Casei1:iTheiNewiYorkiTimesiandiBostoniScientific:I

TwoiDifferentiWaysiofiInnovatingiwithiInformationi
Technology
Questioni1
Ans:iSharediservicesihaveilongibeeniseeniasiaisupportingiunitiforitheirestiofi
theibusinessiwithilimitediimpactioutsideiofitheibottomiline.iHowever,I
companiesiandidirectorsiofisharediservicesifaceimountingipressureitoimakei
significanticontributionsiotherithanitoitheibottomiline.
Growthiandiinnovation,itwoiofitheimosticriticaliissuesifacingicompaniesitoday,
iareihistorically,inotitheichieficoncernsiofistaffifunctionsioriofisharediservices.i
However,isharediservicesifocusioniprocessimanagementiexpertiseiformsiai
criticalitooliforicost-
effectiveigrowth.iThisiprocessimanagementidiscipline,ileveragedithroughi
innovationiinitiatives,iallowsicompaniesitoiovercomeishortageiofikeyitechnical
italentiandiloweriproducticosticurves,iandiexpandiintoiinternationalimarkets.
AtitheiNewiYorkiTimes,itoughitimesihaveielevatediITenablediinnovationitoithe
itopiofitheiagenda.iAiresearchiandidevelopmentigroup,icreatediini2006i
operatesiasiaisharediserviceiacrossinearlyitwoidozeninewspapers,iairadioi
station,iandimoreithani50iwebisites.iTheiroleiisitoiaccelerateitheientryiontoi
newiplatformsibyiidentifyingiopportunities,iconceptualizing,iandiprototypingi
ideas.
Theigroupiworkiwithiniaicommoniframeworkibasedioniideaigeneration,I
development,iandidiffusionithroughoutitheibusiness.iTheiteam’siworkiisi
intendeditoisupplementiandisupportiinnovationitakingiplaceiwithinithei
businessiunits.

Inigeneral,itheiadvantagesiofitheiuseiofisharediservicesiare:

Simplifyitheidiverseiprocessesiassociatediwithimanagingiinformationi
technology.

Doingiredesigningitheimanagementiofiinformationitechnologyisoithatibasedio
nitheineedsioficustomersithroughieffectiveioperationaliactivities.
Saveionitheitotalicostiofiinvestmentiandimaintenanceiofiinformationitechnolo
gyishouldibeiallocatedibyieachicompany.

Reduceitotalicostiperiemployeeiinimanagementiinformationisystems,I
especiallyiwheniseenifromitheimagnitudeiofitheineedsiofiainumberiofi
informationitechnologyisuchiasihardware,isoftware,idatabase,inetwork,I
infrastructure,iandiotheriequipment.

Theisharediservicesiapproachialsoihasisomeidisadvantages:

TheiexistenceiofianiadditionalimanagementilayeribetweeniITianditheiendiuser
i(enduser)iwhichiresultediinitheilossiofiresponsivenessioriaccountabilityitoithe
i individualibusinessiunits,iasiwelliasireducing.
 Question:i2
Ans: BostoniScientificifacesiaimuchidifferentichallenge:ihowitoifosteri
innovationiwithoutiriskingitheidiscloseriandileakageiofiveryivaluablei
intellectualiproperty.iAnditheicompanyihasiturneditoitechnologyitoihelpifindi
theirightimixiofiaccessiandisecurity.iBostoniScientificiwantsitoitearidowni
barriersithatipreventiproductideveloperifromiaccessingitheiresearchithatiwent
iintoiitsisuccessfulimedicalidevicesisoithatitheyicanicreateinewiproductifasteri.
Butimakingidataitoitheftiofiinformationipotentiallyiworthimillionioribillionsiofi
dollars.iIt‘siaiclassicicorporateidataiprivacyiproblem.

BostoniscientificiisipilotingiinventioniMachine’siGoldifireisoftware,iwhichi
providesitheirightimixiofiopennessiandisecurityiforidata.iBefore,iBostoni
Scientificiproductidevelopersiworkediinisilosiwithilimitediaccessitoiresearchiby
icolleaguesionidifferentiproductilines.iInformationiwasisoilockedidownithati
eveniifiscientistsifoundisomethingiusefuliformiaipastiproject,itheyioftenididn’t
ihaveiaccessitoiit.

Goldifireimakesianiautomatediworkiflowioutiofisuchitasksiasianalyzingimarket
siandimilkingiaicompany’siintellectualiproperty.iIticombinesiinternalicompanyi
dataiwithiinformationifromipublicisources,isuchiasifederaligovernmenti
database.iResearchericaniuseitheisoftwareitoifindiconnectionsiamongi
differentisources,iforiinstanceibyihighlightingisimilariideas.iTheigoaliisitoihavei
anyiengineersiableitoiaccessianyiotheriengineer’siresearch.iAlthoughitheigoali
isimoreiopenness,inotiallidataistayiopeniforever.iForiexample,iasiaiprojectiget
sicloseritoitheipatentiapplicationistage,iaccessitoitheidataiaboutiitiisiclippedi
toifeweripeople.

Goldifire,ipatentiapplicationsiareiupicompareditoisimilariengineeringigroupi
thatidoinotiuseitheiGoldifireitool.
 Question:i3
Ans:iTheiNewiYorkiTimeihasilaunchediaicooliinteractiveimapithatishowsithei
mostipopulariNetflixirentalsiacrossi12iU.S.iMetropolitaniarea:iNewiYork,I Sani
Francisco,iBoston,iDenveriandiMiamiietc.iToicreateitheimap,iTheiNewiYorki
partnerediwithiNetflix.iTheimapiisiaigraphicalidatabaseiofitheitopi100imosti
rentediNetflixifilmsiofi2009ilaidionitopiofimaps.iNetfliximoviesibasedionithreei
criteria:ifilmsithatiwereihatediorilovedibyicritics,ianialphabeticalilist,iandimost
irented.iForiexampleiselectimostirented,iandiwheniyouiplaceitheimouseioveri
aizipicode,iaiwindowipopsiupishowingiyouiwhatitheitopiNetflixirentalsiareifori
thatispecificiregion.

