Arrested Development

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

 

In virtually every small- to medium-size business, there comes a time when its management develops concerns that its information technologies and supporting management information systems group are not keeping pace with its growth and operational complexity.

Management often develops these concerns when the MIS group has not evolved and matured at the same rate as has marketing, finance, human resources or the business in general. The company's leadership begins to worry that:

• Systems and applications are antiquated
• MIS staff are not forward looking or innovative
• Information is focused solely on operations
• Practices and procedures are not mature
• Infrastructure is antiquated and not well managed

At this point, management wonders if it should hire a CIO, develop a more formal and mature MIS group or maybe replace their aging systems. Doubts grow, and with those doubts come increasing frustration.

To compound all this is the fact that small- to medium-sized companies do not have deep pockets and can ill afford to make a mistake with their IT investments. They have grown to become very dependent on IT to run the operations of the business. Their information processing needs are becoming more and more complex, and their budgets are lean. They need a formal IT function but cannot afford a robust/full-time IT organization. The …

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