On this day in P1atter History...

"One thing that became blindingly obvious to me is that we don't have a clearly defined IT plan..."

10/30/97

Please join me in welcoming JohnLa, our new Director of MIS. His first day is Thursday, October 30th.

John is coming most recently from Cambridge Technology Partners, a prominent Massachusetts-based software development organization. John's background includes considerable experience as an IT consultant with a focus on information technology planning. He has extensive experience in designing, developing, and managing local and wide-area networks. His academic background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering and he is currently pursuing his MBA.

John will have responsibility for our MIS group in Norwood which serves the global needs of SilverPlatter with applications such as the Customer Database, the Accounts Receivable application, the production database, and other applications. Included as well in the group are Network Services, and Technical Services.

During my first 4 weeks at SiverPlatter I managed to meet someone from each and every one of our Si1verP1atter Offices, world-wide. One thing that became blindingly obvious to me is that we don't have a clearly defined IT plan nor a clear process by which users and business leaders can influence that plan. There is also no clear visibility for the whole organization into what is currently being worked on and when it will be available. This is frustrating for users and for people who work in the MIS group as well.

One of John's key objectives will be to establish both a plan and a process for reporting on and making changes to the plan. A key criteria for the effectiveness of the process is that it should facilitate co-creation between business users (who know what they want) and technical staff (who know how to get it).

John will have reporting to him the following groups and individuals (note that linked names are XPers...--AgentX):

• Network Services:
• RichR, Manager
• DaveRo
• RonS (*)
• A soon-to-be-announced Network administrator (MikeK)
• Technical Services:
• Bill Koback, Manager
• Dave Marshall
• Jay Piro
• Notes Development
• TBD, Notes Development Manager
• Brian Paslaski
• Application Development
• Bill Campbell (*)
• Jim Conlin (*)
• Jim McWeeney
• Mike Guerra (*)
• Mike Newirth (*)
• Sunil Belgaonkar
• Tom Bergman
• Tony Jordan
(*) are contractors.

Please don't hesitate to be in touch with JohnLa with your ideas, suggestions, and encouragement in building a Globally Effective and Locally Sensitive MIS group.

jd

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