An Interview with Brian Beams, vice president of IT Services at Pharmavite.
The Enterprisers Project (TEP): What's the link for you between risk-taking and IT transformation?
Brian Beams: Our IT transformation is a continuing journey with us five years into it. Our goal is to transform from being an order taker to a business enabler. This whole idea of making a solid foundation first and then moving your way up the chain entails risk, because you first need to be able to show quick results. From there, it's about how you take it to that next level to say, “How can we show you what’s possible?” Then, "How do we help you work through envisioning what’s right for your area?" And then working with you to actually build out the right road maps that are going to drive value in the different areas of the business, and then also look at that comprehensively across the company.
TEP: What's the opportunity for IT among all that risk?
Beams: I think the biggest opportunity we have is to help our other executives understand what is going to deliver the biggest value. That will help us lay out what the right priorities are for us. Like a lot of companies, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs in terms of the number of things we put on a technology solutions wish list. The risk-taking piece of that is about determining what the right risks are and prioritizing things that will move the needle for the company.
TEP: So learning and prioritizing are key to taking some of the riskiness out of risk.
Beams: The reality is that if you have a little bit of budget here and there you can’t move the needle on making big, impactful changes. Thinking about the impact to the business is one reason we’ve transitioned IT from talking about projects to talking about business programs. These are programs that are typically going to be many years long, such as our product lifecycle management (PLM) program.
TEP: How do you take the risk out of a multi-year initiative like that?
Beams: We did a cost-benefit on the entire program, and we said we’re going to spend $X million — and we’re going to make a commitment because we know that there is value in doing the entire program and not just one phase. The key is creating the most appropriate phasing and aligning with all of the other corporate priorities. We started on that journey this past year.
TEP: Tying value to an initiative sounds like a great choice.
Beams: Well, this way we’ll be able to have a better conversation because we're always talking about the value. As I said, we’re also going to be able to drive programs, not projects. That just clicked this year with me. And both our executive team and our board have started to say, “Oh, I get these things now.”
Brian Beams joined Pharmavite LLC (the makers of Naturemade vitamins & SOYJOY fruit/soy bars) in June 2010 and is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the company’s IT solutions, infrastructure and technology operations, as well as the company’s customer and consumer-facing technologies. Brian began his career with 14 years as a technology consultant with Andersen Consulting’s (aka Accenture) worldwide technical services group, rising to the level of Associate Partner while based in Chicago, IL.
