The interim manager - still in a permanent position at the time - was appointed by a company as head of regional IT with around 60 employees at 10 locations in Germany. The IT management set him the goal of increasing the efficiency of services while maintaining service levels and centralizing system support. Specifically, this meant:
- Transferring the local operation of the IT systems to a newly created central system landscape
- Outsourcing local PC support for around 2,000 employees at the network planning and customer support locations to an external partner
- Introducing IT service management processes in accordance with the ITIL standard.
Services and costs as well as response times and expenses determined
At the beginning of the project, the interim manager recorded all services and costs as well as the associated response times and expenses of the employees at the locations. Approximately 50 percent of the expenses were for supporting the IT systems to be centralized, while the other half was for supporting the local desktop PCs of the 2,000 employees. The analysis showed that supporting the local desktop PCs with the company's own employees at all locations was more expensive than using an external partner. In addition, the required response times (SLAs) could not be met. The current interim manager therefore recommended to the management that desktop support be outsourced to an external partner with a transfer of 50 percent of the employees.
The other half of the employees in the company's IT department were affected by the centralization of the IT systems. Here, the project manager suggested transferring these employees at the site or to the head office, or letting them leave.
Conditions for outsourcing, transfer or departure successfully negotiated
After obtaining the management's approval, the expert negotiated the conditions for outsourcing, transfer or departure with the external partner and the regional works council committees as well as the economic committee and the general works council. He then implemented the agreed measures in close coordination with the regional managers as well as the central department at headquarters and the outsourcing partner.
Targets were implemented 3 months earlier than planned
All transfers were completed within twelve months. The regional IT department was dissolved. 4 managers were certified as new ITIL service managers to manage the outsourcing partner and compliance with service levels in the regions.
All targets specified by the management were implemented 3 months ahead of schedule. Work stoppages or negative press reports were avoided. Around 50 percent of the workforce transferred to the outsourcing partner and remained in their region. A quarter of the employees accepted the redundancy offer. Another quarter moved within the company at the same or another location.
