The Alcan Organization - Operating Technology - Essay Example

? The Alcan Organization Introduction. Alcan is the world famous cutting-edge IT enterprises that creates and sells a range of products. The organization takes the leading position in production of raw materials, fabricated products and primary metals (INDUSTRY CANADA, 2005). Its four principal business groups include Bauxite and Alumina, Primary Metal, packaging and the engineered products. Other products includes, alumina, extrusion billets, smelter-grade, sheet ingot, beverage can sheet, wire ingot, automobile iron, forging stock, fabricated products, and the aluminum recycling services. The company is highly vertically integrated having eight deposits and mines, seven alumina plants with a transport networks including rail and port facilities, seven alumina refineries, 12 electric power plants, 170 packaging material plants, 26 smelter, 50 engineered product plants and 18 laminated product plants (INDUSTRY CANADA, 2005). In an attempt to understand the Alcan’s IT structure, this paper explores a range of issues that are linked to the Alcan Organization as an IT oriented organization. This includes its organization and operating technology, its dominant IT Strategies and Practices, technological contributions linked to the organization, its technological barriers, as well as its business continuity plan. Organization and Operating Technology. In the Alcan Company, all groups are centrally coordinated. The information and technology organization works on the objectives of the organization rather than for each specific business IT group. The requirements of each group such as its activities are closely linked and cooperation amongst the business IT groups is up to date (Foster, 2007). The wish of the IT individuals is always to fulfill the particular demands of the whole organization and it is worth noting that estimating and analyzing of the costs of IT for the whole organization is achievable (Dube, & Roy, 2009). The Corporate IT function of the Alcan organization is made up of 136 total resources spread in more than 12 different sites. The group’s structure is based on five sectors of responsibility. These are the groups that are responsible for financial and other (corporate application group), the group for Architecture and planning, the shared Infrastructure Service group, the Information System Solution group, and the Infrastructure Planning group. The group that is concerned with financial and other includes 14 resources that are divided among Singen, Montreal, Paris and Zurich. The Architecture group consists of three resources having technical skills corresponding to Infrastructure Planning and the Shared Infrastructure Service group. The technical skills for this group are middleware and Web technology. The Information System Solution group is composed of sixty resources that are distributed in five different cities. The cities are Issoire, Paris, Neuf Brisach, Voreppe and Warmley. This group’s major focus is on main SAP Implementation projects among the Engineered Product group. The last group is the Infrastructure Shared Service group which has about forty resources that are all located in 6 different sites. These are Montreal Paris, Singen, Chicago, Warmley, and Voreppe (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). This group helps in operation of the infrastructure components that include e-mail, global network and data processing. The group, as well provides workstation support alongside the collaboration of tools. All these groups are integrated (Foster, 2007). Technological Contributions to the Organization. The plan adopted by the Alcan management team has seen drastic changes in the IT sector of the Alcan organization. The plan has been a corner stone in so far as the implementation of the management services common to the business groups is concerned and the services are now handled by a central organization unit with the support of the internal billing mechanism. The centralization of the IT shared services has gone a long way in promoting economies of scale, standardization, shared competences, low-cost experts, reuse and consolation (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). Introduction of the SAP implementation and the former Pechiney project within the engineered product group is also one such significant technological developments in the Alcan Organization. After acquiring of the Pechiney, Alcan Company realized that it had two groups of infrastructure that lacked the integration. The introduction of SAP strategy in each of the business groups made a herculean progress in the consolidation and standardization of the IT infrastructure within the organization (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). The new plan has brought about a new governing structure and the management. The plan, as well defined priorities for the period to follow. The shared vision has enabled services used by the business groups to be centralized. Additionally, the shared service vision has promoted the development of expertise, optimal use of specialists, negotiations with suppliers, reuse, generalized economies of scale, and the standardization of norms and practices. The implementation of the strategy has progressively shifted applications, personnel and processes among the shared service centers. The implementation strategy has fully supported the ongoing business groups’ developments without disrupting their activities (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). In the past, large firms used to assume leadership automatically and this lead to poorly managed internal teams. However, the IT management team currently in place alongside the restructured activities with global skills development has enabled the Alcan to be well managed. There are internal teams that are mandated to help reflect, plan, as well as make important choices that affect the IT organization. The suppliers’ work with the experienced internal teams, that is more competent, and more demanding in partnership management, as well as in terms of content (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). The new changes have provided room for hiring new people with employee’s competences being improved though the training process. All these drastic changes has increased effectiveness and immensely contributed to customer success Dominant IT Strategies and Practices In Alcan Company, there were a number of IT strategies and practices that were employed in the organization. First, a blueprint was established for new orientations in the management of IT. In this case, the strategic plan had to be focused on the tight agreement between the