IT Consulting
At Setanta, we have a team of seasoned practitioners including former Fortune 500 CIOs, project directors, and technology specialists experienced in a wide range of industry verticals including manufacturing, engineering, LEAN, field service, distribution, international supply chain, aerospace, high-tech, leasing and finance, retail, housing, gaming, and automotive.
We are more cost-effective than large consulting companies and by bringing a truly independent perspective on architecture, vendor selection and procurement, risk management, IT process improvement and organizational development, we’ve saved our clients millions of dollars in operating and investment costs.
Our adaptable methodologies are grounded in real world experiences and your unique business needs rather than a one-size-fits-all consulting approach, transforming technology from a constraint to a sustainable competitive advantage.
Strategy Formulation and Value Optimization
If anything is certain in the next few years, it is uncertainty, and where there is uncertainty, there are opportunities but also risks. CIOs find themselves in the crosshairs because in many industries,technology has become a critical element of competitive advantage and a potential liability. In order to improve security and controls while rapidly driving innovation, they need a more holistic approach for planning and executing in disruptive times.
An agile IT strategy, therefore, must be treated as a continuous process rather than a periodic activity, and it must cover all elements of execution: governance, service delivery, technology, resources, and procurement. Wherever possible, the strategic plan should define pivot points and be divided into multiple generations, for example in response to external events, or where technology refreshes and major sourcing decisions occur, with emerging risks and opportunities being assessed at each decision point.
Controls and security are designed to get in the way. That’s the perception and often the reality. But, today the CIO must achieve the trick of protecting information assets against human error and an army of determined hackers, while making IT more responsive. At Setanta we find that many failings, at first look appearing to be technical weaknesses, have their root cause in processes that are either poorly defined, unmonitored, or too onerous to comply with.
An agile IT strategy must consider security and risk mitigation in every aspect of IT governance and organizational culture, from technology selection to day-to- day operations. Prescribing rigid procedures might seem counter to the objective of achieving flexibility. However, strong processes aligned with business requirements, automated where feasible, improve quality and responsiveness, reducing the resources required for routine tasks while freeing up time for innovation and high ROI projects.
The best IT organizations are measuring and optimizing their operations, not scrambling to keep up with routine user demands. Technology selection and architecture should prioritize adaptability, security, and manageability as part of a total lifetime cost perspective. An agile IT strategy should outsource commoditized services where they can be provided more cheaply or with higher quality, provide access to specialized skills, or supplement internal resources at times of abnormal demand.
For most organizations, core competencies for the IT team should combine frequently used technical, service delivery, project execution, and management capabilities. Lack of coordination between departments can block changes or cause chaos when changes break upstream or downstream processes. Cooperation and communication between departments and IT should be encouraged and institutionalized with cross-functional steering groups or similar approaches. A culture of knowledge sharing rather than hoarding should be encouraged, and rather than being a luxury when budgets permit, training should be a priority in any agile IT strategy to ensure that technical and project skills keep pace.
Read our white paper “Agile IT Strategy - Planning and Executing in Disruptive Times”
Interim and Fractional IT Executives
Setanta can provide highly experienced executives to fill temporary or part-time CIO or CTO positions. They will supply strategic guidance and operational leadership, grounded in real world experiences and tailored to your unique business needs. We are accustomed to building close working relationships at executive and board level, and have senior level contacts with major technology firms.
IT Innovation
CIOs should have a goal of driving down the ratio of IT spending on ongoing IT operations and maintenance relative to revenues. Process improvements, IT cost management, and sound vendor management practices will keep ongoing IT costs growing more slowly than business activity, accruing more revenue to the bottom line.
This also frees up resources and budget for new IT initiatives and R&D that support business objectives. Setanta will help your IT organizational overcome any technology, cultural, organizational, and operational barriers to making your IT organization an innovation center.
