HIT Problem Analysis
Overview of the Case
The existence of information technology has brought transformation to the society specifically how business is done (Weill & Broadbent, 1999). The details of attaining business goals through increased effectiveness, efficiency and competitiveness integrated with information technology has sharpen the awareness of both IT and business individuals towards more strategically oriented strategies for planning and management.
With this, various organisations are able to develop an efficient information system which would enhance the competitiveness in the modern market. However, using or implementing information system requires a rigorous planning and implementation to avoid some problems. One of the companies which adhere to the use of information system is the Hong Kong International Terminal (HIT). However, it seems that the implementation of information system in the company has encountered problems and difficulties which affect the organisational performance of the company.
Primarily, the main goal of this paper is to analyse the existing problems with the Information technology implementation of HIT.
Problems of HIT with IT
As mentioned, implementing information system is a complex process since the company may face different problems. In HIT, the implementation of their information system has been challenged by different problems in terms of the IT system itself, cost, competitor, land and staffing (See Appendix 1).
One of the problems encountered by HIT upon their implementation of the IT system is with regards to competitors (See Figure 1).
Figure 1
Problems with Intense Competition
The stiff competition within the market in which HIT belongs has been considered to affect the performance of their IT system. HIT’s major competitors are Yantian. Shekou, and Chiwan. These China ports have considered having competitive advantage that HIT because of the attributed elements such as lower cost, cheap labours, and enough land to fulfill the demand. Such advantages of this port allow these industries to outgrow their competitor like HIT. In addition, another problem encountered by HIT is the aging of their infrastructure. Since competition in the market environment requires modern and state of the art infrastructure, HIT’s aging infrastructure are now facing major dilemma in terms of maintenance which affects its performance. It can be said that these problems should be given enough attention by the management to ensure that the company would sustain its position in the market and even outgrow their rivals.
Figure 2
Land Problems
Being an intensive industry, HIT needs more lands to cover their business operation needs (Krawjewski and Ritzman, 2002). However, because of the limited lands in Hong Kong, HIT could not be able to fulfill the demand of their target market. In addition, since HIT needs to have a container which is restricted, the safety requirement is being compromised. This problem can be considered as a major issue since the operations of the terminal is always restricted.
Figure 3
IT SYSTEM PROBLEMS
The operations of HIT solely depends on its IT system, hence having problems with its system may cause major problems in the entire industry. It can be said that the industry is now facing problems in line with its NGen and OMS. For instance, if the system failure or electric power has been cut, all the documents need manual handling and this may affects the efficiency of their operation and the paralysis of the entire operation of the industry.
Aside from these problems, issues also occur in cost. It an be said that the aging infrastructure of the company requires intensive financial resources to be maintained or the industry has an option of totally transform their infrastructure which is more technologically advanced. In this regard, the company faces major dilemma on how they would be able to have enough budget to maintain or change their infrastructure.
In addition, problems in HIT also occur in terms of their staffing. It can be said that the HIT is experiencing difficulties in recruiting new staff that would handle their 24 hour operation. The staffs needed will be working in shifting with a monotonous and hush job. In this regard, the company is also having problems in retaining their employees to junior level. This problem can be rooted to the inability of the management to motivate their employees.
Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on the analysis, it can be said that HIT should consider and change management approach. The problems that have been noted in this analysis should not be taken for granted because these problems are major problems which have a negative impact on the overall operation of the industry. Hence, in order for HIT to have competitive position in the terminal industry, they should always allow innovation and changes within the technical and technological aspects of the company.
Appendix
Appendix 1
Reference:
Weill, P. & Broadbent, M. (1999). Leveraging the new Infrastructure. Harvard Business School Press.
Krawjewski, L.J. & Ritzman, L.P. (2002). Operations management: strategy and analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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