Project Kickstart Speeds Innovation at Hewlett-Packard
From story by Peter Ruber, Beyond Computing Magazine
(download)
The Customer
David Little, Program Manager, Hewlett-Packard Outsourcing Services Group
The Challenge
Planning and communicating projects in a fast-paced, high-tech environment.
The Solution
Dave Little's job at HP takes him all over the world and he takes Project KickStart
with him on every job. He's currently working on information technology
outsourcing projects in 14 different countries. When Little began a project
in France recently, on his recommendation the customer company purchased
copies of Project KickStart for its entire enterprise.
When Hewlett-Packard entered the outsourcing services business, the company
managed this complex undertaking with the intuitive, easy-to-use project
planning software, Project KickStart. Offering outsourcing expertise
in enterprise resource planning (ERP) and application management, mission
critical services, desktop management services and E-services, HP's outsourcing
team is bound to run into obstacles. Each new customer has its own set
of issues, and each must be dealt with individually.
“There's just no cookie cutter approach to effective
outsourcing,” says Little. “We have to plan and schedule each customer
project as if it
were the first we've ever undertaken. A company that decides to outsource
puts a lot of trust in the partners it chooses. These companies must
have confidence in our ability to understand how they work so that we
can help them work better. With Project KickStart , we have the tools
we need to give us that understanding. We invariably run into obstacles
when implementing our outsourcing services, and Project KickStart helps
us address those obstacles and deal with them effectively.”
Project KickStart helps Little plan for and manage a variety of different
projects. "An
ERP assignment, for instance, requires continuous monitoring and problem
management, system administration and performance management, wide and
local area network management, database administration, proactive capacity
management, controlled change management and ERP infrastructure housing."
Little adds, “E-services, on the other hand, demands operation and management
of enterprise-size networks; web-farms and storage infrastructures, locating
servers in multi-site data centers, comprehensive monitoring, reporting
and early intervention for problem prevention, full support, and guaranteed
service levels."
No matter what the scope, Little is convinced, "Project
KickStart is a real confidence builder. You sit down with it, and in
about 30 minutes, you can put together a very impressive project plan
and schedule. Nobody believes it's that easy until they use Project KickStart
for the first time. After that, they're converts."
The Benefits
For David Little of Hewlett-Packard, Project Kickstart provides:
- Fast and detailed plans
- Preventive obstacle planning
- Reliable and consistent approach to every size and complexity of project
Learn more | Free trial | Buy Project KickStart