             Global/Multicultural             
References                   Work Place                        Case
 MIS Personnel 
Training & Skills

August 17,1991

Global information officers entering IS picture

By Alice Laplante

Unum Life Insurance Co. in Portland, Maine, acquired a British insurance firm last year, senior information systems managers were challenged to develop a new set of skills: building a technically progressive IS operation that works in harmony with U.S. standards yet fits the needs of the foreign subsidiary. The company's answer: a decentralized "team" management style.

As more U.S. corporations grow international in scope, top IS executives are beginning to broaden their backgrounds to master a dramatically different systems scenario. What this means is that senior IS managers are finding that they must take a more team-oriented, cooperative approach to solve complex technological and organizational issues.

The difficulties of this transition are documented in a paper by Jerry Kanter and Richard M. Kesner of Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. Titled "The CIO/GIO as Catalyst and Facilitator: Building the Information Utility to Meet Global Challenges," it examines the issues facing the global information officer.

Companies unable to optimize their IS resources on a global scale will find themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage, according to Kanter,executive director of the Center for Information Management Studies at Babson.

Some of the problems that skilled global information officers are expected to address are the following:

Duplication of high-cost systems development efforts at multiple sites.
Implementation of systems incapable of connecting to each other or to the main data center without hassle and expense.
Inability of IS to serve the strategic business needs of a worldwide organization in a timely manner.

Because of the newness of the global information officer role, these professionals face managerial and organizational challenges: They must balance the need for some sort of global IS game plan with a decentralized and flexible management style, Kanter says. As a result, most U.S. multinational firms have given foreign IS subsidiaries a wide degree of autonomy in making key technology decisions.

This is the case at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, says Howard P. Sorgen, first vice president and director of information technology. Utility functions such as telecommunications, data centers and centralized applications development activities are done out of central IS in New York, which also sets standards for appropriate hardware and software to be used by Merrill Lynch offices worldwide. Everything else is left up to the individual site.

"We provide our overseas locations with an appropriate degree of entrepreneurial freedom," Sorgen says. "They are much more closely attuned to the local market and can therefore ensure that a technological solution fits the business needs of that particular site. "

Technical obstacles are also something global information officers will have to face in the global IS world.

Telecommunications is particularly critical: With the quantity and quality of vendors and services varying so widely from one country to another, it can be difficult to put a worldwide telecommunications network in place. In addition, global information officers can't assume that technologies available here will be available overseas, says Sheldon Laube, the national director of information technology at Price Waterhouse in New York.

"Things we take for granted, like quality phone service, can be extraordinarily difficult to get in South America and some parts of Europe," Laube says. Basic hardware and software can be difficult to purchase in certain countries, he adds. "You can standardize on systems here that are well beyond what the technology and infrastructure of other countries can support."

Emerging communications technologies such as videoconferencing help the global information officer keep in touch with and manage a diverse scattering of international IS groups. Most U.S. multinationals are putting sophisticated videoconferencing systems in place and make extensive use of electronic mail and voice mail to communicate across geographic and time barriers.

Stepping-stones

The following six components are essential if a senior IS executive is to successfully move into the global arena, say Jerry Kanter and Richard M. Kesner, authors of a working paper on the global information officer published by Babson College:

A team-oriented approach to management that rules through consensus, with a sensitivity to the diverse peoples and cultures that make up a global IS organization.
An appropriate IS structure that balances centralized architecture and standards policy with autonomous local activity. Heading this IS structure, the global information officer should report to the senior executive officer of the corporation and sit as a peer on the executive council and participate fully in strategic business decisions.
A firm grasp of existing computer and telecommunications technologies as well as a vision of how emerging technologies can benefit the business.
A commitment to total quality management, which focuses on excellence in both individual and team performance.
A willingness to turn to resources outside IS for guidance and support on critical decisions.
A desire to become an agent of change for human resources as well as technological concerns within the organization.

LaPlante is a freelance writer based in Palo Alto. Calif.

             Global/Multicultural             
References                   Work Place                        Case
 MIS Personnel 
Training & Skills