The IT group has a $## million budget split between operational and capital expenses. They work closely with business teams to achieve goals through relationship building, continuous engagement, and a focus on simplicity over complexity. The IT team aims to be proactive through planning and consulting activities 80% of the time, and reactive through support and training 20% of the time. Over the past 4 years, IT has upgraded infrastructure, improved collaboration tools, implemented automation and cloud services, and delivered various projects requested by business teams. Looking ahead, plans include phone, email, and conference room upgrades as well as customized software tools to improve efficiency.

1. Information Technology

2. Information Technology 101
 $## million budget ($##M operational, $##M capital)
 The IT group works with the business to achieve its business goals.
 Relationship building and management. Empathy, listening and understanding.
 Continuous involvement and engagement with leaders across the company.
 Creating a consistent user experience – more simplicity, less complexity.
 Strategic partner vs. basic support.
 Proactive (80%) – Planning, consultancy – listening, advising, vetting, delivery.
 Reactive (20%) – support, training, after-hours on call.
 Ownership and accountability = specifics, timelines, business clarity.

3. Information Technology 4-year snapshot
 FY16 – Planning the foundation
 Designer laptop/workstation upgrades.
 Improved collaboration - Lync.
 Process automation (Accounting/HR and other back office systems)
 Assessing firm needs and capability. Begin infrastructure replacement.
 FY17 – Laying the foundation
 Network, server, phone upgrades.
 Disaster Recovery – modernizing backup/restore process.
 Cloud Services (Smartsheet, Sharefile)
 FY18 – User Experience (platform stable and resilient)
 Datacenter presence (New York and Seattle).
 High availability for e-mail, database operations.
 Consistent software versioning (Lync, Exchange, SharePoint, Office to 2013)
 Enterprise Content and data lifecycle management.
 FY19 – New tools, investments…
 Virtualized Desktops
 Bring your Own Device (BYOD) strategy
 Deeper investments in cloud offerings

4. Project work delivered
 Cloud solutions (SmartSheet, ShareFile, Kaseya, Office 365*)
 Application/Development
 Peer review system(Bill/Robert)
 Work Order System implemented (John Roberts)
 HRIS implementation (HR)
 Employee 360 Review (HR)
 Finance/Marketing Dashboards (Finance, Leadership team)
 Markets Center of Excellence (Lance)
 Project Tracking tool (Betty)
 Infrastructure
 Citrix deployment (worldwide)
 Wireless upgrade firm-wide
 Lync Enterprise Voice
 Disaster Recovery
 Disk-based backup deployment
 Datacenter migration*

5. Where will we be 1 year from today?
 Phone upgrade (Q1)
 Collaboration from your laptop, anytime anywhere via high speed Internet connection.
 One client for IM, multi-point video and phone.
 E-mail system upgrade (Q1)
 Larger mailboxes.
 Easier conference room scheduling.
 Built-in archiving.
 Conference Room improvements (Q2-Q4)
 Flat panel displays, mounted projectors – more ways to present the work.
 New Video conferencing units (Q2-Q4)
 7 new video units across the company.
 Customized software tools to help us work more efficiently.
 Intranet improvements (Q3)
 Better document and content management.