Foremostco Inc., a family-run business of 60 employees, experienced rapid growth in the 90s, becoming the largest importer of starter plant material in North America. In the year 2000, they upgraded their IT system, replacing their legacy system. However, this change resulted in computer system breakdowns, leading to significant issues for the company.
- Why did this project get into such trouble?
- What should be done to recover from the crisis described in the case?
Solution: Foremostco faced a computer system failure, causing panic.
Some possible causes of this crisis are:
- Not allocating sufficient time and cost to the application testing
- Lack of step by step activation of a new IT system
- No business continuity and disaster recovery plan
The previous paragraph discusses the failure to properly test the application during the migration to a new system. Due to the time constraints, the testing process was not given sufficient attention. Consequently, it is emphasized that organizations should adopt a gradual approach when implementing new systems. In this approach, the new system is activated while still maintaining the functionality of the old system.
Foremostco is advised to deactivate the old system after monitoring its performance for a few days, but it is worrisome that they lack a disaster recovery or business continuity plan to handle disasters. As a result, when their computer system malfunctioned, Foremostco was unable to track their product and customer data. To address this issue, it is recommended that they promptly reactivate the old system and resume its usage while engineers investigate the problems with the new system to ensure its functionality. By doing so, Foremostco can continue their business operations and should also assess if any data has been lost in order to make efforts to recover it.
Foremost needs to prioritize the establishment of both a disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan in order to prepare for the future. Additionally, Foremostco made an attempt to implement the system by combining their own application with packaged software. When integrating two software solutions, it is important for companies to exercise caution and conduct thorough integration testing. However, it is unknown whether Formostco performed this testing. To regain customer confidence and trust, it is essential for the company to communicate with its clients and provide assurance regarding future performance.
