SBM4202: Examining Telstra's IS/IT Strategy for Business Development

This report provides a detailed analysis of Telstra's Information Systems (IS) and IT strategy. It begins with an introduction to Telstra, an Australian telecommunications provider, and its historical context, including its transition from a government-owned entity to a privatized organization. The report evaluates Telstra's IS/IT strategy, highlighting the need for digital disruption and its impact on the company's operations, particularly concerning internet connectivity and customer service. It explores the major challenges Telstra faces, such as financial investments, employee training, and the competitive telecommunications market. The recent IS/IT situation is examined, including the adoption of advanced technologies like fiber optics and cloud storage to mitigate costs and improve services. The role of IS/IT in the contemporary environment is discussed, along with the execution of Telstra's IS/IT strategy, including the implementation of an ERP system and training programs. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and the implications for Telstra's future.

Running head: IT/IS STRATEGY IN TELSTRA
IT/IS strategy in Telstra
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
About the organization................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of IS/IT strategy:.......................................................................................................4
Major challenges faced by Telstra:..............................................................................................5
Recent IS/IT situation of the organization...................................................................................7
Role of IS/IT in the contemporary environment:........................................................................9
Management of the IS for managing and controlling of the organization system:.....................9
Execution of IS/IT strategy........................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Telstra is an Australian well known telecommunication service provider. The
organization is responsible for operating and building the telecommunication network and
provides internet access to the users and the consumers (DeLone and McLean 2016). Telstra has
a long history of providing the proper services to the consumers. It has been seen that there are
some of the sectors of Australia like Australian Post are taking help of Telstra for operating the
functionality. It can be said that the client base of Telstra is unique and significant.
With the advancement of the technology, Telstra has to improve the services provided by
the organization. In this context, the organization has enhanced the functionality of the
equipment for the communication (Moses 2015). Apart from that the organization has taken
some of the business and the technological strategy in order to improve the consumer experience.
In order to implement the digital disruption for the organization, Telstra has taken some
of the IS/IT strategy. The recent situation of the IT in Telstra indicates that there are scope of
certain improvements through the initiative taken by the organization (Sellitto et al. 2016). Apart
from that the organization has to maintain the improved IS/IT strategy so that the functionality of
the project can be implemented in a proper way.
The main objective of this paper is to discuss the importance of the IS/IT implementation
in Telstra and the ability of the organization to manage the digital disruption of the organization
(DeLone and McLean 2016). Apart from that the paper will also evaluate the execution of the IT
strategy that is needed to be presented in the organization for the implementation of the proper
digital disruption.

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Discussion
About the organization
Telstra is a well-known telecommunication company in Australia which is responsible
for providing network and mobile phone services. The Telstra has a long history of the operation.
Initially it was a government organization and its functionality was maintained by the
government organization collectively. However, between 1997 to 2011, the Australian
government started privatizing the different sectors and the organization ((DeLone and McLean
2016). Telstra is one of them. Initially, Telstra was a part of the national broadband network
development, however, due to some unavoidable circumstances, Telstra is out of the initiative.
As a telecommunication organization, Telstra has taken notable part in the digitization
process of Australia. Apart from that this organization is also responsible for the mitigation of
the digital divide in Australia.
As Telstra is a telecommunication company, it has large consumer base. Some of the
clients of Telstra are government organizations. In this situation, Telstra has to improve both
internal and the external infrastructure of the organization (Libicki 2016). Apart from that the
organization has to consider the business aspects along with the technological improvements. It
can be said, for providing the better services to the consumers, the improvement of the
technology used in the service has been achieved by this organization. Apart from that this
improvisation also helps the organization to gain the competitive advantages over other
telecommunication organization in the industry (Gardiner 2015). Moreover, the external
improvement includes the improvement of the customer service that includes the after sale
service. It has been seen that the consumers are getting the right service in case if they are facing

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any problem. Telstra has dedicated customer service line that will guide the consumers if they
are having any issues.
Evaluation of IS/IT strategy:
The evaluation of the IS/IT strategy indicates the need for the digital disruption for the
organization. The same has been occurred for Telstra. It has been seen at the earlier the
organization is concerned about providing the phone connectivity for the users. The use of the
internet has changed the business situation for Telstra (Park 2017). At the earlier stage of the
internet, Telstra used the tradition method of the connectivity for providing the internet service.
That approach supports the use of long wired cable. However, there were some portability issue
with those system.
After the improvement of the overall digital situation, the use of the fiber optics has been
adopted by Telstra. Apart from that the organization is also expanding the business methodically.
Currently, the organization is in the charge of providing the network connectivity and the
internet usages. It has also permitted the national broadband network to use the high
functionality fiber optics cable (Moghadda et al. 2018). The service of the Telstra has played a
significant role in the merging of the digital divide for the country. It has been seen that there are
certain parts of Australia those are not properly connected through the internet. In the
cosmopolitan areas in Australia, the network connectivity is good. However, people straying the
rural areas cannot enjoy the proper internet connectivity (Harris 2017). The services of Telstra is
helping the people living in the rural region to get connected with the internet. This initiative is
merging the digital divide of Australia.
Apart from the improvisation of the technological attributes of the organization, the
Telstra has put certain focus on the improvement of the business aspect of the organization

