To support you the Business Manager or IT professional within an SME or autonomous corporate division as you battle to leverage increasingly complex and mission critical IT to remain competitive, IT Assistant is a comprehensive cost effective set of tools and services.

Getting another headache?

Your IT Assistant provides risk mitigation too- a very big issue. A formal link between IT and your company’s strategy, measured continuously over time ensures best-fit and Return on Investment so far as is possible today. No more issues here.

Yet Another Day On The Assault Course? …

Further, exposure to suppliers in the selection process is minimized, providing you with the upper hand. Only those suppliers that can truly add value to your business are engaged. You remain in real firm control.

Get Some Help Fast!!!….

By becoming adept, and with IT Assistant you will, IT need no longer be the management issue it is.  Your professional IT assistant provides the full range of skills; tools, support, and infrastructure needed by any company to successfully capitalize IT.

Overview IT Assistant…

YOUR IT Assistant comprises the following to make sure you STAY in Control of IT:

IT Assistant Overview Process

Control Your IT Strategy in Context of Business needs

Define and Optimise your Requirements: Do you need IT?

Solution Architect and Partner Syndication - Chart Your Solution

Sourcing and Procurement of Your Solution

Project Management for Delivery of Your Solution

Tools: Your Project Environment - Management and Control

Change Management - Issues Addressed and Under Control

Education and Training - Don't be cought out on this

Support - The Only Thing That Counts When Running

People and Skills Pool - You Don't Have Or Want The Staff?...

ASP's: HOT TOPIC for SME's - What ASP's Mean For You

Financials: Financing Key Considerations and Options - Getting ROI.

Summary Benefits of YOUR IT Assistant...

Business Strategy with IT - link.

A business benchmarking “snapshot” to position your company relative to its peers provides a clear and unambiguous understanding of the financial and managerial strengths and weaknesses of the business.

Any significant IT investment can be measured against this baseline with the subsequent benefits clearly identified and tracked over time. As with any measurement, the fact you can target, and do target drivers on business and operational level in its own right means you have more chance of success.

Understand More: - Process of Linking Business Strategy to IT

Business Strategy to IT – Control.

Formal control linking IT strategy to business management is introduced through the Balanced Scorecard. This forms the supporting structure upon which a stable integrated IT infrastructure can be built. Business Simulation is also undertaken if necessary.

Faced with what has mostly been a “chicken and egg” conundrum, most companies wrongly undertake these activities at the end of the process when the systems are already in place, and the decisions are already made; hmmm…

The integrated Benchmarking and Scorecard components with simulation ensure a superior “top down from the top” approach to IT…at the start when you can still change…not at the end when you can’t !!!

Which looks better for you…the left or the right?

Understand More: IT Control Through Benchmarking and The Balanced Scorecard:-

Requirements Optimization, Clarification and Definition

Organizations that require new IT solutions will often have their requirements defined in broad terms and approach IT suppliers. The problem is the IT suppliers will genuinely try to establish the prospective clients requirements - but will always provide a solution that suits them and their products. Obvious, but when you rely on them for “advice” do you expect impartial advice…

The use of “IT Management Consultants” to provide a “boiler plate” invitation to tender documents is a waste of money because IT suppliers will give the ITT little regard.

Due to the experience of our Consultants in selling and implementing the worlds premier business systems, we at Performance Track understand the “game” from the inside. This inside knowledge is combined with the business perspective gleaned from the benchmarking snapshot to provide a requirements definition that will be unique and centric to you, including target KPI’s and objectives.

Understand More: Simplify and Optimise Before You Automate

Solution Architect and Partner Syndication

The IT Assistant facilitates solution architecture, which covers a “plug and play” of strategy/vision, scenario simulation analysis, justification, contract selection and procurement, implementation, training & support, upgrade and renewal all linked to the company’s strategy.

Performance Track has extensive experience in achieving results through partner syndication and of course all partners are aligned to the company via Performance Track’s open standards and strategy linkage.

Understand More: Define The Right Solution - Lessons from Construction

Sourcing and Procurement

IT sourcing and procurement can be a minefield and often results in disappointment in the end result. To source and procure yourself leaves your company open to Professional sales people (50% of IT companies costs are sales related) and tactics, which results in you facing a number of vendors offering similar, priced plausible solutions. This normally results in choosing the vendor that you trust and like the most.

Performance Track’s sourcing and procurement aid will protect from this barrage and will ensure that the best possible solution (fit and price) will be sourced that aligns to your business strategy.

