Taking charge - managing desktop systems - Desktop Management: Untying the Knots

Chief Executive, The, Nov, 1995 by Peter J. Aitch

Desktop systems can be unruly and troublesome, or they can be agents of innovation and efficiency - it all depends on how they're managed.

RYDER SYSTEM: Keep On Truckin

Whether you're traveling the interstate or cruising down Main Street, you're bound to spot a bright yellow truck emblazoned with big black letters that spell out "Ryder." That truck, as familiar to many Americans as the golden arches, has long been the flagship for Ryder System.

But while these rental trucks may be the most visible symbol of this $4.7 billion Miami-based company, they no longer represent the majority of its business. In fact, about three-quarters of Ryder's revenue now comes from a wide range of transportation services, from fleet leasing to automobile carriers to the rapidly expanding area of dedicated logistics, where Ryder manages the movement of raw materials and finished products. An increasing number of customers are looking to Ryder for help in shortening cycle times, cutting costs, slashing inventories - all of which amounts to managing information.

Seeking to leverage the company's transportation expertise and thereby position Ryder in a shifting market, CEO M. Anthony Burns launched an $85 million makeover in 1993. The goal was to use information technology to gain competitive advantage. The vehicle of choice was a system of desktop PCs, linked to ensure seamless communications inside and outside the organization, and geared to put information in the hands of front-line logistics professionals and customer-service representatives.

"We are transforming Ryder into a world-class, integrated logistics company capable of delivering a broad base of customized, yet flexible products and services that can manage all, or part of, a customer's supply chain," says Burns. "We are using technology and process changes to drive efficiencies. Information technology will help us take costs out. Building and changing process provides the discipline to make sure unnecessary costs don't creep back in."

Previously, Ryder's regional offices had relied on minicomputers, linked to terminals, for computing power. To get information from headquarters, salespeople often had to wait for written reports; each office was essentially on its own.

Desktop systems seemed a logical approach. "But rather than just throw a bunch of PCs and laptops around," says Bruce Parker, Ryder's senior vice president of MIS, management mapped out an enterprise strategy to use networked PCs to deliver more information to employees. The company hired Unisys to install and maintain PCs and local area networks in more than 90 offices nationwide and to integrate these desktop systems with Ryder's existing regional minicomputers and central mainframe system.

In effect, Ryder's approach makes its desktop systems an integral component in a single, efficient, companywide system, so information flows smoothly from office to office. This provides the technological foundation needed to continue its re-engineering of processes - many of which are built around putting more information into customer hands. For example, new maintenance-tracking and asset-management processes not only help keep the company's 190,000 vehicles on the road, they also allow Ryder reps to show fleet-leasing customers the age of their trucks, the mileage they're getting, depreciation and maintenance costs, and the number of breakdowns.

Re-engineering efforts also focused heavily on sales and marketing processes. For example, many of Ryder's clients use customized fleet vehicles: Depending on how a truck will be used, it may need a certain transmission, a heavier suspension, or other nonstandard components. Using PCs or even laptop computers tied into the company network, Ryder reps will be able to sit with customers and design these vehicles in real time, using text and graphics to put together each truck on-screen, cutting production lead time from more than six months to less than four.

The company's efforts seem to be working. In an industry marked by fierce global competition, Ryder's 1994 revenues grew by 11 percent and its earnings by 34 percent, at the same time it was adding about 2,500 new customers to its leasing and logistics businesses.

PEOPLE'S BANK: Standard Issue

During the last decade, executives have learned to wince at the prospect of rolling out a new computer system. Typically, such efforts are fraught with difficulty as glitches are sorted out and employees inch their way along the learning curve.

But when People's Bank of Connecticut recently completed a branch automation project involving hundreds of new PCs going into 80 branches, the effort was a "nonevent," says Michael Leone, senior vice president for the $6.4 billion bank's Bridgeport region. "There were no problems. We were bringing up a branch a day; you just wouldn't hear about it."

That success, he says, was largely the result of thinking ahead and deploying a standardized platform. Each PC was loaded with software and tested at a special preconfiguration center before being shipped to a branch. Then, installation was done at night, so the office would be ready for customers first thing in the morning. Employees, too, were ready to go, thanks to a notebook computer-based training system developed by People's.