Operational Technologies

Operational Technologies, Inc. was a diversified San Antonio multinational: about 3,600 employees and contractors, $200 million in revenue, eight operating divisions and subsidiaries, two biotech labs and a new healthcare division on the way.

It had grown the way many companies grow, by adding businesses. Core IT was one technician, and the network ran across nine sites on both sides of the border.

Frank Robles was hired as chief technology officer in July 2010 and held the role until October 2011.

• Executive governance. A governance structure for the executive team and monthly KPI reporting across every department and every division.
• An IT department. Core IT grew from one technician to a full team.
• A modern data center built on a VMware private cloud.
• One network. Redesigned across nine locations in Mexico and the United States.
• Security at both layers. Network access control and physical access control, deployed together.

A board or a chief executive cannot fix what it cannot see. Monthly KPI reporting across every department and division gave the executive team one set of numbers to run eight businesses by, and a way to judge each investment in people, the data center or the network against them.

Frank supported the new healthcare subsidiary with its clinical technology, inside a diversified company rather than a hospital system.

• Health information exchange.
• Electronic medical records.
• Medical encryption for the data those systems held.
• Video for clinical use.

Frank built a software development division that won outside customers and delivered their projects. Two of them:

• High-resolution video streaming, a commercial system used to train surgeons in best practices.
• An online storefront integrated with Microsoft Dynamics.

To sell that work he deployed a private CRM and hired the division's first business development director.

• VMware
• Private cloud
• Network access control
• Physical access control
• HIE
• EMR
• Medical encryption
• Video streaming
• Microsoft Dynamics
• CRM

• Holding companies and roll-ups. Several businesses, one board, no shared view. The first job is the reporting, and he has done it across eight divisions.
• Cross-border operations. A network and security program across sites in Mexico and the United States.
• A healthcare line inside a diversified company. HIE, EMR, encryption and clinical video supported alongside everything else.
• IT that pays for itself. A development team that sells outside work, with the sales function to support it.