Question

Would you classify the CRM upgrade project at AT&T Wireless as an integration project? Why? Which layers of the organization were being integrated? Explain with examples.

Answer 1

AT&T wireless had installed Siebel’s CRM system in 2001 in the front end for its consumer service process however the back end process was a multifaceted mishmash of systems thus to work for AT&T wireless Siebel’s version 6 had to be extremely custom-made.

However the software contained assimilated equipments where consultants generally resorted to writing point-to-point scripts to fasten the systems together. AT&T wireless began functioning under Siebel version 6 to deal with number portability but still the system failed to grip all the information that consumer service representatives needed.

Siebel further developed a business specific software version 7 that contained additional features and was able to incarcerate more telco precise information and new web potentiality that indeed would had meant that AT&T wireless could probably lessen the number of consumer service screens by developing the web portal that in fact can put all the diverse systems and information sources together in one place.

Furthermore the upgrading assured increase in speed and easiness however getting there was neither quick nor simple. AT&T wireless IT employees had to slash apart previous links from the different inherited systems to the client or server based Siebel 6 system and rework them to work over the web.

However the back end systems integration work was indeed very multifaceted and composite where in fact a team of 20 individuals was entrusted with the task to write the connections for a single system. Furthermore the co-ordination between group members and lead integrator of the project Deloitte and Touche indeed rapidly got out of control.

Thus stuffs were indeed going very badly with the Siebel CRM upgrade that in fact there were discussion held on the project to try move back to the old Siebel 6 system before the porting date but project administrators hadn’t preserved enough the old system to make it practicable and reasonable and furthermore there was no plan B. Project associates predicted that the team indeed required three more months for bug fixing and test the system to ensure the reliability of its successful functioning.

Furthermore AT&T wireless number porting needed new systems which indeed was required to be integrated with different carriers’ of CRM systems. However in June 2002 AT&T wireless decided to partner with its longtime software and administration supplier Neu Star and this eventually construed severe interoperability tribulations for AT&T wireless.