Otis and Comergent Week 4

Otis Given the organization's culture and history, what hurdles would you expect that Otis faced when it implemented the Otisline system in the '80's? –Who in the organization would have been most affected by the introduction of Otisline? –What are the likely sources of resistance by people in this position? –How important is the organizational culture at Otis?

Otis What would the process associated with initiating and managing a repair be like before the introduction of the Otisline product? –What did this imply about the information flow? –In a sense, who has the power? What changed with the introduction of Otisline? –What did this imply about the information flow? –Who now has the power?

Otis What is the importance of Mr. Bousbib's pronouncement that the company is not a manufacturing company? –How did this tie into the Otisline system and the e*Logistics system? When Bousbib laid out his BHAG he expected a 5-fold reduction in cycle time. –What was the role of the culture versus IT in this plan? –Is this similar to Harrah’s?

Otis The case makes the point that the e*Logistics system was put in place to facilitate business process engineering. –How and why was this done? –What was the role of the e*Logistics system in this BPR? What was the e*Logistics program doing in relation to business process to make it "stick"?

Otis What were the challenges faced during the role out of the e*Logistics system? –Were these likely to be major hurdles or merely minor obstacles? –Of those described, which would be most problematic? Why? Who was the manager in charge of the e*Logistics and PBR effort? How important is it that this individual, given his position in the firm, is leading this effort?

Otis How would you describe the use of IT at Otis? Di Francesco said… “Best practices from SIP are baked into the organization and institutionalized to achieve that continuous transformation.” –What is the relation between process and IT? –Is this always the case with IT? –How does an IT solution affect business process and what risks and benefits does this create or offer?

Otis What is the long-term vision at Otis? –How are they going to achieve this vision?

Comergent What type of firm is Comergent? –How large is the firm? –How old are they? –How would you classify their products? –What differentiates their product from their competitors? –How does this affect their market position?

Comergent What is the core problem presented in the case?

Comergent What are the implications of the customer acquisition issue for the firm? –Economic? –Market penetration? –Size and position?

Comergent How should the firm select customers to target? –Can they be all things to all customers? –Do they have an ideal customer? –Which type of firm would be most likely to adopt their product?

Comergent Where should Comergent put its sales emphasis? –Modules –Full systems

Comergent Should Comergent partner with another software vender? –What are the benefits? –What are the risks?

Comergent Which customer would be the best to target? –What are the criteria you should use? –What should you try to sell them?

Comergent