Assignment+for+chapter+7

Question 2: Why is there a strong trend toward cross-functional integrated systems in the business use of information technology?

Cross-functional enterprise systems are information systems that are integrated combinations of business information resources across the functional units of an organization. These enterprise systems cross the boundaries of traditional business functions to reengineer and improve vital business processes all across the enterprise. Cross-functional enterprise systems use Information technology to share information resources, while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes. Because of this, relationships with customers, suppliers, and business partners are formed and strengthened. Three example of cross-functional enterprise systems are customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and supply chain management (SCM). One strong trend companies are turning to is customer relationship management (CRM). CRM is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. According to the textbook, "CRM uses information technology to create a cross-functional enterprise system that integrates and automates many of the customer-serving processes in sales, marketing, and customer services that interact with a company's customers." One benefits of CRM is that it allows a business to identify and target its best customers and most profitable ones so they can retain them for a lifetime to become more profitable. "CRM makes possible real-time customization and personalization of products and services based on customer wants needs, buying habits, and life cycles." CRM also keeps track when a customer contacts the company and allow a company to provide a consistent customer experience and superior service and support. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a n industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a business manage the important parts of its operations, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP is a cross-functional enterprise system driven by an integrated suite of software modules that supports the basic internal business process of a company. ERP is also very beneficial. ERP creates a framework for integrating and improving a company's internal business processes that result in significant improvements in the quality and efficiency of customer service, production, and distribution. ERP helps reduce transaction processing costs and hardware, software, and Information Technology support staff. ERP also quickly provides vital, cross-functional information on business performance to managers. This drastically improves their ability to make better decisions in a timely manner across the entire business enterprise. ERP provides enterprise agility. That agility results in more flexible organizational structures, managerial responsibilities, and work roles and therefore a more agile and adaptive organization and workforce that can more easily capitalize on new business opportunities.

Supply chain management (SCM) is a cross-functional interenterprise system that uses information technology to help support and manage the links between some of a company's key key business processes and those of its suppliers, customers, and business partners. The goal of SCM is to create a fast, efficient, and low-cost network of business relationships. SCM provides key business benefits, such as faster, more accurate order processing, reductions in inventory levels, quicker times to market, lower transaction and material costs, and strategic relationships with their suppliers.

Question 5: Refer to the example about Charles Schwab & Co. in the chapter. What are the most important HR applications a company should offer to its employees via a Web-based system?

The most important HR applications that a company should offer include payroll, benefits, training, computer support, and other company information. The intranet at Charles Schwab & Co. is known throughout the company as the “Schweb,” which is a pretty clever name for an intranet. Their company is committed to using technology to benefit their customers and to provide good services to their employees (p.276). This commitment is helped along by the HR applications that are offered on Charles Schwab & Co’s. intranet. The Schweb allows managers to look up accurate information about their employees, as well as it is easier to update and maintain company information than desktop applications (p.276). Along with managers being able to access employee information, the Schweb provides employees with personalized information about themselves, their roles in the company, and the organization (p.276). If the Schweb did not exist, this information would be available to employees at the company’s human resources department. Employees may not be willing to go out of their way to get information for a simple question, but using the intranet; they can quickly look it up and continue on with their work. This saves the company time. A major benefit of the HR applications on the company intranet is that employees can find information that they need faster and are able to serve their customers faster and more efficiently (p.276). Training can be done on the intranet, meaning that employees don’t have to worry about keeping track of checking out and returning training videos. These videos are ‘on demand’ as well, meaning that employees can watch them whenever they need/want to. Using the intranet training method, multiple employees can watch the same video at their leisure, pausing to take notes, or rewinding to catch something that they missed. Employees can also look up their timesheets, to verify their hours/payments and to manage their vacation time. Another great benefit is that Charles Schwab & Co. saves a lot of money by having their employees fill out benefit forms online using an application called eForms (p.276).