Resource Management and IT Organizational Development
To keep pace with rapidly changing technologies and business needs, CIOs need access to scarce technology and project related skill-sets. Setanta will develop a resource strategy that identifies your IT team’s core competencies and where external resources can fill the gaps cost effectively.
To keep your team up to speed, we will develop training plans that address not just technology skills, but also critical abilities such as requirements analysis, project management, and the disciplines necessary to deliver complex projects and realize their benefits.
ERP/CRM Package Selection, Procurement, Implementation, and Project Recovery
IT investments are inherently risky. A large proportion of projects fail to deliver expected benefits or fail altogether. While many technologies have become commoditized, developing custom business applications and implementing ERP or CRM packages remain high-risk endeavors. Even SaaS or cloud packages require careful implementation management to be successful. We have experience in a broad range of industries and implementations ranging from 25 to 50,000 users.
Our experienced IT practitioners can set your project on the right track or recover a failing project, addressing challenges that can can seem insurmountable to mid-size organizations and complex enterprises alike. We provide an unbiased, vendor independent view and can assist with:
Read our white paper “Information Technology Projects—High Risks for Low Rewards?”
Vendor Management and Procurement
Technology vendors are notoriously difficult to select and manage. Often, you need an advocate to discuss issues with vendors and support your financial commitments. Whether you have an existing vendor or a procurement need, Setanta’s decades of experience in vendor management is an asset to you and your business.
Setanta has strong relationships with proven vendors and can also provide an extensive network of vetted resources. We also support procurement efforts by writing RFPs, screening proposals and vendors, verifying references and completely a deeper dive to assure you have the best vendor to support your efforts.
IT Risk Management and Security
A holistic approach is required to safeguard your company’s information assets, systems, and reputation. Setanta’s security and network experts will assess your defenses against cyber-attacks, perform rigorous intrusion tests, and evaluate your internal controls and procedures.
Human factors involving insiders are responsible for over half of security incidents. We develop comprehensive security strategies that include user education, behavioral techniques to counter to social engineering, and creating management structures to improve IT execution and reduce human error. Our aim is to create an operating environment and culture where security is second nature.
Read our white paper “Security - the Human Factor”
Business Intelligence and Reporting
Our customers who invested in Business Intelligence (BI) solutions have gained deeper insights into key operational, financial, sales, and customer metrics. This provided opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity and customer retention. BI tools provide holistic access to data that is otherwise siloed in their legacy databases, current systems, and emerging sources such as data from geolocation data, click-streams, and mobile apps. Because this data is available near real-time and new perspectives can created quickly, it can be made meaningful and actionable to drive business transformation.
BI tools can also enhance your customers’ experience and improve retention by providing personalized and targeted data. Data visualizations can uncover hidden insights, and mobile applications can make critical data available anywhere. But implementing BI solutions can face barriers such as process and data inconsistencies, system version control issues, and operational complexities. Setanta has experienced resources who can overcome any obstacles, and extract the full value of your information assets.
Remote SQL Database Support
Don’t risk losing data or suffer downtime and performance problems.
Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL have become a ubiquitous technology powering many software applications. They are reliable and proven technologies, but without constant monitoring there is always a danger of data loss or corruption and unexpected performance problems. Our cost-effective SQL Database Services will manage these risks, protect your data, and keep your databases running efficiently.
Remote DBA service provided by a team of experienced database administrators, supporting Microsoft SQL Server 2000 through SQL Server 2016 and MySQL environments. Secure, efficient and thorough monitoring using manual and cloud-based automated techniques prevents database failures and downtime.
For more information download our brochure.
IT Governance and Service Delivery
We review overall IT performance management with a goal of helping you improve IT processes to deliver higher quality at reduced costs. We will recommend strategies appropriate to your company’s industry, trading conditions and culture, including centralizing IT management, post-acquisition consolidation, rationalizing application portfolios, re-engineering IT processes and procedures, implementing ITIL and COBIT frameworks, implementing help desks, strengthening project management disciplines, and establishing performance management metrics.
