Executive Sponsorship Key to KPN's Transformation (cont'd)

Planning and Direction
Regardless of IT’s attachments, Wijns could still see that KPN was generating more customer demand than its production infrastructure could serve. In fact, network build-out lagged behind its assigned budget. Wijns began to examine an end-to-end view not only of how KPN delivered services, but also what is absolutely needed to deliver services to customers, asking questions like:

• What are the tasks that must be completed?
• What has to be in place to provision a customer request?
• What capacity planning and deliver capabilities do we have?

He developed a strong understanding of network build and customer service delivery processes, and created a plan to fix them made up of manageable pieces that were prioritized for action. At every step of planning and execution, he examined his options. What packages exist? Would the projects be completed by IT? Would a systems integrator be able to accelerate the plan? Who needed to be on the Steering Committee to help drive the program, every day?

Building in regular reviews of the program, KPN was able to factor in market changes, economic imperatives and new commercial options. Wijns had created a set of success criteria and a governance structure that ensured priorities remained set by Customer and Business demands, not corporate inertia. He applied specific management principles, such as:

• Using the Steering Committee to monitor and re-direct activities as necessary
• Contracting flexibly to allow a shift in service emphasis when changing market conditions changed priorities
• Work only with application vendors who have the capability to configure and implement their systems. Selections included Remedy, MicroMuse and Cramer.
• Ask tough questions. Systems Integrators were asked to be specific in describing their ability to help make things quicker, cheaper or better. If they could not commit contractually to such deliverables, they were not hired. At press time, not one systems integration firm had been hired.
• Work in time-defined increments with specific outcomes so that market changes can be assessed and projects re-directed easily. Wijns says, “have a great vision and make small steps.”

Wijns' approach is very similar to that detailed in many books on Project Management. Yet, project management rules and guidelines alone rarely deliver their intended results. While KPN's program may share many characteristics with good management principles, it is driven by more. For KPN it was a motivated executive sponsor who was willing to push through his organization's resistance to change that lead to the success of its IT transformation.

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