BUS 639 Ashford University Management Essay
Description
As CFO of Dargeangrix, I want to address the impact outsourcing our video services to SeausNow Video Conferencing, Ltd. will likely have on our organization. Successful and modern CFOs find ways to combine their traditional financial safeguarding and budget management roles with visionary, strategic, and innovative operational leadership roles (Haley, 2015). SeausNow will be fully responsible for all customer-facing video services, video conferencing accounts and offer technical support for the new video equipment they will install on-site at all DargeanGrix locations in the coming months. This change will address our company’s problems with our current, outdated equipment and will eliminate any face-to-face meetings with clients. While many stakeholders are aware there is a problem that needs a viable solution, I expect this significant change to be challenging for most of our employees and clients. As the popular saying goes, The only constant in life is change. Change ultimately drives growth in the business world. However, it will be challenging to deal with the frustrations and uncertainty of change. Therefore, the best plan of attack is to be prepared for multiple outcomes, help manage the inherent fear that comes with change, and expect the roll-out to be imperfect (Alton, 2017).
As CFO, I will offer a detailed analysis of the tangible costs associated with the change, including our video conferencing costs prior and post, and extrapolate possible intangible costs. I will also share this information in a top-line format with our organization to offer the “why” behind the change in dollar figures, which will help our employees understand and prepare for this impending change. It’s important to explain where we are now and what the change is likely to lead to in the future (Lindenberger Group, 2018). I will deliver this information one month before the go-live installation time and field questions and concerns. I will also prepare financial updates at regular intervals after the change to inform our organization about the new system’s success. I would expect to report one month, three months, six months, and twelve months after installation to capture the financial impact this has had on our organization.
Benefits
Benefits will include cost-savings and time savings (exact dollar amount to be determined) as we cut ties with our various vendors and eliminate the need for repairing antiquated hardware and software. We will save tangible costs on travel, including unproductive time spent traveling. We will reap intangible benefits, including improving our brand, delivering more effective video conferences to our clients, increasing productivity, reducing employee frustration, and ultimately increasing engagement of both clients and employees.
Challenges
Our company will need to build in down-time of approximately 24-48 hours per site. This will require our employees to eliminate or reschedule some existing conferences. It will also require more than a typical number of meetings to be held the day preceding and after installation. The cost is difficult to predict because it will largely be intangible costs that affect employees’ stress levels, the need for salaried workers to work longer hours surrounding the downtime, and the possible disruption to clients for rescheduling. My plan to address the downtime is to give our employees and clients ample warning, explanation, and explain the why behind the change to help manage the stress level.
Some clients who have been receiving live, face-to-face engagement will perceive this change as a down-graded service. We will need to proactively address the reason for the change and ensure our clients are as comfortable as possible with this change. My suggestion to address this customer-perception problem is to task our marketing team with creating tight messaging for our clients about our change and ensure our customer-facing employees are delivering personal messages to their accounts about the impending change.
References
Alton, L. (2017, July 26). 5 powerful ways to confront change in the workplace. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryalton/2017/07/26/5-powerful-ways-to-confront-change-in-the-workplace/#58cf2b3c290d
Haley, P. (2015, September 21). How to be an innovative CFO: Transforming your role for organizational. BCS ProSoft. https://www.bcsprosoft.com/innovative-cfo
Lindenberger Group. (2018, January 17). 8 ways to manage change in the workplace effectively https://www.lindenbergergroup.com/8-ways-manage-change-workplace-effectively/
Unformatted Attachment Preview
This is an example of possible tangible and intangible benefits that can be identified from
implementing technology.
If a mortgage company implemented a digital document imaging system and scanned in all the loan
documents from each file into the system, they could get rid of the paper file.
No more paper files would:
o Reduce toner and paper supply costs (tangible)
o Reduce printer maintenance (tangible)
o Free up space in the office (tangible)
o Eliminate time to physically file paper documents (tangible)
Eliminating paper files and documents from the company’s process would:
o Eliminate the need for trips to the file room to check out files (intangible)
o Improve speed of customer service because reps could immediately access a borrower’s
digital file via their browser (intangible)
o Improve employee efficiency by reducing wasted time hunting down lost files or missing
documents (intangible)
o Reduce or eliminate delays in fulfilling document copy requests by customers
(intangible)
o Improve customer satisfaction by creating a self-serve portal for retrieving loan
documentation (intangible)
DARGEANGRIX BUSINESS SCENARIO
DargeanGrix, Inc. is a fictitious international venture capitalist (VC) organization in a niche product
development market. The organization is very successful and has reported annual revenue averages of $250M
over the past seven years. A key element to their success is the warm relationships they build with their clients
and prospects.
DargeanGrix relies heavily on video conferencing and telepresence equipment for conference calls with
potential entrepreneurial investment opportunities worldwide, and for managing their portfolio of current
entrepreneur client investments. The goals for using the technology are to create a close facsimile of face-toface interaction to facilitate open communication, enable relationship nurturing, and foster a sense of
camaraderie among the team members while reducing both the stress and the costs of domestic and
international travel.
Company Details
500 combined domestic and international employees.
10 offices in 10 states.
250 remote employees and 250 on-site employees.
Two overseas locations, each has 50 employees.
Current Issues
A mishmash of technology is used for videoconference tools in the current environment.
There is wasted meeting time when troubleshooting frequent issues with the disparate and often
quirky video technology.
The cost of maintenance for the aging video equipment is rising.
Video calls are often full of dropouts and delays and have poor audio quality.
Customer and employee satisfaction with video calls is low as the equipment is not reliable and the
video experience is poor.
Issues with equipment and call quality means time spent in video meetings is not productive, making
the experience stressful and frustrating for those attending the video calls.
Dissatisfaction with video calls has increased travel costs.
DargeanGrix’s Long Term Goals
Reduce maintenance costs.
Reduce travel time and associated costs.
Reduce client and employee call frustration.
Provide a great client experience on every call.
Increase call productivity and effectiveness.
Increase bottom line.
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