It is to this talent philosophy Lovelady attributes McWane’s ability to service their approximately 6,000 employees across its global footprint with less than 30 full-time corporate IT employees, and only a handful of longstanding strategic partners.
Driving smart centralization
Key to reigning in and forging partnerships with the portfolio of operationally diverse companies was the deployment of what McWane refers to as “smart centralization.” Through this strategy, Lovelady and his team have struck the often difficult to balance attributes of business unit flexibility with enterprise scale.
“At corporate, we focus on things that can be done globally,” says Lovelady. These include network management, help desk, establishing and enforcing policies related to information security and risk management, and several other IT functions. “These are strategic capabilities for IT, and we have more purchasing power when we address them horizontally across our portfolio,” says Lovelady. “Besides, our businesses shouldn’t have to worry that outdated network equipment is putting their operation at risk.”
Still, the businesses operate with a high degree of local decision-making authority, Lovelady says. “We’ve simply implemented guardrails and policies to make sure we are influencing the domains where we have expertise, and we are making decisions that serve the greater good of McWane, not just an individual business.”
Results: Modern IT and a legacy of transformation
About five years have passed since Charlie Nowlin phoned Lovelady in 2018, and McWane’s corporate IT is firing on all cylinders. IT’s seat at the table has been cemented for many reasons. Chief among them are a rationalized, simplified, cost-effective ERP footprint; a maturing IT security and risk management capability that includes regular audits; a help desk that receives positive ratings from more than 90% of users; and a successful data center migration, which included moving more than 400 servers in real-time, so seamlessly, Lovelady says, that nobody even noticed.
Communication from corporate IT is proactive, includes regular site visits, frequent updates to demonstrate progress against the strategic plan, and plentiful impromptu calls and drop-ins. Business and IT are rowing in the same direction, with the shared goal of making the right decisions for the greater good of McWane.
Lovelady, who announced his retirement in the fourth quarter of 2023, will leave a legacy of transformation at McWane — one that will be synonymous with service excellence, integrity, and collaboration. The results he achieved are enviable, so we asked him what advice he’d share with CIOs pursuing similar journeys. He vehemently referred to the annual strategic plan that started it all, highlighting the importance of trust.
“It takes years of hard work to build trust, and it can be lost in an instant,” says Lovelady. “Don’t breach that trust, and you’ll go far.”
