AmeriPath - Turnaround Management
Introduction
- AmeriPath, Inc. is a leading national provider of anatomic pathology, dermatopathology, and molecular diagnostic services to physicians, hospitals, clinical laboratories and surgery centers across the U.S.
- 55 Locations nationwide, 3200 employees
- Revenue - approximately $1B
Situation
- Information Technology department was not capable of providing quality customer service to both internal and external customers.
- Organization lacked the proper infrastructure to support the network, applications and desktops belonging to the corporation.
- Production change and problem management were non-existent. Service problems were not logged or tracked.
Critical Issues Addressed
- Major infrastructure needs were identified – in the network, desktop, telecommunications.
- Service Delivery best practices were outlined for implementation and reporting customer service metrics.
- Application inventory was conducted to assess business continuity needs.
- Change and problem management processes were identified to insure system integrity.
- Organization was evaluated for single points of failure.
Approach
- Support Services processes were defined and the required organizational changes for implementation were presented to management team for approval and adoption.
- Business leaders were interviewed for issues and outstanding projects to gather a baseline for customer service metrics.
- Coordinated communication updates with executive management to insure proper direction and feedback were incorporated appropriately in planning and scheduling of tasks.
- Information Systems team members were embraced and encouraged to be involved with the changes and provide input
Results
- Amy Wright served as interim CIO for 5 months and transitioned to permanent CIO to successfully implement changes and provide ongoing sustainability.
- Organization implemented best practices for service delivery, problem and change management.
- Physician and vendor relationships improved as the IT department gained credibility for delivery.