BPMN 6053 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

The IT System That Couldnt Deliver

The case study entitled The IT System That Couldnt Deliver tells about the problem Lenox
company failure to deliver the new IT system. There were three main characters in Lenoxs
company that should be highlighted, 1) James Bennett, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), 2)
Clay Fontana, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and 3) Diana Sullivan, Chief Information
Officer (CIO).
Lenox is an insurance company which computers were not their strengths and they
depended too much on independent agents to sell their policies. Thus, three years ago, Lenox
hired a new Chief Information Officer (CIO), Diana Sullivan. Diana Sullivan was recruited by
Lenox from a major competitor. In short, she is the best one who fit for the position of Chief
Information Officer (CIO). Later on, Bennett told Diana that they need a right tool that would
help their agents provide fast and reliable information needed to close a sale. It took three
years for Sullivan to fulfill the companys requirement. Finally, Sullivan was created a new
system called, Lifexpress.
Lifexpress was a sophisticated computer-aided system that enabled the companys
more than 10,000 agents nationwide to conduct business with their customers. This system
helped Lenoxs agents to do everything from establishing a prospect financial profile, to
selecting the most appropriate products from companys myriad policies, conduct an initial
actuarial analysis, make the comparison in details how Lenox stacked up against competitors
ratings and performance and generating all the paperwork needed to close a sale.
The issue was, Sullivan thought she had delivered the system on time and on budget
and also met all the specifications of the CEO. However, the Lifexpress system created by
Sullivan failed because it wasnt boosting sales productivity as expected by Lenox
management. Two of Lenoxs competitors, National Lifes and Manchester Mutual had
launched a better system and were already running ahead of them. One distinct problem that
cannot be pinpointed as the cause of the failure. But, it this case, the CEO and CFO of the
Lenox company seemed to blame Sullivan for the problem happened. Once the problem was
figured out, the company struggled to handle it properly.
Based on the case study, there were five commentators that offer their opinion on how
to manage IT for business result, that are: 1) James K. Sims, 2) Thornton May, 3) Richard
Nolan, 4) Robert A. Distefano and 5) John King.
According to James K. Sims and Thornton May, Bennett must set a new agenda for
IT investment. There were four mistakes that CEO, CFO and CIO of Lenox made in ways

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they decided, managed and funded the information technology investment. Firstly, inadequate
vision and leadership where the vision should be shared among the company managers.
Secondly, there was no business accountability in Lenox management. Sullivan couldnt make
Lifexpress successful with agents and customers if she worked in solo. Thirdly was slow
implementation where Sullivan took about three years to apply the new system. Fourthly,
there was insufficient funding for IT. Based on these four problems, the commentators suggest
that Lenoxs management team needed to move quickly in order to fix the problem of
Lifexpress system. As a CEO of Lenox company, Bennett need to make a clear vision and
make Lenox team management very clear understanding on the importance of technology in
competency environment. Plus, Bennett also must take a fast action in systems delivery in
order to establish the vision and accountability. Lastly, the commentators suggest that Lenox
should explore new models for funding IT investment.
In addition, Richard Nolan said that Lenox needed to deliver a system in months, not
years, since Lenox took three years to launch the system and the needs of customers change
rapidly make they were not compatible with the competition moves swiftly. Next, Lenox must
be able to sense and respond the information quickly on what their competition is up to and
what customers need. Richard opinion, Lenox should replace the CIO. Therefore, Sullivan
must immediately become a full partner in identifying how Lenox will use technology to
further the strategic business goals and taking responsibility for the system investment result
in order to contribute to the team. Besides that, Lenox also need to benchmark in order to
enable distribution systems. The Lenox must invest resources to match its competitors
quickly, or it will risking of losing both customers and agents.
According to Robert A. Distefano, Sullivan failed to understand her role. She should
have created the environment needed to make technology effective at Lenox. Robert opinion
that Sullivan did not finish her job and she was too eager to accept the trust and confidence
Bennett placed in her three years ago. Robert highlighted several mistakes and give his
opinion about this case. First, computers were not one of Lenox strengths because the
managers did not understand the importance of technology in further their business objective.
Therefore, Sullivan needs to show Lenoxs business managers how others companies use
technology and then guide them. Second, Sullivan organized a team to set the vision for the
project, but she never secured the commitment of the sales, marketing and operations.
Therefore, Sullivan should recognize that their active leadership was critical for successfully
implementing this massive change initiative. Third, Sullivan always complained about the
lack of the product strategy but failed to assert that Lifexpress have a clear business purpose

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that was well grounded in corporate strategy. Therefore, she should have realized that she
could not provide a technology vision in the absence of a product, marketing or sale vision.
Fourth, an experienced CIO quickly learns how to control projects scope and manage
expectations. Lifexpress system should have been designed to maximize the potential of
Lenoxs most profitable products. Here are the four things that Sullivan must do. 1) She must
talk openly and candidly with Fontana and Bennett, 2) She desperately needs to ally herself
with the head of either the sales or field operation, 3) She must focus the project and 4) She
should work with a few talented agents and train them well.
From point of view, John King said that, Business managers, not the person charged
with delivering the tools, should be held accountable for business results. In this case, the
CIO must deeply involve with the management team in understanding the business and its
obstacles, in teaching the effective use IT among the team and also in creating and selling
plans for new IT investment. Therefore, CIO must either influence the employees to use the
system much more effectively or plead mistaken accountabilities to the CFO and the CEO.
In conclusion, CEO, CFO and CIO of Lenox company should play their roles in order
to fix the problem faced Lenox company. Plus, they need to cooperate to each other to make
the IT system run properly and successful.