Assignment 1: Cirque De Soleil Anand Prasad (0038/49)

Question: What were CDs most important Business Processes? Which of these do you think IT can support?
Cirque De Soleils most Important Business Process: 1. Touring Show: This is one of the key business process for CD. As a circus, they had to move places and that too in a group of all team members taking all the resources with them. When they set up in any particular place, they needed electricity, phones, water, offices, internet all the amenities required for people living in a particular place. Everything was supposed to be precise and methodological. 2. Casting: Another key business process. Casting talent scouts will go from one place to another all across the world to search for good talents whom they can present on the show. It was a delicate and involved activity and was quite strenuous sometimes owing to poor infrastructure. I believe both the processes will need an IT overhaul. In first glance, it seems touring is not one which needs IT changes, but if we look closer, it depends on how difficult it is to deploy IT infrastructure when CD has to settle to a new place. It is mentioned in the case that each time there is a different setup which needs more manpower of technicians than necessary. This cost can be minimised via accurate planning of IT infrastructure. Casting, on the other hand, is a very data intensive process. It requires documentation in plenty. As it has been mentioned in the case, each part of every show was documented with 35 mm photos and forms listing the props used and the procedure to follow. Unfortunately, this was done physically with big binders which were heavy and there was a risk of them getting lost in transit. Furthermore, casting includes designing of the performers costume. The measurement needs to be precise to fit the clothes and hence, those data becomes important. Also, the data was in huge number since there were a huge number of artists and for each of them at least 50 measurements need to be taken. The current way of doing this was using MS Excel which was quite unconnected to other applications. Also, for creating the masks, plaster need to be made. Keeping track of the plaster heads and their models identity was also by and far challenging. Information about the artists and potential talents were kept in paper folders. They started piling up and became highly cumbersome to carry them across the globe. So, I believe, this process makes the perfect case for implementation of IT to improve the efficiency and ease of the whole process.

Question: What course of action do you recommend to Danielle? Why is her job particularly challenging?
Course of Action for Danielle: Infrastructure Standardization: The case suggests that most of the infrastructure is bought ad hoc and is far from standardised. Different types of servers, OS versions, applications etc. makes it difficult to understand the whole system for an individual. This also is a bottleneck to consolidate the whole IT structure if there is a need. There is a definite lack of planning. So, CD needs a standard infrastructure. This will help the company in multiple ways. CD will have a Standard Operating Procedure whenever it moves to a new place for a show. This reduces the time a technician spends in installing the infrastructure and thus brings down the cost. Application Standardization: Similar to infrastructure, application portfolio will also need a thorough consolidation. Currently CD has over 800 applications installed which do the same function. CD will need to minimise this number and have one application per task type across the system. This will reduce training times for staff and will minimise confusion. It will also foster easy sharing of data as same applications are more compatible with themselves. Enable Seamless Data Sharing: Next step will be to allow use the above two factors to allow data to be shared within the organizations. This data sharing will not only be among peers of the company but also with employees and top management. Developing a Professional IT group: A professional IT group will ensure the deliverables reach the required personnel effectively and in time. It will also be responsible for maintenance, upgradation, training, development etc. within the firm.

Challenges All of these pose good amount of challenge for Danielle. The chief reason will be the reluctance of the top management to accept these recommendations. Since IT is not the key Business Process for CD, there will be sceptical views on investing funds to overhauling the IT. Apart from that, people have been used to use custom applications for themselves. When standardisation occurs, they will have to undergo training and there might be resistance to learning. Also, people who are used to store data in binders and folders, will find it difficult to adjust during the first few shows. Vendor selection is also a major challenge now. Since all the infrastructure is going to be coming from one single vendor (due to standardization) it becomes important that the product is worthy in all aspects of the business. There will be a need of thorough vetting for each vendor before zeroing in one of them. Same goes for applications.