"Our experienced consultants can provide counsel
on all aspects of your decision to invest in a new technology or business
system."
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MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Some of the most daunting issues facing management today
relate to understanding the impact of technology investments on their business
processes and organization. Carisbrook Technology Services consultants bring
their experience to bear on these complex matters as they relate to the
adoption of new applications or technologies, project definition, process
improvement, or deployment of technology in the marketplace.
F undamental to our approach
to information technology consulting and the starting point for every client
engagement is the Statement of Work(SOW). Within this document we define
the scope, timeline, and deliverables that you will receive during the consulting
engagement. We stipulate our approach for the tasks at hand including the
specifics of both the techniques actually planned or, in some cases, those
that are contemplated. The SOW is refined during pre engagement interviews
and formally accepted by the engagement sponsor. It has been our experience
that this step is often overlooked or not given the attention that it deserves.
Unsatisfactory due diligence for the creation of the SOW inevitably leads
to unsatisfactory results for the engagement. Because this step is so important,
every SOW presented by Carisbrook Technology Services is written, discussed,
and formally reviewed by at least two members of the senior management team
and formally presented to our client for acceptance.
What We Do - Carisbrook Technology
Services consultants work with a client to identify processes for analysis,
improvement, or benchmarking. These techniques become the foundation for
understanding the clients value chain (Porter and Millar, 1985) for both
internal and external clients.
Focus Areas - Davenport &
Short (1990) define business process as "a set of logically related
tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome." A process is
"a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specified
output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis
on how work is done within an organization" (Davenport 1993). In their
view processes have two important characteristics: (i) They have customers
(internal or external), (ii) They cross organizational boundaries, i.e.,
they occur across or between organizational subunits.
Business Process Analysis (BPA) is generally defined as the analysis and
design of workflows and processes within and between organizations. BPA
involves the thorough participation and support of the process owners and
users. The five generic life-cycle stages of creating a new process are
analyzed in relation to specific customer needs and requirements. These
stages are concept definition, design or plan, test or install, produce
or implement and, retire. BPA within an organization is strongly linked
to the enterprise information architecture. Being able to understand both
the IT consideration as well as the business imperatives is key to identifying
candidate processes and moving selected organizational processes from the
existing or baseline architecture to the agreed upon target architecture.
Organization - As the technology industry continues to move at a breakneck
pace, principals of small and medium- sized businesses must cope with the
organizational ramifications of adopting and deploying new technology. Carisbrook
Technology Services consultants can assist management with understanding
the impact of these new technologies on their organization as well as other
organizations within their value chain.
Our Value - Our staff uses their experience
to cut through the technological haze to provide clear and direct recommendations
on actions that your organization can take prior to implementing new technology.
The experiences that our senior staff have had while owning and operating
small and medium-sized businesses are invaluable in formulating cogent and
feasible organization recommendations.
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