IBM Global Services (1999 - 2002)

What have I done:

I worked as a senior consultant for IT Strategy and IT Cost & Value. Based on the below mentioned activities I was formally certified as a senior consultant IT Strategy with IBM Global Services by the end of 2000.

January 1999 - December 2002 – knowledge management

• building a knowledge center for IT Cost & Value that grew from 3 to > 40 professionals that exchanges experience and know-how in the area of IT Cost & Value engagements on a frequent basis. As a member of the international knowledge network I was reviewing and promoting intellectual capital on re-useability and the added value to IBM Global Services and its Customers.

January 1999 - October 2000 – several smaller engagements

• an IT Value assessment of Rabofacet (data-center of the Rabobank).
• a quick scan of the planned growth of mid-range systems of ABN AMRO with recommendations on manageability of the growth
• a second opinion on the IT Master-plan of Canon Europa with specific attention to:
  • data-center consolidation on a European level,
  • growth of the Internet activities towards e-business and
  • application portfolio management
• an analyses of the internal charging methods of Nationale Nederlanden (large Insurance company) to identify cost-saving options.

August 1999 - June 2000 – KPN Data-center (Telecom provider)

• defined a marketing strategy for a data-center.
• defined and implemented a “speerpunten” program (target setting), to create focus during the preparation of divestiture.

August 1999 - October 2000 – Eneco (Energy & Utility company)

• performed a study to the options of re-hosting the legacy Billing application
• became the personal adviser of the CIO and provided for many advice amongst which a study to the maturity of the 'Application Software Provisioning (ASP) model
• introduced a method for architectural planning and implemented this on corporate and divisional levels
• defined a business strategy with the Management Team of the division B2B (= the energy company) and concluded an ICT Master-plan for the following 2 years

October 2000 - December 2002 - Essent (Energy & Utility company)

• made a review of the planned 'IT Operations' organisation.
• defined the first version of a new 'ICT Services organisation', based on an internal 'Demand - Supply' model.
• defined and implemented the services catalog including tariffs and charging mechanisms.
• supported a study on the management of an Energy Trading architecture

What have I learned:

I learned that perception is crucial to the acceptance of good advice. As long as the IBM company is perceived to be a hardware supplier, it will be extremely difficult to leverage the impressive Intellectual Capital that the company built and maintained over the last 50 years. Personally this employment was my most interesting intellectual challenge.