Pfizer Dead Weight

Since there's a Wyeth Dead Weight thread, I though it would be interesting to have a Pfizer Dead Weight thread as well. I'll start.

I had quite a few interactions with Pfizer IT. One thing I could not figure out is why they have an IT team in La Jolla when all their customers are on the East coast. Not sure how those guys can justify all the travel, etc.

Anonymous said:

Since there's a Wyeth Dead Weight thread, I though it would be interesting to have a Pfizer Dead Weight thread as well. I'll start.

I had quite a few interactions with Pfizer IT. One thing I could not figure out is why they have an IT team in La Jolla when all their customers are on the East coast. Not sure how those guys can justify all the travel, etc.

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We do need some local IT support for that campus, but we certainly don't need anything more than local desktop, local client and basic infrastructure support. Anything else is pandering to egos and a complete waste of money.

The fact that the DBWI group is all located in La Jolla is insane , Think of it as outsourcing done completely Bass Ackwards!
We pay a premium to keep people in that area for a service that should be done close to the clients, so what do we do? We locate the personnel in a far away area that we have to pay highest compensation for in the US.
Doesn't it make sense that people doing DWBI are located in the area of the clients, like Corporate Headquarters, or in the same region as a majority of their clients? It is obvious that you do not believe that being local is necessary to do this job, so then WHY NOT outsource the entire DWBI function to Infosys in Bangalore, they have the talent and you would save the money. You might save enough on overpaid salaries and trips back and forth from La Jolla to hire a few more researchers and scientists.

Hey Mr. Keisling, I hope you take this into consideration and not the fact that it is really because the group lead like to surf, and east coast IT Management likes to visit the Torrey Pines Hilton in La Jolla especially in the winter month ..

Don't worry, the move to SAP will eviscerate any need for that group ..

Anonymous said:

Hey Mr. Keisling, I hope you take this into consideration and not the fact that it is really because the group lead like to surf, and east coast IT Management likes to visit the Torrey Pines Hilton in La Jolla especially in the winter month .. ..

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It’s not only that KF likes to surf, he’s also a really good at politics, i.e. kissing the right asses. Otherwise it's hard to explain how he’s able to convince everybody that his team is supposed to rule Pfizer’s DWBI world, when in fact that team has no idea about the business they’re pretending to support. They’re just providing the platform, keeping the lights on type of support, a commodity service that any vendor out there would love to provide to Pfizer at fraction of the cost.

There’s nothing “business” about that team. Their clients are not the business, but the line BT organizations. And the line BT organizations have plenty of horror stories about working with that team, again because they don’t know the business (very similar to the almost defunct MDM team – another huge waste).

They’re very smart about justifying their trips around the country and around the world – they’re including that as part of the project costs and there’re plenty of incompetent people at Pfizer that don’t question those charges. That’s one of the reasons why any quote you get from that team is 3-5 times the price you get if you go directly to an outside vendor – that’s just one indication of how much fat is there.

Keisling is all about being closer to the business. So hopefully he’ll put an end to this nonsense.

Anonymous said:

It’s not only that KF likes to surf.

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Hopefully Keisling with be able to see KF is political Ass-Kissing pretty boy.

Anyways, why is the DWBI group in La Jolla ? I agree with previous posters,
Not only is La Jolla not in the region of the clients needing the data, La Jolla isn't a technological mecca, nor is it a really a financial one. I don't think anyone on that team would hold up in a real financial market, and if they were in a real financial marketplace they would be popping Zoloft like Pez candy.

In a desperate attempt to spend more money nonsensically, they are proposing using to us Teradata to save their lame asses . You all know the case, when you are failing to deliver with your existing technology, blame it and do a complete switch to something new . In three years time, no one notices all the excuses and failures in getting the new technology in place and cost overruns, everyone gets good reviews and promoted out of the line, thus leaving a financial mess and new technology sinkhole.

Time to clear out that house.

It looks like their protection has ended. AH has not been slated for a position in the new regime, his insistance was to keep a big IT footprint in LaJolla. Hopefully sanity will return and close off the "useless" groups like the one mentioned above.

