Progressive has a 25-year history of implementing change and new IT solutions. In a culture so attuned to change, is there less need for managers to help smooth the introduction and adoption of new IT systems? Defend your position
Managers at Progressive insurance play a vital role in the smoothing of the introduction and adoption of new IT systems. Managers have to ensure that all the problems are addressed by adopting these new information technology systems and are a proper solution to their problems. Even though at Progressive insurance, there have been constant changes in IT and they have been tremendously successful in all fields for over 25 years, we think that change is always rejected at first until someone steps in and addresses all issues and quires. All the workforce at Progressive are not the same and don’t have the same background and are always changing and evolving. Thus managers need to ensure that the employees don’t feel left out, unaware and uneducated in the new IT systems. Training and courses are very much required to ease this new IT adopting in the company as a whole.
In 1967 One of Progressive’s first major IT initiatives was to develop an online computer system called PROTEUS (Progressive Online Transaction, Enquiry, and Update System). This system was developed to support the firm’s policy processing, it enabled workers to inquire into customers’ policy files and to quote rates for customers online. The most significant productivity and service gain from PROTEUS was the ability to enter, endorse, and cancel business online.
Managers who adopt the technology first when new IT systems are introduced, then try to figure out what to do with the new information and cope with its implications are using the wrong approach and can trigger major business disorders. New IT is always more advanced and diverse than the old systems, and is increasingly tangled with the organization’s critical business practices. Many companies that