Z/Yen is a London-based human resources and recruitment firm. Mark Yeandle, one of its senior consultants, recently completed a

20-month assignment as a marketing director at a large consumer products company. Describing the project as a turnaround role, Yeandle says the IT strategy played an important part.

‘We needed IT help. The business process re-engineering that was taking place would have almost certainly failed if it was divorced from information systems,’ he says.

The company had expanded from a relatively simple importer and wholesaler into a vertically integrated group with a large manufacturing capability, more than 100 retail outlets in the UK and distributors in some 40 countries.

‘But it had grown beyond the control of the management team. It had racked up large debts and negative cash flow, and was losing money rapidly,’ he says.

Yeandle was sent in as part of a new management team to rescue the company in the short term and assess its long-term viability. The fundamental problem with the business was that it had become far too complex to manage – and because of a long term lack of IT strategy and expenditure, nobody knew what was going on.

‘Although the company operated in a market with very tight margins, there was plenty of demand for the products, yet nobody had a clear idea of which products could be made and supplied at a profit and which ones simply couldn’t be,’ he says.

‘The new management team recognised that technology was likely to be a key part of the company’s future and decided it needed a fundamental change of IT strategy. Information technology was put at the heart of the business as a way to deliver improved economy, efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage.’

Manufacturing and costing systems were specified to be more integrated with the organisation, as business could be won if the client was able to negotiate prices on the basis of accurate costings, stockholding and Europe-wide delivery systems – all dependent on an up-to-date and accurate IT infrastructure.

That was the vision – how was the new strategy developed?

‘New IT systems were built in close contact with the manufacturing and sales teams, who would be the future users of the systems, with weekly meetings throughout the development process,’ says Yeandle.

The new systems became a source of competitive advantage as several contracts were won from rivals purely on the basis of having systems that allowed the sales teams to cost their tenders accurately and specify the type of service competitors could not.

‘I believe businesses have to be fully committed to the development of information systems as the basic standard of good practice,’ says Yeandle.

‘The organisation’s processes have to be embodied in its systems – if the systems die, the organisation ceases to function. This kind of commitment to IT strategy is essential over the entire system lifecycle: specification, design, development, testing, training, implementation and review.’