Problem

When a regional real estate development company underwent a change in leadership, the new leader set out to integrate operations and create a unified vision across each of the divisions of the company. Having traditionally operated each division as a separate entity, the new leader recognized the organization had an opportunity to create a more efficient organization.  Prior to the restructuring, there were multiple IT departments servicing the different divisions, which resulted in a misalignment to the new strategy. IT also had an opportunity to increase user satisfaction through improved operations and better customer service.

Looking to increase efficiency and unify its IT strategy, the company enlisted Solvaria to assist with a high level assessment of the organization’s current staff, procedures and responsibilities of each division.

Solution 

Solvaria set to work by interviewing the company’s employees in various divisions to gain insight into five areas of the business:

• Core business activities and functions
• Primary IT systems used by each division and region
• Employee opinions regarding IT technologies and services
• Efficiency and effectiveness of the current IT organizational structure
• Opinions on the future direction of IT technology

With questions geared to expose company sentiment toward efficiency, execution, collaboration and innovation, Solvaria utilized an interview-style assessment process to uncover common themes from all targeted departments.  Solvaria used this feedback to produce a plan to both resolve the organization’s IT pain points, while also integrating its operations.

Results 

In the first 30 days of Solvaria’s strategy, we outlined three tasks on which the company needed to focus: hire the right people to execute the year-long strategy, set the project budget and architect the new department structure.  Solvaria inserted a fractional CIO to assist in implementing the strategy for the first 90 days.  By working within the organization for 90 days, the fractional CIO from Solvaria was then able to determine the attributes a full time CIO should possess, allowing us to recruit and fill the position on behalf of the company.

In addition, this new IT leader was able to continue to put new processes in place to enhance employee experience, including a centralized help desk, service contracts for routine maintenance, upgrades to technology necessary for more efficient business processes as well as improved customer experience and much more.