Information Technology Management Advice

Maximizing returns on technology investments is a key business management goal. M.I.B. Chock, LLC assists with that goal by helping organizations understand, defend, plan and develop new or improved computer services that also incorporate the mass of conflicting detail involved in balancing:

Organization Goals
Business Processes
New Technologies
Industry Best Practices
Regulatory Requirements
Technical Standards
Support and Maintenance Responsibilities
Environmental Impact, etc.

The information technology experience and expertise of M.I.B. Chock, LLC spans organizations of all sizes – startups, small and medium-sized companies, to Fortune 500 enterprises. We provide services appropriate to companies of every size:

For smaller organizations needing help with startup IT management, growth, and future expansion.
For larger companies wanting technology audit or IT strategic planning assistance.

We’ve highlighted some of what we do below:

Information Technology Management for Small Organizations

Often our expertise is needed to assist startups, small nonprofits, or other very small organizations with IT management needs, growth, and future expansion. We’ve summarized much of what you need to know in IT Management for Little Companies – From one-person shops to just too small to have Information Technology staff:

Most books on management of Information Technology focus on the management of IT staff--assignment of technical responsibilities, and how those responsibilities fit into overall business operations. But if you have no IT staff, or maybe even no staff at all besides yourself, how do you deal with technology issues?

IT Management for Little Companies will help you sort through necessary tools, figure out your IT strategy, and walk away with the essential concepts you need to understand to effectively manage your IT. The book also provides IT guidance for when you add staff.
This book is ideal for very small businesses or nonprofits that are either just getting organized--or just realizing that their computer systems are a horrible mess! IT managers tasked to deal with that mess will also find great starting points inside.

New companies often grow by adding a collection of personal computers and special-purpose technology piece-wise with no particular plan while the founders must focus on getting initial products or services developed, finding the markets for them, and obtaining financing. We provide Information Technology management services that help in these scenarios, including:

Evaluating what’s in place.
Determining immediate and near-future needs.
Assistance in establishing appropriate support services.

New or growing organizations with limited in-house resources for developing computer systems use such services as:

Planning for standard business management support.
Planning for unique technical systems specific to individual operations.
Defining information technology strategies and business and technical requirements.
Locating and evaluating appropriate system vendors.
Overseeing implementation of systems.
Ensuring that issues of system maintenance, security, and management of data are addressed.

Case Studies (Click to Read)

Below are three case studies of our work with new and growing organizations.

Ocean Port - Workstations
An early project brought a major port “into the 20th Century”. Upon our entrance, it relied on outside online services and a few independent workstation.

- We defined the requirements and helped design the architecture and select the vendors for their first enterprise-wide system and its underlying infrastructure: facility management applications, database management system, networks, servers, other hardware components, and their locations.

- Managed the new system through its full development life cycle: system design, site preparation, installation, staff training, integration of legacy applications, pilot projects, several months of production use, upgrade, expansion, and the establishment of an Information Systems “Division”, coordinating the work of more than 30 people until permanent IT staff could be hired.

Comments from the client:
"..impartiality in working with the various hardware and software vendors...would be happy to hire her again..."

Biomedical Research Laboratory – From independent laptops to an efficient, safe and fully integrated IT system
A small research facility had been collecting laptop computers and sophisticated laboratory equipment, linking them via the Internet. We prepared a diagram of their current system and its structure, surprising them with the extent and complexity of what they had. Then we went to work.

- Redesigned the existing enterprise network with network, domain, and database servers, a video conference system and a climate-controlled computer room to support security, data storage, data backup, staff expansion, and communications with the parent company.

- Selected the equipment, and helped the vendors with implementation and testing, and instituted procedures for offsite storage of the backed-up data.

- Developed requirements and evaluated vendors for a chemistry library system to support research, design, and cataloging of candidate products, as well as a laboratory chemical barcode system, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) image processing system, and a biology experiment database.

- Implemented, tested, and trained users in the chemistry library and biology database.

- Saved money and staff effort by convincing managers that the chemical barcode system and the desired imaging system would be impractical for their purposes.

Biomedical Manufacturing Firm - Strategy - Risks - Policies
A startup biomedical manufacturing firm was expanding rapidly, and wanted an Information Technology strategy.

- Suggested components of a standard IT strategy, but pointed out that it would require input from top management of the company and the other departments to make sense.

- Developed an inventory of issues and risks, along with proposals for dealing with them, and the staff who would need to be involved.

- Wrote a set of IT policies based on these issues and applicable Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.

Comment from the client:
“I… again want to thank you for your assistance earlier this year. It certainly pointed our compass in the right direction.”

Information Technology Consulting for Larger Companies

Larger companies acquire or start developing independent information technology groups that have competing needs and overlapping functions. We can help with

Taking inventory of the various systems and what they’re used for.
Software portfolio
Finding synergies and opportunities for better alignment of these groups.
Assisting in establishment of centralized coordination to best serve the entire enterprise while supporting the various needs of its parts.

Informal audits for Information Technology Strategy

For due diligence in mergers and acquisitions or for third-party evaluation of internal systems, we provide a variety of informal audits:

System development capabilities vs. industry standards
Software portfolio
Software capability
Systems inventory and architecture
New system requirements vs. company environment and changes needed
Tradeoff comparison of potential vendors vs. system requirements

Case Studies (Click to Read)

Below are three case studies displaying our IT strategy planning and auditing services.

Local Government GIS Strategy
We worked with a civil engineering firm to develop the formal Geographic Information Systems strategy document for the Engineering Division of a large city.

Comments from the client:
".. the epitome of professionalism...moral and ethical standards are impeccable...found her work to be of the highest quality...her peers hold her in high esteem...responsible assignments which she has carried out with vigor and completeness."

Aerospace Information Technology Management
As an employee, I audited the current status, then developed the full-lifecycle Information Technology system development methodology for a medium-sized aerospace firm based on industry standards. An audit of business software applications that were in use at this medium-sized company found a total of 84 “company-critical” applications, 10 being components of an Enterprise Resource Management system, the remainder mostly standalone on a variety of platforms.

Working with an internal team, developed Year 2000 strategies for managing or eliminating these applications. At the height of the Year 2000 panic, the manager of the 13-person Business Systems Department left; I took over as interim manager, held the team together, wrote most of the disaster recovery plan, and ensured that all critical systems kept working.

As the small aerospace firm merged into a Fortune Global 500 firm, we worked with other major companies across North America and Europe on one of the two proposal teams for what we believed might be the world's largest-ever aerospace contract. Our particular team worked with the other top-tier manufacturers to choose software for managing the project, and to design and build the proposal team's extranet linking but protecting the individual companies.

Fortune 500 Outsourcing
When much of the Business Systems Department was outsourced to a Fortune 500 consulting company, I helped them with integrating 11 sites across the United States, rationalizing their software catalogs, developing and implanting IT policies, procedures, methodologies and project management curriculum, and training project managers.

System development capabilities vs. industry standards
Software portfolio
Software capability
Systems inventory and architecture
New system requirements vs. company environment and changes needed
Tradeoff comparison of potential vendors vs. system requirements

Planning for standard business management support.
Planning for unique technical systems specific to individual operations
Defining information technology strategies and business and technical requirements,
Locating and evaluating appropriate system vendors,
Overseeing implementation of systems,
Ensuring that issues of system maintenance, security, and management of data are addressed.