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An assignment on ECM40IS: IS/IT Strategy- Interventions within the identified organization

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ECM40IS: IS/IT Strategy

Part A

Introduction

Today, with advent of new technologies, it is found that the organizations are looking for the expansion plans in a given environment. However, before expanding in any parts of the world, they need to conduct strategic analysis and accordingly determine the major gaps in different business processes of the organization (Gray, Greenway, & Feeney, 2015). 

Also, they need to determine how the new IT systems will help the organization to overcome their gaps and subsequently manage their routine practices in a given working environment. 

Researchers have noticed that the IT systems are helping the organization from the perspective of - enhanced security, improvised productivity levels, streamlining of the process, fostering of the growth, overcoming market competition, providing flexibility to the employees, saving on the different operational costs, and also integrating the information of all the departments that can be later used for different purposes (Gray, Greenway, & Feeney, 2015).  

This research report will thereby focus on how a new IT system can be installed in a given organization. It will also focus on the aspects of considering the banking industry and accordingly will provide an analysis on it.

Case Background

Today, Habib Bank is working in the banking industry and hence is facing challenges from the perspectives of - assimilation of data, planning, streamlining of all the data and other analysis, decreased system efficiency, increased challenges among the employees in a given environment, increased cost of the majority of the operational activities, poor communication, and also other issues due to which the organization is not able to achieve desired objectives in a given environment (Gray, Greenway, & Feeney, 2015). 

It is thereby recommended to deploy ways and techniques of the new IT system that will first analyze the needs of the system, determine the major challenges faced in a given environment, and subsequently focus on the implementation phase that will allow the organization to achieve their desired objectives in a given working environment (Liang, Xue, & Wu, 2013). It will also make sure of managing the workplace and improving the communication among all the departments of the organization in a given operational environment.

Approach to the Problem 

There are several issues faced by the workers and employees of the banking company and hence they first need to decide on the approach that they will take to resolve this situation. For the purpose of installing a new system in the company, they need to first conduct planning of the major phases related to this project, determine the master plan, design the work breakdown structure, maintain the schedule, and accordingly prepare the requirement analysis document for the organization (Wyche & Goss, 2016). 

They also need to focus on the software requirement and accordingly select the best IT module that will perform as per the expectations of all the departments of the organization. Further, they need to select on the key modules that they need to install so that they can accordingly prepare the budget, other cost estimates, schedules for the implementation phase, and also design the training program for all the employees of a given organization (Wyche & Goss, 2016). 

Also, they need to deploy different security mechanisms that will make sure of securing the database of a given banking company, secure the data of all the customers, and also protect the entire IT system against the major cyber-attacks that are taking place in the present time (Wyche & Goss, 2016). It is important for the organization to protect their data so that they can preserve the data of the customers and simultaneously overcome the challenges of Cybersecurity in a given environment.

Literature Review and Theoretical Framework

Today, several of the companies are not only deploying technologies for the purpose of increasing working efficiency but also for the purpose of data management within a given working environment. 

For this purpose, they are establishing a linkage between business analytics models and these IT technological platforms that will allow the top-level management to take better decisions, allow all the departments for better collaboration, improvise communication, and also provide necessary support to all the staff members as and when required (Wyche & Goss, 2016). 

Researchers have found that with the implementation of these new IT modules, the working efficiency of the employees increases by 23%, the productivity levels of the senior management in taking decisions increased by 12%, the overall communication improvises by 17%, conflicts get reduced by 36%, and work collaboration techniques get improved by 47% ((Wyche & Goss, 2016). Thus, it will allow the organization to complete all the assigned tasks within a given timeframe and also ensure that they are completed as per the expectations.

Empirical Analysis Techniques

It is observed that the new IT systems will assist in streamlining the business processes, centralize the data and thereby improve on business analytics, promote strongly coupled organization, ensure better automation of all the processes, providing tracking mechanisms to the top-level management so that they can monitor on the new techniques, determine gaps through the reports generated, improve decision making for the senior management, and subsequently ensure achieving of the needs of all the concerned stakeholders of the organization (Van Horne & Örge, 2013). 

Key findings and Conclusion

It is necessary for the top-level management of Habib Bank to first determine the major needs of the new IT system in the organization. They however need to take into account the costs associated with this new system, determine the implementation schedule, and also focus on the training needs of the employees in a given working environment (Van Horne & Örge, 2013). 