folks - your postings clealry demonstrates lack of understanding and appreciation for a group that has consistently delivered Data Warehousing and Reporting solutions across multiple divisions and regions of Pfizer. KF is undoubtly, one of the best IT leaders that Pfizer has today and he clealry has created a well respected place for himself among DWBI practitioners in the industry. Pfizer has made greate stride in delivering business value through its data managment solutions under his leadership and well positioned to compete in tough business climate driven by Information. Speaking of Teradata, this technology was not chosen to cover inefficiences of existing solutions but to create a new capability that will allow Pfizer to build next generation Information solution by combining massive amount of external data as well as dpoing so very cost effectively. Oracle is a great technology to build and sustain our existing solutions but not good enough for Pfizer to remain competitive in the changing healthcare business model. Amount of data we collected yesterday is radically different from what we're doing today and will be doing tomorrow. I wish these posters ever looked beyond their own shortcoming and tried to understand how DWBI group has built and organization model that has all the ingridients of being a successful group that can operate and deliver at global scale. Geographical locations are very important and that's why there is a presence of DWBI group in NY and Groton to understand business needs and create closer alignments with customer facing business IT teams. In last 15 yrs, I have worked across different teams and sites and would wish to work with this group one day if opportunities present to do so. I don't know any other group or team in Pfizre IT who has such a high claiber team that only understands the DWBI as desicipline but along Pfizer business.

Poster#7, you sound like some body inside that group desperately in denial of the truth. If you are not KF, then you are someone kissing up to him pontificating the the vision and justification of how that department operates.

As for the comment: "Geographical locations are very important and that's why there is a presence of DWBI group in NY and Groton to understand business needs and create closer alignments with customer facing business IT teams."
Well, a few token people at remote sights do not count. I think the purpose every is expanding upon is there isn't enough presence locally and too much remotely in LJ.

As for the "...the changing healthcare business model." This is a long tagline used by other purveyors of F.U.D. (look it up) and how they will fix the world with their approach.
We've all addresses the major failures of this BI approach and the MDM approach that isn't working either.

and as for: "I don't know any other group or team in Pfizre IT who has such a high claiber team that only understands the DWBI as desicipline but along Pfizer business."
That must mean you don't get out much, or you have been drinking too much blue kool-aid. There are many groups who have this and higher levels of Business Knowledge as well as IT knowledge.

As for the political Rah Rah clap trap hype you have spewed, try addressing and justifying locating DWBI in La Jolla, and maybe we would believe you more...

Poster #7 sounds like KF who's trying to save his ass, but I think it was about time to have such a thread,

"I don't know any other group or team in Pfizre IT who has such a high caliber team that only understands the DWBI as discipline but along Pfizer business." -- you're joking, right? Not sure about other divisions, but they have no idea what my division is doing. And on the technical side, they’ve done some dumb stuff and they know it, or at least the sharper guys form that team know it. But they can’t say anything because that team was built to consolidate and centralize. And KF was more preoccupied making his empire bigger than understanding the true business and technical needs.

And I had similar experiences as one of the previous posters: everything DWBI quotes is several times more expensive than if I would go directly to an external vendor – Hell of a way to leverage shared platforms, shared services and to realize the economies of scale!

I don't know anything about Pfizer's DWBI group, but I do know this (as I am sure of anybody who has worked among DW, BI, IT groups):

- quotes from external vendors are almost always understated. Furthermore, those vendors still require a lot of internal support and hand holding - and these are not included in the quote. Also, depending on the actual contractors, the decision making and architecture being implemented are very slow. If Pfizer spends years specifying the project in its entirety and in absolute detail, then the contractors generally do a fine job. Problem is, that may already be the bulk of the work. And also who the hell can minutely detail out the entire project - there are on-the-fly decisions that must be made, and the contractors in India sure as heck can't or won't make those.

- Data requirements are definitely, absolutely, going to increase exponentially. Teradata is well placed to handle that; it is certainly better than Oracle. However, there are other possibly better options (such as Neteeza, in my opinion). Also, if Pfizer's DW is geared towards analysis/reporting as most BI systems are, then they should also explore some of the newer column based databases.

- Generally, BI pros have a much broader knowledge base (including multiple platforms and customer facing skills) than the IT folks (i.e. DBAs, network admins, border security, SANs admins, etc). Again, not knowing about the DWBI group, I can only say that I sure hope that group falls within that pattern - it can't be successful without it. From the Wyeth world, the IT group (Shared Services) had slipped into a non-accountable/arrogant (but generally individually capable) stance. The concept of power corrupts, does apply here. Whereas, the Applications group have been treated as lepers - even though there are some very broadly skilled folks with excellent business knowledge, and extensive admin experience. This should be the technology group that is outsourced last, and then only when the business groups have acquired the necessary knowledge and skills to manage multi-platform solutions. However, years of management neglect has not well positioned Wyeth's IS/IT services. It's become like a technology Animal Farm, and the best option is to just sell the farm.

"quotes from external vendors are almost always understated. Furthermore, those vendors still require a lot of internal support and hand holding - and these are not included in the quote."

Can't better said!! I had been long enough into this business to have an appreciation for it. Vendor quotes are not meant to delivery a solution that meets business needs, can be managed cost effectively and comes somewhere nearclose of creating customer delight. These numbers are usually meant for getting the foot in the door and rest is unknown to most. some of these posts seem to indicate the career limiting moves that some folks have made internally and now are trying to win by making someone else lose. Folks - don't even go there as its tried and tested model of failures!!

