Modernization of Ntuc Income Case Study

NAME OF COURSE: UGBS 609; MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS NAME OF STUDENT: DAVID ADEABAH STUDENT ID: 10551139

CASE STUDY MODERNIZATION OF NTUC INCOME Question 1 What were the problems faced by Income in this case? How were the problems resolved by the new digital system? Answer The problems faced by NTUC Income included the following: -

Prolonged set up time in business process. Transaction processing of policy underwriting

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had to be batched processed. The processes were very cumbersome and paper based. Frequent break down of the COBOL program and the HP 3000 mainframe. Difficulty in developong new product in COBOL and launch them. Cost involved in backing up data was very high and the process was tedious resulting in

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risk if loosing important data. The imcompatibility of the HP 3000 mainframe and employees notebooks.

The problem was resolved by using migrating to a fully digital systems called eBao lifesystem from eBao technology. NTUC Income replaced its entire IT infrastructure. Question 2

What types of information systems and business processes were used by Income before migrating to the fully digital system? Answer Before migrating to the fully digital system, the information systems used included: -

HP 3000 mainframe which hosted the core insuracne application accouting and

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management information systems. COBOL program which was used to develop new products.

For the business processes, Income was batch processing all policy underwriting transaction and using hand filled form.

Question 3 Describe the Information systems and IT infrastructure at Income after migrating to the fully digital system?

Answer After the migration, NTUC Income used Java based eBao lifesystem from eBao technology. The software encapsulates three subsystems – policy adminstration, sales management and supplementary resources. The application resided on two or more servers, connected by commuincation lines to ensure load balanced with a better customer oriented technology capabilities. NTUC Income IT infrastructure also included: -

scanners 20 inches monitors

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upgraded 128MB RAM size new hardware and software for application servers, database servers and web servers disk storage systems Faster Cables A fiber-optic backbone Wireless capability

Question 4 What benefits did Income reap from the new system? Answer The benefits Income reaped from the new system may include: -

staff and insurance advisors were able to access the system anytime, anywhere. Information sharing among staff members and advisors became faster, a summary of each customer over different products and business areas were also

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accessible. All documents were scanned and store in trusted storage devices secured. cross-selling became easier. customer service improved, ie online support of customers, agents and brokers. workflows were simplified, cutting policy processing time and cost by half. the time required to design and launch new products was greatly reduced from months to days.

Question 5

How well is Income prepared for the future? Are the problems described in the case likely to be repeated? Answer NTUC Income is prepared for the future as it switched to the Java based eBao lifesystem and replacing its entire IT infrastructure with a more robust, scalabel architecture. Income has also revamped its business continuity and disaster recovery plans. NTUC Income has also trained its

employees who had been accustomed to working with paper to use the new system and change the way they work. In my opinion, I do not think that problems would reoccur. With the new system, Income has embraced a new environment and culture in its business processes which would improve performance and create competitive advantage.