Telstra Application Ethical Concerns

This report analyzes the ethical concerns of Telstra's adaptation of digital electronic means for accommodating, enhancing, and speeding up business processes. The Doing Ethics technique and ACS code of ethics framework are used to evaluate the ethical implications of the mobile application and crowd-support system. The report discusses the IT governance, business decision tools, data security, and risk assessment methodologies. Expert recommendations are provided with pros and cons of the new venture.

Running head: TELSTRA APPLICATION ETHICAL CONCERNS
Telstra Application Ethical Concerns
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TELSTRA APPLICATION ETHICAL CONCERNS
Executive Summary
With the growth of IT support onto every aspects of the professional industry, ethical concerns
have risen into account. It is extremely necessary for every organization to analyze in details the
ethical circumstances that come up with the adaptation of IT infrastructure in their existing
model of business. This report aims at providing insight into one such case study relating to the
adaptation of digital electronic means for accommodating, enhancing and speeding up business
processes of the Telstra organization. The Doing Ethics technique shall be used in order to
evaluate the ethical concerns that may revolve around the digitalization of Telstra. Furthermore,
the ACS code of ethics framework shall be utilized to throw more light on the respective matters.
The report helps to conclude the prescribed effects of adapting to the shining IT infrastructure
model in various business context.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Telstra Digital background..............................................................................................................5
Features of the Telstra 24*7 application..........................................................................................6
Doing Ethics Technique..................................................................................................................7
What is going on?........................................................................................................................7
What are the facts?.......................................................................................................................7
What are the issues?.....................................................................................................................8
Who are affected?........................................................................................................................9
Ethical Issues and Implications.................................................................................................10
What can be done?.....................................................................................................................11
What are the options?................................................................................................................11
Which is the best option and why?............................................................................................12
The ACS Code of Ethics................................................................................................................12
The primacy of public interest...................................................................................................12
Enhancement of the quality of life.............................................................................................12
Honesty......................................................................................................................................13
Competence...............................................................................................................................13
Professional Development.........................................................................................................13
Professionalism..........................................................................................................................13

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Assessment of Ethical Consequences............................................................................................14
IT Governance...........................................................................................................................14
Business Decision Tools and Techniques..................................................................................14
Data Security.............................................................................................................................15
Risk Assessment........................................................................................................................15
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................18
Advantages................................................................................................................................18
Disadvantages............................................................................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19

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TELSTRA APPLICATION ETHICAL CONCERNS
Introduction
Telstra Crowdsupport. (2018), says that Telstra Corporation Ltd. is one of the largest
telecommunication companies in Australia They deal in building and operating
telecommunication networks and marketing mobile, voice services and internet services. The
Telstra Corporation had been depending on their modular physical presence and a mere web
presence on the internet to deal with their customers and extend their business contexts.
However, they realized the need for adapting to the mobile application framework to further
extend their services to the people. This report aims at clinically highlighting the case study
relating to the adaptation of digital mobile-electronic means for accommodating, enhancing
business processes of the Telstra organization. The Doing Ethics technique shall be used in order
to evaluate the ethical concerns that may revolve around the digitalization of Telstra (Harcourt
and Sargeant 2012). Furthermore, the ACS code of ethics framework shall be utilized to throw
more light on the respective matters. Furthermore, in the sections that follow, the ethical
consequences of adapting to the mobile platform shall be discussed with keen attention towards
the IT governance and risk assessment methodologies. Finally recommendations are to be made
by highlighting the pros and cons of this new venture.
Telstra Digital background
In 2010, they adapted to the mobile and tabular platforms to bring their services into the
palms of the millions of customers from all over. The company has connected to more than 16
Million mobile and tablet users with the rest of the world. Telstra recognized that both
employees and customers engaged with them over the website every day, asking to have their
problems resolved or queries answered. They also used the web system in order to share their
views and experiences with Telstra's services and products. Gradually, their customers were

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expecting and deserving the same level of authenticity from interactions in digital environments
as they traditionally were offered in the offline world. They recognized the need to create a
Digital CX experience. They wanted this business modification to be brought into effect as soon
as possible. The goals of this campaign included the digitization of their customer care services.
The 24*7 support system on the mobile application seemed like a step forward for the company
in their aim to achieve a respectable position before their customers. Their CrowdSupport
community was powered by Lithium, which enable the customers to review and comment about
the products and services provided by Telstra but not necessarily with the executives from
Telstra (Cater-Steel et al. 2017).
However, owing to the many changes that the business process at Telstra had to go
through, several ethical queries may turn up at their door step. Below the Doing Ethics
Technique shall be utilized to analyze the possible ethical considerations of the mobile
application and the crowd-support system of Telstra.
Features of the Telstra 24*7 application
Before elaborating on the ethical situation of adapting to the application service system,
the features that the mobile application provides to its users and customers must be properly
Users are allowed to create their Telstra account on the application and then gain access to
number of important features. On logging into their respective account, the users allowed to
check their estimated data usage of their eligible services. They can also view and pay bills
online through the application and would also allow them to download a softcopy of their bills.
Furthermore, the application allows their customers to view and buy from their listings of calling
packs, data packs and many more. However, one of the main attractions of the application
includes the 24*7 customer service support (ENVIRONEXUS and AUCKLAND 2016).

