Outsource, but not everything

You have inked a new IT strategy recently. How is it different from what you were doing so far?

We have focused more on changes on the global organization levels. We call it the next level of IT. It is three-pronged. The three main elements are demand, supply and governance. Earlier we had global operations competence centre, information systems group etc and there was no special governance area. Between IT and process owners the push for change and its management has changed roles.

Can you elaborate?

Demand consists of bridging the gap between business and IT. It entails whatever is demanded from IT. It’s a new approach, which takes care of user expectations and has a proactive touch. Supply contains aspects like service delivery, sourcing dynamics, project delivery etc. Governance includes IT risk management, Business Value Realisation etc. This basically safeguards that we are doing the right things and in the right places.

How did you zero down on the new shades required in your IT blueprint?

It’s a move that started last year. Through international customer surveys, expectations from IT, new mission and vision outlines, deliverables, interactions etc, we came to the new sketch.

How do you allocate your IT functions between internal IT department and outsourced work? Any control issues?

Our operations are outsourced to Alfa Laval Global team. Besides that we outsource PC and client operations too to another company. We have been outsourcing for over twenty years now. We have not encountered any control issues due to well-built SLAs.

Is there a trick to make outsourcing work successfully?

One important factor is that outsourcing companies are strongly linked to us and some in that team are our own employees. We don’t renew contracts every year unlike others, because these people have worked with is for ten to 20 years and they know our policies well. Plus we know how they operate. At the same time, I feel that if one goes for complete outsourcing then innovation focus can have an impact.

So what area should never be outsourced?

I guess every process area has three categories – strategic, operational, and the one that is underpinning. It’s better to outsource underpinning processes, like back-up. The innovation process area should stay with us.