Business Information Technology - Term Paper Example

Business Information Technology Lecturer: E waste is a term that is commonly and informally used to refer to electronic products such as laptops, televisions and radio transmitters that are nearing the end of their productive life, or have been deemed obsolete. Many of these products may be refurbished or otherwise serviced to increase their productive span. The amount of e waste generated by Americans each year is about 2.5 million tones, and out of this, only about 25% is recycled or otherwise reused the rest is disposed of, which poses a big threat to the environment as the material used in the manufacturing of electronics is not bio-degradable, and in addition, they may contain toxic materials such as lead. To cushion the consumers from these risks, the manufacturers need to formulate ways of ensuring the proper disposal or the re-use of their products. They achieve this by: 1. Providing for the disposal of the electronics to their clients, for example, the LG company has waste baskets in its points of sale(hot point appliances) to collect the waste from its clients for destruction or for reusing 2. Providing information about manufacturing and the assembly of their products. This information helps the consumers to understand the make of the product, which enable them to extend their lifespan by modifying them when need arises 3. Delaying the release of new products. The manufacturers delay the release of new improved products, which increases the lifespan of the old products as the consumers tend to discard them by increases the amount of time between the successive releases, the manufacturers tend to increase the amount of time before the old products are deemed obsolete. 4. Introduction of new products at a relatively higher cost. The high cost tends to discourage the consumers from discarding of their old products unnecessarily as well as ensuring that the consumers make a long time plans for the new products before the purchase them, increasing their life span and reducing electronic waste (Cieslak, David, and Bob Gaby, 2004). 5. Introduction of recycling cost to electronic products. Where the state supports it, the manufacturers of electronic gadgets add a recycling fee to the price of the product e.g., the state of California passed a law that requires the consumers pay for the recycling of their products. Starting a company that allows people to locate and reuse the used computers and other technologies is a worthwhile venture. it bring most of the electronics within the reach of most people in the third world countries e.g., in Ghana, of the 215 000 tones of electronics imported each year, only 30% are brand new while the remaining 70% are used (assessment of e waste in Ghana). Furthermore, the requirements of the electronics are different, for instance while most of the first world countries are using digital televisions while the analog television are dominant in other places, hence while they may be considered to be obsolete in the US, they are not obsolete elsewhere and can still be used. Creating a way for them to be available in these places, by starting a company that facilitates their export reduces the incidence of e waste (robin, 2011). Question 2; the crunch factory Organizations have traditionally used systems based on hierarchy and authority to define the quality of information. However, with the worlds need for time efficiency and better quality information, these systems are no longer applicable; they slow down the organization and delay the attainment of the objectives. The success of companies today is increasing more reliant sharing of information rather than the traditional approach of division of labor and the ‘divide and conquer’ approach. It is more important than ever before that modern companies create a medium that facilitates easy and efficient sharing of information in all its outlets as this reduces the operation costs as well as projecting a good public image of the organization in question. Some of the challenges and the benefits that are associated with the quality of information and the dissemination and procedures in a modern day organization include the following. Information and data are systematic enterprise resources for the organization and thus they are an basic part of the organization (Phillip, 1979). The organization for instance uses the experiences to project future outcomes; a problem may be foreseen and avoided with proper utilization of information. In the crunch factory gym situation, one branch of the gym can use information about a problem in another branch to overcome a problem and thereby reduce the cost of operation for the organization as well as improve performance. Information and data effectiveness also give an enterprise a competitive advantage over its competitors. Efficiency serves to attract more clients as well as giving the enterprise a good public outlook as opposed to a case where there is a lack of sharing of information, which might give a client the impression that the organization has some internal communication breakdown. The quality of the information in an organization also determines the level of utilization of the other resources (Phillip, 1979) in the enterprise, such as financial and human resources. Where there is low quality information, they may use its resources doing the same thing at two points within the same organization, which leads to a double expenditure as well as a wastage of man hours, which reduces the profit returns as well as reducing the efficiency of the organization. The quality of information in an organization is also critical to the success of the organization (English, 1997) as it is almost impossible for any enterprise to experience any level of success without proper information dissemination techniques, for example; the coca cola company has to make identical products in all its branches, failure in one plant reflects badly on the whole company. The same is true to all companies though to a much smaller scale. To create a high quality information system, first I would carry out a data profiling test to determine the areas where there are weaknesses that need to be removed. standardize the data to ensure that the data conforms to the standard of the business is the next step, after which I would carry out geo-coding for the various geographical areas within which the enterprise is found and to reflect the address of the clients after which I would match and link information that is similar. To avoid a reduction in the level of quality, it is necessary to monitor the information and batch it in real time. Question 3: gadgets Over the last two decades, the field of information technology has been the fastest growing field on the world; it has revolutionized virtually all aspects of the human life. Today, one can shop virtually, or speak to a person across the globe as effortlessly as if they are in the same room. In the world of business, the enterprises use this telecommunication, and technological advance to enhance their performance and productivity in the following ways. Automation Owing to the rising cost of living and the demand for higher standards of living, human labor has become progressively more expensive, which in turn raises the cost of production for most of the businesses. This implies that lowering the cost of production gives a company a competitive edge. The increasing level of sophistication allows for the production