INF10003 Introduction to Business Information Systems

Assignment overview

As an information specialist, you will need to develop the skills to evaluate the impact that business processes, competing technologies and information systems have on organisational capacity. You will employ PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, Porter’s Five Forces and apply visualisation tools in order to understand a business context and provide succinct and supported advice.

Assignment details

In this assignment, you will employ PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, Michael Porter’s Five Forces* and apply visualisation tools to understand the business context in order to provide succinct and supported advice to the following question:

For the first three tasks you should use an appropriate modelling/diagramming package, e.g. Microsoft Visio, to present and explain your analysis.

1. PEST analysis and model 

• Analyse and identify the most important macro-environmental forces (political, economic, social, technological) that will influence ANZ’s decision to adopt only online service delivery models.

2. SWOT analysis and model

Analyse the strengths, e.g. internal competencies, expertise, brand, etc., of ANZ that will enable it to become a purely online provider.

• Analyse the weaknesses, i.e. constraints, within ANZ that will inhibit its ability to become a purely online provider, e.g., pricing structures, industry partnerships based on face-to-face delivery.
• Analyse the market opportunities for ANZ which make the transition to purely online delivery an attractive proposition. Think about the post-COVID world.
• Analyse the market threats that could affect ANZ’s ability to offer online delivery, and take a market leadership position in online banking.

3. Porter's Five Forces analysis and model

The purpose of your Porter’s Five Forces* analysis is to identify the major competitive forces for ANZ in the banking sector, both for face-to-face banking and fully online. The analysis will help you to understand where ANZ is best able to reduce or control the intensity of competition. Consider the following:

• What competencies, expertise, investments, brand equity, etc. can ANZ draw upon to mitigate the threat of new entrants, i.e. organisations, competing online and face-to-face?
• What things can ANZ draw on to mitigate the threat of substitute products from existing and new players competing in these markets?
• What things can ANZ do to mitigate the commercial power of customers.
• What things can ANZ do to mitigate the power of suppliers, e.g. IT. For the purpose of this assignment, let’s agree that suppliers include technology vendors (software/hardware), facilities maintenance and operations third parties, consultants, and also staff.

PEST Model

POLITICAL:

• Consider how the government may impact the organisation.
• Government may impose levies, licenses and regulation to the industry.
• The government may incentivise new entrants in the market.
• Trade restrictions that may be imposed - Government Spending

ECONOMIC:

• Exchange rate may impact any dealing with international transactions.
• Unemployment Rate - Consumer confidence
• Economic Growth 
• Inflation Rate 
• Cost of Living

SOCIAL:

• Cultural norms
• Demographics
• Personal interaction - Convenience
• Population Growth and Ageing
• Digital Literacy

TECHNOLOGY:

• Automation
• Cyber Security Concerns
• Technology advancement - Cloud
• Outsourcing
• Cost of new technology

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS:

What are the strengths of your organisation. You may consider:

• Expertise in the industry
• Streamlined process
• Leading IT department
• Specialist knowledge

WEAKNESSES:

What are some of the areas of the business that may be considered a weakness? Consider:

• Cyber security capability
• Employee morale
• Lack of expertise
• Limited resources

Porter's Five Forces Model

THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS:

What is the threat of a new entrant entering the market.

• Barriers to entry
• Capital costs
• Market growth
• Scalability

BARGAINING POWER OF CUSTOMERS:

How much power does the customer have over the purchase?

• How many customers are in the market?
• Are there many other competitors providing this product?
• Differentiation

PEST Analysis

Remember this is a macroenvironmental analysis. What we are considering here are the ‘big’ issues/ shifts in the Political, Economic, Social and Technology environment that could:

• Affect ANZ’s capacity to transition to online banking service delivery, or
• Make it unattractive for ANZ to invest time, funds and resources to an online banking services model

What is the takeaway. That is, what position does you data support?

• Should ANZ maintain its current hybrid (physical branch and online model),

• or should ANZ transition all of its banking services online?

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis juxtaposes:

1) The strengths (i.e. internal competencies, resources, tools, expertise, brand equity etc.) that ANZ can leverage to facilitate the transition to online banking services provider against the weaknesses (i.e. internal constraints, challenges, inertia, issues, etc.) that could inhibit its ability make the transition to online provider. Ideally strengths are unique or not easily replicated.

2) The external opportunities (e.g. untapped markets, markets where there are possibilities for banks to exploit cost-leadership opportunities [ie. they provide services/ products more cheaply their competitors], possibilities to leverage existing brand equity, etc.) and external threats (these can be rival local and international banks, saturated markets, markets where there is easy access to other banks and financial service providers).

3) What is the takeaway. That is, what position does your data support?

• Should ANZ maintain its current hybrid (physical branch and online model),

• or should ANZ transition all of its banking services online?

