The current Alcan IT infrastructure
There are advantages of the current IT infrastructure that is present at Alcan. One of the advantages is that there is decentralized management of the infrastructure. The expertise in each location understands their systems and has the knowledge to manage the technology they have. The management of technology and infrastructure is done in terms of the location of the systems (Banker et al., 2011).
Another advantage is that the different service providers for the many technologies that have been installed in the different locations of Alcan will provide technological assistance. The procurement process will be done at the local units. There will be simpler procurement process of information. Managing the infrastructure for the whole organization would take a lot of time when there are some issues that arise in one place. With this, the management of the problematic site will handle the issues that occur in the place.
Another advantage is that coordination and collaboration of staff would be easily done when the unit is small and covers one area. With the Alcan unifying the of IT infrastructure, it will be hard to manage the infrastructure of the whole organization. This is because the area of coverage shall have increased. Coordinating between the wide geographical areas will be hard.
One disadvantage with the current infrastructure of the company is that it is hard to account for the IT services and infrastructure. This is because some of IT services cut across different departments. This means that the investment in IT will be hard to account. This is also made worse because some IT infrastructure is hard to account because they are not charged to the IT function.
Alcan current infrastructure is also hard to manage. This is because, for example, different network providers come with their own technologies which are different with the other network providers. Managing these technologies is a hard task. When there are improvements that are to be made, it will be hard to make the improvements because of the mesh-up of the different technologies that have been installed in the company. There will be a need to involve all the companies that have their services in the company. Because of the large number of these companies, it makes it hard to integrate the management (Erickson et al., 2012).
Proposed system by Robert
The systems that have been proposed by Robert Ouelette prove to solve most of the problems that have been identified. One of the advantages of the proposed changes is that it will be easier to undertake the changes in the whole Alcan Company. This is because, with the centralized management, it will be easier to understand the changes that will be needed for the whole company. The shared services infrastructure and the collaboration proposal will make the change process done in unison (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2012).
Another advantage is that IT will control the changes and the needs of the company. The current setup means that the IT that is available in Alcan is concerned with the management of contracts. The consultants and different service providers make the management of the IT unit. This shows that the IT is not aware of the technologies that they are managing. Consultants undertake many changes and give suggestions because they understand the IT unit of the company (Kerr, Farrukh, Phaal, & Probert, 2013).
Another advantage of the current proposal is that it will be easier to account for the cost in the IT department. This is because most of the IT investment is made and recommended as a whole. The network infrastructure, for example, will improve accountability in IT investment. One company will install and manage these networks. This makes it simple to make any changes that are suggested.
Another advantage is that the Shared Services Center will make the management of the IT in the various departments and business units will be easier handled. All the services that are shared will now be managed from a single unit. This makes changes to the infrastructure and the applications simpler. The applications that will be installed will be the same and will be managed using the same technology. Any suggested changes will be done from a central point (Priem, Li, & Carr, 2012).
Another advantage is that the engagement of third parties, for example SAP, will be done at the central headquarters. With the Shared Services Center, these third parties will be guided and advised to install one version of the application. This makes management and enhancement of this technology easier.
One of the disadvantages of the proposed system is that there are some areas where some technologies will not work. One example is that some markets will not accept some products. The China market, for example will be hard to accept third parties from other countries. This will make contract management difficult. Following the company wise technologies in these situations will be hard to achieve (Sahoo, Banwet, & Momaya, 2011).
Another disadvantage with the proposal made is that when changes are suggested, it has to be made in the whole company. This might make errors difficult to manage. This is because of there is an error in a package that has been implemented; the correction might take long to correct.
References
Banker, R. D., Hu, N., Pavlou, P. A., & Luftman, J. (2011). CIO reporting structure, strategic positioning, and firm performance. MIS Quarterly, 35(2), 487-504.
Erickson, T. J., Magee, J. F., Roussel, P. A., & Saad, K. N. (2012). Managing technology as a business strategy. Image.
Hitt, M., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. (2012). Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Kerr, C., Farrukh, C., Phaal, R., & Probert, D. (2013). Key principles for developing industrially relevant strategic technology management toolkits. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(6), 1050-1070.
Priem, R. L., Li, S., & Carr, J. C. (2012). Insights and new directions from demand-side approaches to technology innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management research. Journal of Management, 38(1), 346-374
Sahoo, T., Banwet, D. K., & Momaya, K. (2011). Strategic technology management in the auto component industry in India: a case study of select organizations. Journal of Advances in Management Research, 8(1), 9-29.
