The following diagram is about the existing problems at the organization and there rela- tions. This is conducted in order to identify the main factors that are causing the conti- nuous upcoming problems and the consequences of the problems. The diagrams can be seen as step 4 from the SSM theory, which is about building conceptual models. At the same time the diagram is a part of the impact analysis step from the BCP which is ex- plained in the theoretical framework.
A main and abstract problem is always put at the top of the diagram while it is divided into a branch of problems relating to each other along the way down in the diagram. The results from the problems are presented in circles at the bottom of the diagram.
Explanation of the components from the diagrams:
Consequnce from problem(s)
Relational arrow
Diagram 5.3
Insufficient communication/partnership between local IT manager and vendors is one of the most critical problems. Many other problems occur, develop and result due to this circumstance.
Based on the lack of communication the organization is missing a standard way of re- porting problems. This means that the vendors do not get a standardized report about the problems because of hierarchy issues within the organization. This concludes in a con- flict between the Nordic IT department and the vendors. Furthermore, the vendor is
convinced that the organization should deal with the problems itself and therefore the vendors are missing to fix these problems in an adequate way. The issue with problem reporting occurs on different levels within the company. There are no standardized re- porting procedures from the agents towards the local IT manager and from the local IT manager towards the Nordic IT department as well. However, due to a lack of insight into the relationship between the Nordic IT department and the vendors the analysis of the cooperation is based on the perspective of the local IT manager.
Due to the reason that the department does not have a standard way of problem report- ing, many technical problems related to the contact management system still exist at the department. The technical errors are causing delays in work and frustration among the agents which in turn lead to a decrease level of service quality.
The major problem associated with the contact management system is the problem with overloaded servers when business activities start. The overload occurs due to log files which are too big and not getting deleted in time. While the servers are overloaded with log files the contact management cannot function properly. The consequence of this is that customers cannot reach the call center. Therefore there is a risk that the company loses their calling customers to its competitors. In this case a backup system is started automatically which tells the customer to send his/her request via email. However, the email functions are also down at that moment. Consequently, the emails can only be re- ceived again when the log files have been deleted and the system is running again. The backup system is also put in place when the system is down due to other issues.
Nevertheless there are also other technical problems at the department which are not on- ly related to the contact management system. One of these problems is related to the payment system. When a customer calls to order a product, sometimes the agent cannot create an invoice due to system errors. The consequence is that a purchase cannot be conducted and the business is losing its customers which in turn lead to possible profit losses.
Another problem for the local IT manager is to find the right consultation person at the Nordic IT department in order to get the right support. There is no clear knowledge of who to contact. Additionally there seems to be too little sufficient information about the products in order to support the work of the agents. The consequences of this and the previous problem mentioned lead to a delay of work which in turn leads to a decrease of service quality.
All IT responsibility at the department depends on one individual which is the local IT manager. This can as well be seen as a major problem with huge possible impacts on the organization. The department does not see the importance of documenting his valuable knowledge to keep it in-house. In this case, no one in the company can actually recapi- tulate or understand his work and might plan future improvements in the way of work- ing. If the local IT manager would leave the company a lot of valuable information can in turn get lost which could lead to a decrease of quality. Moreover, the new local IT manager would need to learn everything from scratch and it would require him to take a while in order to get an overview about everything. This would influence the perfor- mance of the company really bad.
Even though the local IT manager is just absent due to any reason, there will be no IT support available locally. This would result in the consequence that no one can handle or fix the occurring problem immediately which would decrease the service quality or make the department in a paralyzed state, in the worst case.
As the Nordic operating manager identified that the organization could need more in- house IT knowledge since all IT responsibility depends on the local IT manager. This also affects the training and preparedness of the agents. We experienced that the em- ployees are not really prepared and do not really know what to do when a problem oc- curs.
There are no assigned key roles at the department and no systematic ways of assigning necessary roles which can be of need when the local IT manager is absent or a problem occurs. This is tightly connected to the fact that there are no problem handling routines. All problems mentioned above could lead to decreased service quality which in turn can result in a loss of customers. When the organization loses customers the obvious conse- quence is that the organization loses profits.