Question 1

An integrated supply chain for a financial services company such as a bank would be a shorter
or narrower supply chain, as the firm would choose to integrate or internalize many of the
functions in-house, versus partnering with external supplier or providers for services such as
investing and credit services. A potential trade-off with internalizing the functions is a possible
decrease in specialization as the bank now attempt to supply all the functions to its customers.
Depending upon industry regulations, all functions in banking may not be able to be integrated,
such as investing and credit services, because there may be regulations requiring a third party’s
involvement to prevent fraud. Some of the processes in a bank’s integrated supply chain could
include customers, tellers, lending specialists (loans/mortgages), investment specialists (mutual
funds, stocks, GIC), insurance specialists (home/auto/life) and credit specialists (credit cards),
as well as others, like security deposits, currency exchange etc.

One potential advantage of an integrated supply chain for a bank would be the need for only
one “account manager” to be assigned to a client, this person would be the key communication
point for the customer. Even if a single account manager is not assigned, all the pertinent
information about a client would be available in one place in the Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) software. In a traditional supply chain, where some functions might be
offered by a third party, all of the information about a client might not be kept in one place.
Having access to a complete picture of a client in one CRM is highly advantageous in
addressing their needs. This robust CRM would allow the account managers, to more
accurately match a client needs with product offerings, increasing the likelihood of closing a
sale, and increasing client retention.
Question 2

Success today depends on an organization’s ability to work effectively and efficiently with other
organizations, to leverage the untapped expertise of their customers, suppliers and strategic
partners. Companies that can be more adaptive (quickly able to respond to competitor’s
offerings) and entrepreneurial (good at new product/service offerings) agile have more chance
at success in the digitized environment.

Business analytics can allow a company to more accurately forecast customer needs, deliver
more meaningful services and address customer demands. Insights from analytics, and clear
guidelines or parameters around decisions making, made available to employees who interact
with customers, can result in increased sales. Analytics can allow salespeople more time to
engage with customers, and more importantly, prioritize which customers are ready to buy, thus
increasing sales. Analytics can allow a company to enrich their offerings (products/services)
and customer experiences, ideally generating increased sales, higher customer perceived value
(CPV) and increased customer loyalty.

The use of IT has resulted in a significant increase in how quickly analytics can be applied to
data internally by employees, and externally by competitors and customers. Customers can
easily access information on the internet to quickly and easily compare multiple offerings to
determine their perceived best deal. It also means that competitors can just as easily and
quickly compare their competitors’ products and services and adjust their offerings accordingly.
Thus, for a company to succeed they need to be highly aware of the activities of their
competitors and respond accordingly.

This increase in the availability of information to customers and competitors means that
companies must “up their game” so that they don’t damage their reputation or undermine CPV.
Question 3

IT has the potential to significantly change an individual’s work. Ideally, this is a change for the
better, but there may be a steep learning curve to achieve the results. If not implemented
carefully, the individual may perceive the changes as negative, and may only see or feel the
work involved in the steep uphill portion of the learning curve, and not realize the end results. IT
may change how an individual’s work tasks are completed, what their job duties are, or it may
entirely re-engineer roles.

To ensure that this transition happens as painlessly as possible for their team, a manager needs
to plan, prepare and communicate. As suggested in the GTDO text, “act as a gardener not as a
mechanic”, they should aim to grow their team’s skills and abilities, not change them.

A manager overseeing implementation of new technology will want to communicate the goal
with their team, inform them about why the change is necessary and what the end results will
be. The intention is to have the team see the changes with a similar perspective as the
manager, or at least have the manager be empathetic to the employee’s point of view. Frequent
reminders of the value of the change combined with ongoing reassurance will help ease
employees out of their comfort zone. Allowing the employees, the opportunity to have input into
the design of the new process and the ability to provide feedback can also help build ownership
and allow the employees to feel heard, thus reducing resistance to the new processes.

Offering ongoing support and training, as well as adequate training before the implementation of
the changes or new technology will help employees feel more comfortable with the new tools.
Finally, it is important to incorporate milestones in the change process, and to acknowledge,
reward and celebrate these milestones into the change process, as they can help show the
team the progress that has been achieved.

Even if all the steps mentioned above are implemented, there may be a need to reorganize
some employees into roles that are better suited to their strengths and abilities, but this should
be a last resort. Ideally, employees will be given the tools to set themselves up for success with
the new technology.

References

Sambamurthy, V., & Zmud, R. W. (2012). Guiding the digital transformation of organizations.
United States: Legerity Digital Press.