Who: Jeff Steinhorn, CIO, Hess Corporation
What: Global infrastructure outsourcing governance model
Why: Hess outsourced its IT infrastructure management to improve operations and reliability at all of the energy company's locations around the world. However, Steinhorn and others soon realized that they needed a robust governance structure to oversee the relationship with IBM and to ensure that all operations and issues were being worked on by the right people within both companies. The slide available for download at the Web address below outlines the new model.
How: Beyond the daily operations and interactions, there are now also multiple committees, meetings and reviews to ensure regular communication on varying metrics and goals. More granular issues are dealt with weekly, including in meetings of service-delivery managers and subject-matter experts from both Hess and IBM, by passing through a change-approval board, or via several other mechanisms. All of these include people close to the issues at hand, which allows for fast and accurate evaluations of status or resolution of problems. Now that such a detailed governance structure is in place, executives become involved only once a month for review. In those meetings, executives examine higher-level metrics, such as overall service levels and customer satisfaction. Any concerns or conflicts from the weekly meetings are addressed by the Executive Management Review team made up of Steinhorn, his senior team members, and the senior IBM managers. Quarterly steering committee meetings round out an environment that keeps both sides on the same page.
To download the tool, go to council.cio.com/DL0710.
Read more about outsourcing in CIO's Outsourcing Drilldown.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.