Building Shared Services at Rr Communications

John Ottersbach

Info I-303 Organizational Informatics

June 15, 2009

Project # 3

This is the project report from evaluating the RR Communications mini-case (Textbook pages 127-130)

1. Synopsis

The case refers to a VP of IT that has been with the company for years. It fills in the back-story of the IT situation up the present time. Initially IT was performed at the divisional level, but enterprise architecture has been endorsed. The hardware and software has recently been shifted to a standardized platform for the entire company. There was considerable pushback and conflict from the preexisting IT leadership, but the case opens with the issue being solved. This leads the IT leadership toward consolidation and unification with an enterprise focus. With the IT department internally consistent on values and goals, the VP is tasked with the new challenge of convincing the business divisions to merge their customer information and utilize a common, shared customer service center.

2. Key Issues

1. Competition in the telecommunication field is high. This will effectively increase pressure to focus on the bottom line.

2. The new VP was hired on to set the company onto a path that allows quick introduction of new products. The IT team prior to that point had a “no can do” attitude toward new features. Continual blame was shifted to the systems. Also the company’s founder wanted the billing for individual services to be reduced to a single bill per customer. The billing process had a separate bill for every product.

3. The four key lines of business are Internet, mobile, landline, and cable TV service. They all possess a certain entrepreneurial spirit that is perpetuated by the corporate culture. Each line of business had a divisional CIO, bought its own hardware and software, and operates their own customer service center.

4. The compensation metrics also have a division centered focus. Centralization within the company is negatively...