Vendor Assessments:

“My phone rings off the hook with technology vendors calling to sell me everything under the sun. When I need a new product there are 10 to pick from. How do I select the right vendor - not only for the problem at hand, but for our long-term needs?”

Service areas involved:

Process Management
Risk Management
Architecture
Financial Management
IT Management

See Key Issue:

Vendor Assessment and Management

Most IT organizations are very reliant on their key vendor relationships - they are part of the value chain - but often there just isn't time for comprehensive assessment of the best vendor for the long haul. This in turn can stand in the way of getting the most from these relationships. Many times, IT management only sees the sales team once a year (or when maintenance is due) unless there's a major issue to be resolved. Each vendor should be fully integrated into the architecture, existing processes, and leadership culture.

Ingenuity can help you select and manage vendors to who can provide lasting value to your organization. We have deep experience in managing RFI's / RFP's, contracting, and ongoing vendor / partner relationships.

Project Portfolio Management:

“We are attempting to complete more large, expensive projects than we have the capacity to do. We aren’t sure if they are the right projects to support the business strategy – but they are all important to someone. How do we address this problem?”

Service area involved:

Process Management
Financial Management
IT Management

See Key Issue:

Project Portfolio Management

Portfolio management can help you gain control of your projects and ensure that you are providing meaningful value back to the business. By implementing a solid portfolio management strategy you can:

• Implement processes for developing project business cases
• Assess proposals for alignment with strategy and architecture
• Prioritize projects and ensure that project investments are aligned with the needs of the business
• Manage resources and their availability
• Improve communication between IT and the business.

Ingenuity is capable of developing portfolio management processes, implementing a PMO, developing solutions to manage resources, or managing large-scale initiatives. See how we helped a Fortune 100 company with their IT Infrastructure Portfolio Management.

Service Level Management:

“I know we're doing a good job of providing our services, but I have a hard time proving it. All my peers hear about are the things that go wrong. How can I change the communication to a positive one?”

Service areas involved:

Process Management
IT Management

See Key Issue:

Service Level Management

Without a consistent, repetitive Service Level Management process to demonstrate the good things IT is accomplishing, they can get lost in the noise of today's fire drill. Determining user requirements and setting expectations up-front, when combined with regular communication of results through metrics, can completely change the nature of your conversation with the rest of the business. This is also an important element of ongoing Vendor Assessment / Selection / Management.

Ingenuity consultants have established such programs in several instances.

Identity Management:

“We have already implemented the HR module for our ERP system. How can I leverage employee, contractor, and vendor information to reduce support and administration costs, reduce the time it takes to create user ID’s, grant appropriate access, and improve security?”

Identity Management solutions can encompass several technologies including password management, access management, and user provisioning. Generally, this includes the creation of the user (employee, contractor, or other third parties) within the ERP HR application, authorization and access control (sign on, password management, and access rights), and an administration function to provision and de-provision user accounts via an centralized, authoritative, fully-integrated directory.

Service areas involved:

Process Management
Risk Management
Architecture

See Key Issue:

Identity Management

While an Identity Management solution takes a lot of time and effort to implement, the benefits are significant. They range from reduced support and administration costs, and reduced time to create user IDs with appropriate access, to improved integration, improved security, simplified sign on, and greater audit controls.

Ingenuity has experience managing large-scale Identity Management initiatives as well as experience with supporting tools, technologies, and processes.