Organ leader and decision making
Read the ModMeters Case Study on pages 82-85 in the textbook. Answer the Discussion Question at the end of the Case Study. Your responses must be complete, detailed and in APA format. See the sample assignment for expected format and length. Case study paper must be completed in APA style format. Attached document is the case study pages from 82-85 and also the preferred template for the assignment.
IT Planning at ModMeters4
Brian Smith, CIO of ModMeters, groaned inwardly as he listened to CEO John Johnson
wrapping up his remarks. So our executive team thinks there are real business opportunities
for us in developing these two new strategic thrusts. But before I go to the
board for final approval next month, I need to know that our IT, marketing, and sales
plans will support us all the way, Johnson concluded.
Brian mentally calculated the impact these new initiatives would have on his organization.
He had heard rumors from his boss, the COO, that something big was coming
down. He had even been asked his opinion about whether these strategies were technically
doable, theoretically. But both at once? Resourcespeople, time, and moneywere
tight, as usual. ModMeters was making a reasonable profit, but the CFO, Stan Abrams,
had always kept the lid screwed down tightly on IT spending. Brian had to fight for
every dime. How he was going to find the wherewithal to support not one but two new
strategic initiatives, he didnt know.
The other VPs at this strategy presentation were smiling. Taking ModMeters
global from a North American operation seemed to be a logical next step for the company.
Its products, metering components of all types, were highly specialized and in
great demand from such diverse customers as utility companies, manufacturers, and
a host of other industries. Originally founded as Modern Meters, the firm had grown
steadily as demand for its metering expertise and components had grown over the past
century or so. Today ModMeters was the largest producer of metering components in
the world with a full range of both mechanical and, now, digital products. Expanding
into meter assembly with plants in Asia and Eastern Europe was a good plan, thought
Brian, but he wasnt exactly sure how he was going to get the infrastructure in place
to support it. Many of these countries simply dont have the telecommunications and
equipment we are going to need, and the training and new systems we have to put in
place are going to be substantial, he said.
But it was the second strategic thrust that was going to give him nightmares, he
predicted. How on earth did they expect him to put direct-to-customer sales in place
so they could sell green electric meters to individual users? His attention was jerked
back to the present by a flashy new logo on an easel that the CEO had just unveiled.
In keeping with our updated strategy, may I present our new nameMM!
Johnson announced portentously.
Oh, this is just great, thought Brian. Now I have to go into every single application
and every single document this company produces and change our name!
Because of its age and scientific orientation, ModMeters (as he still preferred to
call it) had been in the IT business a long time. Starting back in the early 1960s, the company had gradually automated almost every aspect of its business from finance
and accounting to supply chain management. About the only thing it didnt have was
a fancy Web site for consumers, although even that was about to change. ModMeters
currently had systems reflecting just about every era of computers from punch cards
to PCs. Unfortunately, the company never seemed to have the resources to invest in
reengineering its existing systems. It just layered more systems on top of the others.
A diagram of all the interactions among systems looked like a plate of spaghetti. There
was no way they were going to be able to support two new strategic thrusts with their
current budget levels, he thought as he applauded the new design along with the others.
Next weeks IT budget meeting is going to be a doozy!
Sure enough, the following week found them all, except for the CEO, back in the
same meeting room, ready to do battle. Holding his fire, Brian waited until all the VPs
had presented their essential IT initiatives. In addition to what needed to be done to
support the new business strategies, each division had a full laundry list of essentials
for maintaining the current business of the firm. Even Abrams had gotten into the act
this year because of new legislation that gave the firms outside auditors immense
scope to peer into the inner workings of every financial and governance process the
organization had.
After listening carefully to each speaker in turn, Brian stood up. As many of you
know, we have always been cautious about how we spend our IT budget. We have been
given a budget that is equal to 2 percent of revenues, which seriously limits what we in
IT have been able to do for the company. Every year we spend a lot of time paring our
project list down to bare bones, and every year we make do with a patchwork of infrastructure
investments. We are now at the point where 80 percent of our budget in IT is
fixed. Heres how we spend our money. Brian clicked on a PowerPoint presentation
showing a multicolored pie chart.
This large chunk in blue is just about half our budget, he stated. This is simply
the cost of keeping the lights onrunning our systems and replacing a bare minimum
of equipment. The red chunk is about 30 percent of the pie. This is the stuff we have to
dofixing errors, dealing with changes mandated by government and our own industry,
and providing essential services like the help desk. How we divide up the remainder
of the pie is what this meeting is all about.
Brian clicked to a second slide showing a second pie chart. As you know, we
have typically divided up the remaining IT budget proportionately, according to who
has the biggest overall operating budget. This large pink chunk is you, Fred. Brian
gestured at Fred Tompkins, head of manufacturing and the most powerful executive in
the room. It was his division that made the firms profit. The pink chunk easily took up
more than half of the pie. Tompkins smiled. Brian went on, pointing out the slice that
each part of the firm had been allotted in the previous year. Finally, we come to Harriet
and Brenda, he said with a smile. Harriet Simpson and Brenda Barnes were the VPs of
human resources and marketing, respectively. Their tiny slivers were barely visible
just a few percent of the total budget.
