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Hands On: Understanding Customers in the Real World
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December 19, 2005 (Computerworld) -- 
John Barbano, vice president and CIO for Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical research and development.
Image Credit: John Rae
"My own learning was accelerated through special projects, spending time with scientists and clinicians, seeing how they do drug discovery and development, listening to their challenges," he says. "I also make a point to keep up with the industry by reading books, attending select conferences and reading white papers about vendor solutions."
Barbano represents the new wave of IT professionals who initiate hands-on experiences to understand the nuts and bolts of what it takes to create a product or serve a customer. By immersing themselves in business, they boost company success while building the trust and credibility that leads to career success.
As they think outside the computer box, they become specialists in marketing, R&D, sales and other company functions. "Businesses are turning to the IT departments and saying, 'We need new ways of reaching customers and want to build products in a more efficient way,'" says Mark Gilfand, incoming president of the Association of Information Technology Professionals in Chicago.
As companies reorganize and merge, corporations are purposely strengthening the ties between IT and core business, and the changes provide an opportunity for IT executives to reshape departments and retrain staffs.
Hence, IT departments are no longer order takers. "We can come to scientists and end users with solutions, whereas before, they used to tell us what they thought the solution should be," Barbano says. "We can say, 'Here's what we think we should be delivering in terms of technology-driven business solutions.'"
A Scientific Bent
Centocor Research and Development Inc. in Horsham, Pa., is a J&J pharmaceutical company that creates medicines to reduce symptoms of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. It's not uncommon for the IT staff to work in close proximity to scientists and their laboratories. And technology staffers often come through the IT door with science backgrounds that come in handy when they are put to work on biochemistry projects.
Eric Perakslis, CIO at Centocor R&D, was already interested in the scientific component of the industry when he took the job. Now he's completing a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering.
In all phases of drug development, IT's role has become increasingly crucial. IT staffers working on data warehousing collaborate with drug discovery scientists to gain access to structured and unstructured databases in the most efficient way possible, says Barbano. "These scientists are more productive now," he says, "and we, together in partnership, are able to deliver significant value."
As the competition gets stiffer in a global market, the IT division must share the company's vision and understand how it fits into that vision.
That relationship isn't always as clear as it needs to be, as Gil Urban discovered at Whirlpool Corp. Urban is the assistant CIO responsible for staff development and internal IT operations at the $13 billion maker of home appliances in Benton Harbor, Mich. "We got feedback that the IT staff was not all that clear what our mission was to the rest of the company," he says. So this year, his team in Whirlpool's Global Information Systems (GIS) unit created a DVD to state the goals of the 400-to-600-employee IT organization.
Then GIS launched a series of workshops worldwide, showing IT employees the DVD and discussing how their roles helped fulfill Whirlpool's goals. "We wanted to help our organization see what our purpose is, and also we wanted to engage them in the discussion and grow our people and their capabilities through this," Urban says.
"We [in GIS] want to create new business capabilities for Whirlpool, but we have to be clearly connected to the business to get the right pulse," he says. "We have to see the company both regionally and globally. Now we have a framework."
Unlike five years ago, when IT managers sat together at Whirlpool headquarters, today they are dispersed among the major business units. They participate in senior business meetings, review plans and strategize with business leaders. As management discusses new product plans for the Whirlpool line, shipping and delivery needs, and quality control, IT executives' voices are heard, Urban says.
Marriott International Inc. also recently produced an IT-related DVD. Called "Technology: Shaping and Enabling Our Business," its purpose is to educate hotel franchisees and business partners worldwide about the Washington-based company's technology initiatives and direction. It's also being shown to Marriott's 1,350 technology associates to emphasize how the department fits into the rest of the organization.
Into the Field
Top managers at Marriott and Whirlpool believe that their staffers will better understand the breadth and depth of the organization by going into the field with the business people. New IT managers in Marriott's Information Resources (IR) Field Services organization must work in one of the company's hotels for a week. They shadow people in various business functions such as sales, the front desk, engineering, food services and housekeeping.
"New associates get a real taste of what it's like to have to work and manage these different areas, and it helps them understand how technology makes the functions more cost-effective and efficient," says Wendell Fox, senior vice president of North American IR Field Services.
At Whirlpool, every IT person is encouraged to tour manufacturing facilities or ride in a service truck -- not just once but on a recurring basis. "Everyone needs to be understanding the needs of our customers," says Urban.
Urban recently demonstrated the importance of this kind of immersion when he sat in on a telephone service call at one of the call centers. "I was listening to the customer experience, and it seemed that there was a lot of wait time," he says. "I went to the IS group and told them our call center needed performance improvements. It's ad hoc experiences like these that give us a better handle on the way business is really being done."
Down to Brass Tacks
Sales and marketing staffers aren't the only ones concerned about competition at Whirlpool; the entire company gets involved in understanding the household appliance arena.
Once a month, the IT department holds town hall meetings to discuss the competition. And during bimonthly staff meetings, various IT groups go over corporate results, taking the time to cover financial concepts such as earnings per share. "So far, people have been really receptive to this," says Urban.
IT and business are connecting in the media world as well. John Eck is president and CIO at the new Media Works division at NBC Universal Inc. in New York. Charged with taking care of traditional IT services, Media Works is responsible for all the technology that occurs behind the lens, from audio and video to preproduction to postproduction film editing. Any type of media transmission, from satellite link to Internet services to HDTV technology, falls to Media Works. The division also handles anything to do with technical and networking infrastructure. With an international staff of 3,000 full-time employees, Eck estimates that the division is juggling at least 50 major technology projects.
Media Works IT employees are encouraged to be a part of the TV process. They can take time to explore how programs like the Today show or the NBC Nightly News is produced and edited. Once a month, the company hosts Media Works University, "where you can get closer to the writers and actors and see how a program is put together," Eck says. "You can see how Saturday Night Live is produced, and how our commercials, on-air promotions and programs are integrated."
When IT professionals understand the business, it's not just good for the company, it's also good for their careers. Gilfand, who is a staff assistant in systems at State Farm Insurance Co. in Bloomington, Ill., has earned three insurance certifications. "I did it to understand the business, and that raised my personal stock," he says. "That is key for IT professionals -- to find ways to differentiate themselves."
Leong is a freelance writer in Sunnyvale, Calif. Contact her at kchinleong@ sbcglobal.net.
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