13 November 2007

Getting the IT environment right is key to empowering people who drive operational excellence, profitability, creativity and efficiency, says Francesco Serafini of HP.

Manufacturing enterprises are always looking for ways to spur growth, reduce costs and increase profitability. Success is measured in terms of productivity, revenue growth, market leadership and employee and customer satisfaction. All of these metrics are ultimately people-based. In other words, the performance of the business rises or falls upon how well employees, in every phase of the business, are able to do their job, work with others and respond to constant change. Success ultimately depends on the thousands of decisions employees make every day, on their ability to answer customer questions, and on their ability to turn their insight into actions and their company's challenges into opportunities.

However, achieving these levels of success has a critical underlying dependency. More than any other factor, employees depend upon their company's information technology (IT) to deliver the tools, information and connections critical for success, particularly in a manufacturing environment. Building and expanding profitable relationships with customers, understanding customer needs and creating innovative products and services to meet those needs requires sophisticated tools to capture critical information and to make the types of informed decisions that drive positive change and success.

Let's be clear. Technology alone does not drive success, people do. Through talent, drive, skill, and intuition. However, technology can be a powerful tool to amplify those qualities and help people fulfil their potential. When a business IT environment is 'right', it can augment the knowledge, experience and insights of its employees. Strategic use of IT-based resources and tools can deliver the four basic elements that are the prerequisite to achieving true competitive advantage. Such use empowers employees to act with speed and efficiency to contribute to the bottom line. It utilises the power of technology to connect employees to customers, colleagues, partners and information so they can make smart decisions with speed and accuracy. It constitutes familiar, easy-to-use technologies that streamline processes, reduce costs, and eliminate complexity as the inhibitor of agility. Finally, strategic use of IT transforms. An information infrastructure can be built that adapts quickly to the evolving needs of employees and customers.

However, getting the IT environment 'right' is the rub. Manufacturers in particular have often paid high costs to build out capabilities around applications; the familiar 'islands of automation' for specific groups, functions or users. While technology was a key enabler, it was often driven from an operational or cost advantage and seen as separate from business itself. Business people and technology people often spoke different languages. But that's all changing. The technology is the business, and being connected, both to people and data, is critical for everyone, whether on the production line, in the lab or warehouse, or at a customer's site.

Businesses want to hear how IT solutions can help their people collaborate, share information, compete and invent. They look to find ways to standardise and rationalise the number of technologies they use, and they expect these capabilities to be available to everyone at work, not just to specific user groups or users of particular applications. The goal is an environment that is 'people ready'. An environment where the integration of e-mail, voicemail, instant messaging, data and video conferencing, enables anytime, anyplace contact and collaboration among employees, trading partners, and customers in a highly secure, reliable, and compliant infrastructure.

The need, therefore, is clear but complex. How can you leverage your existing IT investments for greater business value, and at the same time capitalise on next-generation technologies to reduce and avoid costs and risk. Likewise, the answer is clear but complex; simplify, transform, and connect your technology assets more effectively to empower your people. However, determining how to do this generates many questions.

With virtually all enterprise customers already using some Microsoft technologies in their IT environment, among the first questions should be - are my current systems 'good enough' to run the best applications, support business decisions and enable productivity? The roll-out of major new Microsoft unified communications technologies like Vista, Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Office and Exchange applications also raise important questions.

With all of these new Microsoft technologies becoming available, customers are looking for the best strategy to enable IT to better support their business. They are also looking for the partner who can best help them develop and implement their plan, one with a track record for integrated solutions, products and services and a stability-driven approach. In response, HP and Microsoft, building on the strength of an alliance that spans more than two decades, have joined in an exclusive, long-term commitment.

The HP and Microsoft 'Solutions for the People-Ready Business' initiative will provide unique, differentiated and comprehensive sets of enterprise solutions based on Microsoft next-generation technology, supported by the extensive HP IT portfolio ? one of the broadest technology portfolios in the world.

People-ready business solutions will become particularly prevalent in five specific areas. Messaging and unified communications solutions will enable people to work faster and smarter as they respond quickly to new opportunities and provide higher levels of service. Collaboration and content management solutions will help teams, departments and organisations aggregate, organise and share information and documents to increase productivity, reduce costs and meet regulatory compliance requirements. Business intelligence solutions will better leverage existing information assets enterprise-wide to boost productivity and speed better-informed decision-making. Business process integration solutions will help streamline business process with customers, partners and suppliers with real-time access to information and data across multiple systems. And lastly, innovative technology and solutions will provide a reliable IT infrastructure that delivers reduced total cost of ownership and ease of management, plus the security and flexibility to readily adapt to new business requirements.

When you become a people-ready business, you prepare your company for success. Your people are empowered. Your teams, partners, and customers are connected. Your processes are streamlined. And your IT department becomes a strategic asset.

Francesco Serafini is senior vice president and managing director of HP's Europe Middle East and Africa Technology Solutions Group

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