Team Game: IT
Stefan Jon Silverman
Founder / President
SJS Associates, N.A., Inc.
Introduction
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Get to know your moderator
 Who is Stefan Silverman???
 What is his role in this Session???
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Schedule
 Slides (15 Minutes)
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Team Meetings (55 Minutes)
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Presentations (20 Minutes, 5 minutes / team)
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Q&A and Wrap-up
(Champions - Deck 7 - 6:15 PM this evening)
Game Scenario
The Current Economic Situation
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Economies are slowing world-wide
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Business spending is retrenching from
stated plans and commitments
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Consumer spending is being re-focused
on “life necessities”
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Recovery timing is “the great unknown”
Your company must “expand or die”
Game Scenario
The Business Circumstances
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Your company has acquired a “brick-andmortar” travel business of the following
structure:
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Head office: 60 staff / workstations
50 urban street branches, staffed on average at 4
heads each, with declining walk-in traffic
The company sends vacationers to 300 holiday
destinations in 7 countries
The company has major supplier relationships
with: airlines, car rental firms, hotel chains,
independent hotels
Game Scenario
What you have inherited
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Very little money has been spent on IT for 10 years
and the staff is not versed in modern IT
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Current Infrastructure is implemented as follows:
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Operating system: Novell 3.1X server & 10 base T at HQ,
remote office connectivity is via 28.8kbps dialup
386 or low level Pentium PCs running Windows 3.1.1
Unenhanced telephone system (bell and lamp)
No CRM, intranet, or extranet
10 year old accounting package, manual HR
E-mail system: cc mail
Minimal Y2K compliance 2 years ago
IT department: 12 persons
Current staff costs run at $50,000 per head
Game Scenario
What you have to accomplish
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Develop an IT strategy for the next 3 years to
enable the business mission:
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Implement scalable systems to expand the holiday
business upmarket, enter the corporate event
arena, and create an internet presence
Create new efficiencies via electronic interchange
/ exchange with the businesses strategic partners
Empower the companies employees via IT to
increase productivity and revenue per head
Support an increase in revenue from the present
$115 million/yr. to a level of $200 million/yr.
Initiative Context
The CEO’s “Holy Trinity” for business success
Business
Strategy
Customer
Experience
Technology
Implementation
IT Group Context
Technology
Implementation
Architecture
Availability
Operations
Safe Assumptions
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Support for this initiative comes from the
Board of Directors and the CEO is your
sponsoring executive
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The IT Group will be adequately funded to
accomplish the mission
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The IT effort will be kept “in-house” and will
not be outsourced
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Compensation packages and bonuses for
staff have been allotted to reward success
You will be fired if you fail!!!!!
Worksheets
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Goals
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Mechanics
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Strategic mission statement
Success factors
Criteria for measuring success
Top 3 tactical sub-initiatives
Implementation plan
Risk factors and remediation strategy
Next Steps
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New initiatives that can be supported by current
implementation
Growth into new areas and required IT & budget
Game Structure
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Teams will disperse and meet for 45
minutes
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Teams will be provided with markers
and wall-hung paper sheets
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One sheet each for Goals, Mechanics &
Next Steps
IT Focus is on Architecture, Availability &
Operations
Remember the CEO’s “Holy Trinity” of
Strategy, Customers & IT
Game Structure
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Think fast, capture all ideas, agree on top
3 items
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Wander around to other teams and read
their sheets to add context to your team’s
focus area
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Nominate a spokesperson
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Present 5 minute “elevator pitch” to CEO
Have Fun!!!!!
Teams & Missions
Team 1
Legacy Backend Systems &
Partner Data Exchange
Team 2
Front-office / Desktop /
Intranet / Support
Team 3
Internet / Extranet Implementation
Team 4
Operations / Disaster Recovery /
Security
All presentations will be available
on Richmond Events’ web site
shortly after the forum. Access is only
possible with user name and password,
which will be resent to each attendee.
Team Game: IT
Stefan Jon Silverman
Founder / President
SJS Associates, N.A., Inc.