IT managers grasp for global reach

13.03.2006
For many companies, going global with IT isn't a serene experience of hands-across-the-water teaming. Take Bausch & Lomb Inc., for example.

Historically, Bausch & Lomb's worldwide operations have been "very diverse," according to Steven Silverman, vice president of IT. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company currently has 24 different order entry systems around the globe.

But at the Premier 100 conference, Silverman said that Bausch & Lomb's CEO now wants the maker of vision-care products, surgical supplies and pharmaceuticals to develop common processes across all of its business units. That includes a plan to coalesce on a unified order entry system.

Silverman found that each of the company's local operations thought they required special software features. The company attacked the problem by asking teams from each division to bring a list of their requested modifications to the CEO and executive council. The initial total of 300 modifications dropped to about 150 just before the meeting, "and we walked out of the room with 100," Silverman said. "It's a good way to knock them out."

Other attendees at the conference, where Silverman took part in a panel discussion on making global IT work, recounted similar experiences.

Tom Halbouty, CIO at Pioneer Natural Resources Co. in Irving, Texas, said the energy consulting firm is trying to standardize applications in its operations around the world. But, he said, "you have to use products that are well supported in different countries." Sometimes that means one of Pioneer's first-choice applications turns out to be a bad fit.