The Change Equation

A+B+C>Z(R)? If we look at the group - there's probably no dire reason to change (the technology implementation part of operations). Things are working fine while the group is still profitable right? If things aren't broke then why fix them? Looking at the surface, yes - this is indeed what one may see. But underneath, the undertow is pulling us backward....waaaaaay backward.

The inefficiencies in collecting and collating information at group (central) level is appalling at best - everybody (especially those at head office) know this. The findings from our internally-conducted Quality Assurance (QA) activities have revealed many a slack, of which I shall not publish here considering this is a public site.

Anyway, as mentioned in my earlier post - the current scenario is way off from being efficient. There are too many ICT silos in operation. Just take one simple example. Each company has its own datacenter (or server room), and also a disaster recovery facility. Multiply that by the number of companies in the Group - and you'd have an entire platoon! What'd be more efficient (and cost effective) is to have maybe 3 sites at most - which all companies share. And share, as a subscribed service - instead of an asset/capital investment. We're primarily concession-based businesses anyway - so it makes little sense to invest in capex that does not directly affect operations, right? Since concessions have "fixed prices", the only way to squeeze profits is to be more efficient through cost savings - either as a result of being faster and smarter, or by pooling and sharing resources. And we're just talking about datacenters here... there's way more to it than just that!

Ok so I've just given a teasing glimpse of the desired future state (the B part of the equation) - I won't elaborate on this much further here on this blog. As for the C part (doable first steps) - ah... now this everyone is super-familiar with.... yes, you guessed it right... it's NEURON ("Networked, Extended UEM Working Environment"). If we're looking at consolidating all the common ICT stuff that the group does, why not start with something "less painful" such as email and digital communications? Realistically, if the group doesn't have e-mail for a day - will our businesses run the risk of collapsing? If you're talking about a financial transaction processing system in a bank going down for a day - then very likely "yes".

The Z(R) part? Putting some deep thought into the A (current issues) portion of the equation will indicate that things can only get worse if gone unchecked. And what's worse is that these things may probably not be visible of not preached soon enough. Cost savings is a very tricky thing to get across, especially when things "are fine" with the group still doing relatively well. I guess I'll have to elaborate this further in my report - again, this is a public website and I don't want to babble too much...