ModMeters Case Essay

I believe that ModMeters Company understands their IT value. Each department should realize how IT can minimize their workload and would help benefit the company as a whole. ModMeters should look at where is IT valued; mainly, it is valued through their employees, customer satisfaction, revenue, cash flow, and order process. Each department would be required to go through training, so they would know benefits of technology, adapt to new ways of working, and be able to inform customers of new products and services that ModMeters are offering. This will help ModMeters move forward to the next level in expanding internationally to other countries. ModMeters had identified opportunities for the company IT system to reengineer the infrastructure of their current system and PC’s. CIO Brian Smith should create a portfolio approach for other programs, resources, and funding for different type of projects (systems) enabling different types of opportunities that could reengineer or repl ace the current system. I think that ModMeters would go a long way in formalizing where and how they will choose to invest their IT funds. The executive board at ModMeters are would like to see a conversion in IT, this will give them access to training in what their business goals and processes are, emphasis on organizational and knowledge barriers, and multifunctional change management. Brian Smith should plan a value-realization phase for the IT project, measure outcomes against any expected or unexpected results, have provisions for acting on new opportunities to leverage value, and look to eliminate root causes of problems when implementing the IT value. When Brain Smith presents his ideas to the executive board he should have a clear and defined portfolio that will give an overall view of ModMeters IT department. Brian will identify and prioritize IT opportunities by its value, track projects as they are being developed. The mechanisms would optimize enterprise value through tactical, strategic, and infrastructure project. Next, the organization should look at the chunks of value that has a significant transformational and strategic impact on the organization. ModMeters also should adopt a holistic orientation to technology value. Upon implementing  this principle ModMeters would adopt a systemic approach to value, contribute to perceived business value, where technology is not view as isolation, interactions, and impacts. ModMeters as a whole should indulge in a joint ownership of the technology initiatives, meaning all employees will develop a business support for IT and its staff. Finally, experiment more often with the company; however, I don’t think that ModMeters executive staff would approve, because of the lack of funding for the IT department. I do recommend that they keep their systems current and up to date with the latest technology. In the past ModMeters didn’t have a fancy website that was appealing to consumers but they had automated systems for every aspect of the business. Presently, ModMeters have punch cards and computers from every era. Surprisingly, Brain Smith hasn’t tried to sway the executive staff of improving the IT department; instead, all have is layered systems on top of each other, a diagram of all the interactions among their systems that makes them look unorganized. Going along to the future I think that ModMeters should invest in new equipment for their employees with updated technology. Also, ModMeters are to use one system for all departments and a company as a whole locally and globally. For the future I th ink every executive would see a difference in when reports for auditors, this system would be acceptable for all departments making their workload much easier. This would be a challenge to ModMeters CIO Brain Smith when implementing these strategies. In Brain portfolio he will discuss the critical success factors for ModMeters which would be the best way to expand globally. The first factor would be to revisit the company’s business model which could have changed over the years. This would provide a broader understanding how the business as whole works, and how the company strategies can be developed to articulate how the company would deliver that value in a unique way. The second factor would be to have strategic themes, this how programs are crafted that focuses on developing specific business capabilities. The third factor is getting the right people involved, meaning every member in the organization getting on board to participate, bringing in new ideas, and giving negative or positive feedback. The final factor is working in partnership with the business, combining both IT and business together to work closely together to achieve the company’s goals and objectives. ModMeters business improvement is what the co mpany needs when reengineering  initiative to help streamline their processes and save substantial amounts of money by eliminating unnecessary or duplicate activities. I suggest that Brain Smith scrounge money for skunkworks, which would show growing recognition of potential value of experiments in helping the company prepare for the future. Our goal is to plan and budget cycles more frequently than once a year or have the funds available on a needed basis. The challenge for ModMeters CIO would be poorly integrated processes for developing IT and business strategies, unbalanced strategic/tactical initiatives, and weak strategizing skills in the workplace. The ModMeters Company will be required to attend training sessions, to ensure each employee understand the important elements of effective communication. I believe that communication is the key to a healthy and long-term relationship. I feel that the executive staffs are overseeing their departments but they really don’t know the issues they are having compared to the front line workers. That why I would recommend that ModMeters use The Virtuous Communication Cycle to reinforce interpersonal communication. The obstacles to effective communication would help of every department but will benefit human resources and marketing more so than others. Lastly, ModMeters would have their own way of improving business-it communication. In closing, my opinion is to replace the current syste m with an SAP system that has enterprise resource planning which would benefit to ModMeters success.