CASE STUDY CRITICAL THINKING - AVIVA Information Technology Strategy

Aviva is the fifth-largest insurance group worldwide. It provides savings, investments, and insurance, and has been operating since 1696. The companys 54,000 employees serve more than 50 million people in 28 countries. In order to integrate the organization at a global level, Aviva needed a platform to be able to communicate with all employees and to allow its employees to be able to share best practices. Aviva wanted to encourage its employees to be innovative and to allow them to communicate with each other in order to improve consistency and efficiency.

In the first quarter of 2008 Toby Redshaw was hired as the global Chief Information Officer 2008.The management felt the need for a global intranet that was easy to use and manage, and would help change the culture of the company. Secondly, they wanted a knowledge and collaboration environment to help people retain the institutional memory of the company, capture the knowledge that often leaves when people move on, and work in teams faster, better, and cheaper. The new intranet was required to have excellent search capabilities (Microsoft Services, 2008).

Another goal Redshaw had was to reduce the delivery cycle time from concept to solution. He felt the need for a system that gave the management the ability to reach everyone in the organization quickly and easily. The new system was also needed to be locally independent while utilizing the same technology globally.

Global IT Services Director at Aviva, Matt Fahy was asked by Redshaw to lead the project and deliver it in a quick timeframe and to do it in an innovative way. The solution chosen was a Microsoft Office SharePoint Online based system and it provided an enterprise content management system including document management, web records and a powerful search capability. It is also secure due its rights management capability that allows restricted access to resources. SharePoint Online also allows users to create blogs and wikis, and can help enhance business intelligence by sharing these sources of information among colleagues.

The Aviva world project in the case study is concerned with Information governance and information security, Knowledge Management and IT Service Management sub domains of IT Governance. Redshaw says: The solution brought Aviva a communications portal, a modern collaboration environment, a knowledge platform using new tools, and a foundation for us to use as a launch pad for further applications. (Microsoft Services, 2008)

The Aviva world project uses a hybrid governance model i.e. the enterprise wide system is controlled centrally, but the local IT management is responsible for managing some parts of the system. The system has a Service Oriented Architecture that allows access applications and information globally and hence reduces duplication and reworking of similar issues. It also allows iterative development. Different users can have different roles and responsibilities based on the application. This gives the system great flexibility.

An example of the governance structure can be seen in the following image: The Global intranet has had a dramatic impact on the way the employees use IT to improve productivity and efficiency. It has become a communication channel and has changed the organizational culture. These statements given by high level executives at Aviva give the true picture:

Since June 2009, Avivas intranet has continued to become an important communications channel for the global corporation. For people at group level work exclusively on the intranet overseeing management of forums, editorial, group news and co-ordination of content flow which is managed regionally. The introduction of employee forums has helped to create an open culture while building communities. Colleagues are given the freedom to write posts on anything they like. This popular area of the intranet is viewed by over 60% of users, partly helped by the fact that articles contain questions or threads, automatically created for employees to comment on.

The forums are also saving time when it comes to answering customer questions colleagues are able to conduct a simple forum search to get people the answers they need quickly. Lynne Gray, Internal Communications Director at Aviva (Penton, 2010). Recently, Aviva held a 24-hour online session-using the Aviva World intranet-with all its businesses across the world. The event marked a milestone in our move to a global brand, and we wanted to celebrate the future of the organization. This type of global event would never have been possible without Microsoft portal technology. A year ago, we couldnt imagine hosting a 24-hour global event. Matt Fahy, Global IT Services Director at Aviva (Microsoft Services, 2008)

The Aviva world project has fundamentally changed the way in which the entire organization uses IT in its day to day operations. The intranet is by default set as the homepage of every browser. An image of the homepage is sown below: As can be seen in the image, the home page contains an update feed that keeps users informed about important news. The page also has easy access to the most talked about topics in the forums. Aviva has created a social network to engage its employees to use the system (Penton, 2010). This is in line with strategy to foster an environment of innovation and sharing. It must be noted that this approach is different from what most organizations use today. The management should be lauded for taking such a bold step. And it has generated business value for the organization. The forums are also saving time when it comes to answering customer questions colleagues are able to conduct a simple forum search to get people the answers they need quickly. (Penton, 2010) Clearly shows that. Its impact on encouraging innovation is debatable tough. While on one end if its employees are not busy solving problems that others have solved they will have more time to innovate, but it could also lead to a situation where its employees get used to searching solutions rather than innovating them. The impact of the intranet on this aspect can only be assessed in the long run. I would therefore say that the system is only a partial success in terms of encouraging knowledge sharing and encouraging innovation.

Answer the following questions, weight 25 points each

1. Explain VIVA IT governance framework?

2. The case study does say performance can be monitored using indicator dashboard, it does not mention anything about compliance with frameworks such as COBIT or ITIL. Why is it important to apply the standards of ITIL or COBIT in the IT governance framework?

3. What was the IT strategy of VIVA company, and what was VIVA vision for future development?

4. Discuss the smart outsourcing strategy of VIVA?