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Doing Ethics Technique
This technique helps to identify the engrossed ethical risks within a project and
accordingly allows to sort ways out of it (Coghlan and Brannick 2014).
What is going on?
As mentioned before, the Telstra Corporation modified their business process from
having only offline branches of stores around the nation. Their business model was then
switched to have an e-commerce framework as well. After integrating the mobile application into
their business model a lot of considerations had to be made in order to make the new business
model feasible. This implementations include the integration of the existing business model with
room for IT implications that could fit in the use of mobile applications and other electronic
mediums to promote, reach out to and support their customers and employees from all around the
globe. However, the assignment of information technology in a business process brings along
several ethical questions that must be answered to get a clear picture of the whole scenario.
Customers have been doubting the authenticity of the services that they are being provided
online, they have been doubting the security features as well (Chen and Zhao 2012).
What are the facts?
It is presumed that lots of data and security breach threats may be encountered in the
process (Daya 2013). It is certainly presumable that almost any Information technology system
faces these problems. Questions can be raised against the integrity of the company in their
policies of the storing and handling of data. There are several scopes in the field of information
technology where amateurs can doubt the trust that they levy onto their reliant companies. To
realize the facts in details, it is necessary to dive deep into the core of the ethical issues that are

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closely related to the management of data and information using technological means, mainly
(Chambers 2017). People may also be doubting the authenticity of the data that they are getting
from the online sources through the application. Should they buy an offer online or should they
wait for a meet-up chance, creates a strong dilemma within the business forum. The online
payment method is another field that needs to be stressed upon to clear out customer doubts.
What are the issues?
As stated earlier, several issues can be identified and highlighted when a company makes
the wish to switch onto a completely online solution thorough the likes of a mobile/tabular
application. There are several technical, social and ethical issues that can be addressed under this
section. The technical issues that can be highlighted include programming flaws in the
development of the application. The designing flaws can also be considered to be an issue if the
architecture of the application is not well planned before implementation (Ensmenger 2012). A
newly developed application may crash on several instances, which is considered as a huge flaw
in the technical aspects of a developed application. The compatibility of the mobile application is
also a huge concern. With the advent of technology, comes more complexity into every field of
implementation. This can be a challenge for amateur users. They need to have proper guidance
of using internet accessed applications otherwise silly errors may come up that can cause them to
uninstall the application and gradually lose faith over the service. Social issues may include
advertising flaws within the system. The adverts that are featured in the application may be
socially unacceptable in certain sections of the society. However, speaking of the ethical issues a
huge list can be presented. People may question the authenticity of the company’s data keeping
system. The company needs to be prepared to handle such situations. They need to figure out
ways to make their customers to bestow their trust and yet then not give away too much of the

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company’s information. The situations where the users make the payment but due to technical
flaws, the company does not receive any such confirmation, an ethical issue arises. The customer
service needs to deal with this situation. Details on these issues will be discussed in a later
section.
Who are affected?
From the above listing of the possible ethical and non-ethical issues, it can be concluded
that there will be varied severity of effects on the various stakeholders of the project. To carry on
with this analysis, the stakeholders for the project must be recognized. The company CEO and
Board of Directors form the most important part of the group of the internal stakeholders. The
Management team, the Engineers team and the customer service team forms a crucial organ of
the secondary internal stakeholders alongside the representatives from the Application
Development Company. Telstra Crowdsupport. (2018) explains that the sales team for Telstra
and the 3rd party cloud service providers and the online payment gateway company can be termed
as the secondary part of the external stakeholder group while considering the customers as the
primary external stakeholders. It is generally predictable that every flaw in the system, be it
technical or ethical is somehow or the other going to affect almost every entity of the stakeholder
map especially them from the internal stack. However, the severity of the effects may vary
depending on the indulgence of the individual. Telstra’s business process would be hindered if
there are technical issues with the system. This will affect all the internal stakeholders and the
customers. The internal stakeholders will have to work their hearts out in order to fix the issue as
soon as possible and bring the system live, while it is their daily business proceedings at steak.
On the other hand, the customers will not be able to gain quick access to their Telstra account if
the server is down for crashes or fixes. The Primary Internal Stakeholders and also the secondary

