Analysis of Telstra's IT Strategy

The provided document is an analysis of Telstra's IT strategy, highlighting the benefits of information technology in improving business operations and activities. The document cites relevant books and journals, such as 'Managing Mergers Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances' by S.C. Cartwright and C.L. Cooper, and 'A Practical Guide to Information Systems Strategic Planning' by A. Cassidy. It also references online sources, including Telstra's corporate strategy and restructure plans. The document emphasizes the significance of designing strategies that take into account evolving technologies and competitors in the market.

IS Strategy, Management &
Acquisition: Assessment 3: Case
Study

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview.....................................................................................................................................1
Evolution of IT/IS strategies.......................................................................................................1
Challenges & possibilities faced by Telstra................................................................................2
Scenario of IT/IS in Telstra.........................................................................................................3
Significance of IT/IS strategies management plan for attaining competitive edge.....................4
IS strategies solution to Telstra problems/needs.........................................................................5
How acquisition of IS contributes within success of Telstra's....................................................5
MIS for controlling as well as management of Telstra's system................................................6
Implementation of IT/IS strategies..............................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Information system is defined as a unified set of elements that are being utilised for
collection, storage and data processing for rendering digital knowledge, information as well as
products (Ansoff and et. al, 2018). Business organisations depends on information system for
carrying out as well as managing their operations through which interaction can be carried with
suppliers and customers. This assist firms to formulate strategies accordingly through which they
can acquire higher productivity and satisfy their customers. For understanding the concept of
information system strategies, Telstra Corporation Limited is taken into consideration. This is
Australian telecommunication firm that is liable for building as well as operating
telecommunication networks, internet access, mobile, market voices and various other services &
products. This report involves background of firm, IS strategies, challenges & opportunities,
their IS scenario and significance of management. In addition to this, solution is provided, ways
in which acquisition leads to success, MIS and execution of strategies have been illustrated.
Overview
Telstra is a public organisation that deals within telecommunication industry which is
headquartered in Melbourne Australia. It was founded on 1st July, 1975 and delivers there
services worldwide. Their vision is to improvise the ways in which people live and work.
Telstra's mission is to build technology along with content solution that are easy to utilise, simple
as well as can be valued by their customers. They endeavour to serve & know their customers in
better manner with respect to others. Their values involve service & respect, trust along with
integrity and teamwork as well as accountability. The services and applications depend on
secured, reliable, fast and high-quality telecommunications network.
Evolution of IT/IS strategies
Information technology or systems are being utilised by organisations for solving
analysable tasks. Through this firms like Telstra can have enhanced benefits as it aids them to
acknowledge enhancements within technologies as well as knowledge related with what there
competitors are doing within market (Campbell, Jardine and McGlynn, 2016). It aids them
within formulation of effective decisions. Along with this, marketing has also improvised like
Telstra makes use of broadcast, social and other media for making their customers aware about
what new features are being provided by them to their customers. As technology is evolving,
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they need to provide their customers with unique options through which it becomes easy to
attract ample number. Telstra have their own website but people hardly like to visit them, they
look for more easier options. They provided them with option for online transaction but still it is
not enough.
With evolution of technology, there came Mobile commerce or m-commerce which is
being utilised for buying along with selling of services & goods through the usage wireless
handled devices like tablets and smartphones (CARTWRIGHT and Cooper, 2016). Through this
individuals have access to carry out online shopping without using desktop system. For an
instance, in this case mobile banking, in-app purchasing, virtual apps such as Android pay,
Samsung pay, etc. can be utilised by individuals. Telstra can opt for m-commerce and it will
lead them to have high profitability.
Challenges & possibilities faced by Telstra
The strategy has been illustrated above i.e. Telstra can opt for m-commerce. The reason
behind this is that certain challenges were faced by them. They are shown below:
 There are operational inefficiencies like manual systems for carrying out transactions
often leads to irrelevant as well as inaccurate results.
 Customers were not satisfied as better services were delivered by others which often lead
them to go for their substitutes.
 The time involved within management of inventory was high as it took time for
purchasing as well as selling.
 There was congestion within network traffics. Telstra depends on older technology due
to which they have slow down as well as the way in which customers were served was
complicated (Davis and et. al, 2016).
Possibilities that they can have:
 There are wide range of businesses as well as projects in which organisation can venture
within. This will lead them to have improvised profit ratio.
 With the enhancement in internet, they can have more online presence by this they will
be able to expand their business.
 By opting for latest technologies, they will be able to acknowledge enhanced demands of
telecom services.
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 Through utilisation of m-commerce, there is high possibility for grabbing ample number
of customers.
Scenario of IT/IS in Telstra
To ensure that they can carry out their operations in an appropriate manner, Telstra have
divided there IT functions among three groups (Greve and Man Zhang, 2017). As Telstra's
traditional business is under pressure due to enhanced margin pressure as well as their largest
portion of budget is invested for supporting them.
(Source: Telstra breaks up IT in latest restructure, 2019)
According to CIO, Patrick Eltridge, their IT solutions have been formulated to render
Telstra with wide range of technologies as well as architecture leadership which is scalable &
simple. There new systems will be operating within all networks as well IT systems that involves
incident, alterations & problem management along with their monitoring. Within service
operations, they take into consideration security standards as well as strategies. In this, all the
aspects will be considered like security of systems, information stored in database about their
customers and employees (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). This will assist them to provide their
customers enhanced as well as secured features which will enable them to carry out their
transactions as per high standards. This restructure was carried out in around 2013. But till then
information technology have been evolved a lot.
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Illustration 1: Telstra Operations

