The Portland Art Museum engaged VIE to perform an IT organizational assessment, and then provide an Interim CIO to help solve critical issues. VIE recommendations created the foundation for IT success at the Portland Art Museum.
Situation
The Portland Art Museum faced several challenges in its IT organization. The technical infrastructure was unstable, the long-time IT Manager resigned, and management was concerned that there was no clear plan to rectify the shortcomings.
Critical Issues
Internet connectivity as well as the network infrastructure was highly unstable and unreliable. Management felt that with the departure of the IT manager, now was a good time to take an in-depth look at how IT was operating to see if there was a better solution to the myriad of technology problems.
Solution
VIE was engaged to provide an IT assessment as well as interim CIO services. Two CIO consultants performed the IT assessment. A CIO consultant filled in as the interim CIO and helped the museum establish an IT Governance structure, develop a long-term strategic IT plan and stabilize the technical infrastructure.
Results
The VIE Interim CIO had an immediate and positive impact by quickly establishing an IT Governance model that informed the executive team about IT-related projects throughout the company. He was quickly able to determine that the current staffing was inadequate for the museum and negotiated an outsourcing contract that would provide the needed level of services.
Key recommendations of the IT assessment included re-engineering the networks to provide the level of stability required for strategic museum initiatives. The interim CIO lead the project team that completely overhauled the network infrastructure and the system outages were a thing of the past. They now have a solid foundation on which to add wireless access in all galleries and provide way-finding as well as indoor positioning systems. They also have a strategic technology plan to guide future initiatives and a plan for growth of visitor services.