Environmental factors include technology, government, the economy and societal values and behavior. The WritePass Journal

Environmental factors include technology, government, the economy and societal values and behavior. INTRODUCTION Environmental factors include technology, government, the economy and societal values and behavior. INTRODUCTIONCOMPANY OVERVIEWPRE -CHANGE CONDITIONSAREAS TO BE CHANGEDIMPORTANCE OF CHANGEFORCES FOR CHANGE  CHALLENGES MAJOR CHANGES IN SYSTEMRESULTS EXPECTED FROM CHANGEIMPACT OF CHANGERECOMMENDATIONSCONCLUSION  Related INTRODUCTION According to Daft (1994), managers sense a need for change when they perceive a performance gap, that is, a disparity between existing and desired levels of performance. It seems a somewhat narrow definition in that it implies that all change is planned and positive and seems to ignore the possibility of unplanned and potentially negative change for example, unexpected budget cuts. This said, most change is planned, is intended to be positive and arises from the need to respond to new challenges and opportunities (Mullins, 1996). Organizational change may be incremental (linear) or radical (discontinuous). It may be a reactive response to external, environmental factors or generated proactively in anticipation of future trends (Hamel, 1998). Both, however, are a response to how an organization perceives its current or future environment. Indeed, one can detect a Darwinian adapt or die thread running though many authors interpretations (Goble, 1997; Hamel, 1998; St Clair, 1996), a concept summed up pithily by Handy (1993, p.291) with change is a necessary condition of survival. Environmental factors include technology, government, the economy and societal values and behavior. For instance, in recent years, LIS have had to adapt to the rapid development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Labor governments plans for national computer networks in public libraries and schools. As Goble (1997) notes, they also face competition from external providers in an increasingly commercialized information services market where there is rapid price inflation for both printed and electronic sources, adding pressure to already tight budgets. Further, in a service economy, consumers have become more demanding and, lastly, the composition of the workforce is changing, with an ageing population, more women, plus more part-timers and job sharing (Mullins, 1996). In response to, or in anticipation of such factors, organizations may initiate change. This can incorporate both structure (hierarchy and division of work) and culture (how things are done values and norms), and such change may involve, amongst other things, costs, job design, staff development and training, working conditions and new services or products (Cornell, 1996). Implementing such changes is not easy. Likert, in Cornell, (1996) identifies three styles of managing change: authoritative (imposed by management); consultative (discussed with staff but still decided by management) and participative (involving staff in decision- making). Further, Lewins widely cited model breaks the management of change into three phases. First, unfreezing – diagnosing problems and an awareness of the need to change. Second, changing – the breaking of old habits and adoption of new skills and behaviour and third, refreezing evaluating and consolidating the changes (Daft, 1994; Cava, 1990; Cornell, 1996; Mullins, 1996).    COMPANY OVERVIEW NetSol Technologies Inc. is the one of the leading corporations which offers business services and enterprise application solutions in the field of IT all over the world. It provides solutions to the customers according to their specifications. NetSol started its operation in 1995 and used BestShoringâ„ ¢ method to analyze the situation, develop high quality plan and implement the plan in a very cost effective manner. NetSol offers products, services, credit and finance portfolio systems, SAP consultancy, health care programs, integration of networks and global financial service at a minimum possible cost all over the world. As NetSol was granted certificate of ISO 9001, its commitment of the quality has been improved. It possesses such unique assets and capabilities which only very few companies possess in the world. Fortune 500, financial sectors, technology providers, automakers, public institutes and governments are included in NetSol customer base. It provides services with highest ethical values and uses its top down approach to impart this facility at the door step of the customer. It is known as expert in the field of IT all over the world with a good record it produces a cost effective solutions for the customers. It delivers services beyond expectations. It became first U.S Company which was dual listed by Nasdaq and Dubai International Financial in June 2008.Recelnty it provides consultancy to operate SAP soft- ware and other additional software to assist customers. All services include follow up training and consultancy to the customers.   It is the belief of NetSol to provide excellent solutions not only at present but also in future. It expects growth in the present as well as future and provides state of the art training today to develop leaders of tomorrow. PRE -CHANGE CONDITIONS NetSol was an organization with good reputation in the market and it acquired certificate on the CMML level 3 which was a big achievement for this organization. It had a very strong system and a good control over it but the control level improved. Every activity of the organization before and after the change was recoded and analyzed in proper way. Awareness regarding confidentiality of data has risen in this era. The current trend of change within the organizational culture is getting importance and it is vital for organizations to make changes accordingly. It is very difficult to persuade employees to bring changes because they always resist changes. In changes organization introduce some changes that directly affect on these people. It is the very