For this, they have opted for m-commerce along with the structure or operations they
were already using. Along with this, if there were any kind of loopholes then they will be
addressed so that the present problems they were going through can be acknowledged. Telstra
have carried out this step is to attract more number of customers towards their services. In this
they will be having their own application where customers can look for services, order them and
make payments as per their convenience (Steiss, 2019). For security purposes all their details
will be stored in encrypted form so that if third person gets the details then still they cannot open
it.
Significance of IT/IS strategies management plan for attaining competitive edge
The science as well as art of formulation, implementation as well as evaluation of cross-
functional decisions that will enable firms to attain their objectives is referred to as strategic
management. For this plan has been formulated so that operations can be carried out in
respective form. Telstra has opted to deploy Serraview solution for solving the issues related
with data accuracy. The tool assisted them to have powerful insight within their portfolio. This
assisted them to make sure that there is maximised decline within cost of property as well as
aligned their processes. Its significance has been illustrated below:
Automatic utilisation tracking: They utilises accumulation of network activities as well
as abidance detection data and renders Telstra with reliable view for exact usage. This leads them
to feed processes related with effective channels for marketing team for engaging directly within
business unit (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta, 2016).
Regular dashboard reporting: They are employed for rendering reliable, valuable data
on key metrics like cost per person as well as utilisation of feature. For an instance by paying for
some service like cell phone recharge then it will be for limited duration as well as in restricted
amount. This will aid them to have improvised executive buy-in strategies along with planning
(Thompson, Strickland and Gamble, 2015). For an instance, if Telstra opt for services from cloud
then they are liable to pay according to services they have opted. By this infrastructure and its
maintenance cost will be eliminated as well as security will also be ensured.
Move planning: This denotes the plan that has been by Telstra formulated to attain
minimised cost as well as enhanced profits within specified time. For this, data can be gathered
through usage of internet with respect to what their competitors are doing and in what manner.
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This assists them to work accordingly as well as opt for latest technologies by which they can
remain competitive within market.
IS strategies solution to Telstra problems/needs
Creation of new wholly owned infrastructure business unit for driving performance as
well as render future optionality for entry as well as demerger within roll out world. They aims at
radical modification of plans that are being offered to customers within SIM or other services
and their pricing for delivering improvised customer experience. The key pillars of their
strategies have been illustrated below:
 Radically simplify the products that are being offered by them, obviate the points that
leads to creation of troubles or difficulties and provide their customers with digitalised
experience (Telstra sets new strategies to improve customer experience, 2018).
 Establishment of stand-alone infrastructure business for gaining performance as well as
set up optionality roll-out.
 Simplify the structure as well as ways of working for empowering people as well as serve
their customers.
 In this to this, they have opted for cost reduction programme as well as portfolio
management (Our corporate strategy, 2016).
How acquisition of IS contributes within success of Telstra's
At present scenario, organisations have opted to make use of information technology to
have enhanced benefits. By the implementation of IT within Telstra success cannot be ensured
until it is effectively utilised and the desired plan is acknowledged. The contribution has been
illustrated below:
 Information technology has provided Telstra with the tools through which critical
problems can be addressed.
 Through usage of technologies business can make better decision as well as have
complete analysis of competition that is present within market.
 Telstra can have improvised marketing through the usage of internet as they can make
use of Facebook ads, PPC, SEO. This will aid them to find out their target customers.
 By going for cloud computing employees of Telstra have the access to devices and they
can be used from anywhere depending upon their requirements (Cassidy, 2016).
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MIS for controlling as well as management of Telstra's system
The corporate information services is liable for rendering the system based information
services within Telstra. This includes:
 Development along with maintenance of information system of organisation (Chang,
2016).
 Providing Telstra with adaptation as well as options for acquisition of hardware &
software.
 Align delivery of all the services rather than furnishing by themselves. It is also liable for
for corporate information system infrastructure which involves management of database
of Telstra and telecommunication network.
Implementation of IT/IS strategies
Telstra has formulated certain strategies, and aims at attaining the desired results by 2022
year. It has been illustrated below with assistance of diagram.
(Source: Our corporate strategy, 2016)
For this, they have simplified the list of products they are being providing to their
customers so that they can target a specified sector as well as it will lead minimisation of points
that leads to havoc creation (Peppard and Ward, 2016). In addition to this, new digital platforms
will be created through which fast customer experience can be delivered, high performance can
be attained by employee engagement, net cost of productivity will be increased.
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Illustration 2: Our corporate strategy, 2016

