General Motorshas developed a set of
best practices based on social networking and open source projects
to specify how IT suppliers and users companies
communicate.
The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) for Acquisition
standard allows CIOs to speak a common language with suppliers and
articulate project requirements, business objectives and
benefits.
The standard is designed to minimise the risk of failure in
complex IT projects involving third-party suppliers.
General Motors looked at how teenagers communicate using
Web 2.0 technologies and the way open source projects are
managed, as examples of how social networking could be applied to
its business.
Ralph Szygenda, group vice-president and CIO at General Motors,
said the main factor in driving the CMMI standard was the need for
large businesses to compete globally by working in real-time.
"There is a need in most companies to move to real-time
operations," he said.
The standard allows the car manufacturer's main IT suppliers to
work together without the need for General Motors to manage the
collaboration, said Szygenda.
Previously, the company's IT staff co-ordinated key suppliers,
but as the business evolved to real-time operations, it was
becoming increasingly difficult to manage the supplier
relationships.
Capgemini has worked with General Motors on two pilots using
CMMI for Acquisition. Szygenda said, "Every supplier now
understands that taking business for business' sake is not where it
is at. It must be a win-win. The biggest benefit has been that the
supplier understands why you are doing the project."
He said CMMI for Acquisition had cut down paperwork and made IT
more efficient. "We have streamlined our processes so we can spend
the time on delivering new capabilities back to the business."
General Motors collaborated with the Carnegie Mellon Software
Engineering Institute and the US Department of Defense to develop
the standard.