Strategic Information System: ANZ Bank

This article discusses the strategic information system and accounting information system of ANZ Bank. It covers their organizational background, structure, operational problems, system acquisition method, system flowchart, control problems, accounting software packages, market size, market leaders and competitors.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Strategic Information System: ANZ Bank
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

1STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Part 1......................................................................................................................................3
Organizational Background of ANZ Bank........................................................................3
Current Organizational Structure of ANZ Bank................................................................3
Operational Problems of ANZ Bank..................................................................................4
System Acquisition Method of ANZ Bank........................................................................6
Systems Flowchart of ANZ Bank......................................................................................7
Control Problems within System.......................................................................................9
Part 2......................................................................................................................................9
Accounting Software Packages..........................................................................................9
Current Market Size.........................................................................................................10
Market Leaders and Competitors.....................................................................................11
Suitable Recommendations for ANZ Bank......................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................14

2STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Introduction
The set of guidelines, helping any specific organization or company to set their
strategies or plans as per their principles is known as strategic information system. The
procedure to take any type of decision is extremely easier with this particular system and thus
could be easily accepted by all organizations (Konsynski & Karimi 2013). Moreover, this
type of information system helps to align the business processes minutely. The data collection
processes are much easier with this type of information system. Accounting information
system is the proper storage, collection or processing of all types of accounting or financial
data that are utilized by the users for reporting the information to the investors or
management bodies (Simkin, Norman & Rose 2014). This accounting information system is
the method that is completely based on the computers or systems to track the accounting
activities with the resources of the information technology. The accounting information
systems are utilized by the organizations with the help of accounting software packages.
The following literature review focuses on the concept of strategic information system
and accounting information system by taking into consideration one of the most famous
banks in Australia, ANZ Bank. The various details regarding this bank including a brief
organizational background, organizational structure and various operation problems will be
provided here. Moreover, this review will also highlight on the most likely method of system
acquisition and the system flowchart of the sales process of ANZ Bank. There are various
control problems within the system and accounting software packages are utilized for
mitigating them. The market size with the leaders of market and the several competitors of
ANZ Bank will be provided here. Important recommendations are provided for the selected
organization.

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Discussion
Part 1
Organizational Background of ANZ Bank
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited or ANZ Bank is considered as
the third largest banking sector is Australia (Anz.com.au. 2018). The bank started in the year
of 1951 and till today it is being extremely beneficial for the country they are serving. The
operations of the ANZ Bank mainly deal with the retail banking and the commercial banking.
It was a government bank before 2003 and however it became completely private in 2012
(Anz.com.au. 2018). In the time span of 2003 and 2012, this particular operated in two
brands, namely, National Bank of New Zealand and ANZ. Several branches were present.
This specific bank works in 34 different nations.
ANZ Bank is the leading banks in the entire region of Asia Pacific and has expanded
its services to markets of Indonesia, China and Vietnam. It is one of the four banks in
Australia. The most significant services provided by this particular bank are credit cards,
loans, accounts, insurance, internet banking, retail banking and many more (Anz.com.au.
2018). This bank even helps to find financial solutions for the businesses. Market
capitalization has made this organization extremely popular and famous in the market of
banking.
Current Organizational Structure of ANZ Bank
The organizational structure of this ANZ Bank comprise of all the key management
committees and principal board committees (Galliers & Leidner 2014). All these members
are extremely important for the organization for making the organization popular and
accepted by every customer.

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Figure 1: Organizational Structure of ANZ Bank
(Source: Anz.com.au. 2018)
The organizational structure of the ANZ Bank comprises of two specific parts. They
are the board of directors and the management board of the bank. The main part of the board
of directors is the CEO of the organization and various other members like governance
committee, audit committee, human resources committee, risk committee and the technology
committee are present (Bryson 2017). Apart from them, various key management committees
are also present for the bank. All of them together, constitute the organizational structure of
the ANZ Bank.
Operational Problems of ANZ Bank
ANZ Bank is one of the most popular banks in Australia and New Zealand. Although,
this bank is responsible for producing various advantages and benefits to the customers, there
are some of the fundamentals problems in their operations. These operational problems often

5STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
become major problems for the bank. The first and the foremost problem that the bank suffers
is the incorporation of wrong strategies (Alexander 2013). The strategies that they have taken
for the organizational objectives and customers are absolutely wrong and thus it becomes a
major problem for them. These strategies have often back fired them and thus they have
suffered major losses in their business due to them. The higher interest rates are one of them.
Since, they are the leading banking sector, the interest rates are extremely high and thus the
customers often avoid this bank. As the customers have started avoiding this bank, the shares
of the organization are falling drastically (Laudon & Laudon 2016). In the last one year, the
shares have gone down.
Figure 2: Downfall of Shares in ANZ Bank
(Source: Anz.com.au. 2018)
The above figure has shown about the sharp downfall in the market shares of ANZ
Bank. In June 2017, the shares were above 32; however, in April 2018, the shares have gone
down to below bottom line, i.e. below 20 (Yoo 2013). This is extremely dangerous for the
organization as this degradation is making the position of the bank lower than the rest of the

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popular banks in Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, they are always involved in major
competition with the rest of the banks and hence they are not being able to concentrate on
their business strategies. There is a constant change in the trend of market and thus this
becomes one of the major problems in understanding the market features. They have
undertaken various significant strategies and these strategies are extremely important for
them (Haux et al. 2013). ANZ Bank is responsible for their popular strategies. Four distinct
strategies are present within the business of this particular bank. These are customer,
technology, productivity and strengths. They always focus on the customers as they feel that
the customers are the most important part of their organization and without them it is
impossible to build their organizational field. The next important part is the technology (Al-
Hiyari, AL-Mashre & Mat 2013). They focus on the new and advanced technologies.
Strengths and productivity are the other two strategies.
System Acquisition Method of ANZ Bank
The system acquisition method that the organization of ANZ Bank has taken is ERP
or Enterprise Resource Planning. It is the specific procedure through which the organization
controls as well as integrates the various business processes (Dandago & Rufai 2014). The
marketing, finance, human resources, purchasing, sales and many more are being integrated
through this ERP. They utilize this ERP as their system acquisition method as there are
several business processes in a bank and it is extremely important to integrate all of them to
one single business process. The disadvantage of the Enterprise Resource Planning is that it is
extremely costly and every organization cannot afford them (Amrollahi, Ghapanchi & Talaei-
Khoei 2013). However, since, ANZ Bank is one of the leading banking sectors in Australia,
they could easily afford them in their business and thus they have selected ERP as their
system acquisition method.

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Figure 2: ERP in ANZ Bank
(Source: Anz.com.au. 2018)
The various advantages like human resources, employee management, payroll
systems, vendor management, customer relationship management, tasks management, client
management, sales management and project management are done with the help of ERP in
the banking sector of ANZ Bank (Gholami et al. 2013).
Systems Flowchart of ANZ Bank
The systems flowchart of the ANZ Bank provides a clear image of the sales procedure
of the bank.

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Figure 3: Sales Flowchart of ANZ Bank
(Source: Anz.com.au. 2018)
The above figure helps to understand the entire process of sales in the organization of
ANZ Bank. The first component of the sales process is review (Youn et al. 2013). The second
component is evaluate and the third component is the respond. At first, reviews are taken
from the customers regarding the services of the bank. If they are happy of the products of the
organization, then they eventually select the services they are choosing. Henceforth, if the
feedbacks are negative, they try to avoid the bank and the bank wants to know the reason
behind the dissatisfaction of the bank. Next, comes the evaluation sector. Here the
organization of ANZ Bank evaluates according to the feedbacks of the customers (Simkin,
Norman & Rose 2014). The respond component comprises of the various banking services
like e banking, credit cards, debit cards, general services, personal services, deposit services

9STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
and many more. All these services are extremely important and significant for the customers
and thus they remain happy with the bank (Arvidsson, Holmström & Lyytinen 2014).
However, if the services are not worthy, they significantly try out to be a major failure for the
ANZ Bank.
Control Problems within System
In spite of being one of the leading banks in Australia and New Zealand, there are
some of the major control problems and frauds within the system. These control problems are
extremely dangerous for the organization (Willcocks 2013). The first and the foremost
problem within the system of the ANZ Bank is the falling of market shares. The shares of the
organization have fallen down and the organization is not being able to overcome this
particular situation. The most affected part of this organization is their brand name. Since, the
market shares are going down, the customers are not investing in the bank anymore and thus
they are avoiding the bank. Moreover, due to the higher interest rates in the bank, the
customers are not taking loans from the bank any more. The marketing team is not doing
their job perfectly and are not advertising the bank any more (Laudon & Laudon 2016).
Therefore, the new customers are not interested in the bank and thus the organization is
suffering major losses. The several kinds of frauds in the bank include fake emails and fake
SMS messages.
Part 2
Accounting Software Packages
The accounting software packages help any organization to properly execute their
business operations without any type of problems or complexities. Several accounting
packages are present in market. Amongst all of them, the organization of ANZ Bank has
selected the accounting package of Xero (Xero Accounting Software. 2018). The various

