Question

MIT Examination Case Study

Consider the following scenario. You were recently hired to manage the information technology resources of a fast growing organisation in your country. In one of the meetings, you were tasked to outline a strategy to address the company’s information technology problems. During the meeting you were informed that over the past few years, the company has experienced a gradual increase in costs related to

 Computer repairs

 Training of staff on the new IT system

 Theft of IT resources on the premises

Other problems cited include

 Reluctance of employees to use the new IT system

 A dispute with the consultant that was hired to train employees on the new IT system. The consultant only provided a basic training that was not relevant to the company’s needs. The consultant was paid but is now refusing to conduct another training.

Task

Prepare a report that outlines a strategy of dealing with the problems cited above. Your report could among other things provide strategies of

1. Reducing costs related to computer repairs [20 marks]

2. Reducing training expenses related to the new IT system [20 marks]

3. Minimize or prevent theft of IT resources on the premises [20 marks]

4. Ensure the widespread use of the new ICT system [20 marks]

5. Propose a method of resolving the dispute with the consultant [20 marks]

Answer 1

1. We can reduce the costing of computer repairs by using antiviruses. Viruses affect our computers in numerous ways which are very harmful and prove costly for the computer system. Using an anti-virus will reduce the attacks to a certain level and reduce costing. The employees should be advised not to install irrelevant softwares in the computer amd making system updates because sometimes these updates can break the computer Also, the computers should not be used more than 4-5 years as after these many years, the maintenance cost goes up and equal to buying a new computer.

2. Training a new staff is a hard job and it can be very costly but there are some ways to save money for fundings. By leveraging people from the company rather than hiring experts from the outside can save some money. Training them in online sessions and providing modules to go through is another way to keep up the high quality teaching and saving some money. We can also exhange our training resources with other companies to keep the cost low and increasing more content and introduction to new skills.

3. Theft of a companies IT resources and information is a grave threat. By keeping a close supervision on the employees,w e can minimize this threat upto a certain level. Having regular chats and gossips helps to understand the employees better and their motives a bit clear. The employees should be advised not to give access to the storage to unknown softwares as they might be the work of hackers who might steal your data. Also restrict access to computer terminals and records. Periodically changing entry codes and ensuring that the security is playing its role is another way to prevemt theft of IT resources. Recording the computer systems activities is a great method to deal with internal thefts.

4. Employees sometimes tend to stick to the same work and not seek diversity. Creating webinars to promote the new system and telling them its uses and merits compared to the previous one can be helpful in reducing employee reluctance. Telling the employees that the new system is more efficient and takes lesser time, which they can use however they want, can be a good way to ensure that the employees use the new systems.

5. To ensure that he keeps on training the new staff for the company, the consultant should be provided with an increment in his fees and also the company's needs should be made clear to the consultant so that another dispute never arises and also the staff should be ordered to behave properly if we want the same consultant to be training them.