complex task for the organizations to persuade their employees to accept the change and most of the time organizations receive positive response from them because employees realize the importance of change. NetSol had autocratic culture, tasks were assigned by top level management and bottom level had to follow these tasks according to requirement of the organization and with in the time frame declared by top management. When ISMS system took place it got easier for the employees had to work according to given procedures which were easy so employees got used to the procedures. AREAS TO BE CHANGED As information security management system (ISMS) at NetSol was not strong, it was difficult for NetSol to attract and retain customers. NetSol process that was used previously could not provide the better results that customers expected from the service. Especially its security standards were not up to need of foreign and domestic customers. Foreign customers demanded that NetSol should provide service that guarantees security which meant privacy of information must be protected for corporate customer. NetSol has larger customer base and financial sector accounts for majority of the customers. Therefore, there was extreme need that the financial transactions carried by customers in financial are completely secure. As the world of internet has expanded rapidly and crimes like cyber crime rose to international market so people were very conscious that their data must be protected. NetSol had to embark on providing secure service otherwise, its business would have seen huge decline in customers and eventually revenues. Financial services compete and survive on the promise of their security and reliability, so Net Sol had to take action to be in business and remain competitive. IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE Technological corporations such as NetSol dealing in finance services and information must have strong information security management system (ISMS).Otherwise, it will not be possible for them to attract and develop good customer base. In order to market its products and services it is essential for the NetSol to control the issue of information security because this issue of security in these companies can be matter of survival. ISO 27001:2005 also requires that security of customer information must be given utmost consideration and priority. There is clear procedures for employees how to work in information security management system (ISMS) and clear and straight forward methods useful not only for employees currently employed and working with system but also beneficial for future employees which also reduces the training needs of employee FORCES FOR CHANGE A few of the Factors that compelled NetSol to introduce and implement change are as follows: Fast pace growth in the technology of IT Tough competition observed in this industry Raising the productivity level of corporation because of the increasing demand and integration of information in the system required in this industry, Era of customization, customers are requiring products according to their specification Essential for the NeSol to capture maximum share of the market Assurance of customers’ information security   CHALLENGES Data secrecy, ensuring privacy of client, fool proof security at work place and adjusting new employees in company’s working environment were major challenges to the company. Company’s processes previously were not in way to ensure the security of the information. Due to lack of defined processes employees were not trained to meet security standards described by ISO 27001. MAJOR CHANGES IN SYSTEM Initially the company took steps to make changes in its each BPO division. NetSol launched a system known as Information Security Management System (ISMS). It was very reliable system meeting the needs of customer and requirement of rapid change in technology occurring with the passage of time. The initiative to introduce the system was taken in 2007 and approved   by all top manage   including the Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and directors. The Information Security Management System (ISMS) contains many features such as it is set of policies (how this works and how it manages data, what are the techniques through which you can get better results), procedure (what way you can use it, how efficiently you can handle the data, in what way you can manage the data, how data can easily be accessed and how it can be stored), practices (what are the practical implication of this system, for what type of infrastructure this system has been developed, what is hard ware requirement of the system, what is the software specification of for the system, what type of environment is required to run this type of system, what type of training is required to operate this system), roles (how this system will assist in the organization, how it will add value in the organization), responsibilities (what tasks can be performed with the help of this system, how efficiently they can be performed, how it will facilitate to the employees of the organization), resources (things that are required to run this system, infra structure that is mandatory to run this system smoothly, ways through which this system can give desired results to the organization) and structures (how information flow from one system to other, how securely it flows from one personal computer to other personal computer). These all things are included in the information Security Management System (ISMS) to ameliorate its performance and to protect data of clients. In this system all those functions are included that are required by the customer as well as it is recommended by the International Standard Organization. According to ISO it contains all those functions that mitigate or eliminate the risks related to controlling and using particular information (ISO 27001:2005). This system has been developed according to specification provided by ISO and requirement of current market needs as it is made in accordance