Recommendations for CSC Australia Company - Book Report/Review Example

CSC Australia video business case report Executive Summary This report provides an analysis of issues, causes, alternatives, decision criteria and recommendations employed in CSC Australia Company. The report is authorised by Mr Smith C.E.O. of Next-Gen IT Company. Methods of analysis include note taking, listening and watching the video clip from the company link. Data from the case study show that the company is one of the leading organisations offering information technology services locally and internationally. Another finding is that the company holds a track record of 55 years of success in one of the world’s largest independent integrators. This is achieved by their strategic partnerships assuring their client’s access to technologies at the edge of innovation. Moreover, the company through their cross industry insights and their own transformation to an edge company brings together the elements essential to help clients win in today’s market. In addition, the company brings value to the clients by delivering Next-Gen IT solutions in cloud, mobile, cyber security, big data and applications modernisation. The report finds that the company experienced challenges in their technology systems caused by obsolete technology that forced customers to demand for an innovative and modern technology. This area of concern demands further analysis and remedial steps provided by the management. Recommendations deliberated include: Outsourcing Cyber security Employee relationships The report also looks in the fact that the analysis carried out had a limitation because the video clip did not indicate the current technology used by the company. Therefore the results are based on the technology used by the company in the past. Issues The CSC Company is facing various challenges in the information technology as identified from the video clip1. They are as follows: Demands to Information Technology organisation to deliver innovative and growth while accommodating its expenses. Tear in the technology wall between the company, its customers and its employees. Cyber security which is an issue of national and board level importance. Demand in high capacity elastic architectures and fluid technologies solutions. Struggling with older technologies. Causes The causes of the matters identified in the company were as a result of the following2: Today’s accelerating pace of change. In modern world technology is dynamic as a result of science discoveries made every now and then. New generation decision makers pushing for a shift towards outside in mind set. This implies that the young generation currently grows up in a society dominated主导 by digital media. This influences them to more creative ways of improving or engaging in information technology. They need more advanced and complex technology that will be more exciting. Market shifts. The market shifts is caused by the change of trends, expanded digitalisation of data and processing by microelectronics. There is also a shift in information processing to data –handling technologies and knowledge technologies for example neural systems, expert systems and implementation of intelligent agents to sieve information in internet communication and databases3. Cloud reaches majority. Users use various tools such as laptop, PDAs, smartphones and PCs to access application-development over the internet, programs and storage through services provided by cloud computing providers. Big data burst on to the scene with big potential and users demand. A lot of people currently are engaged in Internet activities. A new grid of buyers. This is a new group of clientele in need of the services offered by the company who are demand the best techniques, systems, ITL alignment and integration in the world. Alternatives To solve the issues and causes identified, the alternatives that would result to positive changes in the company will be best suitable for the company. To begin with, the company should get into partnership or outsource with other companies to help their customers’ access technologies at the edge of innovation. On the other hand, this would help the CSC Company cut down on their expenses. In modern world it is important for an organisation to consider how to source for external resources and knowledge rather than provide the resources and there is no company that is self-sufficient on its own. On the other hand, being self-reliant is not economically attainable for a simple reason that is opportunity costs. Opportunity cost is the value got from the best possible utilisation of a resource. If the company invests their resources to generate skills, technology and expertise they would be under-exploiting their resources. Other companies in the world of trade may be in a position to offer the required resources at a cheaper cost than what the company would incur to generate them4. Nevertheless in some cases the resources offered by the external organisations are of superior quality than what the company can manufacture internally. Secondly, the objective of the company should be to stop unauthorised persons from obtaining access to information by performing precise duties. Moreover, cyber security is a concern of every one using information technology. Computer hacking leads to hackers getting hold of delicate communications and development data5. According to Geers, the first kind of attack targets the confidentiality of information6. It consists of illegal possession of data where a hacker interprets communication content just by looking at the communication patterns. In a global network it is simple for hackers to steal massive quantity of delicate data. The second type of threat targets the integrity of data. This involves vandalism of information for military, political and criminal reasons. The third kind of threat targets the availability of data resources. The company should put up control devices to enhance cyber security. These controls should range from single threats to a variety of risks7. Lastly, the company should create a corporate culture that would set the standard practices and values to be shared in the organisation8. Developing organizational change ability environment would create