NTUC is one of the largest insurers in Singapore, it operates in a highly competitive market. Founded in 1970 as a co-operative to ensure low paid workers have insurance, which fits well in Singapore’s culture of social welfare where people are required to save to take care of their needs themselves, which is an alternative to the European style welfare state. (Goodman, 2015)
Types of Information systems
NTUC used decade’s old business processes and IT systems, with a manual paper based process supported by legacy HP 3000 mainframe running COBOL. The Mainframe had the following modules (Core Insurance application, Accounting system and MIS).
Problems (Process based)
• Overly complex, resource intensive, paper based business process with too …show more content…
Problems (IT based)
The IT system used by NTUC was hampering their ability to grow, and affected their competitive advantage. In an emerging Digital world customer experience, the ability to utilise data and a flexible Digital platform are key to a successful business model. (Weill & Woerner, 2015)
• The Mainframe System frequently broke down with 3 major hardware failures recorded in the study which resulted in 6 full days of downtime.
• Backup features were limited, HP 3000 backup system allowed restoration to only up to the previous day's backup data. If the daily backup was not completed at the end of the day, the affected day's data would be lost, and costly and tedious reconciliation would be needed to bring the data up to date, once taking several months to restore the data loss.
• The COBOL systems was difficult to develop and service, the complexity resulted in delays of releasing new business capabilities.
• Batch oriented, information not available in real-time which hampered decision making as well as affecting service …show more content…
This change allowed them to tackle the following key strategic objectives:
• Operational excellence - ability to access system from anywhere improves the ability of mobile workforce to sell products and improve customer experience
• New products, services and business models - Flexibility and agility in producing new products will help competitiveness
• Customer & supplier intimacy
• Improved decision making
(Laudon & Laudon, 2013)
I believe the “Orange” strategy could not have been possible with the legacy systems for a number of reasons. The legacy systems were difficult to change and hampered innovation which would have prevented the core business model as well as the supplementary strategies “Orange Eye” and “Orange Force”.
The key to the strategy was a customer centric view, which relied in the ability to know their customers and their needs, which required a centralised CRM system with analytical capabilities
The complexity of the business process and manual nature hampered growth and left NTUC exposed to a number of external forces:
• New Entrants
• New Functionality:
• Margins
• Consumer
Types of Information systems
NTUC used decade’s old business processes and IT systems, with a manual paper based process supported by legacy HP 3000 mainframe running COBOL. The Mainframe had the following modules (Core Insurance application, Accounting system and MIS).
Problems (Process based)
• Overly complex, resource intensive, paper based business process with too …show more content…
Problems (IT based)
The IT system used by NTUC was hampering their ability to grow, and affected their competitive advantage. In an emerging Digital world customer experience, the ability to utilise data and a flexible Digital platform are key to a successful business model. (Weill & Woerner, 2015)
• The Mainframe System frequently broke down with 3 major hardware failures recorded in the study which resulted in 6 full days of downtime.
• Backup features were limited, HP 3000 backup system allowed restoration to only up to the previous day's backup data. If the daily backup was not completed at the end of the day, the affected day's data would be lost, and costly and tedious reconciliation would be needed to bring the data up to date, once taking several months to restore the data loss.
• The COBOL systems was difficult to develop and service, the complexity resulted in delays of releasing new business capabilities.
• Batch oriented, information not available in real-time which hampered decision making as well as affecting service …show more content…
This change allowed them to tackle the following key strategic objectives:
• Operational excellence - ability to access system from anywhere improves the ability of mobile workforce to sell products and improve customer experience
• New products, services and business models - Flexibility and agility in producing new products will help competitiveness
• Customer & supplier intimacy
• Improved decision making
(Laudon & Laudon, 2013)
I believe the “Orange” strategy could not have been possible with the legacy systems for a number of reasons. The legacy systems were difficult to change and hampered innovation which would have prevented the core business model as well as the supplementary strategies “Orange Eye” and “Orange Force”.
The key to the strategy was a customer centric view, which relied in the ability to know their customers and their needs, which required a centralised CRM system with analytical capabilities
The complexity of the business process and manual nature hampered growth and left NTUC exposed to a number of external forces:
• New Entrants
• New Functionality:
• Margins
• Consumer