Managing Information Technology

Case Study I-7 • Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle 179

former staff computer trainer for a locally-based insur-
ance broker, was hired to replace Kovecki. Gramen came
from a Hewlett-Packard (HP) computing environment
where he established and maintained a large HP server
and a local area network. Gramen, however, had no expe-
rience working with IBM servers. Additionally, Gramen
had no previous exposure to the UNITRAK software or
trade associations generally. Soon after he arrived,
Gramen realized that this new environment would be
very difficult to learn as he struggled with even the most
basic system management tasks. These struggles made
him wonder why the MSCC’s needs could not be satis-
fied on HP server hardware and a workstation network.
Determined to confirm his views, Gramen consulted
one of his college roommates, John Harter, about the
proper system for the MSCC to have in place. Harter was
now a consultant for the local HP value-added reseller
(VAR). Harter said,

Obviously, Dick, I’m going to tell you to buy the HP

system. HP makes the perfect system for your type

of organization, and I am sure UNITRAK will oper-

ate on it. And it should be simpler for you to main-

tain. I have to be honest with you, though. It’s going

to be a tough sell to your board. There are cheaper

systems out there that would also meet your needs. If

you do get the HP system, however, our company

could provide some support if you had difficulties.

Gramen was certain that with the help of Harter and
by avoiding the learning curve on the old hardware system,
he would be able to handle the maintenance and support
and succeed at the MSCC. Now, all he had to do was to
convince the MSCC’s managers to move to the HP system.
So, one month into his tenure, Gramen began telling
Lassiter, then the Vice President of Marketing,

The MSCC can no longer afford to stay with its current

computer hardware platform. The IBM machine just

cannot meet your needs today, let alone tomorrow. The

current online legislative information services system

is maxed out, and without new hardware I just can’t

support the emerging political action program. If we

don’t get this situation addressed soon...

Eventually, this combination of reasons led Lassiter
to support Gramen’s general hardware proposal. Lassiter
was very pleased that finally the IS person was taking
some initiative. He was convinced that MSCC’s informa-
tion systems were the key to maintaining Midsouth’s pre-
eminence among business trade associations and thus the
key to its financial success. Lassiter was also fearful that

the MSCC would not be able to be of real value to its mem-

bers in the legislative tracking arena without a change. As

a result, Lassiter told Gramen to quietly pursue acquisition

cost estimates.

Gramen realized, however, that if he were to be

successful in moving the MSCC to the new hardware, he

would have to have support from the President of the asso-

ciation, Jack Wallingford. When Gramen approached

Wallingford, however, he was not prepared for the

response:

Dick, I agree that we may need entirely new hard-

ware, but we cannot repeat the problems that

occurred with our previous information system

purchase. We made some pretty serious errors

when we purchased the UNITRAK system and

those simply cannot occur again. And we don’t

have anyone from on our Board of Directors who

can get us a good price from HP. Plus, I don’t see

how you can make this decision yet. You have not

had enough time to learn about our current hard-

ware (the IBM server), software (UNITRAK), our

data structure, or even what the MSCC is engaged

in and how the organization operates.

To alleviate some of Wallingford’s concerns, Gramen

agreed to arrange several meetings throughout the first

quarter of 2009 with members of senior management for

the purpose of outlining the organization’s IS needs and the

general operations of the MSCC.

Moving to HP Hardware

After listening to Gramen outline the gravity of the situa-

tion, Ed Wilson decided to help Gramen by going to

Lassiter and Wallingford individually to persuade each to

support the HP system. Lassiter’s support was of the great-

est importance, though, because of his influence within the

Executive Committee and the fact that his division was the

largest user of information systems. Nevertheless, when

Wilson went to Lassiter, Lassiter was incensed:

I told Gramen to quietlypursue acquisition cost esti-

mates so that we would be prepared when we knew

exactly what we needed. Apparently he did not

honor my request. I am not willing to rush into this

blindly and I will not support taking this to the

Executive Committee until we know what we need.

We can’t just rush into a purchase.

Even though Lassiter’s logic was sound, Wilson

remained convinced that something needed to be done