Pros and cons of the current Alcon application management - Essay Example

Pros and Cons of the Current Alcon Application Management Pros and Cons of the Current Alcon Application Management The use of IT infrastructure is becoming increasingly popular with the companies; this is in the sense that the IT development reduces the workload and facilitates the efficiency in the daily running of errands. In this regard, Alcan application management will be discussed with reference to its application management- the pros and cons. Just like any other invention, the application and management of Alcan poses both advantages and disadvantages, this paper explores these factors and enumerates them as below; The engagement of Alcan is associated with the problem of poor standards of accountability and ensuring that consistency is maintained by using the program.

The mode of financial reporting and the level of accountability are much impaired when using Alcan application, moreover time factor is also a problem in the sense that it’s dwindling in the inventory management and the levels of production. The advantages of the Alcan application management is that it enables independent operation of different systems and thus enabling the decentralization of the operation. In this case, Alcan allows for the quick retrieval of information and compartmentalized data storage.

When the system is made in such a way that they are decentralized, they tend to facilitate the flow of information thus speeding processing of the data and execution of errands (Dube, Bernier, and Roy, 2009). The system of Alcan is also designed in such a way that it promotes the division of labor and specialization. For example, the system that deals with accounting purposes are known and clearly distinguished from others. In this scenario, there will be absolute specialization on every system and this is a facilitating factor in terms of daily management of the duties (Dube, Bernier, and Roy, 2009).

Through the differentiated system of management, it is easier through Alcan to quantify the contribution and the effective IT usage from all the departments given the clear separation of the involvement. If the benchmarks are set then it is easier to evaluate the departmental performance with ease. This has been a very significant contribution of the Alcan IT infrastructure and his been lauded as the most effective way to monitoring and evaluation. Alcan has not only pulled advantages but has also pulled disadvantages in equal measure.

The use of Alcon also poses the problem of unreliability, poor precision and inaccuracy. This is given the highly network distribution that has characterized Alcan. This phenomenon has been cited to have the adverse potential of creating enormous record systems which in turn leads to acute confusion specifically in the financial, accounting updates, management and manufacturing sectors (Dube, Bernier, and Roy, 2009). The said occurrences can be confirmed when Robert Ouelette got appointment into the company and the systems rose to about 1000 of which amongst them, 400 were only used in the analysis of the costs.

The infrastructural level of the company today can equally not allow them to keep a clear record of the Service level Agreement. This is quite important in determining and ascertaining how much cost is incurred in the IT (Dube, Bernier, and Roy, 2009). They have also been unable to determine how IT is much effective in competition of the deadline. One can then draw an inference that from the high system network created by the Alcan, outsourcing is not an option as it will make unable to synchronize all the needs like, costs, workflows and processes.

In the light of all this disadvantages linked to Alcan, there is need that they do re-consider there IT infrastructural techniques. The proposal by Robert Ouelette has allowed for the independency of the department like the accounting and cost analysis. This has promoted the efficiency and accountability of the system used as compared to the previous ones. In the disadvantage side of it, the cost and clear evaluation of the records has been a mess. This is because of the increased systems that make such activities much complicated.

There is also increased cost of IT usage in the case of Alcan and this contributes to much incurred expenses (Dube, Bernier, and Roy, 2009). I do agree fully with the proposal made in the case of Alcan to re- evaluate there IT infrastructure. This is because if the IT can not allow for the efficient running of the basics in a firm then it has no business being used in such critical areas. The best IT infrastructure should be tailor made and in this sense should server the purpose for which it is sourced for.

The system offered by Alcan is not synchronized and thus the number of system engaged are numerous and this necessities several operation system which finally do not allow for the centralized operation of the IT. The final result is the inability to operate some of the essentials. A plethora of system n this case is not viable since it makes the operations of the department nightmare (Friedman, and Mandelbaum, 2011). I do also support the proposal in this case as in the current state of the IT; it is not possible to evaluate the efficiency of the It as well as the cost incurred as a result of the IT operation.

References Dube, L., Bernier, C. and 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): May. HEC020. Dube, L., Bernier, C. and 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): May. HEC021. Friedman, T. L., & Mandelbaum, M. (2011). That used to be us: how America fell behind in the world it invented and how we can come back.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.