Ten portable accountants backfilled positions and managed the old system. Traditionally, an enterprise relied on its permanent executives to manage operations and on outside consultants to analyze operations and recommend changes to the business design. But for rapid change, this approach has limitations. It is a problem, especially in the face of complex and costly projects such as those to upgrade and integrate information technology, to implement supply chain synchronization, to join the world of electronic commerce, to open up international markets, to integrate newly-acquired companies or to carry out innovative manufacturing programs and complicated certification programs. Moreover, the executives on staff are often already stretched thin and do not always have the knowledge and skills to plan, develop, implement and maintain a new initiative.
Portable executives can be a solution.
The company needed an executive who had managed a large IS department, and helped manage the transition from a mainframe computing environment to a network client-server environment. The key to the assignment, however, was the interim CIO s skill in acting as a transition facilitator and helping to direct employees who did not report to him. The company retained an interim CIO with over 20 years experience in information systems management and who had had total responsibility for applications programming, computer operations, communications, technical support and PC Network support. At the end of her year-long assignment, the transition to the new technology platforms was deemed a success and she left. From decision making to deal making to communications to product introduction, speed, more often than not, ends up being the competitive differentiator.