Dear Colleagues,
The role of Information Technology at Abt Associates is to provide technology solutions and services to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the company and thereby drive growth. In order to succeed in this role, IT must have an organizational structure that is aligned with the business and adequately addresses critical services that the business needs today and in the future.
For this reason we have implemented a new IT organizational structure that is fundamentally shaped around five critical service offerings: collaboration, IT support, web support, business administration, and analytical computing. These service groups will be responsible for building the competencies we need to deliver and grow the service, ensure that service levels are being met via clear metrics and continuous service improvement, and finally driving awareness and adoption of the services with business colleagues. Prior to this change, we engaged key stakeholder groups across the company to ensure that the service portfolio matched the need. Below is a description of the five key services included in the first phase of this new structure:
Collaboration Services – This group will provide services and support relating to all virtual meetings and events, video conferences, webinars, and all of the Microsoft tools such as email, MS Office, and Lync.
IT Support Service – This service will continue to provide global technology support for staff and is the next generation of the IT Service Center.
Web Services – There is a growing need for building and supporting web applications not only for use on traditional laptops and PCs, but also on tablets and other mobile devices. This group will look for opportunities to create shared offerings and reuse as a way to reduce cost.
Business Admin Services – This group will provide support services for the administrative functions in the business (i.e., Finance & Accounting, HR, Contract Operations, Corporate Communications, etc.).
Analytical Computing Services – Our clients’ need for complex, larger scale data analysis is growing. We must evolve a robust service to keep pace. This group will be tasked with building the next generation of analytical computing tools and services while formalizing service levels and metrics to ensure that business needs are met.
It is important to note that we will continue to have core teams underlying these services who will be focused on designing and building new services, ensuring the data security and quality of solutions, and managing the day-to-day operations of all services offered by IT. In addition to establishing these five services, within the next two weeks we will be creating single points of contact called “Service Connect Reps” for organizational groups across Abt. The role of these single points of contact will be to assist specific groups with navigating all the services that IT offers. They will also serve to represent the interests and perspectives of these groups within IT.
With these changes, there are numerous benefits to the business and IT. Some examples are:
- Better alignment with the business will improve the speed and efficiency of Division and Department staff as they utilize IT services.
- By codifying into service groupings, meaningful quality improvements can be realized.
- Grouping together related services gives us a great opportunity to avoid duplication of efforts and optimize solutions for broader use.
- There is increased potential for expanded opportunities for IT staff.
As we implemented this new structure, it was necessary to transition out a number of people whose roles were either consolidated with other roles or replaced with different skill sets. Although this was a difficult decision, we are confident that these difficult decisions are in the best long term interest of the company.
On a more positive note, the new organization structure made it possible for us to promote nine staff. Please join me in congratulating the following IT team members receiving promotions.
Bettina Burgett, Service Owner, IT Service Center (ITSC)
Chris Alexander, Manager, Information Security and Compliance
David Lybrand, Manager, Project Management Group
Jesse Rivera, Manager, IT Infrastructure
Kevin DeBenedetto, Associate Director, IT Operations
Michael Wasielewski, Director, Information and Quality Assurance
Rob Wanska, System Administrator, Mobile
Scott Giarla, ITSC Lead, Cambridge and Telecommuters
Sofiane Oumsalem, QA Team Lead
If you would like to view the new IT organization in more detail, please refer to the attachment included with this email. We look forward to building out this new service-oriented organization and appreciate your support as we make the change. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or would like clarification.
Thanks,
Mary
Mary Harper | Chief Information Officer | Abt Associates
55 Wheeler Street | Cambridge, MA 02138
O: 617.520.3609
