April 20168In MyOpinionBringing Greater Efficiency to the International Development SectorFor a long time, the public sector has been perceived as bureaucratic, and resistant to change. Moreover, it is surrounded by private sector organizations that are able to deliver results and measure their performance faster and more clearly. However, this is definitely changing. The opportunity to be part of this change process inspired me to take on the CIO role at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) where I could apply the lessons I've learned across different industries and sectors and help drive the change forward.Given the current macroeconomic turbulence in Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a pressing need to stay relevant and provide valuable services. For more than 50 years, the IDB has played a fundamental role in the development of the region, and it is committed to help borrowing countries design and implement solutions that will contribute to improve people's lives. But these countries struggle with important challenges such as low productivity, existence of inadequate infrastructure, and complex regulatory systems that translates to inefficiencies and low levels of innovation.We understood that to effectively partner with these countries and help them address their issues, we had to look inward and renew our own processes. We had to be ready to "talk the talk, and walk the walk." The deployment of SAP was a critical part of our renewal strategy. This system enabled us to enhance our operational processes in finance, procurement, budget, and human resources. Through its implementation, we have replaced outdated systems and integrated the workflows of different departments. This integration has eliminated redundancies, improved our data quality, and made processes more agile. With SAP, we have laid a robust, secure, and modern platform to continuously improve the way we work, and in turn, stay relevant and valuable to our partners.The project had already begun when I arrived as CIO to the Bank, but during this journey, we have learned four important lessons:1. Technology alone is not the solution to our problems. Sometimes SAP is seen as the solution to all the problems, but what is often forgotten is that the process is long and difficult. SAP is only a tool; and the real value to the business comes in the ap-proach used for the implementation and synchronization for future use. After sev-eral SAP implementations in different organizations and indus-tries, I've learned that having high expectations and enormous scope could hurt the process. SAP is a complex system and re-quires a lot of coordination, discipline and good governance. Therefore, it is fundamental to hire the right people, with the necessary experience to move this complex process forward.2. SAP is a change management project. Before SAP, each organization had its own technology platforms and a specific way of processing its information. The implementa-tion of this sophisticated solution represents a great change, and when done effectively, the new system will allow for the trans-formation of processes, better use of technology, and will assist employees in maximizing their performance. SAP is a tool that promotes high levels of coordination between all players, and every user needs to understand the implication that one small mistake can make to the entire system. A successful implementa-tion requires an inclusive process where all stakeholders under-stand the consequences, now that every information is accesible to all employees. For someone that is used to prior systems, this represents change, and change can be difficult. Also, as with any By Nuria Simo, CIO, Inter-American Development BankNuria Simo
< Page 7 | Page 9 >