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external stakeholders through the likes of the cloud service providers shall have to face questions
if they cannot get their customers to trust them with their data policies.
Ethical Issues and Implications
First and foremost what needs to be considered is that has Telstra done it just because
they wanted to match up in the race with their competitors. This is one of the gravest ethical
consideration that must be analyzed primarily. Detailed studies about Telstra reveal that they
were extremely eager to enroll themselves as one of the top companies in Deloitte’s “Short fuse,
big bang” quadrant of the Digital distribution map. In such cases it is presumable that there was
obviously a sense a haste among the management and the development team in order to release
the application as soon as possible (Chen and Zhao 2012). This results in programming flaws
that can risk the data of millions of users from all around the world. If a software product is
launched without ample testing of the security features, it is made open to tons of cyber threats
like hacking, jamming, spamming and many more (Lord 2013). This will degrade the quality of
the product and may also lead in compromising important customer information. It would be
interesting to figure out how the company wishes to handle ethical dilemmas regarding the
display of offers in their application. It is presumed that the company will provide special offers
for the application users. However, it is a well-known fact that all the customers of Telstra will
not have access to high-end mobile phones or internet connections. This will void them off the
chances to grab the valid offers that others are availing. This is a certain ethical issue where the
company must decide if they wish to disappoint their existing customers in order to race for the
digital market.
The leakage of confidential customer records are often seen to be leaked out or sold to
other third party data science companies in exchange of money. This has over the past decade

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increased tremendously and has forced the general public to fade their trust over the Information
Technology systems while in the quest of their data protection (Ren, Wang and Wang 2012).
Under the CrowdSupport wing of the application, an ethical issue that might affect the
customer commotion level is poor online customer service. Being run on a server, it is
suggestible that whenever the client wishes to gain the online support, there might be some
network or technical flaw that might prevent the messages from being sent or may cause delay
the admin’s reply. This would affect the customer satisfaction level of the service and would
inherently degrade the ratings of the support-chat admin. In the meantime, their performance will
be judged by the company on the basis of such ratings, in which they have no indulgence at all.
This certainly raises a massive question of miscommunicated ethics.
What can be done?
Telstra would require to look into the matter with more emphasis. They would require to
analyze all the above mentioned ethical issues and try solving them with possible
recommendations. The company must try to take such matters seriously in order to even out their
business process over both the physical presence of the business and the online presence through
the application. The organization must also take proper actions to ensure that the data and
information of their clients are kept secured and their customer service is always available with
prompt and helpful service (Ess 2013).
What are the options?
To figure out the ethical issues and sort them out accordingly, it is necessary for the
company to may be try to frame a board of members who will look after such matters. Another
option that can help in the defense of decreasing ratings of the customer support or sales team

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would be to provide the customers with different options to rate, where they can opt separate
rating for the operations, sales, and support and so on, separately.
Which is the best option and why?
To frame a board of members whose job will be to analyze all-round ethical
considerations and dealing with them individually, will be a better option. This team might
consist of a group of higher level managers from the company alongside the HR manager and
associative. They will be the best people who can take prompt decisions on what should be done
and whether the customer activities are enough justified. They can review the customer
feedbacks and reveal sales or support team employees off the pressure of wrongly made
accusations or poor ratings. This will not only save the employee off a probable
miscommunication but will also relief the company off a downpour.
The ACS Code of Ethics
The primacy of public interest
The general public’s interest should always be kept at the highest concern for any
business organization. It is necessary for the application to avert such situations where the
company’s objective overshadows the application’s aim to help the customers with the ease of
telecommunication access. The problems due to unethical adverts or the difficulty of the
customers to reach the customer service may be camped under this section.
Enhancement of the quality of life
It must be realized that the purpose of the application is to enhance the quality of the way
Telstra deals with their customers. Therefore, all points that may overshadow the business a bit

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but may help the customers to gain a bit more satisfaction should be given more preference. This
is where the valid reviews from the peers are acknowledged.
Honesty
It is important that Telstra, through its application does not hide any information from
their customers. With the option to notify or email their customers, they should always try to
keep them updated about the upcoming bills, issues and many more. In addition, the customer’s
service must also be truthful in their words while in conversation with the customer. No data
should ever be leaked from the company server to the outside world. Data security has always
been the biggest concern of the IT world.
Competence
Apart from fulfilling every possible and recommended needs for and of the customers,
the application must also make sure that the requirements and concerns of all other stakeholders
within the project are safeguarded. It is necessary to maintain a healthy business chain.
Professional Development
The employee access part of the application should thrive to maintain the privacy level of
the employees alongside helping them with the right tools and options to help the customers who
they are meant to serve.
Professionalism
It is therefore necessary for the Telstra mobile application to pertain to all the above code
of ethics before the application is released into the system. It is important for the application to
enlighten the name and fame of Telstra instead of letting it down on grounds of ethical issues.

