Why Companies Partner
Technology providers are confronted today with dramatically expanding markets into areas and geographic locations that would not have been
considered even a few short years ago. Especially in the IT infrastructure arena, as companies have expanded internationally, their need to invest and build IT infrastructure to meet their needs has grown proportionally. The infrastructure needed for this expansion could be large enough to threaten the financial stability of an IT manufacturer. In addition, the time it would take to build or enhance a global infrastructure would interfere with the speed with which they desire to bring products to market. Therefore, large companies, such as Cisco, AT&T, Microsoft, SUN and others are seeking best-in-class partners who have already made the human resource and capital investment to cover most, if not all, of the global service niche. 

In performing the service, the partner may take on the client identity (indirect) or use its own logo (direct). In each case, the relationship is
defined by the quality of service delivered and the satisfaction of the end customers. The partners and the services they provide are considered long-term assets worth the investment of time and resources to extract value from the relationship. The service companies, on the other hand, are aware that the relationship will exist only as long as it brings value to the customer. Beginning in the mid-1990s, many companies moved to pare down their businesses to concentrate on their core competencies. Up to that time, many of them strove to become "vertically integrated," providing "end-to-end" products and services - the "Standard Oil approach." The trend toward globalization in information technology effectively killed that strategy due to expense and complexity. Companies today are looking at their businesses as "supply or value chains" in which individual links are replaced by partners who share methods and business objectives. In the new outsourcing model, the principal reasons why companies choose to partner are to: defray costs, expand global coverage and either create or capture market share. Some companies have chosen to limit the size of their in-house technical staff geographically, while relying on qualified service partners to cover the rest of the world. Partnering gives them the ability to outsource projects where they need a lot of skilled people for a limited amount of time, but don't want to take them onto their payroll permanently. It is a flexible solution where the service provider wins by generating revenue for its service engine and the enterprise account wins by expanding its IT infrastructure permanently without increasing its payroll in a similar fashion.

Deployment Scenarios
Integration of the new components into legacy systems can be the most costly element of the rollout if not planned properly. Global IT deployment usually involves the introduction of next-generation technologies into new or existing channels. Such projects may involve substantial retrofit of customer legacy infrastructure and fall into several categories according to their geographic span and mix of products and services. 

Although variations exist, the main categories are:

Global IT Deployment Categories
1. Full Scale IT Rollout or refresh: A company with an established multinational presence wishes to deploy a new or updated product line throughout the world. It may or may not use its own technical staff in combination with that of its partner.

2. Regional IT Rollout: A regional or global company with a product mix that varies from region to region will roll out a new or updated platform to multiple countries within a region.

3. Hybrid Global Rollout: A global company will roll out a technology solution that has a mix of local/regional and global components. Location-specific integration may be necessary to achieve uniform performance across the customer base. This is the most complex type of project since requirements will vary from location to location.

4. Multinational Rollout: A company doing a majority of its business within a single country or geographical location with a few customers outside of its borders wishes to roll out a new or upgraded product set. Non-local installation and/or integration would normally be contracted to a service partner with resources in each foreign location.

Project Similarities
Even though each scenario has its own unique set of requirements, there are concrete similarities that underscore the benefits of a global project team. IT deployments have the common objective to complete all planned installations in the shortest amount of time and with a minimum disruption to customer operations. Implicit in the process is a sense of urgency where the reduction of even a single day in the schedule can result in millions of dollars in bottom-line gains. To the project team, that urgency demands efficient control of the delivery process and extremely quick communication of both positive and negative feedback. Often, the weakest link in the chain is something mundane such as a customs delay or a power outage at the destination that could have been remedied locally without impacting the schedule if the facts had been known. It is likely that the legacy and Telecom configurations in the different countries differ substantially from the models that the developers and project planners are using. Integration of the new components into legacy systems can be the most costly element of the rollout if not planned properly. The nature of international projects dramatically increases the complexity and the amount of information that has to be monitored by the project team and directly affects risk and schedule. Since each country has its own laws and regulations related to the import and certification of technology, local contacts are needed to work out the details well in advance of the installation. Complex global deployments will have increased risk and limited success without a central controlling organization (i.e. Project Management Office [PMO]) that manages reporting, cost control (and billing) and response to change requests and critical project issues. If the partner is unprepared to respond in a timely manner to customer requests wherever they originate, its entire service business could be in jeopardy. The PMO needs automated resource scheduling tools and procedures to ensure that properly trained specialists are on the ground
when the equipment arrives. These tools become essential when the rollout is carried out simultaneously by local teams in many locations.

The Critical Role of Global Project Management
The complexity of distributing technology solutions to diverse geographic locations adds a new dimension to IT deployment. Product documentation and training materials have to be multilingual, and the products themselves must be certified according to differing national standards. Each location offers a unique mixture of local and legacy products that may have to be adapted. Transit times, shipping carriers and customs regulations vary from location to location. The global project manager, or more correctly the global PMO, serves as a command center focused on every detail of the rollout. The PMO concentrates on the "big picture" giving continuity to the project, even when players come and go around the world or organizations change. Also, the PMO serves as the client's single point-of-contact for project information.
Simply said, the role of global project management is to ensure that all project tasks are planned, resourced, executed and accepted by the customer according to the contract and project plan and service level agreements. The intangible benefit of the global PMO is that both the client and partner executive management are kept from being "surprised" by project events.

All Projects Are Local
Just as in politics, all projects are local. Typically, the service partner maintains a legal presence in each country to manage the customs clearance process, complete import documentation, handle the transfer of title and underwrite  import duties, VAT taxes and certification fees. In the country of origin, specialists with knowledge of home country laws (embargoed countries, etc.) prepare the export documentation, identify where and to whom the title will transfer and initiate shipment. Before the installation team and equipment arrive, local engineers prepare the site (transportation of equipment, site access, availability of rack space and power) and inform site personnel of the characteristics of the new configuration.

The Value of Planning
Many managers feel, and rightly so, that you can plan a project to death, and never get down to the hard business of getting the project done. However, planning is the primary tool in risk mitigation and the project  plan gives the project team and their management a perspective on what direction the project will take, and when and where resources will be needed. Every project manager faces the decision of how much planning is needed to understand where problems may occur, and to get the thought process going early enough to be successful in coming up with a contingency or remedy.

Resource Scheduling
The customer's expectation is: "When the deployment package reaches the destination, it will be met by an installation team, trained and able to install the equipment according to a pre-arranged schedule." It sounds simple, but resource scheduling can turn into a nightmare in a global
project, especially when milestones begin slipping. Therefore, many global service providers have linked their resource scheduling software directly into their project management systems so that local managers can work hand-in-hand with the global PMO to commit and schedule installation personnel.

Managing "Scope Creep"
Mid-stream changes to requirements have the greatest potential for disrupting project flow. A task added or expanded in the middle of the
schedule, compounded by the complexity of interaction in a global project, can wreak havoc with resource planning and drive costs out of bounds. All large projects tend to suffer from expanding requirements or "scope creep," and it is up to the project manager to have procedures in place for evaluating, approving or disapproving changes. Not all changes result in extra cost to the customer and there are many valid reasons for making them. It is not the changes, but how the project manager handles change that makes the difference.

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