What was the scope?

The client was a major distributor of enterprise telecommunications solutions and provider of maintenance services, with long-established success in the hardware PABX communications market. Wired Consulting was engaged to design and launch a new type of Software Assurance service specifically targeting IP communications technology.

The project was initiated in response to the demands of the client’s distribution partners. However it quickly became evident that it was also key to a more important strategic goal – to reshape the client’s hardware PABX sales and maintenance business and enable them to properly address the software-based IP communications market. This meant that the Software Assurance project had critical dependencies on a number of initiatives set up by the various functional teams.

What was the challenge?

Uncertainty of project scope: Recent downsizing had resulted in fragmented knowledge of certain key business processes and loss of key leadership roles within the organization (such as Contract Management, Product Strategy, and Service Design). This meant that the client was unclear as to how to deal with the urgent need to launch a new type of service, and there were a large number of conflicting inputs from the internal stakeholders.

Considerable business analysis was required to clearly place the Software Assurance project in the context of strategic move from hardware to software communications. This big picture view was used to align and manage expectations of stakeholders throughout the client’s organization and to gain the support of external partners.

Given this expansion in scope, a very strong focus was needed to separate out the Software Assurance design & launch efforts to enable them to happen within the originally planned timeframe. External influences. A number of stressful changes affecting the whole business occurred during the project, including multiple changes in the senior leadership team and a restructure from a semi-independent company into a division of the parent business. A very high emphasis was placed on stakeholder management and communications in the latter half of the program to enable the program to deliver on time. In addition, no effective coordination was in place and there was conflict between the initiatives over resources and direction, so it was necessary for Wired to design an overall program plan to tie the initiatives together and align the business functions.

How did Wired add value to the client?

Provision of expertise: Wired was able to bring in a senior project manager with broad experience who could plan a way through the complexities of this project. This included acting as an extra pair of hands for the senior management team, articulating the strategic direction of the business, and bridging many of the missingorganisational roles. Additionally, the consultant had direct experience in designing and managing software-based services, enabling the client to move confidently forward into the IP communications space.

Achievement of objectives: The Software Assurance service launch phase was successfully executed on schedule and on budget, as per the original scope of the Wired project. As a final implementation phase of the program was needed to realize reductions in support cost and improvement in service quality, full alignment was negotiated with the parallel IT transformation plans of the parent business. This enabled the final IT implementation phase of the program to be executed with the parent business’ funds, within their ongoing transformation program.

This removed long-standing strategic roadblocks for the client and established a clear path forward for growth in the IP communications market. In their integration into the parent business, the client was able to take a leadership position in the joint IT transformation and in the design of the future VoIP service portfolio.

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