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modules of functions such as trial balance and general ledger are processed with this type of
accounting packages. All these accounting packages differ in complexities and costs.
Xero is the specific kind of accounting software that is based on cloud and is taken by
various organizations. Mostly, the medium sized and the smaller organizations take up this
software (Xero Accounting Software. 2018). The services and the products of Xero are solely
based on model of software as a Service of SaaS. The several benefits of Xero are given
below:
i) Helps to Support Maximum Customers: The most important advantage of the
software of Xero is that it is utilized for supporting the maximum customers within less time.
ii) Real Time Finance: The second benefit of Xero is that it helps to report the real
time finances (Amrollahi, Ghapanchi & Talaei-Khoei 2013).
iii) Simple Collaboration: The process of collaboration is very easy and effective with
the accounting software of Xero.
iv) Improvise: Constant updates are present and hence it is always improvising.
Current Market Size

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Figure 4: Current Market Size of ANZ Bank
(Source: Anz.com.au. 2018)
The current market size of the ANZ Bank is clearly shown in the image (Hill, Jones &
Schilling 2014). Maximum shares are still in the favour of ANZ Bank and they help the
organization in understanding the position of the bank. 26.3% shares are in the business of
ANZ Bank.
Market Leaders and Competitors
ANZ Bank is one of the leading banks in the banking sectors. There are other banks
as well and three other banks are present in the list of top four banks. They are the
competitors of this bank. They are given below:
i) Commonwealth Bank of Australia or CBA
ii) Westpac Bank or WBC
iii) National Australian Bank or NAB (Palvia & Palvia 2013).

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Figure 5: Shares of the Big 4 Banks
(Source: Anz.com.au. 2018)
The above figure is showing the position of big four banks of Australia. CBA is in the
first position with maximum shares and ANZ Bank is in the third position (Ogiela 2015).
Thus, it clearly depicts that Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the market leader in banking
sector in Australia. However, there is scope for the ANZ Bank to be on top.
Suitable Recommendations for ANZ Bank
ANZ Bank is suffering from various problems and all those problems should be
solved as soon as possible. There are various recommendations for the bank and these
suggestions would be extremely helpful for the business. The first problem in their downfall
of shares and this could be increased with the lower interest rates and thus the shares would
be in better position. Moreover, they should maintain a better customer relationship
management or CRM with their customers. These recommendations would be helpful for the
ANZ bank.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that, the information
systems developed to corporate the several business initiatives and objectives are known as
strategic information systems. The organization is expected to gain competitive advantages
form this type of information systems. They are extremely beneficial for the organization and
thus most of the organizations in today’s world, utilize this particular system in their
business. The most vital and effective advantage of this type of information system is that it
is extremely cost effective and always focuses on any specific segment of market. It is the
most salient feature in the field of information technology, helping the organizations in

13STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
storing and processing information. The most significant or vital goal of this strategic
information system is that it helps all the entrepreneurs in successfully accessing the various
environmental alterations for utilizing then for the utmost advantages of the organization.
There are technically three types of strategic information system in any organization. They
are the financial, strategic and operational. This type of strategic information system
completely and solely depends on the particular kind of business the organization is. Two
types of objectives are possible in any business. They are the short term objectives and the
long term objectives. Market survey is another important benefit of this organization. Various
tools and techniques are present in this information system that is utilized by the companies.
Accounting information system is the typical segment of information system that deals with
any information related to accounting and financial data. This type of information system is
being utilized by various organizations and thus is popular and well accepted by all.
Accounting software packages are utilized for the accounting information system. There are
various types of accounting software packages available for the organizations. They are
MYOB, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage One, FreeAgent, FreshBooks, Harvest, AccountEdge Pro
and Hiveage. The above literature review has clearly demonstrated about the popular
organization of Australia, ANZ Bank. Various details regarding this organization with
various recommendations are provided here.

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Haux, R., Winter, A., Ammenwerth, E. and Brigl, B., 2013. Strategic information
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