RESEARCH PROPOSAL

NAME

INSTITUTION

Executive summary

Advancement in technology has continuously impacted on how businesses operate in an

expanding and ever increasing business environment. Technology continuously dictate that

business should grow, shift and adapt in order for them to retain a competitive edge in a rapidly

business environment. Technology influences how employees are valued by organization, and

how the organization conducts its business on a regular basis. Therefore, evolvement of

technology demands that business should evolve as well in order for it to remain competitive in

the market place. An example of such technological innovation include cloud computing.

Various financial products and business process have been developed. Markets for financial

institution and retail clients have been increased as a result of innovation. This has been

explained in detail below with bias on streamlining ERP and CRM with the existing process of

conducting business to achieve greater efficiency.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a multinational bank in Australia operating in USA,

New Zealand, Asia, UK and Fiji. It offers a variety of financial services such as institutional and

business banking, retail banking, broking and investment services, superannuation and funds

management. Its services are being offered to a wide range of clients across the globe bearing in

mind that it’s the largest bank in southern hemisphere. It’s headquartered in Sydney, Sussex

Street. Commonwealth Bank is considering cutting IT investment costs through adoption of the
cloud computing technology. Business process involving marketing and market solutions incur

operation costs and time, which is expected to be cut when the new technology is adopted. The

ERP solutions used in the present moment is costly and outdated thus requiring outsourced

support and maintenance. Implementation of the cloud computing services by an outsourced

vendor have been hindered by the outdated and immobile CRM system used by the company.

Develop a future state of the organization

The existing ERP system solution is costly and constantly demands external support and

maintenance. The productivity and efficiency of commonwealth bank is expected to improve

through integrating customer relationship management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning

(ERP) that will go a long way in streamlining the operations of the business. By adoption of

cloud computing technology, Commonwealth bank will be in position to report and monitor

clients’ savings, investment patterns and trading. The information collected shall be used on real-

time basis to update CRM systems. The traditional marketing strategy and customer acquisition

technique shall be replaced with the new cloud computing technology. With respect to customer

acquisition and marketing, this conventional technique has proven to be ineffective and costly,

thus demanding adoption of the new technology. Overall, the operating costs of the company

will be reduced by adopting the cloud computing technique.

Articulate and identify the way to move from the current state to the future state

Major factors in strategic planning process involved in implementation and adoption of

the cloud computing services should be highlighted. The cloud computing services should be

adopted as a strategic plan in reducing IT investment and operational costs of the company. The
extra costs and time saved shall be channeled to conduct marketing activities and acquire extra

resources.

For the case of financial innovation in a dynamic environment, the ERP system shall use

real time information in prediction. The company shall use real time stock and financial market

data to implement on profitable trades in certain financial systems such as High frequency

trading (HFT). This will change the means used by the financial institution to create value for

investors and generating profits. Consequently, artificial intelligence will be of great importance

during the decision making process fo the firm.

Alignment with the organization existing business strategies

The CRM offers a platform through which information on customer are updated

instantly. For example, the employees’ efficiency can be increased while using CRM and ERP.

The CRM and ERP will provide an instant access to quality data on real time basis. For the

company to create value and make extra profits for investors, real time information will be

demanded by the ERM system. Growth rate on customer base increasing, improved interactions

with customer and improved performance of the company will be realized.

Alignment with the organizations existing business processes

Customers of the company will have their data being viewed by employees by means of

both ERP and CRM. Such details pertaining to the customers include sales, prospects, finance

and accounting and support that are integrated and combined to produce a complete view into the

history order of the customer, needs of the customer, and habits of buying, preferences and

account standings. The company will have adequate information that will ensure a lasting

relationship have been created with the customers, better insight into the customer base which
will influence future growth prospect of the customer and the company. One is able to determine

in advance the customer needs before the customer does. Therefore, for Commonwealth Bank to

remain relevant and gain a competitive edge in the industry, they will have to adopt cloud

computing technology. The internet of Things concept will remain irrelevant as far as value of

company’s products and services offered to the customers are concerned.

Strategic plan, business case and conceptual design

A strategic plan to be adopted by Commonwealth Bank of Australia as it plans to

integrate CRM and ERP into its business and financial process, should accommodate the stated

needs of the company and allow streamlining of the business process into the cloud computing

environment. Important factors should be put into consideration in making cloud computing

effective such as company’s profits, customer base, customer satisfaction and costs and

performance of the company. From the conceptual design point of view, the company should

consider the expected benefits accrued from integrating cloud computing on short term and long

term basis in relation to its old state shall be compared. ERP implementation is mandated to

allow employees gain familiarity with the technology terms and systems that will allow smooth

transition.

Risk management

Implementation of ERP management system will be exposed to risk. During the process

of decision making, the team should be involved fully. While introducing extra products and

services, such as report generation and data warehousing, extra vigilance should paid. The

vendor offering the software should be concerned of particular security concerns. Daily or

weekly back up of data should be done to achieve maximum protection. Segregation of duties
and ERP based system access should be well defined and observed. Key responsibilities and

business process should be observed and analyzed on a regular basis.

Adoption and change management

Change in a company is influenced by various factors such as organizational culture,

external change drivers, leadership in the organization and global scale adoption rate of

technology. The usage and adoption of cloud computing technology will be determined by

organizational leadership and culture. Efficiency of the cloud computing technology will be

determined by willingness of staff to adopt the new technology to be used inside the firm.

Management of stakeholders

Approval from stakeholders especially the customers should be mandatory to ensure long

term value with customer satisfaction being its main objective. Other stakeholders include

suppliers, employees and shareholders. Management of stakeholders comprise four major step

such as acknowledge, recognize and identify major stakeholders, assess their interest and

influence, establish management communication plan, engaging and influencing stakeholder.

Budgeting and Cost Management

The financial challenges of developing a cloud computing software can be managed

through aligning the mission of the institution and taking into consideration the risk that might

arise. The financial institution should funding and costing considerations into its overall cloud

strategies. Cost relating to student systems and administration should be considered as well. The

Costs of software of ERP has been growing by 5% per year which may interfere with budget

lines leading to greater financial needs.

 Identification of critical success factors (CSF)

The financial products and services have been sold in an innovative way. This is a clear

sign that the company has succeeded in integrating the new technological innovation into the

system. The quality of investment will be used as a parameter to judge the achievement of the

company. For example, automatic purchase of undervalued shares, investment banking and

automatic selling of shares using the ERP system. Another main success metric in adoption of

cloud computing technology is the customer base growth. This is influenced by the frequency of

interaction with the customers in CRM. Customer satisfaction will be attained through real time

prospecting into customer needs through directly marketing using CRM leads.

Relevance and quality of conclusions and recommendations.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is considering gaining a competitive edge by having a

large customer base. The adoption of cloud computing-based technology that will encompass

ERP and CRM systems will improve efficiency of operation and hence lower the company’s

operating costs. New products and services will be created to clients leading to value addition.

This will improve customer loyalty and retention.

Reference