Information Technology Committees: Not Just Another Executive Decision

DALLAS (PRLEAP.COM) April 19, 2006 - Executive boards are no longer making all of the decisions regarding technology strategy. Today’s businesses have created separate committees dedicated to making decisions on corporate technology issues.

More and more, executive boards are relinquishing their power on technology decisions to a committee, not necessarily comprised of company owners, but employees with tech-savvy tendencies. Good Fulton & Farrell developed their IT Committee to formalize communication between the architects and IT. “We support revenue growth by partnering with the lines of business to effectively reinvest in technology and opportunities to support current and future business requirements,” said Duncan Fulton, Managing Principal.

With the IT Committee in place, Good Fulton & Farrell takes a more pro-active approach to technology issues before they become an expensive problem. Initiatives like a support database to catalogue and assign all IT support calls is one example of this approach. “…we now know where our vulnerabilities lie,” said Karen Quick, Chief Financial Officer, “and the same can be said for our Disaster Recovery Plan.”

Good Fulton & Farrell’s IT Committee is stronger as a whole than as separate parts. Two IT staff, two partners, and three architects sit on the firm’s committee. “The IT staff is part of the vision we couldn’t provide ourselves,” said John Moebes, Associate Principal of Good Fulton & Farrell, “[We] are able to identify needs in the office while providing expertise on specific applications.” Good Fulton & Farrell views technology as an investment to manage, and through the creation of the IT Committee has developed a technology budget driven by business strategy.

Technology is a competitive differentiator no matter what industry you’re in. Good Fulton & Farrell was recently awarded the 2005 Vision Award by Constructech Magazine for using leading-edge technology to solve a critical business issue. By implementing online project management software, Good Fulton & Farrell handled all deliverables electronically for Crate & Barrel, resulting in cost savings reduced from $45,000 to $4,000.

As technology continues to improve rapidly, corporations have found their budgets follow suit. “Spending on IT is growing faster than any other part of our budget, said John Moebes, Associate Principal, “And at a four-fold rate, as in other white collar fields delving into new technology such as doctors and lawyers.”

Taking time to strategically manage technology dollars pays off huge dividends. Good Fulton & Farrell has increased productivity significantly since the IT Committee’s inception. By performing an asset management of the system, Good Fulton & Farrell sets up a predictable failure rate to plan for growth. The result is zero percent server downtime and rare network slow down. “For a company that bills $50,000 a day, zero downtime affects the bottom line,” says Karen Quick, Chief Financial Officer.

The advantage extends a strong cooperative commitment to Good Fulton & Farrell’s clients. “It’s critical to our business that we keep our existing clients happy with our level of service because they’re the ones bringing in the greatest proportion of our work,” said John Moebes, Associate Principal.

Good Fulton & Farrell is an award-winning Dallas-based design firm whose record of success began with our founding in 1982. Today we employ more than eighty capable people who are motivated to deliver distinguished services in architecture, interior architecture and planning. The firm has received AIA Dallas’ prestigious “Firm of the Year” award three times, most recently in 2005.

Good Fulton & Farrell serves as the overall corporate umbrella for three divisions: Good Fulton & Farrell Architects, comprising five distinct studios specializing in different practice areas; GFF Interiors, offering full-service interior design capabilities across a full spectrum of building types; GFF Planning, providing land use planning, campus master planning, urban design and zoning processing assistance.
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