Share and share alike
Setting up shared IT services certainly has its financial benefits for retail groups, but how does it affect competitive advantage for individual brands? Andy Mulholland, Capgemini chief technology officer, is quoted.
19 June 2007
Publication
One way around [striking the balance between delivering IT for the group and delivering for the operating company] is to distinguish between back-office and front-office functionality. The former is the generic IT that offers no differentiation for the individual retail brands and is best managed at a corporate level. The latter gives each business its competitive edge and, because each brand has different priorities and moves at different speeds, these should be led by the individual businesses.
Capgemini chief technology officer Andy Mulholland says: “This is an increasingly common way of addressing the split dilemma of some systems working for the chief financial officer - focused on cost, stability and compliance - versus the increasing demands of the operating business towards flexibility and externalisation of IT to help do better business in the market.”
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More about Capgemini Group Chief Technology Officer Andy Mulholland.
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