Print this Page

Email this Page

Download Briefing

Computacenter Homepage

Innovene was created as a carve-out from the BP Group and sold to the Ineos Group in December 2005. The company manufactures and markets a range of petrochemicals, plastics and intermediates. It operates large-scale manufacturing plants in the US and across Europe, including two sites in the UK. The company’s products are used in virtually every sphere of day-to-day life from DVD cases and drink bottles to safety belts and sportswear.

When Innovene was first created, the IT team not only had to develop a whole new IT infrastructure but also establish core processes and appoint key suppliers. Nick Rawlings, global infrastructure director for Innovene, comments: “We have implemented a highly outsourced IT model with core providers helping to support our 8,000 desktops, networking infrastructure, applications and back office systems around the globe.” These support services are co-ordinated via two interlinked IT service desks that are also managed by an external services provider.

To help ensure the new processes and IT environment were optimised for operational excellence, Innovene decided to embark on an independent review of its infrastructure and IT services. “We wanted expert and independent advice on whether we were taking the right approach to IT service delivery based on industry best practice,” comments Rawlings.

To carry out the review, Innovene turned to Computacenter Services — a former IT partner when the company was part of BP. As David Gatt, European regional operations director at Innovene, explains: “Computacenter Services has a good understanding of our business and the required independence and IT services skills needed for the review.”

The Service Management Review, which involved more than 20 interviews and workshops, began in January 2006. As part of the assessment, Computacenter Services used its knowledge of IT service management best practice to compare key Innovene processes with the industry framework ITIL, as well as suppliers’ contractual obligations.

The review, which resulted in more than 30 high-level recommendations, was conducted with full co-operation from Innovene’s IT supplier community.

As Sharron Deakin, a senior service management consultant at Computacenter Services, explains: “We conducted a thorough quality assurance assessment, which encompassed a range of key functions, such as problem and change management, monitoring, asset tracking and capacity management. For each area, we gathered detailed information on service providers, service and operational level agreements, roles and responsibilities, current processes, and key tools and systems.”

This enabled Computacenter Services to create a Current State Analysis for each ITIL best practice discipline and make recommendations where gaps existed to help improve Innovene’s IT services.

The review involved Innovene’s 28 major sites plus its two helpdesks based in Budapest and Mexico. As the hub of Innovene’s IT services, the helpdesks were a particular focus for the assessment, which was completed by Computacenter Services in April 2006.

The helpdesks manage more than 2,000 incidents a month, and operate as a single unit supporting users in different time zones. “The review identified that we needed to integrate and document the activities of the helpdesks more effectively, which we have already started to address,” comments Rawlings.

These and other changes recommended by Computacenter Services will enable Innovene to make a range of service enhancements that will ultimately improve efficiency and help to reduce operational costs.

As Rawlings explains: “The review didn’t reveal any major problems but did give us an action plan for future service improvements. Our goal is to provide a world-class service and we are already well on our way to achieving this. The review by Computacenter Services will enable us to adopt best practice and improve operational excellence.”

For more information on Computacenter’s managed services expertise, go to:
WWW. COMPUTACENTER.COM/MANAGED-SERVICES