Organization Leader & Decision Making

Abstract

Nationstate Insurance Company is an organization that is known globally. Despite having one of the best staff members and good function systems, the company is yet to invest in information technology in realizing the benefits associated with this technology. Mrs. Janae Denton, who has worked with various companies, believes that is the right time for the company to invest in IT in taking the company to the next level. However, before incorporating IT services into the company, she must convince the head of various business units in the company why IT is essential for developing an enterprise architecture.

Mrs. Denton believes that IT can be used to overcome various disadvantages that the company is experiencing as a result of a decentralized system. She believes she can turn the company around by building a centralized system through IT.

Introduction

Technology is essential in the modern competitive business environment, especially for global renown companies such as Nationstate Insurance. The advantages of technology, such as IT, cannot be ignored when it comes to business as various organizations that have deployed this technology have reaped big.

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This indicates that technology is one of the essential factors in the production process. Mrs. Jane Denton is a strategic business individual who believes that despite Nationstate being a global company, it is time for the firm to invest wisely in IT in developing a centralized system that will not only serve the company better but, more importantly, the company's clients.

Discussion question one

The ideas envisioned by Jane Denton is a good idea for the company as it is likely to reap big from her ideas.

However, there as some disadvantages that are associated with her plan in the company. Jane Denton is proposing the idea of implementing an enterprise-wide architecture in Nationstate insurance (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

Though the implementation of this strategy, the company is likely to save on the costs and expenses of running various business units within the company. From the case study, there are more than five business units, such as Claims and Operations, with each department running separate systems, data, and processes that serve the same clients. Different cost centers mean that each cost center uses different expenses, such as the case of Nationstate insurance. This means at the beginning of each financial year; different departments are assigned different budgets. Additionally, each department has a different number of employees. However, having a wide-enterprise architecture system is likely to reduce these costs as associated with running different and separate units that serve the same clients. As per the vision of Jane Denton, implementing her vision will help reduce the case of data redundancy associated with the more than five business units (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

The implementation of Jane Denton's vision will help the company to experience secure collaboration and communication among the company's employees. With various departments, there is less collaboration and communication. However, having a single system will ensure that the company's employee comes together and work towards satisfying the customers, as these business units will work from a conventional system (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

From the case study, Jane believes that having a decentralized system is associated with duplication of duties and responsibilities, data, and software programs. However, she believes that her new plans will make the utilization of these resources in an effective manner which, is advantageous to the organization (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

As much as Jane Denton's ideas may sound good on paper, her plans may fail to prosper as anticipated. Over the years, the company has been performing well and even mentioned in Forbes Magazine as one of the best biggest companies. One of the risks of implementing Mrs. Denton's ideas is that the company may lose the advantages it has been experiencing over the years. This may help to explain why some members in the company are afraid of implementing her ideas (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

The implementation of any technological idea comes at a cost that a company must be willing to incur. In the above case, Nationstate Insurance needs to define a new office plan, new equipment, and training the employees on the newly proposed idea. The implementation of these services will cost the company some fortune, which is expensive (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

Some business units may function well when they are separate, such as the case of Nationstate Insurance, whereby most the business units have been performing well despite various costs such as data redundancy. However, it is hard for the implemented centralized system to serve its business units separately as each business unit requires different separate resources and objectives, in which they combine to work towards the company's goals and objectives (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

Discussion question two

As per Jane Denton, for the company to benefit from the implementation of the IT, the company needs to develop a centralized system. The current business strategies in the company allow for the duplication of resources and human effort. Additionally, the ideas generated in a single department stays within the department and not spread to other departments. This has created a system that Jane refers to a silo system (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

In order to accomplish the plans that Mrs. Denton has envisioned, Mr. Seamus must focus on the positive side of the new proposals of the enterprise system. In making this successful, it is critical to involve all the heads of the business units to avoid unnecessary conflicts. In making this successful, it is essential to focus on various points as discussed below:

Combining efforts. For maximum benefits and the greater good of the company, it is essential for the company to work as a single unit. Various departments will have different objectives that may be different from the company's objective. However, if the resources of these objectives are combined, they will work toward a common goal. As a result, this will consolidate various efforts into a single effort, which is a good idea of the company (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

Cost advantages: As noted and identified by Mrs. Jane, the company is experiencing the duplication of resources such as data and software that leads to inefficient and ineffective use of resources. Working with various departments entails extra and additional costs, which is expensive for the company. Through the combination of resources, will not only embrace the spirit of togetherness but also reduce costs (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

Most of the organization in the insurance industry are utilizing technology for the greater good. More importantly, this technology is used to improve the business process in which it is a good idea for the company to implement (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

Working towards a common goal. Each company has its own goals that are to be achieved at the end of a given period. Focusing on these goals for business continuity is essential. However, it becomes an issue when there are various goals and objectives to be achieved, like in the case of having various departments such as the case of Nationstate Insurance. Having a common goal and objective will call for the company to work towards a common goal (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

What is in for everybody is that the company is likely to increase its profits in which means that the performance rewards of the company can be restructured, and each employee is likely to benefit from the profits. As much as there is the call for having a centralized system, each department will maintain autonomy to their tasks but towards a collective organization and objectives. This means that the company will perform well, and every employee wants to associate with a well-performing company (McKeen & Smith, 2015).

References

1. James D. McKeen, Heather A. Smith, IT Strategy:  Issues and Practices, Third Edition. Pearson, 2015, ISBN-13 978-0-13-354424-4