Strategic Information Systems: Commonwealth Bank Alignment Review

This literature review examines the role of Strategic Information Systems (SIS) in aligning organizational goals with IT infrastructure, focusing on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). It covers CBA's structure, products, and services, analyzes its operations and functionality, including current processes, gaps, and issues that a new system should address, such as money laundering and share price declines. The review discusses the importance of an Information Systems (IS) strategy, the difficulties in developing one, and potential solutions. It also addresses common problems in IS projects, like system failures and high costs, recommending remedies such as regular maintenance and the hiring of IS specialists. The review concludes that SIS is crucial for competitive advantage and efficient information management, highlighting the need for strategic alignment and continuous improvement within organizations like CBA.

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

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Commonwealth Bank of Australia.........................................................................................2
1. Structure, Products and Services of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.......................3
2. Operations and Functionality.........................................................................................5
3. Information Systems Strategy........................................................................................6
4. Problems and Solutions in Information Systems Strategy.............................................6
5. Information Systems Failures........................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Strategic information system is the information system, which are developed for the
business initiative of any organization (Cassidy 2016). The strategic information management
or SIM is the most significant characteristic in the field of information technology. This
strategic information management helps the organizations or companies in storing,
categorizing, processing and transferring the information or data that are received or created
(Cresswell and Sheikh 2013). Moreover, it offers several techniques for applying analytical
tools to the information repositories, which allow them in recognition of the opportunities for
growth and improvement of the efficiency in operations.
The following literature review provides a brief discussion on the famous and
accepted bank of Australia, namely, Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The literature review
discusses about the organizational structure, products and services. It also helps to understand
the operations and functionality like the current processes and gaps of the organization. The
problems or issues that are to be fixed by the new system and the information systems
strategy are also explained here.
Discussion
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is one of the most famous multinational banks in
New Zealand and Australia. It has its businesses in Asia, Fiji, New Zealand, the United
Kingdom and the United States (Commbank.com.au, 2017). The main financial services of
this particular bank include funds management, retail banking, investment, insurance, broking
services and institutional banking. The bank is famous for its specific and great strategies,
which have helped them to gain extreme popularity amongst the customers.

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1. Structure, Products and Services of Commonwealth Bank of Australia
i) Organizational Structure: The organizational structure of Commonwealth Bank of
Australia comprises of all the governing bodies of the organization (Commbank.com.au,
2017). It has all the important management bodies that include top, middle and lower
management.
Figure 1: Organizational Structure of Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(Source: Commbank.com.au, 2017)
ii) Products and Services: The main products and services of this particular bank are
those that are provided to their customers. The customers are the main and the most important
part of any bank (Arvidsson et al. 2014). These products and services help the bank to attain
the organizational goals and objectives. The main products and services of the bank are as
follows:

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a) Business Credit Cards: This is the most important and significant service of this
particular bank. These credit card services help the customers in their personal expenses like
shopping, paying bills and many more (Peppard and Ward 2016). The interest rate of the
credit card service of this particular is extremely low and affordable.
b) Business Loans: Business loans are the second services of Commonwealth Bank of
Australia (Cassidy 2016). The interest rate of the loans of this bank is reasonable and
affordable and thus this is well accepted by all the customers.
c) Merchant Services: Merchant services are the best category of financial services,
which is used by any organization (Arvidsson et al. 2014). This type of service allows any
organization to accept bank debit transactions or credit card by utilizing online ordering.
d) Online Banking: This is the fourth important and helpful service of Commonwealth
Bank of Australia. Customers do not have to visit bank premises for any type of banking
transactions. Rather, they can do everything online.
e) Investments: CBA is famous for its investments. Customers invest their money in
the bank and thus the bank enjoys profit to the fullest.
f) Business Insurance: Since this Australian bank is a multinational bank, the
investment in this particular bank is extremely safe and secured (Claver-Cortés et al. 2012).
The business insurance is high and there is less chance that the bank will face losses.
g) Superannuation: The superannuation services are again one of the most important
services of this bank (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016). The regular or daily payment is
made into a fund by any employee towards the future pension is known as superannuation.
h) Funds Management: Commonwealth Bank of Australia is popular for its funds
management. The funds are easily managed with the help of this bank.

