Q1: What is BPR? In a plain language, what does it mean to an organization that is underperforming?
Business process reengineering is changing the existing business processes of a specific company by the management in the hope of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the company. The main goal is how to improve the company’s way of conducting businesses to be achieving more gains. Usually, major processes are made and with the aid of technology. An example is the way airline company’s issue tickets. The old way was to personally visit the office and agent writes out the ticket in from the ticket booklet. Today, most airline companies implemented a BPR using technology that enables them to issue tickets online and just print-out the tickets. This has increased the company’s efficiency and effectiveness and likewise increased the level of satisfaction of the customers by having a more conducive way of transacting business.
Q2: Why can IT be one of the biggest obstacles for BPR?
IT is a major force in BPR but it can also be the biggest obstacle. First, the company may have old timers who prefers to stick to the old way of doing business and regards the use of IT as a problem. The company may have the state of the art facilities and technological needs for BPR but they do not want to invest in training their workforce to use them which makes them stagnant. The company may have access to the latest technological trends but is not what the company needs.
There are several factors that contributed from the ERP Implementation. First, there was no real planning made. The top management didn’t conduct a thorough study or a feasibility study of what they need. Employees involved in the existing system were not consulted with their needs; instead the company relied on the promises of an outsider. Even if the software vendor has been in the service for 30 years or more, they are not familiar with the company’s processes so a thorough study of the business case must have been done first. The company must have opt to implement a customized system rather than using a readymade system that failed to meet the company’s needs. The management didn’t commit themselves to the changes that are about to be made.
Q4: What could Vicro have done differently to make its BPR successful? Would you have stayed away from HPT ERP?
Several steps could have been done to make the BPR implementation of Vicro successful. First, Vicro management must have conducted a system plan, which includes the composition of a team that will make business case analysis. Furthermore, objectives must also be identified during the system planning. Secondly, the management should have conducted a thorough business case analysis before making the decision of implementing the BPR. Vicro management must have created a team composing of IT experts, middle management and the actual users to analyze the needs BPR needs of the company. A technical feasibility could have been to analyze the software and hardware needs of the system. Likewise, operational and schedule feasibility must also be looked out and its financial benefits. A thorough report on the cost and benefits (either tangible or intangible) of the proposed system must be presented to the top management to be able for them to decide if the BPR would be implemented or not for the company. Should the management decide to push through with the system, the users must be involved in the designing and testing of the new business processes especially with the use of ERP systems to be implemented. Since the use of ERP has been proven by some companies to have strengthened their business processes, I don’t doubt that it could have been a success with Vicro but with the proper study and way of implementing it with utmost support from al the stakeholders.
