We've done very well in Gartner Group's benchmark program. Effective marketing is another important skill set IT professionals must develop to bolster their shared-services organizations. For example, it formed a marketing group that pitches new network and desktop support programs to employees. Another group, IT Systems Integration, evaluates hardware and software products for the company's IT environment and recommends those products to customers. Nevertheless, the organization admittedly has a long way to go to fine-tune its customer service capabilities.
Customers still insist on buying what they want.
Often, these products don't fit into our IT infrastructure. But that could change. Taylor says Blue Cross' shared-services group is pushing for a policy where it would have to approve any software before it could be loaded onto a server. Meanwhile, Taylor says the IT Systems Integration group is trying to get as close to business units as possible, often inviting department heads to meetings with vendors.