Section Twoby employees called front-end technicians who also now
operate testing and switching equipment relocated from repair
personnel. As a result, the front-end technicians solve 30
percent of all service calls, and a smaller percentage of calls
must be passed on to other repair personnel.^77 Another
example involves a bank. In order to reduce its operating costs
the Banca di America e di Italia (BAI) reengineered its retail
banking operations with the goal of becoming a paperless bank.
After reengineering activities involved in depositing checks, the
number declined from 64 to 25. As a result of these and other
changes, employees in each branch declined from seven to
nine prior to reengineering to three to four afterwards. With
these labor savings, the bank was able to open 50 new
branches with its existing workforce.^78
Often, reengineering requires cross-functional
coordination and the crossing of organizational boundaries.
Because it may disrupt existing power relationships and
eliminate organizational jobs, it has high potential for conflict.
Because the process often fails to obtain desired improvements
and it has high potential for destructive consequences,
organizations should not engage in reengineering unless they
perceive a serious need. Furthermore, reengineering typically
does not achieve the level of improvement desired. The
conventional wisdom is that the organization’s strategy should
provide direction to the process by indicating the major