with ISO 27001 and fulfills all the required things and applicable in following four parts: Security that is directly related with the hard ware component of computer, security of the person using it even organizations that purchase this system and use it in operating their businesses. Information flowing from one computer to other is protected as well. As control of access to limited people to access it easily there must be a password that allows them to log in this system. RESULTS EXPECTED FROM CHANGE The ultimate purpose of change introduced by NetSol was providing customer better services and timely delivery and by introducing software which was need of the day to provide ultimate security and efficiency. NetSol is committed to designing such software that is useful to increase their productivity and efficiency which would increase profits of the company. Original target of NetSol is to fully implement the International Standard Organization requirements mentioned in ISO27001 so it was their target to achieve as it can get certification from ISO regarding this implementation. This is a very dynamic and rapidly changing industry, so it has to focus on business requirement, what actually its customers wants and how to improve quality of their system as it can give maximum satisfaction to the customer, so   all these   areas were targeted to change. The basic target is to achieve those goals in specified and limited time period and also these measure can be taken to evaluate whether company is attaining its target or not. It was their actual target to protect their system from versus and make a fool proof system that is essential to give a best solution to its customer. In order to ensure this facility they must keep employees up to date they can be aware of the security system and can keep an eye on these measures though this system is capable enough to keep data secure. IMPACT OF CHANGE NetSol Technologies introduced Total Quality Management (TQM0 system to deliver the desired results. It implemented pre defined and well defined procedure which the organization has to follow and move towards continuous improvement. It focuses on both professional developments of employees as well as improvement of work environment. Therefore, it has been successful to retain competent professionals in the company and has created such an environment that boosts innovation in products and services. The vision of NetSol Technologies is to be number one IT Solution Company in the mind of customers, employees, stakeholders, partners and competitors. The main focus of the company is to give customers data security assurance which is the first choice of the customers. RECOMMENDATIONS NetSol Technologies must continue the change process in their organization because it provides IT solutions to organizations which have automated information systems and their systems are heavily dependent on technology, so NetSol has to provide them with reliable and secure and sophisticated .NetSol faced difficulty because initially the system the provided and used could not perform according to expectations of customers. The main flaw was observed of that system, it could not provide data secrecy which was a big challenge for NetSol. At last it brought change and terraced out its fault, it brought changes in order to keep system secure and reliable. The main problem of IT technology is that it is volatile, its technology changes rapidly. On every day new and advanced systems and softwares are introduced in the market. It is very hard for the organization to maintain their business in this rapidly changing environment. It changes in both ways not only in hard ware but also in software. New and updated systems have to be introduced to remain competitive and offer customers up-to-date technology for their businesses. On the other hand it is facing some problems regarding the continuous development of new viruses threatening the security of the system. It creates problem for systems and it becomes very difficult to manage system. Though it has terraced out the solution, now its system is providing better results and NetSol capturing its customers but again there is a problem that it can not be the permanent solution because as it is discussed earlier it is rapidly changing industry so NetSol has to be conscious to respond to these i ssues rapidly and effectively to gain customer confidence and has to respond to other market changes accordingly. As NetSol is struggling in this industry so are its competitors due to the volatile nature of this industry. It is vital that NetSol Technologies keep an eye on the rapidly changing environment and design and offer products and service based on requirement of the technology market.    CONCLUSION   NetSol   improved   the quality   of its services, data security, so its management   can   now better plan the business continuity, incidents are well managed, all kinds of risk and threats are well assessed and managed, and lots of other benefits which are worthy to consider. The change has an impact on the whole services quality. Changed process has helped management better monitor whether services are smooth and secure enough to make customers satisfy customer demand. Now that the quality of services has improved, the fault rate has dramatically reduced and customer satisfaction has risen, customer loyalty has also risen and service quality has improved whilst cost has greatly reduced and return on investment has risen by 30%. Management and organizational change is effective only when the planned change has potential to improve companies’ competitiveness in the market and bring more success to the organization and help tackle challenges that organization is faced with. The organization should keep monitoring current situations and make changes only if it is felt necessary, as change in organization is a complex decision and has direct impact on the image of the organization. NetSol survived the toughest competition and challenges because change was properly planned and managed.