business strategies, shared centers of service, and IT. The strategy laid a basis for application of the philosophy of the shared-services (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). This was a powerful strategy in Alcan as it communicated and established a central vision of the management of IT in the whole enterprise. This strategy required the management of the common services to the business groups to be done using a centralized unit of organization that was put in place by the internal mechanisms of billing. In this regard, services of IT, human resource, and financial services, due to the centralization of the services that were shared led to the promotion of shared competencies, economies of scale, standardization, consolidation, low-cost expertise access, standardization, and competencies. This strategy showed out the desire of the senior IT management in bettering the IT services with strategies that are corporate. It proposed the setting up of a structure of government that clearly identifies the roles of all the stake holders within the management of IT (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). It also proposed the reduction of complexity and diverse technology, development of a partnership that is preferred with service suppliers globally and to improve the security of information within the company. This strategy made the company’s desire of repatriating management of services of IT so as to get the tools that are indispensable for its management globally. Apart from this strategy, in different business groups, the leading IT initiative that was in place included the implementation of the SAP integrated package despite its lack of inter group coordination (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). The introduction of SAP strategy in each of the business groups made an enormous progress in the consolidation and standardization of the IT infrastructure within the organization. The dominant practices include the creation of IT enterprise architecture, management of applications, managing the technological infrastructure and the management of the IT investments. Technological Barriers or Success As an organization that fully impresses Information Technology, the Alcan organization has a number of technological barriers. The first technological barrier is the IT model of governance (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). The model of governance is not revised regularly and because of this, it becomes obsolete hence does not reflect the true ever changing business world. It has emerged that failure to revise the model of governance for a lengthy period leads to challenges related provision of the IT services. In regard to this challenge, the real picture of the costs of IT in Alcan organization might not be obtained easily and loopholes created are at times very costly to the organization. Insufficient tracking of the actual costs hindered the organization from obtaining a return that was fair on investments of IT. Additionally, it becomes challenging for the Alcan management to make decisions that are informed and fair in certain services outsourcing. Considering the past records, failure to have a revised IT model of governance has always hindered some infrastructure not to being charged to IT hence a correct idea of the service costs that were internally offered could not be obtained for analysis (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). For the past ten years, the Alcan organization relied on outsourcing of experts due to the poor and insufficient available skills. For those employed as workers of the organization, their skills weakly aligned with needs of the jobs they were required to partake. The deficiency of competency was palliated by resources from outside, and contract workers. Alcan Company had abdicated the responsibility of leadership and its resources control. For example, when one needed to know the happenings at Alcan Company, he or she had to depend on consultants from outside to speak about it. In this respect, the competencies of IT failed to be identified, compensated and evaluated equally by the business group (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). The lack of rigor by the management of IT is one other big challenge to the organization. In this case, several technological projects have always been delivered either over budget or late (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). However, efforts being put in place would ensure such challenges are overcome. Changes that are being implemented by the new management have seen the moral of the workers boosted. Alcan Business Continuity Plan A business continuity plan is a process of planning in a company that ensures the delivery of products and critical services in case of a disruption. The vital system and application that require business continuity at Alcan Company includes the IT management governance model and implementation (Foster, 2007). This is a system that defined the responsibilities and roles of the entire stakeholder, of the groups of business in realizing the global IT management objectives. This system needs business continuity so as ensure that all the global objectives of Alcan are met. The next system in need of business continuity is the IT Committee of leadership. This strategy needs continuity because brought unity between the IT Directors and shared services of Alcan’s business groups. This unity was significant because it made the business groups take current initiative’s stock and plan for projects future (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). If this application is put into continuity, the irritants in the company would always be noted the solutions to the irritants identified and then implemented. The key considerations for implementing business continuity plan at Alcan include: establishment of the internal functioning of the company, ensuring that the authority structure which connects the business groups in and out of the company are redefined and work well. This consideration is necessary for creation of cohesion between the strategic technology objectives and the Alcan business objectives. Assign the officer, the overseeing and maintaining of the business plan. Alcan business continuity plan. Focus This Plan focuses on reducing impacts of the business destruction by incidence Reduction and effective response delivery. For the achievement, of the maximum impact reduction, a planning that is comprehensive needs to be put in place. This Plan considers the appropriate audience. This includes the external agencies and the internal management, Board and Staff (Foster, 2007). Risk Analysis and