It’s your first day as the new CIO of Really Big Manufacturing Company (RBMC), a
worldwide leader in the production of municipal water treatment equipment and the largest
employer in Fort Smith, Arkansas. RBMC has always focused on providing great service and
product availability for their customers so they are able to charge a little more for their products
than their competitors. The company has also decided to offer water treatment equipment
installation and maintenance services in the near future, which means they will enter a
completely new line of business. It is truly an exciting time to join RBMC!
During the interview process the members of the search committee (who are all senior
managers at RBMC) each talked about the different information systems that were used in his or
her unit of the company. A couple of the members of the committee mentioned that the primary
reason they were hiring a CIO (the first in the company’s history) was to clean up the tangle of
systems in use at RBMC and to try to modernize the company’s IT function, although not
everyone on the committee agrees that there is anything wrong.
The IT staff you are managing as of 8:00 am this morning consists of 5 technicians that
manage the networking and security functions, 3 equipment install/repair technicians, and a
varying cast of data entry clerks who are experts on RBMC systems. The most senior person at
RBMC with any programming experience quit when they announced you had been hired because
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he thought he should get the CIO job. Two recent graduates were hired last month as junior
developers. There are also 3 people in accounting who seem to be pretty good with spreadsheets.
Earlier this morning you met with Bob Brickpants, the Director of Manufacturing
Operations (DMO) for the last 35 years and widely considered the heart and soul of the
company, who thinks the current system is functioning just fine. You previously learned that Bob
feels IT has become a commodity and he knows everyone in the industry has the same IT, so for
him IT is just another cost of doing business. He is not enthusiastic about the prospect of any
changes in IT paying any dividends. During your meeting he said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
and then he muttered something about computers and “kids today” before he left the room.
The CEO of the company is Jimmy Silverspoon, the grossly underqualified son-in-law of
Rufus T. Gogetter, the founder and chairman of the company. The CEO has the ultimate
decision-making authority over any projects you will propose, and you discover Jimmy evaluates
every project according to two metrics: is it “uber cool” and does he get an upgrade to his office
computer.
You obviously have plenty of work to do. You have been given an overall direction to
take in cleaning up the IT function at RBMC, but it is clear from your conversations with senior
management that they don’t know where to start. The accounting director wants to install an
ERP, the logistics director wants to keep the custom-written software they’ve been using for 14
years, and some of the younger managers don’t care what the systems are as long as they are in
the cloud. Good thing they hired you! Figure out where the coffee machine and the bathroom are
and get to work already.
1. You don’t want your first major initiative to be destined to fail before it even gets started, so
briefly explain to the CEO why RBMC needs a better IT project planning and budgeting
process, what that process might look like, and why it is needed. Include strategic and
governance considerations as needed.
2. After consideration of all the relevant factors, you feel you have the CEO’s support and are
ready to consider some specific recommendations beyond revising the planning and
budgeting process. One of your first tasks will be to do something about the long list of IT
projects under consideration at RBMC. What is your recommendation for dealing with these
projects and why do you make that recommendation?
3. The marketing director, Jane Sellmore, has led RBMC to such a prominent market position
because she is an advocate of data-based decision-making. Because of that view, she
routinely adopts the latest tech for her sales personnel if she feels it gives them an edge in
collecting and managing sales data, and she does not hesitate using a new outside contractor
to provide the new functionality if she feels it is warranted. Naturally, the sales staff turn to
the IT Department when they need tech support, even though IT was not involved with these
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adoptions. IT has always been powerless to make any changes because there has been no
CIO to lead them – until now! Explain how you propose to manage this situation in the
future.
4. Jim Barton was concerned he didn’t know enough about IT when he was named CIO of IVK.
Now that you are the CIO at RBMC, how do you feel about your own level of knowledge
about IT. Do you know too little? Or maybe even too much? How does your answer affect
your approach to your job moving forward? [NOTE: This is 100% a thought question, not a
content question. You will not find an answer anywhere.]
Attachments:
6301FinalFa19….pdf