case study question #1 Refer to the example about General Electric in the chapter. Do enterprise collaboration systems contribute to bottom-line profits for a business? Discuss the reasons for your answer. Enterprise collaboration systems are very big contributors to bottom-line profits for a business. [1] Enterprise Collaboration systems (ECS) are cross-functional information systems that enhance communication, coordination, and collaborating among the members of business teams and workgroups. [2] Information technology, especially Internet technologies, provides tools to help us collaborate to communicate ideas, share resources, and coordinate our work efforts as members of the many formal and informal process and project teams and workgroups that make up many of today’s organizations. From our General Electric example, ECS are evident to be a contributor of bottom-line profits. In order for a company to do business the right way, it is required of them to always keep in contact with one another, and collaborate on ideas. These collaborations on ideas during real time allow company’s stay one step ahead on their competitors. Ideas given through ECS help target what is the company main concern, and how to better increase profits. Sharing information with people with in an organization, or business partners is a must do for GE. This is also important when finding employees who know how to make money for the company. [3] GE’s recruiting teams can set up QuickPlaces to trade information about prospective hires. And GE engineers share drawings, design requirements, and production schedules with supervisors on manufacturing floors. In all, GE has created almost 18,000 QuickPlaces for 250,000 users, says CTO Larry Biagini. “and if we have an engineering project with someone outside the company, we’ll set up a QuickPlace or Sametime session and invite outside people. Collaboration creates faster work flow through IT which as a result creates more revenue. Through innovative Technology, ECS is finding its use in our ever changing environment. [4] The capabilities and potential of the internet as well as intranets and extranets are driving the demand for either enterprise collaboration tools in business. [5] However, it is Internet technologies like Web browsers and servers, hypermedia documents and databases, and intranets and extranets that provide the hardware, software, data, and network platforms for many of the groupware tools for enterprise collaborations that business users want. Through these tools, and recreation of better ones, GE and other companies are able to create a faster work flow. For an example “ [6] at GE There’s also Support Central, a companywide knowledge management system developed using software from GE’s Fanuc division. Employees sign on and complete a survey about their areas of expertise. The responses are added to a knowledge base so people with questions anywhere in GE can find people with answers. [7] “someone may have a question about, say, titanium metallurgy, and they’ll be able to find documents about it, or send e-mail or initiate an online chat with someone who can help,” says Stuart Scott, CIO of GE Industrial Systems. The result of all this collaboration? faster workflow and quicker, smarter decisions, This is according to GE executives. This means more money for GE. discussion question 10 What key insights of Tesco’s SCM director Graham Booth helped revolutionize Tesco’s Supply chain and range of retail store formats? Can these insights be applied to any kind of retail business? Why or why not? The key insights of Tesco’s supply chain management director Graham Booth helped revolutionize Tesco’s Supply chain and range of retail store formats was: [8] A rapid replenishment system triggered by the customer would work in any retail format. What’s more, it would work even better if the same replenishment system, using the same suppliers, cross-dock distribution centers, and vehicles serving many stores, could supply every retail store format. [9] Booth saw that there might be very little difference in real costs in supplying the same item through any store format, because the purchase price from the supplier could be negotiated for the whole network, not by format, and the same replenishment system making frequent milk runs to larger stores could also stop at small stores to share logistics costs. [10] The cost disadvantage of smaller outlets, due to weak supplier leverage and expensive logistics, would largely disappear. This insight called for new innovation strategies, which gave way to the revolution that was to come for this retail store. There were many questions that went through Booths head when walking through his store. The walk was an eye-opener. [11] When Tesco and Britvic directors analyzed the map they drew of the process as they walked, they could see waste at every step, along with huge opportunities for saving costs while increasing the satisfaction of the end customer. [12] as booth looked at the situation, he realized that practically all of Tesco’s practices for getting goods from the supplier to the shelf would need to change. And the reformat gave ways to more innovative ideas. These insights can be applied to most retail business, or perhaps all. This insight could be very beneficial to a lot of retail stores because it would help keep products that may be at high demand at the time, on shelves when people are in search of it. To give you an example, when retail clothing stores have products on their shelf, that customers just saw Jay-Z or Jenifer Lopez wear, they might be in very high demand, and run out of that particular clothing. However, with this tracking system, they would be able to meet the demands of the consumers, and prevent them from finding business elsewhere because you did have that particular product in stock. It could also help track theft, and to know when you should expect your busiest part of the day. This in result will boost revenue and cut cost. Another reason why this would work for many Retail stores is because the demand is met right at the point of sale. Having data that will turn into information in the scan of an item is essential.