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through the use of technology. It has been seen that Telstra has to deal with the advanced
technology and the implementation of the advanced technology is obvious for Telstra for the
further improvement of the service (Bennett 2015). However, this organization has used the
technology for improving the business and the consumer relationship. The main focus of the
organization is the improvement of the customer care. It has been seen that during the use of the
internet and other mobile services, the users often face problems. It is the responsibility of the
organization to provide the proper after sale services to the consumers.
In this case, Telstra has developed a dedicated automated customer care service so that
the consumers can reach out with their problem to the company at any time of the day
(McDougal 2017). Apart from that the organization is thinking of adopting the use of the
machine learning and automation for the further improvement of the functionalities of the
organization.
Major challenges faced by Telstra:
Due to the course of digital disruption, the organization has faced certain challenges
regarding the implementation of the advanced digital technology. It has been seen that the
companies like Telstra, has to make the improvement of the technology and the IS/IT strategy for
both the internal and the external functionalities (Teh and Corbitt 2015). The external
functionalities are the services which is provided to the users by Telstra. On the other hand the
internal services are the services and the functionalities of the organization those are important
for the organization.
It has been seen that use of the IS/IT strategy has been both by Telstra for both the
internal and external functionality of the organization (Moghadda et al. 2018). For the
improvement of the services the organization is providing the modification and the improvisation

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of the digital and electronic equipment’s are adopted by Telstra (Mohammed. and Ibrahim 2015).
This makes the organization a large amount of the investment that raised the financial challenge
for the organization. Apart from that the other challenge regarding this is the maintenance of the
digital disruption.
For the internal implementation of the IS/IT strategy the organization has faced more
challenges compared to the challenges faced in the external functioning. It has been seen that the
maintaining all the functionalities requires managing of the data and information in a proper
way. In order to do this Telstra has proposed to use the ERP system so that the resources can be
arranged in a proper way. However, there are security issues that has to be faced by Telstra
while the implementation of the ERP system (Khare 2015). Apart from that all the employees in
the organization are habituated in using the existing system. It is the challenge for the
organization to train the employees properly so that they can handle and manage the newly
implemented system
It has been seen that Telstra has faced some major challenges during the implementation
of the modified system for improvement of the customer care. In this case, Telstra has faced the
problem in helping the large number of consumers simultaneously. Apart from that the
organization has faced managing all the functionalities and there was a lack of communication
between the different departments of the organization (Lawrence 2016). This lack of
communication was affecting the business perspective of the Telstra as there are other companies
in the telecommunication industry were doing better than Telstra. It has been seen that the
organization is facing problem regarding the lack of synchronization between the business
department and technical department. Both the units were functioning independently
(ENVIRONEXUS and AUCKLAND 2016). In this case, Telstra was innovating new things in

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the telecommunication fields, however, those products were not showcasing to the users and the
consumers in a proper way.
There were some business challenges those had been faced by Telstra. The
telecommunication market in Australia is very competitive. In this context, Telstra had to face
some of the consequences for the problem with the national broadband network committee. This
affected the business of Telstra.
Recent IS/IT situation of the organization
After the certain improvisations and the improvements, it has been seen that the Telstra
mitigating the problems and issues faced by the organization through the implementation of the
advanced technology and smart business strategy. In this context, the use of the emerging
technology the organization has achieved the success in the internal functionality. Apart from
that the organization is providing the better communication service to the users through the use
of the advanced equipment like fire optical (Howe 2015). Apart from that Telstra is going to
expand the business as many of the consumers are availing the service from this organization. In
order to improve the mobile network connectivity, Telstra has adopted the policy of increasing
the mobile tower (ENVIRONEXUS and AUCKLAND 2016).For increasing the network
bandwidth and the availability of the network, the organization is also collaborating with the
other telecommunication organization.
Apart from that, in order to improve the internal functionality in a proper way, Telstra has
adopted the use of the ERP system. The managing of the internal functionality also includes the
managing of the information for the employees in the organization. In this context, Telstra has
used the ERP system to keep the data and information regarding the consumers in a proper way.
Apart from that for managing the skills of the employees, the organization has arranged the

