The Inevitable Result of Having No Formal Process for Making Large IT Purchases.

Company I worked for previously manages skilled nursing / assisted living homes in the gulf coast region, managing mostly back office operations (payroll, HR, IT, billing, etc..). Today I learned from a former co-worker that the CIO (the CEO's son in law) decided at some point last week that iPads are what all the physical therapists should be using. Zero communication with the director of IS. He decided this because he saw a blurb on the page of the medical management software we use that said 'Now available on iPad'. He ordered 450 used 2nd gen iPad pros at near retail cost (total was a six figure number that doesn't start with a 1). He didn't need to seek any formal approval.

My former coworker, with about 4 minutes of research, discovered this AM...The iPad app doesn't support printing yet.

Obviously a whole lot more wrong here than just lack of a process, but it definitely would have helped! Developing formal policies and corresponding SOP's is a real pain in the ass, but they can be one hell of a sanity check when the *great idea* fairy visits.