Blog
Date: 02 February 2010 Author: Alan Pett. VP, OperationsJoining The Dots....
As Intact IS enters the final month of our Financial Year, the thoughts of my sales colleagues turn to hitting various numbers, and of our finance guys to all the "fun" they have to look forward to in closing the books on another successful 12 months for Intact. For me, as VP of Operations my thoughts have already turned to next year and, in particular, to the challenges and delivery needs of the four operating companies Intact now has across the globe, as outlined in Bob's Blog last month.
One bonus of UK motorway roadworks is the opportunity to sit and mull over such matters and make use of the time that would otherwise be spent only on getting slowly from A to B. We have a driving (excuse the pun!) ethos in Intact and a semi-official company mantra - "Global Consistency of Execution". In other words the Intact experience we offer our customers should always be of high quality, consistent and repeatable - regardless of technology, geography, personality or delivery model. Maintaining this consistency as we expand into other regions, markets and opportunities is therefore an exciting challenge, but one which we meet head on, taking confidence from the fact that we have built Intact on some core principles and foundations that serve us well when such needs arise.
Firstly, I can take personal comfort from the people we have in the business, our investment in those individuals, and their desire to support the business model. By giving our functional owners clear direction and the authority to take local decisions, allowing them to make their own mistakes along the way and backing them with solid management support as required, we have developed subject matter experts who want to lead the charge and show the way to their newer peers across the regions.
Our Integrated Management System (IMS) approach provides the process framework that allows us to share best practice templates and documentation internationally. We work hard to ensure that all functions are using this common IMS baseline - it is the user-manual documenting how Intact as a business works. Our focus on other more common standards such as ITIL and the PPDIOO (Plan, Prepare, Deploy, Implement, Operate, Optimise) delivery model also stand us in good stead, allowing us to talk a common language across the business. This is particularly important, when local interpretation of day to day terms could cause initial confusion on what is to be achieved.
Finally, we have invested in IT systems and platforms that are geographically-agnostic and allow us to share information and communicate effectively, no matter where we happen to be in the world. Cloud-based CRM, Service Desk and Finance systems have been implemented in the last 12 months, all supporting our geographic expansion without the need for local investment or expert IT skills in country.
With all these factors in mind, I am therefore looking forward to FY 2011 in confident anticipation of another successful year. Now, however, I've got to find some other topics to ponder as I traverse the M25 each day - optimised traffic flow modelling may be a good place to start!
Happy commuting,
Alan Pett
VP, Operations
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