of automatic machines for the companies, which have the advantages of more accuracy and can work for the whole day and night. However, the initial cost and the maintenance costs are too high for the average companies, and as such, they face unfair competition, which pushes them out of business. Information and data dissemination With the rising levels of internet coverage and internet users, the internet is quickly becoming one of the most important tools of marketing and advertisement. Most of the companies are using the internet to sell their products to the people, for instance, they post their location and products online (mocality.com). This feature enables a prospective client to locate the nearest outlet much more easily. The internet can also be used by companies to create forums for interaction with their clients through the social network sites, which provides them with feedback and enables them to improve their service delivery. Customer service The information technology enables the companies a wider reach of their clients. The companies are using this by establishing customer care numbers and websites where clients can access information whenever they need to (some of the numbers are active for 24 hours while the websites are always accessible). These increase the level of consumer fulfillment as the company is able to personalize their service delivery, and hence increases the incidence of repeat business and consequently the company’s performance for companies that embrace the use of telecommunication. Computer based training Some companies use the internet to provide in-service training to their employees, which is more time effective as it reduces the number of instructors needed as well as standardizing the training. In addition, most of the major universities worldwide now have online courses, which enable workers to further their training while still working (English, 1997). This serves to improve their skills of work and their quality of service delivery, which in turn improves the general performance of the companies. Work group management. However, there is the challenge of some of the online courses being too shallow and unreliable. Where a corporation has more than one division, the management can monitor the outside branch remotely which reduces transport cost as well as sinking the financial resources required to hire additional management personnel. Question 4; great stories A customer based approach is a marketing tool that is fully focused on the customers. The main aim of this approach is to maximize the profits from the clients rather than from the products, for example, a company aims to procure a profit of a certain figure from the customer, without taking into consideration, the products that are going to be traded generate the profit. This approach seeks to satisfy the customer and increase the probability of repeat business. An example is the production of limited edition cars for the extremely rich by a motor company. A product based approach on the other hand, is centered on centered on selling the same product to as many customers as possible. It involves standardization of the products with the aim of generating a product that has a ‘universal taste’ and attracts as many customers as possible. This approach involves mass production and specialization, e.g. the mass production of the same brand of cars by a motor company, both approaches have customer satisfaction as a common goal; the product-centric approach must consider the needs of the majority to give the product a universal appeal while the customer centric approach is centered on the customer. The main difference between the two approaches is the origin, where one starts with the aim of selling as much of one product as possible, the other starts with an aim to satisfy individual needs and make as much profit from it as possible. Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented model for managing a company’s interactions with clients, and sales prospects. The model entails the use of technology to enhance sales by organizing, synchronizing and automating business processes. The main objective of the model is to win over new customers, to preserve the existing customers and to find a way to attract lost customers. The model aims to achieve all this while at the same time reducing the marketing cost for the organization. This approach has the reward of reducing the operations cost (for example by reducing the cost of marketing) and increasing the profits (if the turnover remains constant, reduction of the operations cost will lead to a proportional increase in profits) (DestinationCRM.com, (2009)). In the present times this approach is more important than ever before because owing to the high level of inflation, most companies are in the need for a model that reduces their operations cost while increasing their capacity to generate revenue. Question 5; Methods behind methodologies According to the APICS Dictionary, SCM (supply chain management) can be defined as the "design, preparation, completing, control, and supervision of supply chain behavior with the intent of creating net cost, building a competitive network, leveraging global logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally." The traditional waterfalls approach is a development approach that entails that once a phase of development is completed and the plan has moved on to the subsequently phase, there can be no going back, the same way that water cannot go back to the top of the waterfall. This approach is divided into phases; the initial phase is the analysis phase, the design phase and the implementation phase with testing and completing the process. In the traditional model, the phases are done by different people and they have to flow sequentially. In the signature Inc project, the old manager ignored the project plan and never updated it. The project is therefore stalled and there is no way of going back as per the waterfalls model. The only viable option is to start the project afresh and ensures that all steps are followed in their proper order and that the project does not ensue to the next step without first ensuring that the objectives of the immediate former step were achieved in an acceptable level. References Ingenthron, Robin (2011-03-31). "Why We Should Ship Our Electronic "waste" to China and Africa" Cieslak, David, and Bob Gaby. (December 2006). "Programs Provide Extensive Tools For Adaptability And Customization." CPA Technology Advisor 16, no. 8. Goldberg, Harold. (September 17, 2001)"10 ways to avoid CRM pitfalls" B to B 86, no. 17: 11 .Inside CRM (2007) get it together with collaborative CRM. DestinationCRM.com (2009) who owns the social customer? http://smallbusiness.chron.com/businesses-use-communication-technology-improve-performance-136.html http://smallbusiness.chron.com/businesses-use-communication-technology-improve-performance-136.html http://www1.eere.energy.gov/manufacturing/pdfs/ict_brochure.pdf "Ghana e-Waste Country Assessmen". Ghana e-Waste Country Assessment. SBC e-Waste Africa Project. http://ewasteguide.info/files/Amoyaw-Osei_2011_GreenAd-Empa.pdf. Retrieved.29 August 2011 J.M. Juran, juran on planning for quality, new York; the free press, 1981. L.P English, ‘the golden age of information,’ DM Review, January 1997. Phillip b. Crosby, quality is free, new York; penguin group, 1979. “States Where You Can’t Throw E-waste Into the Trash.” Electronics Take Back Coalition. 27 Read More