Global IT Transformation — Manufacturing

June 1, 2025

The Engagement

A midsize manufacturing company with seasonal peak operations, global sites, and a growing digital footprint. Their IT operations were running on project management tooling repurposed as a service desk — no CMDB, no SLA tracking, no asset lifecycle management. The board wanted to invest in infrastructure modernization but needed someone to translate the technical reality into business language.

What I Delivered

ITSM Modernization Roadmap

Assessed the current state and designed a phased migration plan:

Phase 1 (off-season pilot): Migrate support tickets from project tooling into a dedicated ITSM platform. Build the CMDB for core data center assets
Phase 2 (Q3): Hardware and software inventory import, license reconciliation against ERP, first round of license cost optimization
Phase 3 (Q3-Q4): Self-service portal and knowledge base — reducing support calls and improving satisfaction before the Q4 peak season
Phase 4 (Q4): Live SLA reporting and board dashboard with KPIs for CEO/CFO. Foundation for ISO 20000 readiness

SOC Assurance Program

Designed a continuous improvement framework for security operations:

Scenario-based testing with review cycles tied to SLA performance
Correlation rules and response runbooks updated per iteration
CISO briefing structure and ESG audit trail integration
Positioned as a formal assurance program supporting procurement compliance, ISO audits, and municipality RFPs

The Business Case

Built the board presentation from scratch — translating infrastructure risk into financial language:

30% software license savings in year one through automated SAM/ITAM optimization
Single-digit MTTR via structured incident processes — direct productivity gains and reduced seasonal risk
Proactive contract management preventing missed termination and renegotiation deadlines — up to 10% budget savings
Total 5-year investment envelope: frugal by peer benchmarks, with sub-36-month payback
Framed every infrastructure pillar against the company's core values — spend as insurance and enabler, not IT for IT's sake

What Made It Hard

The gap between what IT knew was broken and what the board understood was significant. The technical assessment was straightforward — the translation into "this is what a firewall failure on December 22nd costs us" was where the real work happened. Seasonal business adds a constraint most IT transformations don't have: you can't migrate anything during peak. Every phase had to be timed around the revenue calendar.