Second, the selection decision of choosing the best IT solution should be provided to the concerned IT department of the organization. They also need to make sure of following the concerned legal regulations so that they do not breach any Code of Ethics or any other legal rules in a given operational environment. 

Further, the employees will face issues of accepting the new system and hence it is the responsibility of the Human Resources (HR) department to train them and accordingly deploy the techniques of change management in a given organization (Borman & Janssen, 2013). It will thereby allow the employees to accept the new changes, motivate the staff to perform on the new IT modules, and subsequently achieve the desired objectives in a given environment.

Importance of Research from the Theoretical View

In a given research, it is necessary to follow the research guidelines first so that there is no breach of any working principles and code of ethics in a given environment. Second, from the theoretical perspective, the researchers need to include relevant frameworks and techniques that will allow them to conduct analysis in the right direction. It will thereby allow them to determine the gaps and provide necessary recommendations.

Part-B

Strategies adopted in the Case Study mentioned

In a given case of construction industry, it is found that the organizations are facing consistency and accountability issues; hence, they need to install these new IT systems that will allow them - gain process automation, reduce errors in the working processes, improve efficiency of the different business activities, improve communication, increased productivity levels, deploy business performance parameters, facilitate data analysis, meet customer expectations, and also ensure better information management in a given environment (Wu, Ding, & Hitt, 2013). 

There is also a need of deploying the Code of Ethics so that all the employees will follow to it, ensure transparency, accountability, integrity, trustworthiness, honesty, and respect in the daily routine activities, and thereby make sure of achieving desired objectives in a given work environment. In this case, the top-level management of the organization have deployed frameworks for the purpose of determining the current gaps and also find the major issues prevailing in a given work environment (Wu, Ding, & Hitt, 2013). 

It will thereby help them focus on the key issues prevailing in the existing organization and accordingly suggest them for the recommendations on the deployment of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that will allow - automated administration of the processes, introduce customer-oriented systems, focus on increasing efficiency of the processes, develop better work collaboration, ensure quick generation of the desired reports, increase return on investment for the organization, and also gain operational excellence as per the expectations (Wu, Ding, & Hitt, 2013). 

Also, the role of the HR department is important as they need to train the workforce on the new IT platforms and also teach them the key ethical values present in the working environment. It might happen that the employees will resist working on the new platforms and hence it is recommended to deploy the techniques of change management in a given environment. 

The HR department also needs to motivate the staff so that they can continue working in a given organization (Wu, Ding, & Hitt, 2013). This case study has thereby provided a complete plan of the implementation phase of the new cycle as well as provided details on how the new system should be installed in a given organization. 

Critical Analysis

It is important to understand the implementation phase of the new IT solution in a given working environment. These include - packages selection, project planning, GAP analysis, re-engineering of the business processes, training and development, testing, training for the employees, actual implementation, and maintenance (Mitropoulos, Mitropoulos, & Sissouras, 2013). 

It will thereby low the top-level management to consult with the IT department and accordingly implement the solution in a given work environment. Further, the IT team also needs to select on the new solution so that they can follow the new gaps identified in a given environment. In this case of banking institution - Habib Bank, there is a need to improve work collaboration, overcome the conflicts of employees, improve communication, and subsequently achieve desired level of efficiency in a given work environment (Webster, 2017). 

The responsibility of the IT department and the HR department are vital since they need to select the best packages for the organization, train the workforce on the new IT modules, re-engineer the processes, manage the GAPS, configure the system as per the new system, evaluate the performance, and accordingly make changes in the organization. 

They also need to follow the ERP cycle that includes several major phases. These include - pre-implementation activities, project preparation, business blueprint development, realization and implementation of the system, training the workforce, going live, and providing support to all the concerned departments in a given environment (Webster, 2017). It will thereby make sure of managing the different business process in a better way. 

Further, the IT team also needs to take care of the IT architecture of the given IT system installed in the organization. They need to look for securing the central database, ensure that all the modules are working as per the expectations, provide support to all the departments wherever required, and ensure effective collaboration in a given environment. 

Further, the top-level management needs to also look out for the gaps in the supplementary business processes and provide necessary support wherever required. It will thereby allow the organization to achieve desired objectives in a given environment (Webster, 2017). The leaders of the organization on the other hand need to deploy performance analysis mechanisms and accordingly judge on the key performance of the different activities of the organisation. 

