Lenox Case Study
www.hbr.org
H B R CAS E ST U D Y
AND
COMMENTARY
Who is responsible for assuring technology success at Lenox?
Five commentators offer expert advice.
The IT System That Couldn’t Deliver by Byron Reimus
•
Reprint 97308
Lenox’s IT system is in trouble. Who will fix it, and how?
H B R CAS E ST U D Y
The IT System That Couldn’t Deliver by Byron Reimus
COPYRIGHT © 1997 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
“Distribution is the name of the game,” Lenox CEO and president James Bennett told the insurance company’s newly hired chief information officer, Diana Sullivan, three years ago. Sullivan recalled the details of that first extended conversation with Bennett as though it were yesterday. “We depend heavily on independent agents to sell our policies,” Bennett had said. “As long as they have the option of offering our competitors’ products, we have to give agents the right tools to get the kind of fast, reliable information they need to close a sale in our favor. Think distribution. It’s that simple.” But it hadn’t been that simple. In her three years at Lenox Insurance Company, Sullivan had fulfilled to the letter the role of CIO that Bennett had described. Bennett had confided in her: “Computers have never been one of our strengths. We know we have some catching up to do.” Sullivan was proud of how she had
helped Lenox catch up—by updating key applications, bringing in new technologies, and reorganizing and streamlining the information services organization. Most important, she had led the development of Lifexpress, a sophisticated computeraided system that enabled the company’s more than 10,000 agents nationwide to conduct business with their customers and prospects in ways that had seemed next to impossible just a few years earlier. Lifexpress let an agent, using a laptop computer, develop a thorough financial profile of a customer, identify and explore Lenox’s most appropriate policies, conduct an initial actuarial analysis,
H B R CAS E ST U D Y
AND
COMMENTARY
Who is responsible for assuring technology success at Lenox?
Five commentators offer expert advice.
The IT System That Couldn’t Deliver by Byron Reimus
•
Reprint 97308
Lenox’s IT system is in trouble. Who will fix it, and how?
H B R CAS E ST U D Y
The IT System That Couldn’t Deliver by Byron Reimus
COPYRIGHT © 1997 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
“Distribution is the name of the game,” Lenox CEO and president James Bennett told the insurance company’s newly hired chief information officer, Diana Sullivan, three years ago. Sullivan recalled the details of that first extended conversation with Bennett as though it were yesterday. “We depend heavily on independent agents to sell our policies,” Bennett had said. “As long as they have the option of offering our competitors’ products, we have to give agents the right tools to get the kind of fast, reliable information they need to close a sale in our favor. Think distribution. It’s that simple.” But it hadn’t been that simple. In her three years at Lenox Insurance Company, Sullivan had fulfilled to the letter the role of CIO that Bennett had described. Bennett had confided in her: “Computers have never been one of our strengths. We know we have some catching up to do.” Sullivan was proud of how she had
helped Lenox catch up—by updating key applications, bringing in new technologies, and reorganizing and streamlining the information services organization. Most important, she had led the development of Lifexpress, a sophisticated computeraided system that enabled the company’s more than 10,000 agents nationwide to conduct business with their customers and prospects in ways that had seemed next to impossible just a few years earlier. Lifexpress let an agent, using a laptop computer, develop a thorough financial profile of a customer, identify and explore Lenox’s most appropriate policies, conduct an initial actuarial analysis,