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training and skill development programs for the employees (Ewing, Rennie and Thomas 2015).
Through these programs the employees in the organization can gain the knowledge regarding the
use of the advanced technology in the different industry. Apart from that they become aware
about the existing technology in their organization. In order to handle the newly implemented
system in a proper way, Telstra has trained the employees so that they can handle and manage
the system.
The system of Telstra has to keep the track of the large amount of data and information in
a proper way. Earlier, the organization used the traditional client server system for fetching the
data from the server. The process is replaces by the implementation of the cloud storage. The
implementation of the cloud storage in the organization has helped to the organization to mitigate
the overhead cost. Apart from that, Telstra does not have to maintain the cost for the physical
devices in the cloud storage system (Campbell 2017). It has been seen that with the
implementation of the cloud storage in the organization, the security of the data and the
information have been enhanced. Apart from that as Telstra is using the hybrid cloud storage,
there is a chance for the organization to negotiate with the cloud service provider regarding the
responsibility of the maintaining the security of the information stored in the cloud.
Apart from that the organization is thinking about the implementation of the automation
and the machine learning process for the daily functioning of the organization. It has been seen
that the organization has to maintain the complex functionalities in order to maintain the service
running in a proper way (Ewing, Rennie and Thomas 2015). In this case, it is obvious for any
employees in the organization to make some of the mistakes in the work. This can cost Telstra an
extra coverage in term of money for recovering the damage from that mistake (Goggin 2018). It
has been noticed that the organization has lost some of the valuable revenues and profits due to

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these mistakes done by the employees. The human error in the organization cannot be avoidable.
However, chances of the human error can be mitigated through the use of the automated system
(Freeman and Park 2015). In this situation, Telstra is thinking for the adaptation of the semi-
automatic system so that the machine can do the repetitive task in a proper way. Whenever, there
will be a need for the human intelligence, the employees in the organization can operate the
system. This will bring the flexibility in the system as well as the reliability and the
transportability.
Role of IS/IT in the contemporary environment:
It has been seen that the role of IS/IT plays a significant role in the contemporary
environment. It can be said that the adaptation of the IS/IT strategy in the organization will help
the organization to gain the competitive advantages. Apart from that it can bring the flexibility in
the overall system.
From the business perspective the role of the It/IS is contemporary and relevant. It has
been seen that the choices of the consumers are dynamic (Teh and Corbitt 2015). In this case, the
demands of the consumers changes every time. In order to understand the requirements of the
consumers as well as their changing demand, the use of the technology can be implemented. In
this course Telstra has used the application of the big data in order to understand their market
position. The main functionality of the big data is to collect the reviews and the feedbacks from
the consumers and the users of the services from Telstra regarding the quality of the service
(Soliman 2015). These information from the users are sorted and analyzed through the different
tools of data technology. On the basis of the result Telstra has made certain improvisation of the
business. It can be said that Telstra is using the business aspect of the big data rather than the
technological aspect.

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Management of the IS for managing and controlling of the organization system:
For managing and controlling the functionalities of the organization in a proper way,
managing the IS infrastructure is important. It has been seen that there are different standards
those are responsible for managing the IT infrastructure in the organization (Teh and Corbitt
2015). For Telstra, the organization has taken some of the initiatives for the controlled use of
IT/IS infrastructure. In this context, the organization has maintained the security for accessing
the technical system. The employees in the organization can manage and control certain parts of
the implemented technology (Hahanov et al. 2018). Apart from that the admin access can be
achieved through the use of username and password which is shared with the limited number of
employees from the management hierarchy. Apart from that the employees in the organization
are made aware about the possible threats those can be present in the system. Regarding this they
are instructed not to open the suspicious links through the internet (Teh and Corbitt 2015).
Moreover, here are antivirus software installed in each system used in Telstra. The organization
is aware about the consequence of the security attack in any of the system which can lead to the
temporary shut down of the partial service provided by Telstra.
Execution of IS/IT strategy
The execution of the IS/IT strategy will indicate the possible way for the implementation
of the IS/IT system in the organization. It has been seen that with the proper implementation of
the IS/IT strategy, the system will deliver the right outcome regarding this. For the proper
implementation of IS/IT strategy, there is a need of proper project management plan. Telstra has
followed the five steps project management plan for the implementation of the IS/IT strategy in
the organization. At the beginning, the organization has to collect the requirements to fulfill the
objective of the organization (Teh and Corbitt 2015). In this case, Telstra has conducted the

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documentation of the requirements for the requirement analysis. Proper analysis of the
requirements helps to mitigate the scope creep during the development of the project. Moreover,
the planning of the blueprint for the execution has been implemented before the execution phase.
The project manager is the responsible person for the execution of the planned design (Molon
2015). In this case, Telstra has followed these two steps in a proper way. After the
implementation, the project manager of Telstra has observed and monitors the performance of
the system. This has improved the overall IS/IT strategy implementation for Telstra.
Conclusion
The discussion is regarding the managing of the IS/IT implementation in Telstra. Being a
well-known telecommunication organization Telstra has the responsibility to serve the consumer
with the better service. Apart from that it is the responsibility of the organization to improve the
internal structure of the organization in a proper way so that the service quality of Telstra can
also be improved. In this context, it has been seen the organization has taken some of the
initiatives for improvement both internal and external business situation pf the organization.
Through the implementation of the merging technology the organization is able to provide the
improved service to the consumers. Apart from that with the help of the advanced technology
and the proper implementation of the IS/IT strategy, the organization has improved the internal
structure of the organization. It can be said from the discussion that with the proper strategy and
the selection of the proper technology the organization can fulfil the business goal and overall
functionality.