Question

ALTITUDE ONLINE: OUTGROWING SYSTEMS Jon Cabezas earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2000, and then pursued his interest in business by entering the MBA program with an emphasis in Management Information Systems. He completed his MBA degree in 2003. Jon had no problem finding a job, as his combined knowledge in technology and business was highly marketable. He took a job with Accenture in their Information Management Systems division working as an intelligence business objects consultant based in Atlanta. While working on his MBA, Jon developed a close relationship with Jaclyn Fitch, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication and was working on her MBA with an emphasis in Marketing. Upon graduation, Jaclyn took a position with Bayard advertising agency in New York City. Although Jon tried to stay in touch with Jaclyn, the time between e-mails gradually lengthened until they rarely communicated at all. Four years later, Jon was still with Accenture, and had been promoted twice when he was assigned a new account—Bayard advertising agency, New York, NY. When he arrived in New York, Jon called his old friend, and they had a reunion celebration over dinner. Jaclyn had done well in her career and had risen to an impressive level within the company. After dinner, Jaclyn confided that she was contemplating leaving Bayard to start her own business. She was aware of the growing importance of online marketing and advertising, and thought the time was perfect to launch a company that focused solely on an online venue. It didn’t take long for Jaclyn and Jon to realize that they could harness their combined education and experience to create a business with tremendous potential. Jaclyn and Jon met several times over the following weeks to plan the new business. They presented their plans to a venture capitalist that eventually invested a considerable amount in the new business to get it off the ground. In a few months, Jon and Jaclyn founded Altitude Online Corporation. Over the course of several years, Altitude’s business grew to include locations across the U.S., specializing in the following areas:  Online marketing optimization: Optimizing online advertising strategies based on target audiences and using the latest online trends  Customer insight: Tracking customer decisions and media usage on Web sites  Online market segmentation: Identifying a target audience by observing highly detailed characteristics mapped to online behavior  Online marketing ROI: Analyzing the financial success of a variety of online advertising and marketing strategies  Effective Web design: Developing and executing winning design strategies for ecommerce sites  Online brand building: Tracking online conversations, engaging influencers and advocates, and calming detractors Jaclyn’s experience in marketing made her the natural choice for CEO of the corporation. Jon’s contribution to the corporation are the technologies he developes, which account for a large part of the business’ success. Altitude Online depends on custom software packages designed to track Web site visitors, measure the use of streaming media and video, identify and target users in a particular market segment, measure the impact of online advertising activity, and track brand reputation in social media networks. Jaclyn and Jon have been so busy developing their corporate services and growing their business that they are neglecting their own business information systems. When the company expanded through one merger and two acquisitions, Altitude Online inherited three corporate information systems divided among twelve locations across the country. It was time for Altitude Online to invest some of its earnings back into the company and revamp its information infrastructure and systems. Because Jon served as CIO of the company, it fell to him to draw up a strategy. He departed corporate headquarters in New York with his assistant on a six-week mission to visit all of the Altitude Online offices and gather the necessary information to begin this major information systems overhaul. ALTITUDE ONLINE: ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF THE ORGANIZATION Jon’s first step in developing Altitude Online’s corporate information system is to define the system’s requirements: what the system is required to do. Jon intends to interview the stakeholders, those that have a stake in the development of the system. He has his own ideas about system requirements, but needs to gather information from systems engineers and users at the twelve corporate offices. Recall that Altitude Online is composed of three merged online marketing companies in twelve locations across the country. The company’s four information systems have yet to be merged into one coherent enterprise-wide system. Jon begins his travels by visiting Chicago where he meets with the systems administrators of the three other information systems, and key business managers. Over the course of two days, they draw up the initial plans for the new system. It doesn’t take long for the three systems administrators, business managers, and Jon to agree that Altitude Online will require a complete system overhaul. Trying to combine four disparate systems so that they can share information is problematic since the systems are from different vendors. By starting from scratch with a unified platform, the system engineers will be able to craft a system that meets currently neglected business needs. The new system can provide state-of-the-art information management practices that give the company a strong competitive advantage. The consensus is to install an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. An ERP is an enterprise-wide system that manages all corporate resources, information, and functions across all business areas. ERP systems are typically provided by information systems companies such as SAP, Oracle, The Sage Group, Microsoft Dynamics, and SSA Global Technologies. The ERP software packages provided by these companies support standard business practices in manufacturing, supply chain management, financials, project management, human resource, customer relationship management, and a variety of data services. Certainly, Altitude Online could benefit from the expertise of a company like SAP in many of these areas. Additionally, Altitude Online requires industry-specific systems. Those in the online advertising and marketing industry have information system needs that go beyond standard business systems. Altitude will need servers for storing and delivering its online ads in both static and video formats. Altitude also requires media software for designing and developing ads. It needs analytics software for tracking Web usage and calculating optimization strategies for its marketing campaigns. Jon would also like to refresh the company’s online presence with a new Web site that offers robust automated services to potential and current clients. Jon and his team decide to request bids from the top three ERP companies for the job. At the same time, Jon, his assistant, and each system administrator set off to visit the branch offices for which they are responsible to begin laying the groundwork for the ERP installation by speaking with branch managers and other stakeholders.

1. Consider why it is a problem for Altitude Online to use different information systems in its branch locations.

2. Consider which information Jon should collect from the branch offices to plan for the new information system.

3. Consider while Jon is visiting the branch offices, how he might apply what he knows about Leavitt's Diamond and Lewin's extended Change Model. Part B: Addressing the Needs of the Organization - Discuss the following:

1. Consider what the advantages are of Altitude Online adopting a new ERP system compared to simply connecting existing corporate systems.

2. Consider whether or how an out-of-the-box ERP system may or may not suit the needs of Altitude Online.

3. Consider why Jon and the system administrators decided to outsource the software for this system to an ERP company rather than developing it from scratch themselves.

Answer 1

part-B

1.if altitude online wants further development, it needs more sources,information and functions.And the new ERP system can satisfy its need,and it can support standard business practices in manufacturing,supply chain management,financials,project management,human resource,customer relationship management,and various data service,which is benificial for optimizing its structure and decision making.