DECEMBER 2018CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8IN MY ViewHyper-Growth through People, Processes, & Technologyhen I joined Caliber Collision in July 2011, we had 86 locations in two states and minimal IT investment in people, processes or technology.For 2012, a new objective was set by our Senior Management team and the Board-- double the business every three years. Caliber's hyper-growth vision was set. And to execute this vision, we required a complete re-engineering of Caliber's IT organization across every element of the company's people, processes, and technology. Recommended IT strategies to achieve hyper-growth were given a maximum of eighteen months for implementation. Defining actionable and measureable strategies and corresponding tactics is core to any great IT organization. The difference was accepting Caliber's hyper-growth objective as the new norm across the enterprise. Today, Caliber has 500 locations in 17 states. Corporate revenue has increased from $280M in 2012 to projected $2.4B in 2017--almost a 10 times increase in less than 5 years that speaks volume about the efforts of more than 10,500 teammates servicing an excess of 800,000 customers per year. Today, the maxim that drives Caliber is `open new branches in two or three locations every week.' This includes new software implementations along with from-the-ground up new hardware build-outs per location. Establishing the culture of excellence witin IT to sustain hyper-growth strategies demand insightful leadership. And at the same time IT must morph itself as a true enabler of hyper-growth strategies coupled with continuous innovation framework.The major IT implementation that has taken place over the past five years in Caliber includes the following:People Strategy The journey to 500 and beyond required an investment not only in technology but also in our most important asset--people. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining talent for a hyper-growth environment is significantly different from a more mature environment viewpoint. It requires hiring core leaders that have the experience in IT organizations going through hyper-growth. It requires building on the foundations of disparate industries that hone the skill sets required to meet and exceed hyper-growth business objectives.Caliber's IT leadership team was recruited through the lens of the skills, experiences and best practices gleaned by working in large distributed retail, manufacturing, and/or acquisition environments. Companies like TGI Friday's, JC Penney, and ACE Cash Express (large distributed environments and acquisitions) combined with National Semiconductor, Samsung, and AMX by Harman International (manufacturing and acquisitions). Success in achieving our hyper-growth objective required having those charged with executing the plan to have "Been there! Done that!" Hyper-growth does not provide time for learning curves.Process Strategy The ability to successfully maintain and continue to grow in a hyper-growth environment requires processes that can sustain rapid growth velocity. Supporting technology and IT administration functions require an evaluation of current as-is processes and defining them that enable the to-be vision. Supporting and managing 86 locations and 2,000 team members cannot be accomplished manually. As the growth increased in both areas, there was a thriving need to develop processes through automation to 1) maintain existing support levels; 2) allow immediate integration into Caliber Janet DeBerardinisJANET DEBERARDINIS, CIO, CALIBER COLLISION CENTERSW
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