Technology Management Plan: Operational Improvement Analysis

This report presents an operational improvement plan for Rustic Americana, a subsidiary of Largo Corporation, focusing on addressing declining sales and internal issues. The company, specializing in direct marketing and sales through its call center, faces challenges related to a weak customer management system, outdated technology, and poor communication. The report analyzes these issues, highlighting the need for a technical innovation strategy, improved employee training, and enhanced CMS. It recommends increasing computer and staff capacity, implementing a grievance redressal mechanism, and hiring a technical manager. The report concludes that a sound operational plan, emphasizing technology integration, is crucial for improving customer satisfaction, efficient time management, and ultimately, the company's financial performance. The plan suggests that the CEO needs to convince the CFO to invest in digital technology for long-term returns.

Operational improvement plan
University
Professor

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Current overview.............................................................................................................................3
Improvement plan............................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

Introduction
The company considered in this paper is named as Largo corporation which has a subsidiary
named as Rustic Americana that is situated in the USA. The particular organization deals in
marketing and sales through the call centers. The company provides the services through
different stores like a web store, brick and mortar store, direct mail catalog. Unfortunately, in a
span of last one year, because of some internal issues, the company’s performance has declined.
Due to underperforming call center previous CIO was terminated. The customer management
system is used by CSRs is weak. Call for the product is managed by the customer service
representative (CSR). The relevant information is collected by the CSRs and then CSR enter it
into another inventory management system (IMS). After this, CSR verifies that product is in
stock or not. If it is in the stock then it enters the product on customer management system
(CMS) which finally reaches to the clerk (Bromiley & Rau, 2015). Order fulfillment ticket is
created by the clerk and shipping preparation is done. The bill is provided to customers once
shipping is confirmed. Then the web-based shipping is done (Hitt, Xu, & Carnes, 2015).
Current overview
There is some point where the technology is strong and some point where the technology is weak
(Ketokivi, 2015). The strong point is that the servers used are of good quality. Technology is
weak on some points like there is no proper information about whether the product is in stock or
not. There is a lack of trust and good communication between the employee and the other
employers and between the employers and CIO. Computer system capacity is also weak.
Computer system capacity can be managed by the using of new and advanced technology that
can save precious time (Bendig, Strese, & Brettel, 2017). Good communication can improve

staffing capacity. The computer system is functional but it is antiquated and not economically
viable as far as sustainability is concerned. There is no overhaul technology innovation strategy
as the company lack even in basic technical infrastructure. In addition to this, contracts are
evaluated on the basis of their time of operation that ignores acquisition of quality based traits in
the contracts. The operational problems were generally ignored by previous CIO leading to poor
work culture.
Improvement plan
The company urgently needs to have a technical innovation strategy so that economies of scale
can be achieved. Obsolete technology costs the company in terms of efficiency and downtime.
There should a grievance redressal mechanism for customers to address their complaints as soon
as possible. The accountability of CIO should be taken into consideration while allotting
portfolio (Barratt, Kull, & Sodero, 2018). Computer and staff capacity must be increased and
should meet the demands of customers. Necessary training of handling the calls should be
provided to customer service representatives. CMS should be improved technically an adequate
number of servers should be there. Along with this, there should be deterrent policy so that these
servers are not used by employees for their personal use. A technical manager should be hired
who must cater to the technical needs of the company. Chief financial officers should be
persuaded to invest in technical infrastructure that would yield long time returns. The interest of
the CEO should be increased so that he can convince CFO to invest in digital technology.

Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the company needs a sound operational plan
on urgent basis (Anand & Gray, 2018). The use of technology in operations of the company will
increase its overall performance leading to less number of complaints by customers and better
time management. This will reflect in the balance-sheet of the company by increasing the
number of customers on a regular basis and loyal customers base, in particular.

References
Anand, G., & Gray, J. V. (2018). Strategy and organization research in operations management.
Journal of Operations Management, 24-27.
Barratt, M., Kull, T. J., & Sodero, A. C. (2018). Inventory record inaccuracy dynamics and the
role of employees within multi-channel distribution center inventory systems. Journal of
Operations Management, 56-59.
Bendig, D., Strese, S., & Brettel, M. (2017). The link between operational leanness and credit
ratings. Journal of Operations Management, 354-367.
Bromiley, P., & Rau, D. (2015). Operations management and the resource based view: Another
view. Journal of Operations Management, 50-60.
Hitt, M. A., Xu, K., & Carnes, C. M. (2015). Resource based theory in operations management
research. Journal of Operations Management, 45-48.
Ketokivi, M. (2015). Point–counterpoint: Resource heterogeneity, performance, and competitive
advantage. Journal of Operations Management, 24-34.