Shared service groups are far better choice compared to going to cheap clown of Infy/TCS/CTS etc. quality will go down and very soon you will find yoursleves on a slippery slope of reducing costs and managing a IT service that creates competitive business advantage. Go figure out by doing these projects with vendors. In my own co there is a DWBI program run by 4 different vendors still it doesn't have enough skilled hands to carry it to finish line.

What I want to know is why the DWBI is a separate entity from the main dba group within Pfizer? Why are they so special ? In every company I've been, the DWBI groups have been part of the DBA group and not a separate group.

Is somebody making their own empire Silo ? Is that why they are looking at Teradata? Just another reason to be separate ?

Anonymous said:

What I want to know is why the DWBI is a separate entity from the main dba group within Pfizer? Why are they so special ? In every company I've been, the DWBI groups have been part of the DBA group and not a separate group.

Is somebody making their own empire Silo ? Is that why they are looking at Teradata? Just another reason to be separate ?

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(I'm not from 'legacy' Pfizer)
It should be that the DBA group provides services to the BI/DW and other application groups. And the BI/DW and application groups in turn provide services to the business. What happened in Wyeth was Shared Services became a silo/empire. This happened during the intentional split into Applications and Shared Services, a few years ago. In the meantime, the customer (business) facing groups get all the flak for business project delays and resistance.

I think having a separate DWBI group is the way to go, until we create a system where everybody involved is equally accountable and share stakes in a project's success.

Parts of Shared Services are very cooperative, if not always accountable. However, this speaks more to personal relationships than systemic.

Better get used to the Wyeth Shared Services Ivory Tower. KFitzy worked hard to take it over. He is not giving it up anytime soon. Clients, who cares? Pfizer has made its bed and now Pfizer IT will become just another piece of the Wyeth IT boondoggle.

I don't know much about Wyeth shared service grp however I can see why and where it could lead provide competitive advantage. Pfizer had a failed leader running the architetcure grp and glad he has vacated his corner office! Kfitzy can learn from pfizer failures and can selectively apply success from the areas like SAMS and GDM. There is still great deal of redundant services provided by some business facing IT folks who should be spending more time being in-front of business user/process and not deciding what technology or vendor to use for either doing data integration or reporting. Companies where BI/DW grp is part of DBA team are at least 5-7 years behind pfizer in their maturity. Pfizer has standardized its technical foundation and matured its execution process and org to operate at scale. Some posters seem to suggest that BI/DW grp costs too much but I would challenge these individuals if they had delivered anything comparable in their careers. BIDW solutions are far more complex and difficult to build due to the nature of business itself...not to mention the unstable and constantly changing source systems. Good luck to all and most importantly to those who still belive shared service is the way to GO!

Tell us about Kfitz... What is his background and experience? What type of leader is he? How do you think his organization will look?

The direction of moving to Teradata is being pushed and supported by BT not the DWBI group and from what I have seen the business case and strategy put forward by JS at Pfizer is some of the only sound logic coming from Pfizer. The direction he has moved BI makes total sense, synergies with SAP, better interim performance, eventual DW retirements, ... The DWBI group will claim victory along with others and JS will probably be waved. What a waste.

now that it is a combined company, it's almost all dead weight. Not completely, as they aren't done laying off the good people yet.

Anonymous said:

Poster#7, you sound like some body inside that group desperately in denial of the truth. If you are not KF, then you are someone kissing up to him pontificating the the vision and justification of how that department operates.

As for the comment: "Geographical locations are very important and that's why there is a presence of DWBI group in NY and Groton to understand business needs and create closer alignments with customer facing business IT teams."
Well, a few token people at remote sights do not count. I think the purpose every is expanding upon is there isn't enough presence locally and too much remotely in LJ.

As for the "...the changing healthcare business model." This is a long tagline used by other purveyors of F.U.D. (look it up) and how they will fix the world with their approach.
We've all addresses the major failures of this BI approach and the MDM approach that isn't working either.

and as for: "I don't know any other group or team in Pfizre IT who has such a high claiber team that only understands the DWBI as desicipline but along Pfizer business."
That must mean you don't get out much, or you have been drinking too much blue kool-aid. There are many groups who have this and higher levels of Business Knowledge as well as IT knowledge.

As for the political Rah Rah clap trap hype you have spewed, try addressing and justifying locating DWBI in La Jolla, and maybe we would believe you more...

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well, KF has left the building and joined the a software company supporting ETL operations.
The rest of the arguments people gave were academic and moot.
This is one cleaning of house the Pfizer/Wyeth needed!