More Time for the CFO and Lower Costs for WESCO Thanks to IT Health Check From UMB.
It all started with the desire of the new CFO of the WESCO Group to gain a better understanding of his own IT. The ideal tool for this is UMB's IT Health Check. This service provides a 360-degree view and answers the question of how healthy a company's IT is. The result is a detailed as-is analysis with specific recommendations for action and a presentation to management. On this basis, WESCO Group restructured its IT. The CFO now has more time for his core tasks.
#IT StrategyWESCO AG, headquartered in Wettingen AG, is a well-established Swiss company with over 60 years of history. WESCO is a specialist in ventilation and air filtration. It offers ventilation solutions for kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, schools and offices. The WESCO Group includes berbel Ablufttechnik GmbH, based in Rheine, Germany, and Createc SRL, based in Monte Roberto, Italy.
Complex enterprise structure and multiple applications present challenges
If anything is detrimental to IT health, it is having several semi-autonomous IT units within the same group and many applications with interface problems.
The WESCO Group consists of three companies - in Switzerland, Germany and Italy - with their own IT departments. In the past, there was little exchange between these companies due to the way they were organized. The level of IT maturity varied greatly from country to country. This led to high costs for external IT service providers, dissatisfaction among business users, and cost overruns in IT projects.
The new Group CFO, Emanuel Ritzmann, therefore commissioned UMB Consulting to conduct an IT health check. The following questions needed to be answered:
- How is IT perceived by the organization?
- How is IT represented in business projects?
- What challenges does the business face?
- What does the business need from IT?
- How should IT evolve?
IT Health Check: Surveys and analyses for better IT
Experienced consultants from UMB worked with the internal IT department to take the pulse of the company. The IT documentation of all three Group companies was reviewed in order to analyze the existing structures. In addition, online questionnaires were sent to stakeholders in the business. The response rate of 97 percent shows the high interest of stakeholders in improvements.
In order to obtain even more precise results and to better gather individual opinions, some 20 in-depth interviews were conducted, also involving key external service providers. The WESCO Group benefited from the analysis as follows:
- Provides greater clarity on how the Group’s IT systems are set up
- Documentation of the current state of affairs
- Provides a foundation for IT re-engineering to reduce costs through synergies
- Provides a basis for standardization and harmonization of internal applications
- Provides transparent information for decision makers by presenting Health Check results to management
Reorganization allows IT to reach its full potential
Today, the WESCO Group's IT is managed by the IT manager of the German company, and processes are gradually being harmonized between countries where this makes sense. Synergy effects can be exploited and costs reduced. Thanks to the new organization, the internal IT department is able to develop its full potential. Today, the CFO is once again working exclusively as a CFO. Emanuel Ritzmann comments: «UMB's IT Health Check confirmed our assumptions and provided concrete recommendations for action. With the support of management and IT managers, IT is on track across the Group, and I can devote myself fully to my work as CFO.»
Our Business Advisor: Interim CIO for Iconic Business Moves.
More time for exhaust hoods thanks to IT Health Check from UMB.
With the support of management and the IT managers, IT is on track across the Group and I can focus on my role as CFO.
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