This approach to divvying up our IT budget may have served us well over the
yearsBrian didnt think it had, but he wasnt going to fight past battleshowever,
we all heard what John said last week, and this approach to budgeting doesnt give
us any room to develop our new strategies or cover our new infrastructure or staffing
needs. Although we might get a little more money to obtain some new applications and buy some more computersAbrams nodded slightlyit wont get us where we
need to go in the future.
A third graph went up on the screen, showing the next five years. If we dont
do something now to address our IT challenges, within five years our entire IT budget
will be eaten up by just operations and maintenance. In the past we have paid minimal
attention to our infrastructure or our information and technology architecture or
to reengineering our existing systems and processes. A diagram of the spaghetti
flashed on. This is what youre asking me to manage in a cost-effective manner. It isnt
pretty. We need a better plan for making our systems more robust and flexible. If we
are going to be moving in new directions with this firm, the foundation just isnt there.
Stan, you should be worried that we wont be able to give our auditors what they ask for.
But you should also be worried about our risk exposure if one of these systems fails and
about how we are going to integrate two new business ventures into this mess.
Tompkins looked up from his papers. It was clear he wasnt pleased with where
this presentation was headed. Well, I, for one, need everything Ive asked for on my
list, he stated flatly. You cant expect me to be the cash cow of the organization and
not enable me to make the money we need to invest elsewhere.
Brian was conciliatory. Im not saying that you dont, Fred. Im just saying that
weve been given a new strategic direction from the top and that some things are going
to have to change to enable IT to support the whole enterprise better. For example, until
now, we have always prioritized divisional IT projects on the basis of ROI. How should
we prioritize these new strategic initiatives? Furthermore, these new ventures will
require a lot of additional infrastructure, so we need to figure out a way to afford this.
And right now our systems dont talk to the ones running in other divisions because
they dont use the same terminology. But in the future, if were going to have systems
that wont cost increasing amounts of our budget, we are going to have to simplify and
integrate them better.
Tompkins clearly hadnt considered the enterprises needs at all. He scowled but
said nothing. Brian continued, We are being asked to do some new things in the company.
Obviously, John hopes theres going to be a payback, but it may take a while. New
strategies dont always bear fruit right away. Now looking at Abrams, he said pointedly,
Theres more to IT value than short-term profit. Part of our business strategy is
to make new markets for our company. That requires investment, not only in equipment
and product but also in the underlying processes and information we need to manage
and monitor that investment.
Harriet Simpson spoke for the first time. Its like when we hire someone new in
R&D. We hire for quality because we want their ideas and innovation, not just a warm
body. I think we need to better understand how we are going to translate our five key
corporate objectives into IT projects. Yes, we need to make a profit, but Stan needs to
satisfy regulators and Brendas going to be on the hot seat when we start marketing to
individuals. And we havent even spoken about Teds needs. As the VP of R&D, Ted
Kwok was tasked with keeping one or more steps ahead of the competition. New types
of products and customer needs would mean expansion in his area as well.
Abrams cleared his throat. All of you are right. As I see it, we are going to have
to keep the cash flowing from Freds area while we expand. But Brians got a point.
We may be being penny wise and pound foolish if we dont think things through more carefully. Weve put a lot of effort into developing this new strategy, and there will be
some extra money for IT but not enough to do that plus everything all of you want. We
need to retrench and regroup and move forward at the same time.
There was silence in the room. Abrams had an annoying way of stating the
obvious without really helping to move the ball forward. Brian spoke again. The way
I see it, we have to understand two things before we can really make a new budget.
First, we need to figure out how each of the IT projects weve got on the table contributes
to one of our key corporate objectives. Second, we need to figure out a way to
determine the value of each to ModMeters so that we can prioritize it. Then I need to
incorporate a reasonable amount of IT regeneration so that we can continue to do new
projects at all.
Everyone was nodding now. Brian breathed a small sigh of relief. That was step
one accomplished. But step two was going to be harder. We have a month to get back
to the board with our assurances that the IT plan can incorporate the new strategies
and what were going to need in terms of extra funds to do this. As I said earlier, this
is not just a matter of throwing money at the problem. What we need is a process for IT
planning and budgeting that will serve us well over the next few years. This process
will need to accomplish a number of things: It will need to take an enterprise perspective
on IT. Were all in these new strategies together. It will have to incorporate all types of
IT initiativesour new strategies, the needs of Fred and others for the new IT to operate
and improve our existing business, Stans new auditing needs, and our operations
and maintenance needs. In addition, we must find some way of allocating some of the
budget to fixing the mess we have in IT right now. It must provide a better way to connect
new IT work with our corporate objectives. It must help us prioritize projects with
different types of value. Finally, it must ensure we have the business and IT resources in
place to deliver that value.
Looking at each of his colleagues in turn, he asked, Now how are we going to
do this?
Discussion Question
1. Develop an IT planning process for ModMeters to accomplish the demands as set
out above. 4
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