Conclusion
From above it has been concluded that, information technology provides firm with
enhanced benefits as well as this makes processing of their operation and activities smoother.
Information system denotes usage of computers for delivering adequate services to individuals
by the utilisation of hardware and software. For this, they are supposed to design the strategies
accordingly by taking into consideration evolving technologies as well as competitors present
within market. By this they can acquire their vision and mission as per their defined values.
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References
Books & Journals
Ansoff, H. I. and et. al, 2018. Implanting strategic management. Springer.
Campbell, J. D., Jardine, A. K. and McGlynn, J. eds., 2016. Asset management excellence:
optimizing equipment life-cycle decisions. CRC Press.
CARTWRIGHT, S. C. and Cooper, C. L., 2016. Managing mergers acquisitions and strategic
alliances. Routledge.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach
Publications.
Chang, J. F., 2016. Business process management systems: strategy and implementation.
Auerbach Publications.
Davis, T. and et. al, 2016. Talent assessment: A new strategy for talent management. Routledge.
Greve, H. R. and Man Zhang, C., 2017. Institutional logics and power sources: Merger and
acquisition decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 60(2), pp.671-694.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
Pearlson, K. E., Saunders, C. S. and Galletta, D. F., 2016. Managing and using information
systems, binder ready version: a strategic approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Steiss, A. W., 2019. Strategic management for public and nonprofit organizations. Routledge.
Thompson, A., Strickland, A. J. and Gamble, J., 2015. Crafting and executing strategy:
Concepts and readings. McGraw-Hill Education.
Online
Our corporate strategy. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/our-company/future/Ourcorporatestrategy>.
Telstra breaks up IT in latest restructure. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-breaks-up-it-in-latest-restructure-344200
Telstra sets new strategies to improve customer experience. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/media/media-releases/Telstra-sets-new-strategy-
to-improve-customer-experience-simplify-structure-and-cut-costs>.
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