Auto Industry Company

Reduces Annual IT Cost By 70% and Increases Shopfloor Productivity By 40%

The Issues

The client, a subsidiary of a large Australian financial institution, was reliant on its corporate IT service provider infrastructure, hardware, software and support. This model was ineffective due to:

Lack of access to strategic IT advice – the client was not receiving the guidance needed to ensure that the technology was reducing internal operating efficiencies and providing the right information to the right managers at the right time
High cost associated with maintaining the environment – by using outdated technologies it was extremely expensive to maintain the infrastructure
Lack of control of data and resources – access to hardware was difficult as it was in a corporate datacentre. Similarly data was stored on the industry software providers box in the datacentre. This was a locked box – meaning the client was charged a fortune anytime they wanted to create a new report on the business.
Lack of flexibility

The Solution

Bua Consulting’s brief was to develop and implement a strategic IT plan for the client that would substantially reduce its IT costs while also increasing internal efficiencies and productivity. This was undertaken as follows:

Scope: An initial study was undertaken to understand the current business and IT issues in the organisation using our Value Chain Framework. Having gained an understanding of the key business drivers we were able to provide a picture of how the business was currently being supported by IT. We then developed a vision of how IT should support the business into the future. From there we documented a full process for achieving the vision, the steps to be taken, the costs involved and a business case showing where the benefits would be seen by the business in dollar terms. Process and people issues were also identified and recommendations provided. The business case was delivered to senior management and the project was given the go ahead.
Selection of Software and Hardware Providers: The next stage of the project was to develop a detailed functional specification of the desired future system. This was built around the identified business needs and was used as the matrix on which to select the new software and hardware systems. At this stage a project team was selected and established. It comprised the industry software providers, the network engineers, the internal project coordinator, and led by Bua Consulting.
Implementation: Once the software and infrastructure partners had been chosen a detailed project implementation plan together with change management strategy was put together to ensure a smooth implementation.
- Part 1: The infrastructure solution provided for a virtualised server environment coupled with centralised SAN together with centralised backup and recovey. A Citrix environment was developed to deliver desktop applications to thin clients and wireless infrastructure using HP Procurve switching. This infrastructure supported a paperless quoting and business management system.
- Part 2: The quoting system and automobile business management system were installed and integrated in order to allow information to be shared by both the shopfloor and reception in real-time Wireless tablets and bar-coding was used to eliminate manual processing and to improve data quality.For first time managers were able to get real time, actionable information with which to improve decision making. This enabled full monitoring of employee productivity for the first time. In conjunction with the new system, employee salary structures were changed to allow for productivity based pay schemes in key areas of the business.
- Part 3: Microsoft Sharepoint was rolled out to improve communication across the business and to provide a central location for collaboration within the business. This provided instant improvement in areas such as managing daily bookings, allocating employee leave and ensuring IT issues were quickly rectified. Sharepoint Wiki technology was used to document all internal processes further improving internal efficiencies.
Ongoing Support: A support agreement was developed with the network engineering company and with the various software providers. This ensures that the solution is properly supported on an ongoing basis. Ongoing Training is also provided on the industry solutions.

The Benefits

The project was a major success. Disruption to the business during implementation was almost entirely avoided. The old infrastructure was turned off on a Friday evening and the new infrastructure was installed and implemented over the weekend. On Monday morning the new system went live. The benefits to the business have been:

A massive reduction in yearly IT costs – a zero has been taken off the IT costs with 70% savings.
A huge increase in productivity – up to 40% in some key areas of the business.
A reduction in full time employees due to improved efficiencies and reduction in manual processes.
Large improvements in data made available to key managers ensuring better decision making and management. This has directly contributed to improved profitability.
Improved internal efficiencies now that business processes and IT alignment has been acheived.

Interested in reducing your IT costs by 70% and improving productivity by 40%? Contact Bua Consulting today to organise a two day scope of your organisation. If we can’t find $10,000 worth of cost savings the scope will be free of charge.