilities and experience to solve the problems of CIOs.
 
Our IT and Outsourcing services focus on –

• Strategy and Operations – Aligning IT efforts with the business
• Cost Optimization – Focusing IT spending on what’s important
• Operating Model Design – Improving IT operations and organizations
• Outsourcing Strategy and Implementation – Designing the right outsourcing solution
• IT and Telecom Strategic Sourcing – Capturing the benefits of today’s competitive environment
• IT Merger Integration and Divestiture – Identifying and capturing IT benefits from mergers and acquisitions

IT Strategy and Operations

Archstone Consulting’s IT Strategy and Operations services connect a company’s IT efforts with the needs of the business – both current and future.  Our starting point is a company’s business strategy, identifying the IT capabilities and service levels required to make it a success.  We then provide strategic and tactical advice to our clients on the design, deployment, and cost-efficient operation of those IT capabilities.  We help clients improve the delivery of their current capabilities – maximizing the value of their current IT operations – while developing pragmatic plans to implement new capabilities and increase the value of their IT investments.

We specialize in assisting clients who want to effectively manage IT to support business imperatives. Our scope of services includes advice and execution related to:

• Strategy and Architecture
• Technology Roadmapping
• Application Rationalization
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Program and Project Management
• Performance Measurement and Reporting
• Governance and Portfolio Management

IT Cost Optimization

Archstone Consulting’s IT Cost Optimization services help CIOs deliver more IT value for the same or less money.  In today’s economy, business success or failure is dependent on making sound investment decisions. We assist clients design and implement the processes and controls to ensure that IT spending is measured and managed in a transparent manner, able to meet current and future business requirements at the lowest total cost of ownership. Our approach is based on financial accountability and improving the value of IT, but understands the unique qualities of IT – the need to see unintended impact across the environment, and focus on the total cost of ownership.

Our IT Cost Optimization services include advice and execution related to:

• Total Cost of IT Ownership Modeling
• IT Demand Management/Service Catalogs
• Investment Portfolio Analysis/Management
• Budgeting/Funding/Crosscharge Approaches
• Infrastructure Optimization
• Organizational Effectiveness

IT Operating Model Design

Archstone Consulting’s IT Operating Model Design services help clients improve their IT organization and delivery processes to better align with their business clients, and to take full advantage of cost-saving practices such as off-shoring and infrastructure virtualization.  Our approach to IT Operating Model Design helps our clients address the key issues of IT service delivery, such as:

• How should IT interact with its client Business Units?
• What services should IT deliver and how should they be delivered?
• Where is the right IT organizational structure – capabilities, roles, responsibilities?
• What are the right governance and funding approaches?
• What is the right balance between in-house and outsourced resources?

Outsourcing Strategy and Implementation

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and IT Outsourcing (ITO) have matured as business strategies, providing executives with new ways to grow the top line of their businesses as well as reduce costs.  But to capture all the value of these newly matured tools requires a different approach – replacing the traditional approach of procuring an outsourcing vendor with a new focus on collaborating with an outsourcing partner.  We help companies design and implement the best outsourcing solution for their particular situation and their specific goals.  Our unique collaboration-based approach focuses on benefits – implementing the best outsourcing solutions in an accelerated way.

Our Outsourcing Strategy and Implementation services cover the full life-cycle of outsourcing:

• Outsourcing Strategy and Service Model Development
• Service Provider Procurement – RFP Development, Provider Selection, Contract Negotiation
• Transition Planning and Program Management
• Retained Organization Design
• Vendor Management Process Design
• Outsourcing Contract/Relationship Remediation

IT and Telecom Strategic Sourcing

Successful IT and Telecom strategic sourcing programs start with the technology – re-architecting networks to take advantage of the latest carrier offerings, re-architecting hardware and application environments to leverage new technologies, understanding what technology capabilities will be critical to the success of the business.  Archstone Consulting offers full life-cycle IT and Telecom strategic sourcing programs that are based on in-depth category experience, up-to-date supply market knowledge, and re-usable sourcing templates.  The extensive expertise of our consultants enables them to develop unique sourcing approaches and create unique leverage for our clients. We assist clients with translating their business requirements into IT and telecom requirements for capacity, security, accessibility, performance, and manageability at the lowest possible cost.

Our IT and Telecom Strategic Sourcing services include advice and execution related to:

• Telecom Architecture and Design
• Hardware, Software, and Professional Services Rationalization
• Hardware, Software, Professional Services, and Telecom Contract Analysis and Pricing Review
• Hardware, Software, Professional Services, and Telecom Procurement – RFP Development, Provider Selection, Contract Negotiation
• Transition Planning and Program Management
• Vendor Management Process Design
• Operations and Expense Management Process Design 

IT Merger Integration and Divestiture

Integrating the IT environments and organizations of merging companies; extracting a just-sold business unit from a highly-integrated shared IT environment – all in the tight timelines of today’s M&A market.  Archstone Consulting helps companies meeting the challenges of quickly capturing the synergies and cost savings in the business case, while helping merge the separate IT organizations into one.  Our senior consultants provide clients with the experience and perspective to help management navigate the options.

Our IT Merger Integration and Divestiture services include:

• Application and Infrastructure Rationalization
• Process Standardization
• Organization Design
• IT Service Delivery Model Design
• Integration/Divestiture Program Management