CASE STUDY 2: BPR and Internet TechnologyBusiness process re-engineering (BPR) can greatly help organizations achieve newheights of success by dramatically changing existing business processes. To do so, theymust take advantage of new advances in information and communication technologies.IBM Credit Corporation, Kodak, Ford Motor Company, and many others have usedBPR to achieve significant improvements in productivity. Unfortunately, BPRimplementations have not been as successful as organizations would like. BPRimplementations fail 50 percent to 70 percent of the time (Hammer and Champy, 1993).A failed implementation is one that fails completely or does not yield expectedincreases in productivity and quality (Hammer and Champy, 1993). As the Internetbecomes an increasingly critical component in an organization's IT system, it seemsinevitable it will play a significant role in facilitating BPR (Leidecker and Bruno, 1984).There exists a definite possibility the success rate of BPR programs could be increasedsignificantly based on new access to information and tools offered through the Internet.To date, no study has specifically examined the conditions necessary for successfulBPR implementation using Internet technology.Because of the high failure rate, it requires much caution and preparation fororganizations to implement a BPR program. Initially, BPR can generate tremendouspromise and excitement. However, over time, BPR can lose momentum as managerdeal with the reality of limited organizational resources, slow return on investment, andreduced employee enthusiasm (Harkness et al., 1996). There are many reasons fororganizations to use the Internet during BPR implementation including: availability;cost; return on investment; types of information storage; and platform independence.Internet technology is an casily available and low-cost alternative for BPRimplementation. The availability of Internet technology is demonstrated by theestimation in excess of 75 million users in the USA alone at the end of 1998 (Miller,1997). Not only is Internet technology widespread, but according to NetscapeCommunications Corporation, organizations can equip Interet users for less than $40(Rodriguez, 1995). The availability and low cost of Internet technology supports BPR by reducing management's concem for large amounts of organizational resourcesusually needed to implement a BPR project (Venkatraman, 1994; McGrath andSchneider, 1997). Internet technology can allow a quick return on investment simplyby publishing previously printed materials on the Internet. Analysts estimate that 18percent of corporate printed material becomes outdated within 30 days (McGrath andSchneider, 1997). Documents that are printed and mailed, such as internal phone books,policy and training manuals, requisition forms and marketing materials, can be put ona Web server and updated for a fraction of the cost of reprinting material. It is not onlythe publishing but the updating of information that leads to savings (McGrath andSchneider, 1997).Based on the case study given, answer the following questions:Question 5Elaborate FIVE (5) benefits of Internet technology to assist in making the businessprocesses to be more effective, efficient and customer focus.Question 6Discuss FIVE (5) challenges in implementing BPR using Internet technology and howto shape their future management to cope with the respective changes.

Question

Accepted Answer

Internet plays a vital role in making corporate communication simpler and faster. Whether you're…