The Role of the Operating Manager in Information Systems

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Case Study 1 Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (A): The

Role of the Operating Manager in Information Systems

It was 7:30 P.M. on September 22, 2006, and Leon Lassiter, Vice President of Marketing

with the Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (MSCC), was still in his office, reflecting on the

day’s frustrations. Lassiter had met with four territory managers, his marketing support

supervisor, and a number of other members of his staff. All were upset about their lack of

access to the new computer system and the problems they were having using their old

systems. Lassiter had assured them that the problems were being addressed. He stressed

that patience was needed during the ongoing conversion to the new system.

Now, during his private moment, Lassiter was beginning to recognize the problems and

complexities he faced with the system conversion. The work of his marketing staff, who

were unable to access the new computer system to handle their accounts, had ground to a

halt. Even worse, something had happened to the data in most of the workstations, which

meant that conference registrations and other functions had to be done manually. These

inconveniences, however, were minor compared to Lassiter’s uneasy feeling that there

were problems with Midsouth’s whole approach to the management of information

technology. Lassiter knew that time was of the essence and that he might have to step in

and manage the conversion, even though he had no information technology background.

He wondered what he should do next.

Background of the MSCC

In the early 1900s, economic development in the Midsouth area was highly dependent on

transportation systems. As a result of legislative decisions, many communities in the

Midsouth area could not gain access to reasonable transportation services, thus retarding

business and economic development. With no one to represent their concerns to the state

government, a group of powerful businesspeople formed the MSCC to lobby the

legislature on the issue of transportation access.

The MSCC dealt with this single issue until the 1930s, when its charter was changed to

include a broader range of issues affecting the business community, including state

banking laws, transportation, industrial development, and business taxes. By the mid-

1990s, the MSCC, under the new leadership of President Jack Wallingford, became an

aggressive advocacy organization for the business community.

The broadening of MSCC’s role brought substantial change to the organization. In 1988

the MSCC had a staff of 14, a membership of 3,000 businesses and individuals, and an

annual budget of $1,720,000. Over the years, the MSCC had been able to develop a

reserve account of just over $1.5 million.

By 2000, the staff had grown to 24, the $1.5 million cash reserve had been drawn down

to $250,000, and membership had dropped to 2,300, largely because of the loss of some

major manufacturers in the region, the bursting of the Internet bubble, and the resulting

economic slowdown. The reserve reduction, supported by the Board of Directors, had

fueled considerable internal growth in terms of staff and capabilities. During this time,

the MSCC also moved into larger offices and upgraded their workstations.

In the early 2000s the MSCC was considered the most powerful business advocacy

organization in the Midsouth area and one of the most innovative chambers of commerce

in terms of its approaches and techniques in dealing with problems facing the business

community. The greatest problem facing the management of the MSCC at the time was

the growing concern that its aggressive growth might have to be curtailed because it

could no longer fund its annual operating budget.

Leon Lassiter

In mid-2000, Wallingford was faced with a serious dilemma. The MSCC was projecting

a $330,000 deficit for the 2001 fiscal year. Wallingford realized he was going to have to

reduce both the number of staff and the number of programs or find some way to grow

revenue more aggressively in the organization. Wallingford asked his Vice President of

Public Affairs and Operations, Ed Wilson, to find someone new to lead the sales and

marketing function.

Leon Lassiter came to the MSCC in December 2000 with 12 years of experience in sales

management and marketing with American Brands, where he had recently turned down a

promotion to regional sales manager. The MSCC, he reasoned, offered more of an

opportunity to have an impact than at American Brands. As Vice President of Marketing

and Membership, Lassiter reported directly to Wallingford. After settling in to the

organization, he initiated a thorough review of all programs, departments, and processes.

He found that the marketing support functions were better coordinated and managed than

the sales functions. Additionally, although the MSCC had purchased workstations for

sales and marketing and had installed some custom software, the information system was

quite limited in capability. Due to concerns over security, no staff member had access to

all the data necessary to operate the marketing and sales activities of the MSCC. Each

workstation was equipped to perform particular functions with the needed data resident

on the workstation. With his analysis completed, Lassiter began to develop an entirely

new sales and marketing process based on measurable goals, documented operating

procedures, and regular training programs. He knew that eventually a new information

system would have to be developed.

Information Technology Use at the MSCC

The Marketing and Sales Division

For a few years, Lassiter was able to operate his organization’s tasks with the existing

set of individual workstations, all of which were connected to a print server. The

marketing division’s primary information technology activities were to track the

activity occurring in membership. Primary uses included:

 

•  Developing the membership database
•  Developing the prospective member database
•  Making daily changes to both databases
•  Generating a series of letters for personalized mail contact
•  Generating prospect and member lists and labels by industry sector, firm size

 

(sales, employment), zip code, mailing designator, and other criteria

 

•  Processing call-record activity by the territory managers
•  Tracking member activities and concerns through a comment field
•  Creating audit trails for reviewing changes
•  General word processing

 

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