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Mid-sized companies are considered by the industry to have between roughly 100 and 500 employees. A rapidly growing company moving at breakneck speed may quickly grow to this size, and when it does, change is inevitable. All facets of the business are forced to adjust and flex to accommodate new programs and policies as the business establishes and formalizes itself even more.
A business that is moving out of a 'small business' stage and into its awkward 'teenage' years as a 'mid-sized' business is certain to experience difficult growth pains. Nobody, no department, and no project is immune to the pains that are felt by a growing organization. IT always receives the brunt of the ill effects, and must deal with many problems and initiatives related to the expansion. They must review software, hardware, transitioning to new platforms, enterprise expansion and connectivity between systems.
The IT Managers take on an increasingly larger number of tasks as the organizations expansion occurs. IT tends to get their hands into everything, from Customer Relationship Management systems to Marketing programs - they are there through every step of the way. IT works on reviewing different software options and vendors, analyzing what platform and databases to run the new software on, and how to manage the implementation of this whole new system. Each department likely has its own software that it relies on, and IT is involved every step of the way in each.
Not only is effort expended on determining what systems the company will be moving to, but another issue is determine how this change will take place. Change management will help determine how youll move from one system to another without losing valuable data and information during the move. Analysis, documentation, and a solid plan are critical to get the move done right without losing information.
As an organization grows, it also becomes much more important to have reliable data. If the volume of data is growing rapidly, this can seem like an impossible task. A recent initiative by small, medium, and large companies alike is to implement master data management and data governance. These two programs combined work to identify the most critical data to the organization and institute controls and business rules to ensure that it is accurate and reliable. Data that is known to be clean and reliable is helpful in marketing, sales, and also in ensuring future growth. Good data can be used for financial and growth projects as well as estimates.
While it would be great if, from day one, the company founder put controls around data and used enterprise level system, that is usually not how it plays out. More likely, data was stored in Access, Excel, and on little sheets of paper. Some work was outsourced, others done in house, and all was saved in different ways. Bringing this all together and making it work is critical to success, and it falls on the IT managers to make this happen.
A business that is moving out of a 'small business' stage and into its awkward 'teenage' years as a 'mid-sized' business is certain to experience difficult growth pains. Nobody, no department, and no project is immune to the pains that are felt by a growing organization. IT always receives the brunt of the ill effects, and must deal with many problems and initiatives related to the expansion. They must review software, hardware, transitioning to new platforms, enterprise expansion and connectivity between systems.
The IT Managers take on an increasingly larger number of tasks as the organizations expansion occurs. IT tends to get their hands into everything, from Customer Relationship Management systems to Marketing programs - they are there through every step of the way. IT works on reviewing different software options and vendors, analyzing what platform and databases to run the new software on, and how to manage the implementation of this whole new system. Each department likely has its own software that it relies on, and IT is involved every step of the way in each.
Not only is effort expended on determining what systems the company will be moving to, but another issue is determine how this change will take place. Change management will help determine how youll move from one system to another without losing valuable data and information during the move. Analysis, documentation, and a solid plan are critical to get the move done right without losing information.
As an organization grows, it also becomes much more important to have reliable data. If the volume of data is growing rapidly, this can seem like an impossible task. A recent initiative by small, medium, and large companies alike is to implement master data management and data governance. These two programs combined work to identify the most critical data to the organization and institute controls and business rules to ensure that it is accurate and reliable. Data that is known to be clean and reliable is helpful in marketing, sales, and also in ensuring future growth. Good data can be used for financial and growth projects as well as estimates.
While it would be great if, from day one, the company founder put controls around data and used enterprise level system, that is usually not how it plays out. More likely, data was stored in Access, Excel, and on little sheets of paper. Some work was outsourced, others done in house, and all was saved in different ways. Bringing this all together and making it work is critical to success, and it falls on the IT managers to make this happen.
About the Author:
Master data management is critical to the success of an organiation, and this article discusses how to go about implementing it.
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