In mid-2019, the interim manager took on the mandate to manage the IT department of a public corporation in the healthcare sector. His task: to significantly increase the performance and efficiency of IT. The remit included responsibility for the development, introduction, operation and support of all IT services as well as managing strategic projects and improving customer satisfaction.
Operative management of all IT areas with more than 20,000 customers
The client's IT organization comprised 120 employees, who were organized into several departments and teams. The main areas were:
- Data center: operation of an in-house data center and provision of office IT and media technology
- Infrastructure: cloud services, network technology, server systems, databases and telephone system
- Application operations: operation of applications in close cooperation with the infrastructure and billing services departments
- Billing services: professional and technical management of billing for statutory health insurance physicians, including evaluations, analyses, corrections, etc.
- Development of own software systems, management and quality assurance of development partners
- Customer services: service desk for employees and doctors as well as advice for statutory health insurance physicians on all IT issues
- Products/services: Project and product management as well as IT service management
The more than 20,000 customers of IT include the company's internal departments and employees as well as all external individuals and organizations that use IT services.
Creating a spirit of optimism in the IT teams and filling vacancies
Due to the company's growth, some positions in IT were vacant. One of the interim manager's first tasks was to create tailor-made requirement profiles and recruit suitable candidates together with the HR department. Thanks to the constructive and focused way of working, it was possible to fill the vacancies in just a few months.
A particular challenge was to re-motivate some of the employees who had been employed for a long time. As a result of negligent management work, these IT employees were demotivated and unable to perform to their full potential. Through numerous personal discussions, the interim manager succeeded in creating a spirit of optimism, which had a positive effect on motivation and performance. The interim manager's open and empathetic communication made a considerable contribution to significantly improving employee satisfaction in IT.
Strategic realignment and restructuring of the IT organization implemented
The need to modernize IT and cost pressure made it necessary to strategically realign IT. Together with managers and IT architects, the interim manager developed a future-proof IT strategy that included the local data center and cloud solutions. To prepare for the cloud services, the interim manager launched a virtualization project and drew up detailed service definitions.
The new IT strategy also made it necessary to restructure the organization. The infrastructure and data center were merged, application operations were consolidated and product management was expanded into service management. The interim manager paid particular attention to discussing reassignments and personal developments with the employees. In addition, he closely coordinated all personnel decisions with the managers, the management and the works council. This made it possible to implement the restructuring without any problems.
Project management and coaching during the introduction of a new accounting system
One of the company's most important projects was the modernization of the accounting system, the heart of the business. The project had been running for several years and was in its final phase at the time of the mandate. The introduction was planned for the end of the year. The main task of the interim manager in this sub-project was to ensure its success. This was achieved on the one hand by actively steering the project within the management circle and on the other by coaching the project manager, who was overloaded and prone to errors during this hot phase.
Optimization of processes and stakeholder management driven forward
The company relies on cooperation with service providers and partners for the operational operation of IT and the development of new services. Monitoring and managing these was one of the interim manager's other tasks. By introducing regular service reviews and agreeing key performance indicators, he increased the transparency of the services and improved the performance of the partners.
Numerous improvements significantly increase customer satisfaction
Other challenges included reorganizing processes that had grown disorderly over the years. The interim manager developed numerous improvements based on existing analyses and his own audits. For example, a problem management process was introduced, collaboration between the IT departments was streamlined, the areas of responsibility in application support were reorganized and the roles were corrected in some areas.
The reputation of IT within the company was poor. Internal customers mainly criticized the lack of transparency, inadequate communication and disappointing performance. The performance could be significantly improved with the measures described.
Customer contact significantly intensified and clear communication introduced
In addition, the interim manager, together with the IT managers and selected employees, succeeded in intensifying customer contact both formally and informally, thereby improving the relationship with customers. In particular, the interim manager introduced a form of communication that presents IT issues to customers in an understandable way and enriches them with background information in order to significantly increase transparency. Due to the positive feedback from customers, this approach became standard.