[1] O’Brien pg 264 [2] O’Brien pg 264 [3] O’Brien pg 265 [4] O’Brien pg 265 [5] O’Brien pg 265 [6] O’Brien pg 264 [7] O’Brien pg 264 [8] O’Brien pg 285 [9] O’Brien pg 285 [10] O’Brien pg 285 [11] O’Brien pg 285 [12] O’Brien pg 285

6. How could sales force automation affect salesperson productivity, marketing management, and competitive advantage?

Sales force automation automates business tasks such as inventory control, sales processing, and tracking of customer interactions, as well as analyzing sales forecasts and performance. Businesses may have a custom version developed specifically for their needs, or choose from among the increasing number of sales automation software products, such as Interact Commerce's ACT! and GoldMine Software's GoldMine. Salesforce automation increases a salespersons productivity and speeds up the capture and analysis of sales data from the field to marketing managers at a company (271). Sales automation software enables sales men and women to work faster and more efficiently. It improves the communication between the customer and client by allowing the salesperson to access more updated information to pass along to the customer and the same goes for communication between management and sales associates.

Sales force automation improves the delivery of information and the support they provide to their salespeople (271). It makes possible for marketing management, the ability to update information quickly Information and pass it along to staff within a matter of seconds. Marketing managers also use sales force automation to access the internet and post various sales and media used for marketing. It also assists marketing managers with conducting various marketing research.

Sales force automation gives businesses the competitive advantage because it allows companies to stay current. It allows them the ability to access updated information about competitors and their products. It has been said to be useful in the innovation of new products and services. Business can stay a step ahead of competitors.

9. What are several e-business applications that you might recommend to a small company to help it survive and succeed in challenging economic times? Why?

Ebusiness is a term used to describe businesses run on the Internet, or utilizing Internet technologies to improve the productivity or profitability of a business. The term may be used to describe any form of electronic business. There are several e-business applications that I might recommend to a small company to help it survive and succeed in challenging economic times which are cross-functional enterprise systems including customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), and enterprise application integration (EAI).

Cross-functional enterprise systems are used to share information resources and improve the efficiency and effectives of business processes (240). It helps to develop relationships with customers, suppliers, and business partners. The first enterprise system I want to acknowledge Customer relationship management.

Customer relationship management is a cross-functional enterprise that integrates and automates many of the customer serving processes in sales, marketing, and customer services that interact with a company's customers. It is often called the “business focus”. The major application components of CRM include contact and account management, sales, marketing and fulfillment, customer service and support, and retention and loyalty programs, all aimed at helping a company acquire, enhance, and retain profitable relationships with its customers as a primary business goal.  This is important for small businesses because customer satisfaction will cause your business to boom or fail all by itself. The happier the customer the more they will return. The next application is the Enterprise Resource planning.

Enterprise Resource Planning is considered to be “the backbone” of a business (249). It is a cross-functional enterprise system that incorporates and automates many of the internal business processes of a company, particularly those within the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, accounting, finance, and human resource functions of the business. Thus, ERP serves as the vital backbone information system of the enterprise, helping a smaller company achieve the efficiency, agility, and responsiveness required to succeed in a dynamic business environment (mcgrawhill.com).

Supply chain management is a cross-functional enterprise system that integrates and automates the network of business processes and relationships between a company and its suppliers, customers, distributors, and other business partners (254). The goal of SCM is to help a company achieve agility and responsiveness in meeting the demands of their customers and needs of their suppliers, by enabling it to design, build, and sell its products using a fast, efficient, and low-cost network of business partners, processes, and relationships, or supply chain. SCM is commonly subdivided into supply chain planning applications, such as demand and supply forecasting, and supply chain execution applications, such as logistics management, inventory management, and warehouse management. And finally, the Enterprise application integration application.

