KL WORLDWIDE ENTERPRISES, INC.: PUTTING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO WORK Professor Richard M. Kesner prepared this case KL WORLDWIDE ENTERPRISES, INC.: A BUSINESS OVERVIEW AND HISTORY KL Worldwide Enterprises
Case Study Questions
Question 1. What are KL Enterprise's core business processes and to what extent do KL's information management (IM) practices and information technology (IT) platform investments align with and support these core business processes?
Core Business Process:e.g. product design
Enabling Information Resource Management Practices/Platforms:e-mails, Microsoft SharePoint; data extracted from Oracle, SAP, and India and U.S. legacy systems.
Question 2. What are the current strengths in the organization's IM/IT investments? e.g. executive team commitment to the uses of IM and cost-effective IT in running the business.
Question 3. What are the current weaknesses in the organization's IM/IT investments? e.g. slowness of the platform moves across the firm towards a SAP standard.
Question 4. What role does IM/IT enablement play in the following areas of KL Enterprise corporate activities? By that I mean, how does IM/IT help KL carry out day-to-day operations and transacting, how does it aid management processes, and does it enable KL product and service innovation?
Operations: e.g. manufacturing and distribution operations enabled through SAP.
Control/Management: e.g. day-to-day and near-term management of manufacturing and distribution enabled through both the Oracle and SAP/legacy system platforms; integration of data still a challenge.
Innovation : e.g. product innovation and design efforts poorly integrated and poorly informated from an IRM/IT point of view.
Question 5. If you were a member of the KL Management Team, what would be your top five IT investments? In preparing your response, recognize that time and resources are limited and therefore that you need to choose those investments that will have the greatest impact in the near term.