Their Exchange server was down this morning and the 72-year priest usually in charge of IT was sick. Poor Ben had to deal with the issue personally, trying to install the latest Microsoft security patches and getting expiration messages from the antivirus. Sources tell me that His Holiness lost his temper and started screaming in German at the Windows 2000 server, something related to the Devil lurking in technology.
Anyway I had my Italian business development VP sent pronto to the Sixtine Chapel, it looks like they have a server room underneath ground level. I know, I should have send a tech guy to fix the problem, make the Pope happy, and then and only then discuss outsourcing deal.
Problem is, this goes against the CPMF methodology we have at CGI. If you want to make a quick buck, sure you can fix the issue asap. But if you want to make real money like we did in Q4 and address profitable growth, you need to address the business issues first, and then write down a scope of work, talk price and schedule, sign a waiver in case we scrap centuries of Vatican confidential data, and then we try to find a tech with a goatee and an earring who can fix the problem. Total billing time: a couple of weeks.
My sources say the biz dev guy was not able to talk to His Holiness, even though he showed his CGI business card - I'm surprised. Note to self: call Benny next week and have lunch with the guy.
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