They also need to make sure that the transformational leadership style is deployed during the implementation phase of this system. It will thereby allow the employees to have the desired flexibility in adapting to the new learning environment (Webster, 2017). The HR department on the other hand needs to train the staff and motivate them so that they can continue working in the organization and perform on the new IT modules as per the expectations of the senior management. It will thereby make sure of achieving the desired outcomes of the organization in the near future. 

 

Part C

Executive Summary

Today, with advent of new technologies, it is found that the new technologies will help the organization in improving the efficiency of the business processes, in streamlining the daily routine activities, foster growth of the organization, improve productivity levels of the employees, integrate all the concerned departments, ensure flexibility, improve collaboration, and also improve the decision making ability of the top-level management in a given environment (Webster, 2017). 

In this case, the focus is on how the new IT systems will assist the companies in the construction industry will help them improve their future outcomes. However, the key focus is on the implementation phase as well as on determining the negative consequences associated with this new IT system (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). 

It has also provided a strategic implementation framework for IT/IS projects in the respective construction industry. They have also focused on including the SWOT analyst is to determine the major strengths of the company, identify on their weaknesses, focus on new opportunities, and simultaneously manage the threats in both internal and external working environment (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). It will thereby allow the company to achieve the desired objectives and also improve the working processes from the technological perspective.

Report Analysis

In this report, there is inclusion of different frameworks and analysis tools for the purpose of first determining the current needs of the organization from the IT perspective. The top-level management of the organization also wants to determine the major risk factors that could impact directly on the performance of the organization (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). 

They have even included the strategies of story telling as well as determining the action plans for the purpose of determining the current issues and challenges faced by the employees in the organization. It is often noticed that the employees are not able to coordinate with each other and hence often lead to conflicting situations in a given working environment. 

Second, the employees are also facing the problems of managing time within a given work environment and hence are not able to complete their tasks as per the expectations of the senior management. It is thereby recommended to deploy the new IT systems that will allow the organization to gain desired operational excellence (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). 

Today, with increased competition, the organization is not able to cope up with the changing needs of the customers and other concerned stakeholders of the organization; hence, it directly impacts on the performance of the organization. Second, there are also issues with efficiency of the daily business activities, and hence the new IT systems will optimize business processes in a given environment (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). 

There is also a need to deploy the transformational leadership style that will allow the employees to motivate the staff, overcome conflicts, ensure better work coordination, and also reduce the costs of all the operational processes of the organization. 

There is further a need of improving the decision making abilities of the top-level management in such cases and hence this report highlights not only the implementation phase of the project but also includes the monitoring phase, analysis phase, and project closure phase for a given project (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). It has also highlighted the importance of project management and project implementation in a given project and accordingly has provided recommendations to improve the future outcomes.

Recommendations and Conclusion

In this report, the key focus is on how the new IT system should be implemented in the construction industry considering the challenges of the present working environment. Second, it has included SWOT analysis as well as other techniques such as story-telling and action plans to first understand the needs of such a system in a given work environment. 

It is also observed that the employees are not able to provide the necessary response as and when required. There is also lack of integration of all the information and hence there are internal conflicts among the different departments of the organization (Zorn, Grant, & Henderson, 2013). It is thereby recommended to deploy the new technological tools to not only improve the efficiency but also manage the daily work routines of the organization in a better way. 

It is further found that the organization is not able to cope with the increasing scalability of the daily operations, is not able to save time, efforts, and costs of the daily operational processes, and also is finding issues with accessibility of the different required reports as per the expectations of the senior management (Martin & Nguyen-Thi, 2015). 

It is thereby recommended to deploy new IT systems that will allow the organization to first personalize their working approach, deploy transformational leadership style, improve business analytics, analyze the behaviors of customers and other external stakeholders and accordingly fulfill their expectations (Zorn, Grant, & Henderson, 2013). 

It will thereby allow the organization to achieve desired outcomes both in the short- and long-term in the future. However, the top-level management is also recommended to deploy monitoring mechanisms so that they can review the new systems, new strategies, and determine gaps, if any. It will thereby assist in overcoming these gaps and subsequently improve the future outcomes in a given working environment.

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