Nortel - Re-inventing I/S

With changes in both technology and the environment, Nortel has had to evolve from a company that sells a collection of telecommunication products to a company that sells integrated packages of products that satisfy specific customer needs. In the past, I/S has been spread across the various product divisions, supporting a highly decentralized corporate structure. Now it has been charged with transforming itself to facilitate the company's need for greater integration, including a move to standardized systems. I/S must re-define its role and restructure itself to fulfill its new mandate. After an extensive analysis and design exercise, the I/S function has been re-visualized as centering on three key processes: client management, solution delivery, and business support. This represents a significant change from a traditional I/S shop that focuses on building applications and infrastructure. While there is broad support for the changes in principle, actually getting the new processes fully articulated and implemented presents a significant challenge.

In discussing the various issues that arise when an organization must change the structure of the I/S function to support a new (and, in this case, process-oriented) corporate structure, students will learn about different roles and structures for an I/S group in an organization and discuss and analyse different alternatives for implementing the new structure, and in particular consider the implications of revolutionary versus evolutionary change.

• Information Systems
• Business Process Re-Engineering
• Restructuring
• Management of Change