Understand More: Procurement; Harness the NET - Watch the Sharks and Become A Good Keeper

Project Management

With IT projects becoming increasingly complex and the avoidance of failure critical, the management of these projects has never been so key. Relying on part time/part skilled in-house management and/or vendor Project managers who have their own company’s interests at heart can lead to problems. Performance Track’s IT Assistant has the solution to this problem by supplying very experienced IT project managers who “sit on your side of the table” with only your interests at heart to ensure that projects are carried out as intended and to schedule.

Understand More: Professional Project Management - Your Key to Successful IT

Project Environment  

The biggest single issue when undertaking a project operationally is open standards, communication, collaboration, and documentation. Timely access to people, contractors, consultants, key users, decision makers, record taking, target setting etc. No project ever is successful if these factors are not given full attention. It is easy in the “thick of things” to make decisions, not discuss, not communicate, and not document. Clearly, this is to do with project management, but also infrastructure.

The use of an e-Project Environment supported through the Internet for collaboration by Performance Track ensures that all parties communicate effectively and aids the management of this classical problem.

Understand More:Your Project Environment- Collaborate Successfully To Win

Change Management

Performance Track provides a full range of change management resources covering strategic management, IT systems, detailed operations management and Six Sigma projects.

Understand more: Not Just Technology - People Are Involved If YOU Want Benefits

Education & Training

Performance Track provides Education and Training ranging from Management education to end user training.

Understand More:The Critical Reasons To Educate And Train

Support

A full range of support services can be acquired via Performance Track.

Understand More:Support Is What To Care About - Service Level Agreements And Other Issues

People and Skills Pool

With ever changing technologies and more complex IT projects the availability of skilled people is a critical issue. You are currently faced with two alternatives use a solution provider consultancy who does not have a broad range of skills or a “body shop” who has a broad range of skill resources but no solution experience. This leaves you with either managing the project yourself or paying for expensive consultants via a solution provider.

Your IT Assistant is the answer. It lets you to take full advantage of the open consultant / contract market with the skills and tools you would get from a traditional consulting services company.

Understand More:Get The Best People For Your Job - Issues of Hire, Consulting, and More

ASPs

The recent phenomenon of Application Service Providers offering the “hiring” and hosting of applications off site may or may not be successful with the “jury still out”. Performance Tracks IT Assistant can be used to ensure that any ASP is suitable and will cover the company’s critical processes and links to its strategy.

Understand More: The Inside Issues You Must Understand With ASP's

Key Financial and ROI Considerations

Next to getting the right solution is paying for it, and making sure you get your money back. There are many ways to pay for Hardware, Software and Services, with each option more or less suited to a company's given set of unique circumstances. Returns can be influenced as much by when you buy, as much as what you buy, and how you pay for it. Returns and Costs are also broad and far reaching.

Understand More: The Secret to ROI - The Whole Picture

Benefits of IT Assistant

The issue then is how does a customer know what he wants and needs, gets the best option for a given set of circumstances, and has assurances it will be delivered and supported with the minimum of aggravation and maximum ongoing benefit?

·          By using IT Assistant You the customer gets help and guidance through this maize. Our service offers help, impartial advice, tools and guidance through the whole process from system selection to on-going support.

·          You will be in a position to make an informed decision, based on impartial advice and known needs. Our customers have a secured environment, which will let you make a commitment with the peace of mind that the right decision has been made, and that there is recourse.

·        Known risks and opportunities will have been identified and discussed between you the customer and supplier.   

·          You the Customer (Buyer) for the first time can be in “real” control of an IT business solution purchasing process and decision process.

·          With the IT Assistant You will, reduce the disruption, minimize the cost, get to break even quicker and get to a new level of productivity (ROI) quicker and more smoothly.

·          Productivity indicators at critical points in the project measure the achieved results using Performance Track’s Applied Business Metrics™. The trend in the measures coupled with the phase of the project enable us to identify at which point we are at, and effectively drive to the next stage, and the next phase of the project. In other words, proactive planned control and actions suited to the project phase substitute reactive gut feel actions based on symptoms and instinct.

·          This helps to ensure that gains are realized faster, more smoothly and targets are at least met if not exceeded.

Avoid many of the traditional pitfalls associated with IT like waste, unnecessary or poor purchases, bad project management and control, and support issues and supplier lock in.

Finally, you are free to focus on running the business day to day whilst assuming an overseeing role to the changes. Your operational role in the project as senior manager becomes preparing the business for change, and introducing change – both internally and to the market. The project and the company benefits from your IT assistants dedicated professional support, freeing your time and avoiding mistakes.