National Mutual
Environmental Assessment-IT Related
Competitive Situation:
NM is #2 in Australia and has potential to move up
Competition is based on price, products, professionalism, and multiple relationships
Concern about regulation/certification
Conclusion: Profiling is affordable and related to competitive situation
NM Problems:
Product proliferation
"Policy flogging"
Agent turnover, training
Professionalism
Encouraging multiple product relationships
Conclusion: Profiling addresses all these problems and thus is of extreme importance
Strategy:
Address the above problems and become a professional, stable company with multiple product relationships with customers
Conclusion: Profiling strongly supports strategy-solves NM's problems
Organizational Attitude Toward IT:
At start, best classified as Support, but senior executives clearly want to move into Turnaround stage with the profiling application
Conclusion: There will be work to do to change this view of IT
Organizational Culture:
Agent driven
Agents prefer current ways of operating, one call, product emphasis based on familiarity, success
Use of Profiling will be a major cultural and operational change for agents
Conclusion: A major change in culture and way of operating, and a lot will need to be done to achieve this degree of change
Project Risk:
Very high, large system (many affected), new to the organization, "bugs" not yet worked out
Conclusion: What are plans for managing/controlling project risk?
Position of Executive Management:
Good at start, management group were the initiators of the IT application
See Profiling as strongly supporting the direction company wants to go and strategy
Conclusion: A favorable factor at the start
Other factors:
There appears noting in the economy, or local situation (e.g., distracters such as new construction, events, etc.) to obstruct the Profiling application.
National Mutual
Stakeholder Analysis
Executive Management (critical for leadership/sponsorship
Must provide resources to acquire Profiling System (benefits assumed)
Needed system to support strategy
-Increase agent productivity
-Prevent product proliferation
-Address agent turnover
Original champions, but - -
"Walked away" from the system (Turned over to Neville Mears and technical team)
Middle Management (critical for support and encouraging use)
Had little perceived need for the system, later fought against the system
Little or no effort to enlist aid/participation of this group
No incentives for this group to get their people to use the system
Agents (absolutely the most critical group for the system’s success)
Must use the system for it to be successful
Had little perceived need for the system
Involved in pilot, but only as participants
Where is their incentive to use the system?
Customers (must accept the approach and the output for the system to be successful)
Little involvement in tests (assumption is that customers will be impressed)
No use of Focus groups
Others (?)
Vendors
Project staff (Mear’s team)
CSF Analysis (partial)
Neg Neutral Pos
Perceived Need
Exec Mgmt. X
Middle Mgmt. X
Agents X
Customers X (?)
Role of Executive Management X
Handover (walked away)
Did not insist on use in way of working
What would four or five more be?????
Summary
The Environmental Assessment looks pretty positive. About the only major areas of concern which must be dealt with are:
Getting agents, customers, and middle management to use and support the system
Controlling the project risk and make sure that the Profiling technology is user/desirable- -as "user seductive" as possible
In short, this is a "gangbusters" IT application. The real key to its success is to have a very effective method of implementation of the Profiling application.
Senior management needs to continue to play a leadership/sponsorship /champion role.
Senior (and middle) management needs to ensure that Profiling becomes the way of selling at NM.
Agent (and middle management) buy-in/acceptance must be worked on. The high turnover can be positively exploited. Incentives should be used, particularly at first.
The technology needs to be carefully tested and modified to support what the agents want.
Several pilots may be useful in implementing the Profiling application. They should be carefully selected, particularly at first to demonstrate success from Profiling and to show how the use of Profiling can make money for the agents.
It is of vital importance that the method of Profiling implementation work to create a perceive need for the system on the part of the agents and middle managers.