IT Audit
For new acquisitions or investments, our due diligence approach can reveal not just IT issues but growth constraints and control risks not revealed by traditional financial or operational due diligence. Our insights into a company’s IT capability, risks, and investment needs can also assist with pre-acquisition valuation and post-acquisition value maximization.
IT Due Diligence
For new acquisitions or investments, our due diligence approach can reveal not just IT issues but growth constraints and control risks not revealed by traditional financial or operational due diligence. Our insights into a company’s IT capability, risks, and investment needs can also assist with pre-acquisition valuation and post-acquisition value maximization.
Business Change Management
Whether you are a start-up, mid-size or multinational corporation, change brings challenges. Even the best systems have foundered because of Inadequate planning and structure around implementation, reluctant adoption, or lack of strong communication and leadership to support the vision.
Most business application projects involve some degree of process and organizational change that require management techniques and skills beyond technology delivery. Setanta’s change management experts have decades of experience and will structure your project from inception to address these risks, ensure a smoother implementation, and realize business benefits more rapidly.
Read our white paper “Managing Change – The Bigger Picture”
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning
Planning for unforeseen disasters is essential. Even if you aren’t located in an earthquake zone, flood zone, or other area at higher risk of natural disaster, incidents such as fires or chemical spills can render your facilities unusable. According to FEMA, two years after Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, 80 percent of the affected companies that lacked a business continuity plan had failed.
The stakes are high, but the costs of effective disaster recovery system and facilities can be prohibitive for what are perceived to be unlikely events. Setanta can develop comprehensive Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans that optimize your infrastructure and leverage the Cloud to mitigate the risks with minimal capital and operating costs.
Technology Architecture
Setanta’s experienced practitioners will architect your business applications, mobile apps, databases, and technology infrastructure to deliver the levels of performance, availability, maintainability, scalability essential to meet today’s business requirements.
We systematically address the conceptual layer, defining business and technical requirements; the logical layer, helping you select the appropriate classes of technology and available products; and the physical, defining the specific technology implementation and deployments.
Mobile Technology
Mobile devices encourage more productivity by empowering employees to work anytime and anyplace. But they also pose a significant risk of unauthorized data access, especially when employee owned devices are used. Mobile device management (MDM) software lets organizations control and secure access to smartphones and tablets.
However, the technology can be expensive and challenging to support in environments where a wide range of technologies are in use, and frequent operating system updates can render the MDM software ineffective.
Setanta will develop an overall strategy that takes into account any shortcomings of MDM solutions, including overall system architecture, secure VPN access, policies and procedures, and the employee training necessary to support and secure your mobile devices cost effectively.
Customer Experience Management
Retaining customers and winning new business requires a high-quality experience from Web interactions to service delivery and customer support. Process and technology improvements by companies such as Amazon have increased customer expectations dramatically: instant response, real-time inventory levels, 24/7 access, and a choice of communication channels— face-to-face, phone, email, web, mobile.
The rise of technology has brought seismic shifts to marketing: your best customers can be powerful advocates for your company, but conversely unhappy customers can be visible detractors that can do great damage to your reputation.
Setanta can develop a winning strategy to enhance and integrate your customers’ experience, and leverage your information assets to improve business processes.
Industrial Internet of Things
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has the potential for delivering growth by increasing productivity, transforming business models, and empowering employees. Benefits can also be realized in the areas of employee safety and customer retention.
Nevertheless, technology must be chosen judiciously depending on the specific application and operating environment, and successful adoption may require cultural change on the part of customers and employees. Setanta can help you develop your IIoT strategy, select appropriate technologies, re-engineer business processes, execute projects, and realize the benefits.
Cloud Migration
We will assess your infrastructure and business applications to develop and overall strategy for leveraging the Cloud and managing any systems that must remain on premises.
Our experienced technical resources will create a secure virtual private cloud, define operational procedures, and implement tools. We will architect high availability and scalable server and storage solutions with disaster recovery, and develop network redundancy and performance requirements.