Sept. 11, 2000

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IT Initiatives Support Shifts In Business Strategy

By Aisha M. Williams

n January, amid a three-year battle with Andersen Consulting over its intention to separate from the organization, Arthur Andersen, the accounting unit of Andersen Worldwide, launched its new global identity. The logo, an orange sphere interlocking with the orange-and-red words "Arthur Andersen," signified a change in the company's business strategy. Traditionally focused on clients with hard assets and industrial strength, Arthur Andersen declared on that day that it would also cater to young companies marketing business-to-business platforms, Internet-based services, and new media.

Certain IT initiatives were put into play to ensure that the launch went off without a hitch and Arthur Andersen could successfully serve its new client base. For the launch itself, Arthur Andersen upgraded its existing multimedia-streaming capabilities to handle media Webcast briefings and a global intranet Webcast that employees had access to throughout the day and night of the launch. And it has undertaken several IT projects to reach and collaborate with its clients in new, more efficient ways. The company upgraded more than 80,000 desktops for its employees and incorporated the new logo into each. It also recently deployed an IP-based virtual private network. This, according to Richard Boulton, CIO of Arthur Andersen, will let the company use the Internet as an extension of its ATM-and frame relay-based network. The company also installed a voice-over-IP application.

Yet some analysts say that the company's internal implementations still are very traditional. "Arthur Andersen's in-house implementations are not unique when compared to other providers and E-consultants, like Groundswell," says Tom Rodenhauser, an analyst at Consulting Information Services LLC.

Two years ago, Arthur Andersen launched a huge knowledge management initiative. The strategy centered on making available to its clients a vast amount of best-practices information from its own intranet. This initiative was similar to one at Ernst & Young at the time, according to Rodenhauser.

"It's always a catch-22 when consultants use IT to streamline business processes, and is almost akin to doctors giving self-diagnosis," he says. "But it did give Arthur Andersen's clients easier access to information on specific vertical industries, benchmarks, and the like."

Nowadays, providing access to such information is a given, Rodenhauser says. Arthur Andersen isn't necessarily ahead of the game in that area, he says. The company now uses the Internet to let its employees work interactively with clients on projects, and to establish permanent network connections between staff and clients via an extranet.

Attracting and keeping quality employees are also serious issues. "Clearly, one of our biggest challenges is making sure we have the right skills in-house to make sure everything runs smoothly, and an IT staff that's experienced in deploying Web-based technology," says Boulton. He says the company does its best to win new hires over by offering them the types of projects they are most interested in undertaking.

Return to main story, "Easier People Tracking"

Illustration by Jeffrey Fisher

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