Enterprise application integration is software used by companies to connect their major e-business applications. It will enable smaller businesses to model the business processes involved in the interactions that should occur between business applications. Electronic messages are sent from application to application for example, if you just made a sale, a message will be sent to the accounting application.(259)  

 How did Dan Jones and his research group from the Cardiff Business School of Wales demonstrate the inefficiencies of the Tesco and Britvic supply chains? Can this methodology be applied to the supply chain of any kind of business? Why or why not?

The inefficiencies of Tesco and Britvic were shown by Dan Jones and his research group by having the directors of the company do a thorough walk of the supply chain. They went from the retail store to the warehouses of cans that were waiting to be filled. The facilities tour enabled them to see each process with their own eyes rather than hoping to find flaws and inefficiencies on paper. Observing in person the cans stacked in warehouses and the downtime in the manufacturing facilities demonstrated the changes that needed to be made.

The methodology that they used is beneficial and efficient and can be used in any company that wants to streamline or manage its supply chain. It is of particular usefulness to manufacturing facilities for obvious reasons. Owners and managers can walk through the processes step by step and see the changes that are needed. They can follow exactly as Jones did with the directors at Tesco and Britvic. Aside from manufacturing, the same concept however can still be applied to other industries in other ways. A service company can perform a similar "walk" through their company observe each step from the initial ordering to providing the service thus allowing them to find inefficiencies. For example, a janitorial service can "walk" through its business operations and find that the wastes such as redundant travel, gas or wastes in time between jobs. If managers are able to identify flaws in their processes they can adjust their schedule to reduce for example the travel time between jobs which would result in prevention of waste in costs from gasoline and wages.

The method demonstrated in the Tesco case study is an example of the benefits that can be realised through analysis process. However, this process has limitations to high volume of sales. This method can lead to significant benefits in productivity and cost small alterations in the process. Tesco had large changes that were made to their supply chain and this resulted in massive benefits. However for smaller volume cases this supply chain model would present gross inefficiencies that would relate to inadequate inventory or none at all and other problems. Just in time type supply chains are not designed for low volume, slow moving operations.

Also, Tescos method of discovery should not be expected to work in all situations. High-priced items, customized products and assembled goods are just a few examples where the product model is similar and can be procured quickly, disintegrates. A mere walkthrough is probably not going to be adequate to find enough waste in the supply chain to make a difference or if waste can be found that it could be changed. The cost of implementing the change may not be regained quickly or possibly at all. This is true especially if any changes are made with the product, environment, or sales volumes. However Tesco's experiences should not be discouraged from being duplicated elsewhere. There should just be a warning that walkthroughs and just-in-time supply chain management aren't applicable in every situation.

3. What are the major business and competitive benefits gained by Tesco as the result of its supply chain initiatives? Can other retail chains and retail stores achieve some or all of the same results? Defend your position with examples of actual retail chains and stores you know.

Supply chain initiatives have led to many benefits for Tesco. lower inventory, less human effort, quicker throughput time, and reduction in freight costs are some of the benefits of the initiatives. These benefits are all great ones because they all result in saving money. If the inventory has a lower amount then a smaller building will do the job. Lower inventory equates to less floor space in a warehouse. Less space means less cost to maintain and energize. Less manpower to transport the product equals fewer employees and less payroll costs. A decrease in throughput time means increased customer satisfaction because they are getting what they want faster and if demand were to change suddenly, the supplier could react much faster. Lower freight costs are always a good thing in a company, while the trucks are on the road and adding mileage they are being efficient simultaneously. Despite the fact that a truck makes several trips a day, every time they deliver a product at the market they also pick up empty dollies to take back to the manufacturer so neither trip is wasted. Many other sales chains or stores could achieve similar or the same results. The difficult part is to attain the close knit relationship between the stores and suppliers so that the shelves are always stocked and prices remain competitive. As communication between the two grow in the sale system, money can start to be made.