The Client

This nationwide, multi-line insurance company is dedicated to helping professionals and their families achieve lifelong financial wellbeing through personalized service, advice and a full range of tailored products including auto and homeowners insurance, retirement annuities and life insurance.

The Challenge

To maintain its strong market share while continuing to enhance the value of the products and services it delivers, this client is committed to operational excellence and expense management. These objectives propelled its decision to replace existing technology that was difficult and costly to maintain with Microsoft® BizTalk® server. BizTalk would not only allow the company to automate and integrate its processes; it would also strengthen its ability to make faster, more informed decisions based on real-time data.

After the initial project to deploy BizTalk fell short of expectations, an in-depth project debrief was conducted to determine the cause. The review indicated the problems were not technology related; rather, it pointed to cultural and communication roadblocks that impeded proper implementation. In order to ensure a successful BizTalk re-launch and position itself to effectively support future strategic business initiatives, the IT department needed to:

• Reinvent its project approach, and focus on building an inclusive environment that fosters teamwork, communication and a shared vision of and passionate commitment to project success.
• Ensure its goals and strategies directly support the company’s brand values, and its team fully understood the link between the team’s contributions and company goals. "I had heard from staff that they had a hard time connecting what they did to the company’s brand values," said the client’s VP/CIO. "We needed to bring our brand beliefs to life in IT. By aligning the two we could get people enthused and on board, and get the BizTalk project - and all future projects - done the right way."

The Solution

To ensure the re-launch of the BizTalk project would meet expectations and help drive growth and profitability across the organization, this client turned to MPS Partners for support. A thought-leading business and technology consultancy, MPS Partners provides management consulting services that enable companies to turn vision into value. "When I first learned about the POWERSHIP® model, I thought it was almost too simple to work," said the VP/CIO. "It was a very easy-to-understand concept and plan - a methodology people could grasp and implement quickly."

MPS Partners began by adapting the POWERSHIP® model to the company’s business and culture, and helped the IT division create a new, cross-functional business strategy team. "The POWERSHIP® model required we establish a team of individuals from different departments and with varying job functions to provide a voice for each and every person within the division," said the VP/CIO. The POWERSHIP® team is governed by rules that ensure all departments are equally represented and members are regularly rotated to maintain an objective, cross-functional perspective on the needs of the IT organization. Since the primary goal of POWERSHIP® is employee empowerment, the number of managers on the team is limited to no more than 30 percent of its members.

Over a two-month period, MPS Partners worked closely with the client’s POWERSHIP® team members, providing on-the-job coaching, training and mentoring to facilitate knowledge and skill transfer. Through this process, employees developed a clear understanding of how their roles aligned with and supported the business strategy and brand, and a powerful transformation began to take root. IT management noted that employees involved in the POWERSHIP® team improved their leadership abilities, took greater accountability for their work and began to shift from an IT mindset to a business mindset.

Next, a POWERSHIP® BizTalk team was formed and MPS Partners provided the same mentorship and OJT for this group. POWERSHIP® was also used to help all constituents - including managers, employees and clients - understand the critical alignment between the BizTalk initiative and the company’s strategic objectives. According to the VP/CIO, "POWERSHIP® set the stage for maximized productivity from everyone in the organization."

Through its POWERSHIP® model, MPS Partners helped the client’s IT department:

• Establish a cross-functional POWERSHIP® team with equal representation from every IT department that drives the strategy within the organization and gives all department employees an equal opportunity to voice their thoughts, opinions and ideas
• Implement a comprehensive, repeatable and flexible project planning methodology
• Engender a shared enthusiasm, motivation and commitment to excellence among employees who now understand the importance of their contributions, the role they play in serving the end customer and the impact each and every person has on the growth of the company

The Results

The MPS Partners POWERSHIP® model enabled the client’s IT group to:

• Achieve a significant cultural transformation
• Overcome significant communication, collaboration and teamwork issues that had prevented the effective deployment of BizTalk
• Establish the proper foundation for accomplishing future business-driving IT imperatives

"Through the POWERSHIP® process, we now have an incredibly energized, committed, responsible staff that is moving the BizTalk project forward in ways that we couldn’t have imagined," concluded the VP/CIO. "Our team members are empowered to speak up when they see a potential issue and hold themselves accountable for making sure this project is done right. A spirit of openness and partnership now exists across the organization, and we are right on track for a successful BizTalk deployment and well positioned for future project success."

For a printed version of this case study, click the link below.

POWERSHIP - MPS Partners Case Study