RR Communications Case Study
- List the advantages of a single customer service centre for RR Communications.
- Lack of duplication of efforts.
There will be no repetition or replication of work when there is only one customer service centre for the organization. Given this case, there will be no client complaints about them getting multiple bills as it was the case for RR.
- Cost-saving
There will be a reduction in the number of employees to serve at the customer service centre when there is a single customer service centre than when there are multiple customer service centres. For instance, rather than having four divisional CIOs, there will only be the need to have one divisional CIO.
- Consistency in the quality of service delivery.
There are increased chances that the service offered by a single service centre will be consistent than when it is offered by multiple service centres. This is due to the different staff members working in different service centres.
- Devise an implementation strategy that would guarantee the support of the divisional presidents for the shared customer service centre.
There should be a clear division of authority and responsibility. In this case, each division president should be given tasks to accomplish depending on the area of expertise that they are familiar with. As a result, this will ensure that the organization effectively meets its objectives. This is unlike when the work at hand should be performed by either of the divisional presidents.
Apart from that, there is a need to have proper coordination among the various divisions. In this case, the president should ensure that the workings of the various divisions are synchronized. This will help in meeting the overall goal of the organization.
Besides that, there should be cross-functional teams within the various divisions. In this case, each vice president should be in charge of a given cross-functional team. The independent working of the teams may help in achieving the divisional goals and objectives, which can definitely be mapped to the organizational goal. Moreover, the interdependence among the various teams may help in the attainment of the overall goal of the organization.
Last but not least, all the divisional vice presidents should be involved in decision making of the organization in regard to the shared service centres. This will help in ensuring that the respective issues within the various divisions are addressed.
- Is it possible to achieve an enterprise vision with a decentralized IT function?
No. It is impossible to achieve the vision of an enterprise with a decentralized IT function. This is because of the fact that decentralization may have an effect on consistency in service delivery of the IT function. Apart from that, decentralization has challenges of duplication of efforts whereby the organization may have the various tasks under its IT department replicated multiple times, thus wasting a lot of time and resources.
Arguably, a decentralized IT function in an organization can help in the attainment of its vision. This is possible if the various decentralized entities have a clear division of duties and responsibilities. In such a case, there will be minimal chances of duplication of efforts.