At the beginning of every new year I review the past year’s triumphs and hurdles to not only correctly acknowledge what was accomplished but to layout the IT strategic plan for the new year.

One of the key reasons IT is so mis-understood or not recognized by upper management is that no one really knows what happens in IT and the efforts required to pull off various projects.  It’s rather like simply taking for granted that the lights continue to shine or the power to the building is always there. You don’t really notice until they stop working and then all hell breaks loose.

In our modern world the non-IT person completely under estimates the effort needed to implement IT solutions.  They have the concept of so-and-so and thus it should just happen, right? This is where expert communication is needed to fully enlighten and keep informed the stake holders and users for any IT project.

Unfortunately many IT executives communicate poorly to upper management and to the user base, if at all.  This keeps the IT dept in a sort of “mystery” and generally under appreciated.  So, my motto is keep interested parties informed on what is going on.  Very simple but very powerful.

So, what was accomplished by my IT Dept in 2010?

• Rebuilt the IT Dept through personnel changes, clear job descriptions, regular weekly meetings, setting of strategic plans, establishing steering committees and generally putting in effective management.
• Created an effective IT Help Desk by hiring two staff, rolling out the first ever ticketing system at the company and grooving in the team to service the 180+ end-users.  The result has been over 1,100 resolved tickets and a positive shift to satisfied customers.
• Resurrected the dead corp intranet on a new platform (Mindtouch Enterprise Wiki) with all new content.  The result has been the re-establishment of vital shared information in the company and the first ever comprehensive knowledge base for the IT Dept.
• Rolled out the first enterprise anti-virus solution (using Symantec Endpoint Protection) to provide improved security and safety for individual PCs, laptops and servers.
• Rolled out an ERP integrated warehouse shipping solution (Logicor Globalship) that improved warehouse shipment efficiency by 1,000%.
• Rolled out an ERP integrated sales tax solution (ADP Taxware) that streamlined sales tax calculations on all orders and obviated the need to have sales tax returns prepared and filed in 100s of jurisdictions.
• Placed all Xerox copiers under a fleet contract and saved the company $788/month.
• Rolled out the first Microsoft Active Directory network at the company to 65% of the users across 4 offices with 3 offices left to go.
• Successful desktop/laptop upgrades for 65% of the users resulting in faster more reliable systems.
• WAN/LAN upgrades that have increased Internet access performance by 700%.
• Successful upgrades to the ERP system including 4x memory, latest ERP version, new 64-bit Linux base OS and various custom modifications.
• Successful launch of the first ever e-commerce website for the company – Tools4Heroes.com (see my poston the launch).  Project triumphs:
  • Debugged and established the ERP API integration with the website for product synchronization and web sales order insertions.
  • Prepared a 2,000+ product database including images, descriptions, weights and pricing.
  • Integrated the website with the new Logicor Globalship shipping system for real-time shipping cost estimates.
  • Integrated the website with the new ADP Taxware system for correct sales tax calculations on all orders.
  • Complete shopping cart setup including an Internet merchant bank account, payment gateway and working with Accounting to ensure all monies flowing properly.
  • Established the internal order fulfillment processes and procedures to provide excellent customer service.
• Successful emergency move of the Firebooks.com website to another ISP when the old one went out of business unexpectedly.
• Over 2,300 custom ERP reports delivered to end-users.
• Successful roll-out of the first ever email marketing system for Marketing using Vertical Response.
• Successful implementation of a new ERP product pricing process which cut update time by 50-70%

Whew!  It was a busy year and most of the above was done after I joined in March or in the last 9 months of the year.  This was all done with a relatively small group of staff – 2 Help Desk, 1-2 System Admins, 4.5 Product DB staff, .75 ERP Reports staff and 2 out-sourced web developers.

It was a very good year!