a scenario where change is not viewed as a source of additional stress but an origin of on-going renewal for both organisation and individual staff. Decision Criteria In this report the decision criteria is developed to reinforce the established goals and objectives of the company. The goals and objectives of CSC Australia Company are to provide upgraded information technology services locally and internationally, and help clients win in today’s market. The superlative choice will be the one that will suit the company in terms of: Increasing client satisfaction, Cut down on the expenses, Improve the company’s sales, and Secure data systems Recommended Solution/s Recommendation to the company that will best suit it at this point would be to outsource or get into partnerships. This could be employed through fixed or variable-cost models. In a fixed model, the company owns all the resources and is forced to pay for their purchase, maintenance and upkeep it which is too expensive for the company. These costs are permanent and happen whether the resources are utilised or not. In a variable-cost model the company will not pay for the charges related to sustaining the assets but only pay for a fee when using the asset. The company amasses investment on assets that not required regularly. The other alternative of saving on costs is through outsourcing9. I reject cyber security measures at this point because they are very expensive to implement. Although it may increase the customer’s confidence in the services that the organisation offers, the company may view its implementation as overhead that is not necessary for the moment. Well we cannot overlook the fact that cyber security risks affect the company’s profits. As a consultant, I would strongly recommend the company’s management to reconsider investing in cyber security control devices in future. This will either result in more sales or reduced costs. The company will need to employ identification and reply of abilities in the security program. The company also needs to acquire legal powers in order to prosecute cyber criminals. On the other hand, developing corporate culture takes time for it to be adopted by individual employees and clients. This is mainly because the senior management ought to communicate the values and practices of the company over and over until they are grounded. Implementation and Implications The company should outsource for companies and get in agreements that would help manage the complication of IT networks, devices, application’s, desktop management, and infrastructure over a specified period of time. The information technology company could also outsource with companies from other companies where labour is cheap compared to the country where the company is located. The money saved in wages is very important because in many information technology companies labour costs form the biggest part in costs10. The advantage of outsourcing is that the company can benefit from tax treaties and other foreign-trade contracts. This happens when a government motivates international and multinational organisation to set up businesses in their countries by offering set-up benefits and tax concessions11. Another advantage is that the highly trained professionals will execute the necessary duties. They possess the required skill, applications and equipment required to take out the tasks. Through outsourcing the company is able to put more efforts on other organisation needs and core competencies than require a lot of attention. For the company to be able to determine the best outsourced locations the following points are put into consideration: The country size that influences market thickness. In a large country where the market thickness is higher, the input supplier is less costly. A country with upgraded infrastructure eases transportation and communication. The technology for specializing parts dictates the willingness of a source to perform the necessary investment of the product. The contractual domain and the extent of the relationship-specific investments are substantiated by the outsiders in each nations affect the company’s capacity to for relation-specific investments12. Conclusion To sum this discussion up, this report analyses the challenges faced by the CSC Company in information technology. The report is developed from a video clip by the CSC organisation. The company faced challenges in demands by the clients to provide innovative and growth in the information technology sector caused by the dynamic changes in the digital era. It was also determined that there was conflict in technology wall between the business, its employees and the clients as a result of new generation decision makers. Cyber security was another factor that contributed to challenges faced by the information technology that could be addressed by implementing control measures in place. To sum it up outsourcing proved to be a very vital tool in improving the company in terms of providing cheap labour and high professionalism. Bibliography Computer Sciences Corp. "Australia." Computer Sciences Corporation. http://www.csc.com/au/ (accessed October 14, 2014). Coombs, Rod. 2001. Technology and the market demand, users and innovation. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=716059. Tillman, Frank A., and Deandra T. Cassone. "A Professional's Guide to Decision Science and Problem Solving: Define the Objectives and Identify Metrics." FT Press: Leading Business, Finance, Life and Science Knowledge. http://www.ftpress.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1807181&seqNum=10 (accessed October 18, 2014). Holbeche, Linda. The high performance organization creating dynamic stability and sustainable success. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. Geers, Kenneth. 2011. Strategic cyber security. Tallinn, Estonia: CCD COE Publication. Information Systems Audit and Control Association. 2013. Transforming cybersecurity using COBIT 5. Rolling Meadows, Ill: ISACA. Power, Mark John, Kevin C. Desouza, and Carlo Bonifazi. 2006. The outsourcing handbook how to implement a successful outsourcing process. London: Kogan. Thangavelu, Shandre. Globalization, outsourcing and labour development in ASEAN. New York: Routledge, 2013. Read More