Business Reengineering at CIGNA Corporation: Experiences and Lessons Learned From the First Five Years.

Author List: Raymond Caron, J.; Jarvenpaa, Sirkka L.; Stoddard, Donna B.;

MIS Quarterly, 1994, Volume 18, Issue 3, Page 233-250.

Considerable uncertainty and confusion exists about what business reengineering is and when it succeeds. This paper provides a longitudinal view of CIGNA Corp.'s experiences in business reengineering since 1989. CIGNA is a leading provider of insurance and related financial services throughout the United States and the world. Between 1989 and 1993, CIGNA completed over 20 reengineering initiatives, saving more than $100 million. Each $1 invested in reengineering has ultimately brought $2-3 in returned benefits. This article describes projects with major payoffs: operating expenses reduced by 42 percent, cycle times improved by 100 percent, customer satisfaction up by 50 percent, quality improvements of 75 percent. It also highlights how CIGNA's reengineering started small and how learning was used to escalate from this quick hit to reengineering larger and more complex parts of the organization. CIGNA's reengineering successes have also required a willingness to allow failure and learn from failures. Only about 50 percent of the reengineering efforts bring the type of benefits expected initially. Repeated trials are often necessary. CIGNA's lessons can help other firms anticipate what they will experience as they ascend the learning curve of business reengineering.

Keywords: and knowledge transfer.; business process redesign; Business reengineering; insurance industry; longitudinal case study; organizational learning; radical change; strategic alignment

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#69	0.244	process business reengineering processes bpr redesign paper research suggests provide past improvements manage enable organizations regarding focal cycle creating issues
#182	0.165	percent sales average economic growth increasing total using number million percentage evidence analyze approximately does business flow annual book daily
#119	0.116	implementation systems article describes management successful approach lessons design learned technical staff used effort developed organization experiences large managing discusses
#246	0.105	strategic benefits economic benefit potential systems technology long-term applications competitive company suggest additional companies industry operating costs difficult substantial total
#185	0.071	change organizational implementation case study changes management organizations technology organization analysis successful success equilibrium radical efforts initiatives managing resistance individuals
#193	0.057	time use size second appears form larger benefits combined studies reasons selected underlying appear various significantly result include make attention