General Motors made ripples in the the auto industry when it announced its Information Technology transformation in 2012. Traditionally giving 90 percent of its IT work to third party companies and only keeping 10 percent for itself, The General’s IT operations — from data to intelligence and from tools to infrastructure — were spread out across a myriad of systems (thanks to the rampant amount of outsourcing), and were slowing the company down from nearly every angle, putting it at a significant competitive disadvantage. In simple terms, GM’s IT needed a fresh start.
The General decided to bring its IT operations in-house, flipping those 90/10 figures in favor of in-house work. And to do so effectively, it needed new locations to house a substantially larger Information Technology staff. Today, GM has already resolved both of those difficulties: it has already built and opened the four IT innovation centers, and is at 75 percent of its hiring goals across the four locations.
But what is GM really looking to do with the new staff and locations, and how will they help The General’s business?
According to a recent interview with GM CIO Randy Mott, the IT transformation has four main objectives and initiatives:
- To double the speed of project delivery
- To triple innovation
- To build enterprise data centers
- To create an enterprise data warehouse
Simply put, the initiative will give GM a competitive advantage.
As of August 2014, The General is “more than halfway there” on those objectives and initiatives, according to Mott.
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