Jim Toy, Customer Services Director (UK) for French-owned Lyon Assurance Company, is faced with a perplexing challenge. The parent company has invested three (3) million pounds associated with the implementation of information systems that were intended to reduce the cost of processing new insurance policy applications. Senior management perceived this as a necessary move in order to remain competitive in the European insurance market. Unfortunately the results promised with respect to productivity improvement and customer service, are not apparent to management and they are concerned. Jim has to assess the situation and report back to headquarters. It is unlikely the problem will be completely solved by making changes within the Customer Service Department.
Ron Smith manages the UK Customer Service Department and was one of the architects of the new system. In spite of the new system, RonÆs department has a four (4) week backlog of work, very few of the workers are not performing well, and there is a growing level of complaining going on within RonÆs department associated with the difficulty of performing queries because of the complexity associated with the new system.
Ron believes the only way to solve his problem is to increase his departmental headcount by ten (10) percent. Jim remains unconvinced that increasing staff is necessary and does not understand why things have become more problematic. He is concerned about the level of urgency in the department and wonders if Ron was correct in his assessment of the key issues. Of equal importance is the influence of other departments upon the scope of the problem.
While some of these issues may be rooted in the actual deployment process associated with the new information system there are other issues facing the organization, which include the following:
There is a general inability to present an accurate return on investment analysis to management.
Lack o...