1. What is the business value of these global system developments for the companies mentioned in the case? How did they achieve these benefits? What were the major obstacles they had to overcome?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a full blown versus a phased approach for system implementations in general and global ones in particular? How do you make the decision on which road to take?
3. How important is it that all units in global organization speak the same business language, and use the same functions and business processes? How do you balance the competing needs for flexibility and consistency across operations?

The reinsurance industry isn’t for the faint of heart. The business processes that enable reinsurance firms to form agreements with other insurance companies to accept all or part of their risk can get mighty complex, mighty quickly.
Now imagine developing a single system that manages reinsurance business processes for numerous offices around the world—offices whose staffs speak different languages, are in different time zones, and just might be stuck in their ways as to how they manage their business. It’s a challenge that could overwhelm you if you tried to tackle it all at once instead of breaking it into small pieces.