IT Assessment Project Readiness

Project Background

A $7 billion worldwide provider of insurance, retirement services, and asset management was preparing for the rollout of a long-term virtual workforce strategy to complement the current in-office approach. They wanted an IT assessment of workforce mobility to determine technical readiness for having groups of people working from home.

The Strategy

End-users from two pilot work-from-home groups were interviewed along with members from each infrastructure technology group. Interview results were shared with technical team members in a Rapid Envisioning Session (RES), where a set of shortcomings and risks were identified. Subsequent meetings with specific technical teams yielded proposed solutions that were then validated with the larger technical team. Results were shared with sponsors and senior management.

Proven Results

• A member of the Remote Services group was promoted to manage a Help Desk team, bringing important knowledge and process.
• The Help Desk began to resolve remote access issues, engineers were freed up to improve the scalability of the environment, and the initiative went from reactive to proactive.
• Helped to select a new technology infrastructure partner to provide IT staff with current perspectives and advice on technology.
• Our financial analysis helped senior management better understand and plan for the real costs of a virtual desktop environment.