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2. Operations and Functionality
i) Identification of the Current Processes: The current processes of the organization
are include the unique way of inclusion of the several customers. The involvement of the
customers is the most important part of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Pearlson,
Saunders and Galletta 2016). This helps to maintain the willing power of the work and this
involvement is helping the bank to obtain its organizational goals and objectives. There are
three types of processes of this bank. They include work processes, behavioural processes
and change processes.
ii) Identification of the gaps: The gaps are those that are identified on a daily basis in
Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The major cause for the degradation is the infeasible
strategies. Several approaches are taken by this particular bank for overcoming these
problems and for improving the shares of the bank (Claver-Cortés et al. 2012). Almost all of
the strategies went wrong for of the regular changes in the market trends.
Figure 2: Downfall of shares in Commonwealth Bank

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(Source: Commbank.com.au, 2017)
iii) Specific issues that should be fixed by the new system: The new system that
should be able to fix the specific problems or issues. The main issue or problem of
Commonwealth Bank of Australia mainly includes money-laundering issue
(Commbank.com.au, 2017). This first came into count in the year 2009. The second major
issue of this bank is the sudden downfall of the prices of the shares. The new system is
supposed to fix all these issues promptly.
iv) Criteria for proving that the proposed system meets requirements: The criteria
for proving that the proposed system meets the requirements are the verification and
validation of the information system (Dutta et al. 2012). The software should be verified and
validated so that there exists no loophole for meeting the requirements in a secured manner.
3. Information Systems Strategy
Information systems strategy is the strategic decision that is taken by any organization
for the betterment of their business. This particular type of strategy mainly deals with the
information system of the organization. Information systems strategy is extremely important
for all organization as it solves all the significant information system problems of the
organization (Claver-Cortés et al. 2012). Commonwealth Bank of Australia is popular for its
innovative information system strategy. This strategy has helped them to obtain their
organizational goals and objectives easily and successfully.
4. Problems and Solutions in Information Systems Strategy
In spite of having several advantages or benefits, information systems strategy does
have some of the major problems (Willcocks 2013). The main problems of information
systems strategy in Commonwealth Bank of Australia are as follows:

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i) Failure of the system: This is the most important and significant problem for
information systems. The system has the high risk of failing.
ii) Maintenance: This is again one of the most important problems. Maintenance is
frequently required for information systems.
iii) Expensive: This type of systems are extremely expensive and many organizations
are not able to afford them.
However, these above mentioned problems have relevant solutions for them. The
solutions for the problems are as follows:
i) For the Failure of the system: Regular maintenance is the only way for solving this
problem (Peppard and Ward 2016).
ii) For the Maintenance: The system can be easily maintained if the organization will
hire an information system specialist (Willcocks 2013).
iii) For the Expenses: They can reduce the cost by opting for less expensive systems,
however they should not compromise of the quality.
5. Information Systems Failures
i) Analysis of the problems within Information Systems projects: There are several
types of problems that are expected to arise within information systems projects. These
problems mainly include failure of the system, cost effectiveness and regular maintenance
(Alhawari et al. 2012). These problems often create major loss to the projects and the projects
either are not finished on time or are not finished with perfection.

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ii) Recommended remedies for the identified problems: However, these above
mentioned identified problems do have some of the remedies. The recommended remedies
for the identified problems are as follows:
i) For the Failure of System: It is recommended that the organization should go for
regular maintenance. This will save the system.
ii) For the Maintenance: It is recommended that the organization should hire an
information system specialist for their information system.
iii) For the Expenses: It is recommended that the organization should choose low cost
system, however, with great quality.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that, strategic information
system is the most important and significant requirement for any organization. It is developed
for the business initiative of any organization. This particular type of information system
provides competitive advantage to any organization. Strategies are extremely necessary for
all organizations as they help to deliver the products or services at lower costs and thus focus
on a particular segment of market. It is even utilized by several organizations for the
categorization, storing, procession and transfer of information. The review has discussed and
identified the organizational structure, products and services under consideration. It also
focuses on the operations and functionality of the organization. The review also describes
about the information systems strategy and the reasons and solutions for information systems
failures in Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

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References
Alhawari, S., Karadsheh, L., Talet, A.N. and Mansour, E., 2012. Knowledge-based risk
management framework for information technology project. International Journal of
Information Management, 32(1), pp.50-65.
Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Information systems use as strategy
practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and
use. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Claver-Cortés, E., Pertusa-Ortega, E.M. and Molina-Azorín, J.F., 2012. Characteristics of
organizational structure relating to hybrid competitive strategy: Implications for
performance. Journal of Business Research, 65(7), pp.993-1002.
Commbank.com.au. (2017). Personal banking including accounts, credit cards and home
loans - CommBank. [online] Available at: https://www.commbank.com.au/ [Accessed 3 Dec.
2017].
Cresswell, K. and Sheikh, A., 2013. Organizational issues in the implementation and
adoption of health information technology innovations: an interpretative
review. International journal of medical informatics, 82(5), pp.e73-e86.
Dutta, S., Bilbao-Osorio, B. and Geiger, T., 2012, November. The global information
technology report 2012. In World Economic Forum (pp. 3-22).
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.

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Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems
investments. Springer.
Bibliography
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