TheimostipopulariNetflixiimovieiofi2009iwasiTheiCuriousiofiBenjaminiButton,i
althoughiSlumdogiMillionaireiandiTwilightiwereibothiinitheitopi10.MadiMen,I
thei1960isetidramaiaboutiadvertisingiexecs,iwasihotiinipartiofiManhattaniand
iBrooklyn,ibutinotiinianyiothericities.iItibarelyigotimentioniiniDenveriandi
Dallas,iandinotiatialliiniMiami.

Theimapidoesishowisomeiinterestingitrends:iBigiblockibustersiwereinotiasi
populariinicityicenters,ialthoughithisicouldibeidueitoitheifactithatiailotiofi
peopleiseeiblockbusteriiniwealthierisuburbs.i(suchiasiScarsdale),ibutinotiini
cityicenters(suchiasiManhattan).TyleriPerryimoviesiwereipopulariini
predominantlyiblackineighborhoods.

TheiNewiYorkiTimeicanibeiclassifiediasiprocessioriproductiinnovation.iTypicall
y,iaihealthyiandigrowingicompanyishouldibeicontactiwithifocusingi90%itoi95%
iofiitsiinnovationidollarsionisuchicoreibusinessiinnovationiandi5%iori10%ioni
newibusinessimodels.

Chairmenisays”iTheinewspaperiindustryiisisoimuchitroubleithatibusinessi
modeliinnovationiisimoreiimportantithaniever”.
 Casei2:iJetBlueianditheiVeteransiAdministration:iThei
CriticaliImportanceiofiITiProcesses

Question 1
Ans: The database system that developed during the crisis has now
been implemented at JetBlue airways, but there are certain risks and benefits
associated with this approach to the IT Planning.

Risks:
a) Inability of the employees and IT Staff to discern if there would be a
system failure that may happen, as a result to failure in the fixation and
continuation of the systems operations. Another disadvantage that may
occur is the low volume of customers who will patronize the services
offered by JetBlue resulting to decreasing market share.
b) Additional allocation of money to compensate for the new system and
its maintenance implemented by JetBlue was expensive.
c) Not all the staff are educational or experienced enough how to use the
system, as a result greater probability that failure may occur.

As for example:
On February 2007, after an ice storm, JetBlue Airways was forced to
cancel more than 1,000 flights, on that very day, JetBlue doesn’t have enough
of its home-office employees or crew members that was trained enough for
their reservation system. If they were unable to resolve that problem using
their system there might be a possibility that there business process and
operations will take certain circumstances.

Benefits:
a) Better communication between JetBlue and the customers arises
through the use of the database system. Since then, the customers are
able to take auto, mated flights which was addressed to them through e-
mail and mobile devices. As a result of this implementation of the
database system, increase in competence and marketability was
established.
b) Staff members and employees are able to do the multi-tasking,
additionally, there was an increase in efficiency and increase in
productivity resulting to gain of profit.

c) Better flow of communication and information through the members

and staff of JetBlue. They have now the capability to discern certain
situations happening from time to time.

Question: 2
 Ans: Eric Raffin made the decision not to fail over to the Denver site to
avoid further risk Denver site could be incurred. But, if the problem is
software-related, fail over from Sacramento VA medical facility to Denver VA
medical facility he could lost the remaining 11 sites in the Denver environment.

1st Alternative:
Reforming the IT organization at VA Medical Facility from local
processing to regional data-processing centers. From the case, we know that
VA owned an IT service, has personal budget authority, and its own staff,
additionally it has its own autonomy on how its infrastructure evolved.

Decisions with related to IT are generated between the local IT

Leadership officials and the director of VA Medical Facility. This kind of
program made a necessary adjustment across sites to be closely impossible to
undertake, to counteract this situation they need to make a data- processing
centre so that information’s and certain data needed will be centralized.

2nd Alternative:
Provide a centralized data storage infrastructure for IT Consultancy and
other IT Services. By this, the capability to conclude for possible solutions
whenever failure come up will be easy.

Question:i3
Ans: VAiusesitwoiapplicationionitheiridailyioperations,itheifirstioneiisiVISTAi
whichistandsiforiVeteraniHealthiInformationiSystemiandiTechnologyiArchitect
ureiwhichimaintainsielectronicihealthirecords.iTheiotheriapplicationiisiCPRSi
whichistandsiforiComputerizediPatientiRecordiSystem,iisiaicollectionioficlinical
i applicationsithatiprovidesianiacross-theiboard-
viewiofieachiveteran’sihealthirecord.iToiaccessiCPRS,itheiuserineedsiVISTAi
applications,iwithitheseitwoicombinationidoctorsiandinursesiableitoipulliupi
patientihealthirecords.iFromistudyingitheirecordidoctorsicouldiincreaseithei
accuracyiofihisidiagnosisiforitheipatient.
Fromitheicase,iweiknowibesideitheiaccuracyiofidiagnosis,iinterrelations
hipiofitheisystemsigivesitheiuseriotheriadvantagesithatiitienablesitheiuseritoi
haveiairealtimeiorderichecking,inotificationisystemitoialerticliniciansiofi
significantievents,iandiaiclinicalireminderisystem.