The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm

The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm
Critical Analysis
Summary

The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm is a fifteen year old software consulting firm. The founder Max Blue was CEO and Chairman recently stepped out of his role as CEO and is now Chairman of the board. Jim Willis is now the CEO, he joined The Blue Sky five years ago as VP for the HRsoftware division before joining Blue Sky he was an executive for a major accounting/consulting firm. There are three divisions to Blue Sky; Machine Tool software, this was the first business line for Blue Sky, develops machine tool software. This division is headed by VP Michael James, one of the founders of the company; he has been with Blue Sky since the beginning as VP for Machine ToolSoftware. The HR Software division has developed Human Resource Management software to be used in the retail industry. Best Dollar Retail Chain, is their main client, they sell upscale style, but affordable clothes for teenagers. Mary Garrison is VP for the HR Software; she replaces Jim Willis when he became CEO. She was previously Associate VP for HR Technology at Best Dollar and was the major point ofcontact with them; she is very familiar with the software and majored in computer science at State University. The Heath Payment Software division developed software for the state governments to assist managing their Medicaid provider payment systems. This software is provided to 15 states scattered throughout the U.S. The VP for this division is Jeff Roberts, he has been with Blue Sky sevenyears and he has been the VP of the health payment division for the last two years. He was a hospital administrator responsible for the IT system before joining Blue Sky. Blue Sky has recently had some leadership changes, with this change in leadership there seems to be some difficulty in how to resolve problems or move. There is no strategic plan set up without a plan there are no strategies formoving forward in to the organizations future, there needs to be a clear structure of organization and control systems implemented.
The CFO is Karl Counts who has been employed in the Finance Department since the beginning of Blue Sky. The newest member of the Executive team is Susy Hybres last year she assumed the position of Director of Planning and Marketing.Analysis


One of the major problems for Blue Sky is the lack of strategic planning. Strategic Planning is a management tool that assists an organization focuses its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. In short, strategicplanning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that acts like a guideline for what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning) The process is strategic because it involves preparing the best way to respond to the circumstances of the organization's environment, whether or not itscircumstances are known in advance; nonprofits often must respond to dynamic and even hostile environments. The process is about planning because it involves intentionally setting goals (i.e., choosing a desired future) and developing an approach to achieving those goals. The process is disciplined because there is a necessary need for a certain order and pattern to keep it focused andproductive. The process raises a sequence of questions that helps planners examine experience, test assumptions, gather and incorporate information about the present, and anticipate the environment in which the organization will be working in the future. Susy Hubres is requesting the development of a ten year plan, however since having a formal plan is new to the executives it may be best to start off...