* A little background or reminder. AMPATH is an academic partnership between MTRH, Moi University, Indiana University-Perdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and a host of other US and Canadian universities. There is no formal AMPATH organization per se. AMPATH exists as a way for academic institutions to organize and partner together with the goal of providing access to health care (the PATH part of AMPATH).
When the time came to discuss the situation with IT at MTRH, the Director was extremely disappointed and quite frustrated with the level of service he was receiving from his close to 60 member IT team.*
* MTRH IT is separate from the AMPATH ISC. Generally, people around AMPATH, MTRH and Moi University are quite impressed of the job being done by AMPATH ISC. Our 7 member team really do an amazing job managing things here.
For example, the Director made mention of a computer system used in one of the wards that was down for more than three months simply because the mouse was broken. In another example, he was dismayed to see members of the IT staff sitting around playing cards or walking up to the cafeteria during work hours for coffee. He wondered why he was paying these people when it seems like they did nothing at all. At one point, he asked the Kenyan colleague of mine what he learned in college, the Kenyan colleague was a little flabbergasted and didn't really know how to answer the question. So the Director answered it for him, “you were taught how to think creatively.”
At one point, he mentioned that he was so tempted to fire all of them and start over with a new team. Whether or not he was serious about this threat is unknown to me (he could actually do it if he wanted). However, I can understand the frustration expressed by the Director, if I was in his position, I would be equally as frustrated and might want to fire my team as well.
I continually remind the AMPATH ISC group about the importance of delivering value to the organization, if they can do this the organization will see them as a valued asset, an important part of an AMPATH. In addition, I constantly hammer home the notion that the last thing the ISC team needs is for management to question “why are we paying these guys.” Clearly, the MTRH Director is feeling this way right now, he is questioning the value of and why he is paying his IT team and if you are the IT Director at MTRH you are definitely not a good position. I met earlier with the IT Director and I don't believe he is aware of how tenuous his position is.*
* I do plan to talk with the IT Director at MTRH and let him know the situation and I will work with him to help improve overall IT operations. It remains to be seen whether or not he will execute and perform up to expectations.
How do you deliver value in IT? Well the easy answer is, deliver cost-efficient, flexible, responsive services that meet the needs of and help drive the organization. How you actually do this really depends on your organization, again the devil is in the details. Here it AMPATH we are beginning to refocus and reorganize the IT operations with an eye towards IT service management. Our role right now is first and foremost to deliver services in a reliable fashion to the healthcare providers and to be as a partner in the ongoing efforts here in Eldoret.
We are at the start of our journey and there is much to do. One initial initiative began last week with the implementation of a new IT service desk. We want to give our users a place to go when they need IT help and provide for them a one-stop place where they can turn in time of need. Were starting out very simply with just a ticket system, a central e-mail address, and phone number. My hope is that our service desk will grow to the point where we can be more proactive when it comes to supporting IT efforts at AMPATH. I do believe that this small effort will deliver value and and our end-users will appreciate our efforts.
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