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Assessment of Ethical Consequences
IT Governance
Wu, Straub and Liang (2015), explains IT governance provides the organizations with the
infrastructure for aligning IT strategies with the business strategies. By following a formal
framework, organizations can produce measurable results toward achieving their strategies and
goals.
Business Decision Tools and Techniques
There are several decision making tools that are great for solving all kinds of problems
(Kristianto et al. 2012). However, some special techniques, frameworks or tools can be
considered a great zeal while figuring out ethical solutions to certain real life problems regarding
to business. The Telstra organization should consider get assistance from few such framework
queries to analyze the gravity of the ethical issues that have been mentioned in the section above.
Certain basic principles that might help in the process includes:
 To get into the shoes of others: It is necessary for the supervisors to realize every
problems within the business process from the perspective of the sufferers. This includes
the customers, employees and the employers as well.
 Information Gathering: In order to analyze an ethical system, it is necessary to collect all
the information from the respective stakeholders.
The Potter Box technique can be used to help in the process of decision making while answering
questions to resolve ethical dilemmas. The questions under this technique include:
1. Spot the action or policy that has caused the ethical issue.

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2. Analyze the situation by answering the reasons, causes and details of the ethical dilemma.
3. Determine the values that are in question.
4. Highlight the principles that may affect the situation.
5. Determine the loyalties that may come into play.
6. Finally, it is required to figure out the necessary alterations to the system in order to fix
the ethical situations. The facts collected shall be used in this process.
Data Security
It is necessary to keep the customer data safe and secured. The ethical concerns regarding
the security of data shall be analyzed with keen attention. Data security tools shall be
implemented in the enterprise end of the application system in order to measure and amend the
data insecurity of the system. Tools such as StorageGRID Webscale and FireHost Compliance
are best in this situation as a data security service (Barsky 2016).
Risk Assessment
Task Hazard Risk Priority Control
Data Security Lots of customer
and employee
data are stored in
online cloud
servers.
There are heavy
chances of these
data being stolen
and manhandled.
High This can be
controlled if
Telstra can build
a safe data
storage of their
own, with
trusted

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employees
handling them
(Daya 2013).
Unwanted
Adverts
Various types of
adverts come up
within online
application.
This may hurt
the sentiment of
various societies
of people using
the application
due to the
variedness of the
adverts.
People may also
feel that they are
opting for a
service online
using their own
money and data,
therefore the
adverts are not
acceptable.
Medium This can be
averted by either
putting a check
on what adverts
are suitable for
specific
geographic
locations.
Another
controlling
measure would
be to avoid
showing 3rd
party adverts at
all, even though
that might affect
the revenue
generation
process.
24*7 Customer One support Customer may Medium Data logs must

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Support person registers
the complaint of
a particular
customer. When
the same
customer comes
back for update
a few hours
later, a new
support head
might address
him.
address a
problem once to
a support person
and get agitated
over it when the
shift changes.
be kept to track
the history of
support chat
conversations
with particular
customers. Also,
conversation ID
can be provided
for better issue
identification.
Offers Varied offers
over the various
platforms.
The varying
form of offers
for the
application users
will void the
company off the
existing
customers who
are unwilling to
switch to a
smartphone
High There must a
balance of offers
listed for both
physical and
online stores.

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TELSTRA APPLICATION ETHICAL CONCERNS
application for
many a reasons.
This will cause
considerable
damage to the
business.
Recommendation
Advantages
 The application can bring loads of opportunities for the company to expand their business
all over the world.
 It would make the customers reach out to their Telstra details, just a click away.
 The amalgamation of many third party enterprises with Telstra would bring about a new
scope of opportunities to improve their business terms and expand on the same ground.
 The 24*7 feature would allow the customers to converse with the customer service
executive though instant messages or over the phone.
Disadvantages
 Security issues may come up as stated above.
 Social and ethical considerations about the adverts that are featured on the application.
 Offer globalization will take place as those who cannot afford a smartphone or does not
wish to purchase premium services either, they will not get access to the application and
will have to purchase the same services at higher prices, offline.

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TELSTRA APPLICATION ETHICAL CONCERNS
 Technical and ethical issues as stated above can ruin the performance and girth of any
company, if not rightfully attended.
Conclusion
It can hence be concluded that any business should always consider the customers as the
king of the gala. It is due to them that the application is being designed and developed and
therefore they must be made aware of the fact that the company is willing to go through any
long-run procedure that will help the company to thrive for perfection and customer satisfaction.
It is hence necessary to identify the major ethical problems with the release of an application or
internet service system, and then rectify them with through meetings and constructive
discussions.

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