Optimization & Consolidation

A financial institutions’ overall business objective was to fully merge its operations with a similar organization in the US and needed to understand whether outsourcing components of their IT operation to the similar US organization, would reduce costs and/or promote greater synergies.  The client wanted to determine whether or not outsourcing the IT operation would reduce costs, what would be the impacts upon IT and business operations, to investigate the potential impact with their end customers and determine the potential impacts upon the current relationships between the two organizations.  As a result, Balardo Group identified potential conflicts, customer retention and loyalty issues, as well as operational, organizational, process and personnel issues associated with the outsource.  Additionally potential risks and risk mitigation strategies were identified and a cost, capabilities and synergies model associated with the outsourcing option was built.  In the end it was established that the outsourcing agreement would not benefit the client and they have since eliminated outsourcing as an option.

This bank recognized the need to improve both service levels and reduce operational costs of its US subsidiary.  Balardo Group led the development of the business case that presented the costs and benefits of merging the management of the two environments while retaining the physical presence of a US data centre.  Upon approval of the business case, we acted as advisor and project managed the subsequent program and managed several supporting projects.  The overall level of service was maintained in the first year, then improved in subsequent years.  Additionally, staffing for the US data centre was reduced by 25% and in the following year by another 15%.

A government ministry that had multiple help desks with dissimilar tools and processes needed to identify the issues that were required to be addressed and develop an approach and plan for moving forward with the creation of a centralized service desk.  Balardo Group was able to document the various help desk processes and needs by facilitating a number of planning sessions with the concerned parties.  A multi-phased plan for moving forward was prepared that would result in a service desk that would operate according to ITIL processes and follow industry best practices.  The ministry proceeded with the implementation of the plan.

A Canadian insurance company recently appointed a new CIO that had established a clear direction for the IT organization with definite expectations that each major division would create strategy and implementation plans to meet the end state over 2-3 years.  Balardo Group was engaged by the IT Operations division to facilitate the preliminary planning session.  Based on individual interviews with the leadership team and the CIO, a detailed agenda was established for the two-day offsite session.  As a result we helped the client team to understand IT Operations’ vision, developed a high-level view of what needed to be done to realize that vision and obtained team buy-in on the next steps.

A major Canadian financial institution with international offices had a new CIO come in that was seeking to improve the efficiencies of the IT infrastructure across the North American offices.  Balardo Group was engaged to review, assess, recommend and develop a roadmap for the IT infrastructure focusing on the following areas: physical data centres, life cycle and currency management, testing, operating procedures, capacity management, and high level maturity assessment.  The 12 month objective was to implement significant operational improvements and establish governance processes and metrics to identify gains realized and identify further areas of opportunity.  The CIO and Board of Directors agreed and accepted the assessment findings, gaps, recommendations, costs, benefits, and roadmap.  The client has started work on developing more detailed planning to implement the recommendations.

A major Canadian financial institution undertook a major technology upgrade program to replace 18,000 workstations in 1,200 locations across Canada.  Balardo Group was brought in to lead this initiative and was responsible for the overall program management office, preparation of the RFP and installation of equipment, network upgrades, logistics and installation conversion activities.  The rollout was completed within 12 months following a successful 5 month pilot.  This was the single largest and most successful technology project ever undertaken by this corporation at the time.

A major Canadian bank with Canadian and U.S. offices was seeking to improve the security of its desktops across the organization and reduce the associated risks.  Balardo Group was engaged to provide program governance, planning, and architectural and technical security design and support.  The program was structured in three phases spread out over a three-year period and consisted of defining the policies, standards, and requirements for desktop security solutions.  As a result of this assignment the organization improved:

• the desktop security and remote access by reducing the risk of unauthorized access
• the data security by encrypting all removable media; and
• handheld security to prevent unauthorized usage and access to data.