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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · E-business: value chain

Marlow Financial, a mid-sized insurer, moves its claims handling to a web portal. Customers can submit and track claims themselves, and the company expects to close several branch offices. Six months later, claims costs per transaction have fallen, but complaints from elderly customers without internet access have risen and some have switched provider. Which statement best identifies the e-business implementation issue illustrated?

The issue is neglect of the digital divide. Marlow cut costs by moving claims online but did not provide for elderly customers who cannot use the web, so it lost some of them. Good implementation would keep alternative channels for such segments.

  1. AA failure to consider the digital divide and the needs of customer segments that cannot use the new channelCorrect
  2. BA weakness in the firm's bargaining power over suppliers of web hosting
  3. COver-investment in the firm's core competences, creating rigidity
  4. DA breach of data protection law arising from the use of cookies

Explanation

The cost benefit has been achieved, but the channel excludes customers lacking access or skills, so the firm lost some of them. This is a digital divide or customer-segment issue in implementation. Nothing in the case concerns hosting suppliers, core competence rigidity or cookie law.

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