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

• Describes the power balance between organisations and the dynamics of inter -industry competition
• Premise of model: organisations exist within an industry and to succeed, they must effectively deal with the competitive forces that exist within their industry

Questions to consider

Defend Against New Entrants

• Are there barriers to entry such as capital investment, access to channels (internet, access to third-party sites e.g. retailers, etc.) learning curve advantages, etc. that AN can exploit to make it more difficult for new players to enter the market?
•  How can ANZ make it difficult for an organisation offering similar goods and services to enter the online banking services market?

Defend Against Substitute Products

• To what extent are there substitute products and services available?
•  How can ANZ improve its competitive position in relation to firms offering these products and services?

Reduce the Power of Customers

What can ANZ do to reduce the choices that customers have? What can ANZ do to make it harder for customers to switch easily? How can ANZ ‘lock’ customers in

Is the concentration of banking services providers greater in relation to the concentration of consumers (i.e. is there a small number of banking services providers so that ANZ will most certainly attract as many customers as it needs to make the online model profitable?)

Reduce the Power of Suppliers

• For the purpose of this assignment, let’s agree that suppliers include technology vendors (software/ hardware), facilities maintenance and operations third parties, consultants, and also staff (many of them are contractors)
• How many suppliers are available? How does ANZ expand its choice of suppliers?
• How can ANZ increase supply and thereby reduce the bargaining power of suppliers?

Assessment Requirements Summary

The assignment required the student, acting as an information specialist, to evaluate how business processes, technologies, and information systems influence organisational capacity. Specifically, the student had to:

1. Conduct a PEST Analysis – Identify macro-environmental forces (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) impacting ANZ’s transition to an online-only service delivery model.
2. Conduct a SWOT Analysis – Assess ANZ’s internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats, particularly in the context of moving towards a digital-first, post-COVID environment.
3. Apply Porter’s Five Forces Analysis – Analyse the competitive forces in the banking sector to evaluate ANZ’s strategic positioning for fully online operations.
4. Use Modelling/Diagramming Tools (e.g., MS Visio) – Present findings in a visual and structured manner for clarity and professional representation.
5. Formulate Recommendations – Provide succinct, data-supported advice on whether ANZ should continue with a hybrid model or fully transition to online services.

Guided Approach to Solving the Assessment

The academic mentor guided the student systematically through each stage:

Step 1 Understanding the Task

• The mentor first clarified the assignment scope, breaking down each section into manageable tasks.
• The student was encouraged to see how each analytical tool (PEST, SWOT, Five Forces) connects to the central decision: Should ANZ adopt a purely online model?

Step 2 PEST Analysis

• Political: Mentor helped the student identify government regulations, trade restrictions, and digital policy impacts.
• Economic: Discussed inflation, consumer confidence, and cost-of-living pressures.
• Social: Explored cultural preferences, digital literacy, and customer expectations post-COVID.
• Technological: Highlighted cybersecurity, cloud adoption, and cost implications.
• Mentor ensured the student used a PEST model diagram to visually map the findings.

Step 3 SWOT Analysis

• Strengths: Mentor guided the student to focus on ANZ’s strong IT systems, brand equity, and market expertise.
• Weaknesses: Discussed issues like cybersecurity risks, limited resources, and legacy dependencies.
• Opportunities: Explored online service expansion, customer demand for convenience, and cost leadership.
• Threats: Highlighted competition, substitutes, and customer switching power.
• Mentor showed how to create a quadrant diagram to represent SWOT visually.

Step 4 Porter’s Five Forces

• Mentor explained each force and its relevance to ANZ:

  • Threat of New Entrants: Barriers like capital requirements and brand loyalty.
  • Substitutes: Emergence of fintech and non-bank competitors.
  • Customer Power: Customers’ ability to switch banks easily.
  • Supplier Power: Dependency on IT vendors, consultants, and staff.
  • Competitive Rivalry: Intensity of competition among traditional banks.

• Mentor encouraged creating a Five Forces diagram for clarity.

Step 5 Synthesis & Recommendations

• Mentor worked with the student to connect insights from all three frameworks.
• The student was guided to weigh the evidence:
  • PEST shows strong tech and social shifts favour online adoption.
  • SWOT highlights that strengths outweigh weaknesses but threats need mitigation.
  • Porter’s model reveals competition is strong, but ANZ’s brand and IT capabilities offer defensive strategies.
• Together, they developed a balanced recommendation: ANZ should progressively transition to online-first while retaining strategic hybrid services to manage risks.

Final Outcome & Learning Achievements

• Outcome: The student produced a well-structured report with PEST, SWOT, and Porter’s Five Forces models, supported with diagrams and clear recommendations for ANZ’s online transition strategy.
• Learning Objectives Achieved:
  1. Gained the ability to apply three major analytical tools (PEST, SWOT, Five Forces) in a real-world business case.
  2. Learned to use visualisation tools (MS Visio/diagramming software) for presenting business analyses.
  3. Developed critical evaluation skills to weigh internal and external business factors.
  4. Understood the strategic decision-making process in the context of banking and digital transformation.
  5. Practiced delivering succinct, evidence-based recommendations for organisational strategy.

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