Identification. Alcan as an IT organization has a number of risk factors. Some of these risk factors include hazards in the work place, missing the suppliers of services and raw materials, missing customers and lacking the Sub-contractors in case of a business destruction or emergency. In this regard, the company has established a plan of implementation to assist in mitigation of this effect (Binet, GUALARD, &JACLOT, 2000). Required Preparations All the business groups of Alcan Company need to acquire a health and safety occupational series of assessment (OHSAS certified). Each business group should have a regular toolbox meeting in order to facilitate safe practices. A safety committee of executive raises the safety awareness within each business group. This committee will also enhance safety skills by training all individuals at Alcan. This committee would also implement systems of assessing the operational hazards in the business (Binet, GUALARD, & JACLOT, 2000). General Planning The interface Man-made machine program needs to be reviewed for safety performance within the business to help in continuous supply of services and materials. The leadership safety program needs to be reviewed in order to enhance the existing business continuity plans. Apart from this, the management of the company needs to identify services that are essential, plants, and other inputs of production. The company shall Plan for up to fifty percent absence of staff for the duration of 3 weeks at the height of any business disturbance. The company will assess the need of skills and core staff to make sure that essential positions in the company are supported by an alternative member of staff. Annotated Bibliography Foster, B. (2007). Alcan IT Organization. Retrieve on 22nd May 2012 http//www.iwaysoftware.de/applications/alcan. The author presents the Alcan Organization as an IT Organization. The author focuses on the Alcan organization giving much description about its locality, as well as its management. The article covers a range of IT business units cutting across the challenges the organization experiences while implementing key changes within it. In essence, this source is helpful in getting an overview of the environmental organization of the organization the Alcan organization as far as IT department is concerned. Dube, L, Bernier, C, & Roy, V. (2009). Taking on the challenge of IT management in a global business context: The Alcan case – Part B. International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 7(2), 1-12. The authors discuss the challenge of managing IT management in a business. They summarize the challenges of implementing changes in Information Technology department of the Alcan organization, as well as the change in management style owing to the coming of the new chief officer in charge of IT. The authors indicate that poor management leads to reduced effectiveness and hence low production. This source is particularly vital because it provide an overview of how change in management style can be healthy for a growing organization. Dube, L, Bernier, C, & Roy,V. (2009). Taking on the challenge of IT management in a global business context: The Alcan case – Part A. International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 7(2), 1-10. The authors discuss the challenge of implementing and managing IT in the Alcan Organization. They discuss the transformation that Alcan organization undergoes with respect to Information Technology. The article summarizes the historical background of the Alcan organization with a view to indicate the challenges the organization has had to experience as a business entity that is trying to impress IT. The source is particularly vital in the light of research presented because it provides an overview of the structure of the Alcan organization, its historical background, as well as the transformational challenges especially when implemented Information technology. Binet, E. GUALARD, R, and JACLOT, E. (2000). Les fusions Alcan-Pechiney-Algroup et Alcoa-Reynolds. Paris: University press. The authors present the Alcan organization as an IT outsourcing based on the combined results of a survey administered to IT firms as well as statistical measures from domestic and French firms. Their data cover a wide range of IT business unit types; however, the lack of longitudinal data weakens their conclusion that the slower pace of French IT outsourcing has had a positive effect on business in those countries long-term. This article also discusses the new standards for outsourcing developed by the AICPA ethics committee. The standards are summarized, and a brief discussion is included of the implications going forward for business and international trade. The authors indicate that changes to the business community will be relatively minor. This is a helpful source for getting an overview of the current ethics standards in outsourcing. INDUSTRY CANADA (2005). Canadian aluminum industry technology: The Canadian aluminum industry. Retrieved on 20th May 2012 from http://www.ic.gc.ca The article discusses the Aluminum industry as an organization that impresses Information Technology. It summarizes challenges: environmental, social and economic challenges that any manufacturing industry such as the Aluminum producing industries experiences. Through such highlighted challenges, one can get an overview of the challenges the Alcan organization as one of the main aluminum producing company is made to go through in the wake of the ever changing business environment. References Binet, E. GUALARD, R, and JACLOT, E. (2000). Les fusions Alcan-Pechiney-Algroup et Alcoa-Reynolds. Paris: University press. (Book with two authors) Dube, L, Bernier, C, & Roy, V. (2009). Taking on the challenge of IT management in a global business context: The Alcan case – Part A. International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 7(2), 1-10. (Article with two authors/Article in a journal with continuous paging/Article with with no DOI)   Dube, L, Bernier, C, & Roy, V. (2009). Taking on the challenge of IT management in a global business context: The Alcan case – Part B. International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 7(2), 1-12. (Article with two authors/Article in a journal with continuous paging/Article with no DOI) Foster, B. (2007). Alcan IT Organization. Retrieve on 22nd May 2012 http//www.iwaysoftware.de/applications/alcan.h (Article with one author/Article without DOI-URL as home page used) INDUSTRY CANADA (2005). Canadian aluminum industry technology: The Canadian aluminum industry. Retrieved on 20th May 2012 from http://www.ic.gc.ca (Article with an organization as author/Article located online) Read More