We provide consulting services in the following areas
IT Strategy & IT Operations
In today’s ever-changing digitized world, every organization must have the most appropriate IT strategy to support their changing business needs.
We have assisted many organizations to:
- Assess develop or fine tune their IT strategy.
- Develop business cases and road maps for execution.
To support business operations and to improve business resilience, IT Operations must be efficient, well-managed and, it must adhere to the organization’s controls environment. This is especially important when critical business applications are moved to the “cloud” or when organizations subscribe to SaaS offerings.
We have assisted many IT groups to:
- Identify gaps in their support operations.
- Improve support processes.
- Re-align support roles to reflect changes in IT delivery models.
IT Outsourcing/Right Sourcing
With the increased use of the “cloud” and SaaS applications, many organizations are questioning the need to keep a “large” IT support group and are grappling with the issue of outsourcing IT.
We have assisted many large and medium-size enterprises to answer these critical questions and have:
- Performed outsourcing feasibility studies.
- Developed and issued outsourcing Requests for Information (RFI) or Requests for Proposal (RFP).
- Reviewed outsourcing SOWs and SLAs to determine compliance to agreed-to terms.
- Defined Statements of Works and defined meaningful and measurable IT Service Level Definitions and Service Level Agreements.
- Re-organized the IT department and updated IT processes to complement an outsourced/cloud/SaaS model.
- Defined and developed an outsourcer governance function.
- Assisted clients to insource strategic services back from an IT outsourcer.
Program & Project Management
Our in-depth knowledge of, and experience in IT, IT Operations, business processes and controls provide added value to the programs and projects that we manage.
When managing projects, we are typically involved in the entire project lifecycle (from business case development to project close). We adhere to our client’s project management methodology and gating processes. As required, we prepare and submit change requests and attend CAB meetings. We ensure that all project documentation are created and signed off, and when necessary, we assist the project teams to create these documents.
We have managed various types of projects and complexities, from "straight forward" equipment and software installations at a single or multiple sites, to enterprise-wide desktop upgrades/deployments, to high risk data centre and office relocations to complex IT transformations.
Governance, Risk and Compliance
We have extensive experience with governance, risk, compliance and controls frameworks having worked in roles within internal and external audit.
We also have extensive with with third party reporting including CSAE 3416/SOC testing and Sarbanes-Oxley testing of internal controls over business and IT processes.
We have assisted many clients with::
- Cyber, technology and risk assessments.
- Internal audit staff augmentation.
- Project risk management.
- Control and compliance review and framework development.
- Pre-assessment audits.
- Project management and project co-ordination of audit and compliance reviews.
Data Centre & IT Facilities Assessment & Design
The foundation for providing reliable IT and network services to support business operations lies with well-designed and properly configured data centres, computer rooms, technology rooms (i.e., hub rooms/wiring closets, telephone rooms, etc.) in corporate office locations, satellite offices and especially in retail locations where space is at a premium and physical security is a challenge.
We have extensive hands-on experience assessing and designing data centres, computer rooms, hub rooms/wiring closets, equipment racks/cabinets, telephone rooms, telecommunications rooms and technology labs in both corporate office and retail locations.
Data Centre & Technology Relocation
A data centre or office move sounds simple, but it is quite complex and requires a lot of time and attention to detail (at the onset) to properly plan and execute the move. Move planning doesn't start weeks before the move date - it starts when construction begins!
We have significant experience working with interior designers, construction management, telecom providers and building management to plan and manage moves. We have:
- Represented IT at construction meetings during the build of the new premises.
- Assisted IT to redesign the physical network infrastructure (cabling, equipment, circuits) at the new premises.
- Co-ordinated the relocation of existing, or the installation of new, voice & data systems and services at the new premises..
- Developed the IT move strategy, detailed IT move plan (complete with contingencies) and communications plan.
- Co-ordinated the testing of all voice and data systems.
- Been on-site during all IT move activities to resolve installation or testing issues.
We do what is required for a successful technology move!
Business Resilience - DRP, BCP and more
World events can quickly, and unexpectantly, affect your business operations for an undetermined amount of time. COVID-19 as a prime example.
A comprehensive, flexible and executable business resilience plan will help you adapt to such situations in a controlled manner.
Business resilience is more than having a DRP and BCP in place. An effective business resilience plan must include exceptions to certain corporate policies and it must include elements of an Executive succession plan.
Our consultants have the technical, business process and risk mitigation experience to:
- Create an effective and executable Disaster Recovery Plan.
- Facilitate or create effective Business Continuity Plans for each Business Unit.
- Propose an appropriate “succession” plan that clearly identifies new roles and responsibilities should a particular Executive not be available.
We have created and reviewed DRPs and BCPs for many clients and have created decision trees to triage events so that management can determine what elements, if any, of a DRP/BCP it should execute.