All Risk Insurance and National Networks Background The All Risk Insurance Company has 3,200 sales agents spread across five regions that cover the United States. They are moving toward the development of a national network that would tie each of the agent offices together with the regional offices and corporate headquarters. The improved communication capability will allow all company personnel to have full access to customer records and form the core of a comprehensive customer relationship management system that is to be rolled out in 18 months. Current Situation Jim Roberts is a network account specialist for National Networks, a specialist in large corporate network solutions, and has been working with the technology-buying group at All Risk Insurance for several months now. Roberts has worked through several meetings with the buying group members and has a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday to present his recommendations and demonstrate why they should select National Networks as the supplier for this sizable project. Joyce Fields (director of information systems), John Harris (comptroller and CFO), Mike Davis (director of agent services), and Dianne Sheffield (director for customer services) will make the final decision. Roberts also knows that there is one other competitor who will be making a presentation in hopes of landing the project. The equipment both vendors are proposing is virtually identical due to the detailed specifications that All Risk Insurance had included in the RFP. Prices are also likely to be pretty similar. The decision will most likely come down to the services each competitor includes in their proposals. Based on the information that Roberts has collected from different sources, he has come up with a comparison of customer services National Networks and the competitor (see the table on the following page) offer. Role Play Situation: Read "All Risk Insurance and National Networks" background and Current Situation. Characters: Jim Roberts-salesperson for National Networks; Joyce Fields-director of information systems for All Risk Insurance, John Harris-comptroller and CFO for All Risk Insurance; Mike Davis-director of agent services for All Risk Insurance, Dianne Sheffield-director for customer services for All Risk Insurance Scene: Location-A conference room at All Risk Insurance. Action-As described, Jim Roberts is presenting the National Networks proposal for a corporate computer network linking All Risk Insurance's corporate offices with each of its five regional offices and 3,200 sales agents out in the field