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ITxM Develops IT Direction and Leverages Interim Leader to Implement the Recommendations
The Institute for Transfusion Medicine (ITxM) is one of the country’s largest multi-regional providers of blood product collection and distribution and related services. ITxM is a not-for-profit organization developing, delivering, and influencing the highest quality, performance, and value in transfusion medicine and related services and select biomedical fields. ITxM is the parent company of multiple entities including Central Blood Bank, LifeSource, Centralized Transfusion Services, ITxM Diagnostics, and ITxM Blood Science Foundation.
The Institute for Transfusion Medicine
James Covert, President and CEO
“Aspen Advisors helped turn around our Information Technology function by developing a future roadmap with our management team and providing interim leadership to get us on the right path. Success is not contained in a plan’s detail but in its ability to be executed, and Aspen provided a pragmatic action plan to guide decision making and leadership to develop our IT team – the key to success.”
THE CHALLENGE
ITxM had grown and added new services over the past few years. Additionally, new leadership team members were recruited. The organization anticipated such growth to continue along with investments in applications and infrastructure to support the growth and expansion. ITxM’s strategic business direction and goals centered around five key initiatives: growth, quality, research, Six Sigma, and employee programs – all of which also had IT implications and demand for future investments. Yet, the organization’s IT strategy was not clearly articulated. It focused on many tactics and projects that were defined but not clearly linked to operating unit business priorities. With a new management team in place, there was a need to formalize the IT strategy, clarify the linkage to operating unit and corporate business initiatives, enhance governance structures and decision-making processes, and retool processes for prioritizing IT projects and service requests.
THE SOLUTION
Aspen was engaged not only to develop an IT plan but to be a catalyst for change. The plan would not only determine the appropriate strategies and tactics to support the organization’s future direction but would also put the appropriate leadership and processes in place to create lasting change. Aspen worked with ITxM’s executive and operating unit management teams to define an IT strategy and develop a multi-year deployment plan and supporting financial model. This included assessing the IT environment (the current applications portfolio, technology infrastructure, governance model, and IT leadership team), providing a blueprint for supporting ITxM’s business and clinical initiatives, and identifying a preferred path to implementing future technologies and supporting governance models. Specific questions that were addressed included:
- Are the presently defined IT initiatives appropriate to support ITxM’s business strategies and objectives? Should some initiatives be dropped while others are added?
- How do we compare to similar organizations (IT strategy, applications portfolio coverage, governance, staffing, funding, value provided to the business, etc.)?
- Is ITxM’s vendor and sourcing strategy appropriate? What are other options?
- How can we leverage historical IT investments?
- How should we prioritize IT investments, tie these investments to key business and clinical initiatives, and ensure accountability for the anticipated benefits?
- What is the appropriate IT governance model to support ITxM, its affiliate companies, and the emerging needs of the organization?
- What is the appropriate staging of IT initiatives, based on support of business objectives and interdependencies?
- What is the appropriate tactical plan to implement the appropriate initiatives? What are the capital and resource requirements?
- Are there staffing and/or skill changes required to ensure we accomplish our goals?
THE RESULTS
As a result of the engagement, ITxM had a framework and action plan to guide executive decision making related to IT and define how and what business and clinical goals would be supported (and funded) by technology initiatives. The governance model shifted from a tactical focus with project prioritization defined by individual business unit criteria. The new model was executive-driven and focused on strategy, project prioritization, and a review of top projects from a status, resource, and spend allocation perspective. Additionally, the plan established a consistent methodology for project management, status reporting, and communication. A new SaaS-based project management tool was selected, and a PMO function was put in place. Additionally, Aspen served as the interim CIO for a period of time to provide leadership to the IT function and implement the planning recommendations.
