Interoffice Memo
From:  Comptroller, Finance Division
To:   Office of the CEO, Headquarters

Sam,  George and I and several of his people have met twice now to roll the numbers together.   I need some guidance from you as it is obvious that George and the IT guys are totally against this idea as it logically involves downsizing their department by about 25% in the first year, with more to come later on as it all shakes out.  The IT guys are NOT interested in this for obvious reasons.  

However it is becoming clear we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in "software support" payments each year just to support the old LAN infrastructure for the oldest most "out of date" MS type products that are still being supported, all of which would be replaced by the proposed new system with three much less expensive connection products.

Direct savings on full MS OFFICE licenses would run in the neighborhood of 10M as a one time cost avoidance, with some Finance functions needing Excel separate licenses for about a dozen seats.   Training would need to support a program to break everybody in on the new softwares, they rough estimate they would need to spend $300,000 in doing so and that it would take 3 months to complete all layers.   I counter that on-line resources can do the same job at zero cost and in about 5-10 man-hours spent per person, but that is for you and Personnel to decide.   Training will need to do some  hand holding on this one.

I think you need to direct Sheryl in Purchasing to source an outside complete evaluation (possibly to be followed on by an outside sourced implementation team) as I also do not think George & group really knows enough about this new stuff to even ask good enough questions about it.   George's background training was mainframe IBM and later on he was "Microsoft Certified" all the way and he actually knows nothing other than that since he has been here sitting in place since it was all invented.  

George and his people will need re-training or replacement if you go after this cost savings.   I would suggest a full IT restructuring as not all the current functions and layers will be required by the new systems. We need to intentionally hire an open source literate person to replace whatever George's position turns into.

(initial prelim "guess" I have formed is in the realm of 13.5M first year, with same amount in all years following, so you can see why I am asking for an outside eval).

Risk is minimal, see the Price Waterhouse report that I sent you by company courier (sorry for the bulk, but it was only available in paper).   Our risk position mostly comes from our own larger customers who may not feel comfortable with our new systems at first.   We need to poll our customer base on their future plans before committing to this move.

Will

All IT Staff


I asked you guys to dig into this Google stuff hard and quickly uncover some dirt on it so we can combat this move (and keep our cushy jobs).

Whoever sent me this piece from Better Business Bureau needs to learn how to read a little deeper -- this is a recommendation from the BBB not a list of slam items like you normally get from the BBB.    Also notice: the BBB doesn't even HAVE an IT department any more ....

http://googleforwork.blogspot.com/2014/07/better-business-bureau-serving-east...



(unsigned, but likely from George or one of his lieutenants)

Thank you for the coffee, Sarah.    While you are here, I need to ask you about Open Office / Libre Office and why you would rather use it rather than MS Word 2012 that is installed on your machine.  

(a quiet conversation ensues)

If you personally paid for the Libre Office stuff that you are using because it turns out you needed it, well, in that case I certainly want you to reimburse yourself out of the petty cash drawer for the money you spent .....

(more conversation)

Oh, well that sounds like an amazing program and you certainly cannot argue with the price.   Built by secretaries for secretaries, imagine that.  What sorts of vulnerabilities do these open source type programs entail?    How often do you have to do maintenance on it like virus scan and defragmentation?

(more conversation)

Sarah, did you just say we could re-use all our old Windows machines by loading this Ubuntu/Linux Mint on them FOR FREE?   And pay nothing for the software, forever?    That all our old machines are plenty good enough right the way they are, with no refurbishment?    That European Governments in Spain and Portugal and Germany have already DONE THIS ACROSS THE BOARD?