IBM official says company's experience holds lessons for agencies

Linda Sanford has pushed business transformation at IBM using a strategy that she said can be co-opted by government executives.

As a senior vice president of IBM, she has led the company's elimination of unnecessary business processes and creation of new cultural values-shifts not unlike those being pushed onto federal agencies by the President's Management Agenda and new personnel systems. Her strategies, which revolve around the power of technology, also can ease the federal sector's transition to new ways of doing business, she said.

Still, Sanford said she recognizes that changing the culture of a company or agency is the hardest part of becoming more streamlined. "In today's world, you cannot dictate from up high," the energetic executive said in an interview with Government Executive. "[The Homeland Security Department] can revamp all its processes and get new technology, but if people don't embrace it, it won't matter," she added.

One of the most important steps toward revamping IBM culture-and one she says agencies can replicate-is the use of new technology called World Jam to hold companywide blogging session. The first, held in 2003, invited employees to post their thoughts on company values.

The jam ran continuously for three days and collected 100,000 comments. Then the software combed through the posts to collect often-mentioned keywords. Four months later, IBM announced its new core values: dedication to each client's success, innovation that matters for the company and the world, and trust and personal responsibility.

Sanford said federal agencies could use this software to develop their own values. With agencies going through significant changes and reorganizations-the Defense and Homeland Security Departments announced new personnel systems earlier this year and the General Services Administration may be condensed--a blogging jam could enable employee concerns to reach management's ear.

"We certainly have the technology to do it," she said.

Unions, which often oppose business transformation for fear it will result in job losses, have not opposed the jams, Sanford said. IBM does have unionized employees in Europe, but the jam was part of internal communications and as a result did not create a conflict with the union.

Although employees appeared skeptical of the process at first, Sanford said, "you could see how people started to trust. Even if they spoke their true feelings, nothing happened to them." For a jam to be successful, Sanford said organization leaders have to express support and follow through on employee suggestions.

Another part of company culture Sanford advocates is slimming down. Each process-whether it's border control, supply chain steps, or tax collection-should be examined and questioned, she said. If it's not necessary, it should be stopped; if it is necessary, it should be automated or considered for outsourcing.

The traditional supply chain process, for example, required employees to enter some data multiple times on different systems. Sanford got rid of that repetition in order to save time and improve accuracy. Moving to consolidated Web-based systems also can help clients (or in the federal government's case, taxpayers) because they can more easily access information about the status of their orders, she said.

When it comes to making organizations more efficient, Sanford called technology an "enabler."

IBM contracts with the government for consulting services related to management, technology and financial reporting. Earlier this week, IBM announced it won a $35 million contract to help the Navy develop its financial reporting process and get a clean audit.

IBM also announced about 13,000 job cuts this week, most of which will affect European workers. It said in a press release that the changes were in part "designed to improve the company's efficiencies."

A survey of government executives released earlier this week by the consulting firm Robbins-Gioia found that agencies are increasingly keying in on improving business processes. Forty percent of respondents said they were focused on improving efficiency.