Business Information Systems and Enterprises Resource Planning - Essay Example

Running head: BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS Word count 2169 Introduction Based on the need to provide quality brands in the right time and at the right condition, companies emulate various business information systems. Key aspects that are effectively managed by the use of the appropriate information system include technology, employees and data. Bognor Marine Watercraft (BMW) is a UK based firm that specializes in the production and selling of watercrafts and various components that are used in the maintenance of its products. As the demand for BMW products increases, the firm has benefited from a positive relationship with its customers including non boat owners. To ensure that its operations are smooth and that the needs of its customers are met, BMW emulates various departments that include finance, warehousing, manufacturing, human resources, marketing, and distribution among others. In order to remain competitive in the UK market, the company has embarked on an expansion plan that will result to increased number of investors. In addition, the company has embarked on adoption of technology that will be vital in curbing the various problems that are currently been experienced in the manufacturing, design, human resources and customer care departments. This paper seeks to discuss how BMW can use technology to address managerial and other issues that is affecting its operations. Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP) One of the major issues that are experienced in the warehouses is the uncertainty in the delivery of raw materials. As a result, the workers in the production facilities are not sure on when to start working on any order as specified by the consumers. One of the major strategies that BMW should adopt in order to improve the rate of information flow from external stakeholders including the suppliers who are based in Middle East and Far East is enterprises resource planning (ERP). ERP is a vital information system that enhances the flow of information between all the departments within a firm as well as with other stakeholders (O’Brien, 1999). Based on the need to satisfy its customers by providing their products in a timely manner, it is imperative for BMW to put in place a two-tier ERP. This entails use of software and hardware that will allow the company to run two ERP concurrently. For example, BMW should establish production centers in various regions thus reducing the time taken to deliver the raw materials to the main production center. Similarly, the company should establish a database that has the information such as the telephone numbers of the individuals responsible to delivering the raw materials as well as their emails. In this way, the company will be in a position to track the transportation of raw materials from the suppliers to the subsidiaries production centers or to the main production center. Cost benefit analysis and online accounts Being a manufacturing company, BMW should not overlook the composition of their workforce. Key problem that is currently been experienced in the manufacturing department is that it is unclear how many staff the company require to meet the increased demand for its products. To address this issue, it is vital for BMW to emulate an effective scheduling of its activities. This entails allocating each of the employees a particular task and the actual time that it requires for it to be accomplished. To identify the number of workers required in the manufacturing department, it is essential for the supervisors to undertake a cost-benefit analysis that entails computing the cost of producing a single component and the benefits arising (Laudonet al, 2009). This can be done by determining the hourly wage for the employees and the sales arising from the products. In this way, the supervisors will notice the components that are generating more profits thus increasing the number of staff. To identify individuals with the necessary skills, it is fundamental to come up with clear job description. This includes clearly stating the requirements of new employees in terms of academic achievement and experience in the industry. One of the major strategies that BMW should emulate is use of online accounts. This entails retaining a database that indicates the names, contacts, skills and other details of all the individuals who have applied for the jobs in all the departments. This means that once a new vacancy emerges, BMW human resources personnel are aware of the location of potential employees and by calling him or her the company will not face inadequate employees. By use of internet hiring, the company will also have a large pool of applicants thus making it possible to select the most qualified workforce to undertake various tasks within all the departments. One of the major problems facing the design team is poor communication. As a result, the team is not using past experiences and available information on their various tasks. To deal with this issue, BMW managers should establish a data base that is easily accessible by members of the design team. In this way, design team will have a point of reference during the modeling of the company products thus avoiding the cases of remodeling some products due to lack of adequate information. Taking into consideration the significance of the designing department in BMW Company, it is vital for the company managers to hold regular meetings with design staff. Through such meetings, departmental managers will notify all the employees on the various designs and components that the company is emulating at any given time. Likewise, BMW should regularly update its website by indicating the new designs that the company is adopting. As a result, the level of awareness among the design team thus eliminating the issues of remodeling and redesigning. Sales force is another area that is facing communication problems. Based on the fact that the manufacturing department is guided by the information from the sales team, it is necessary to ensure that communication is enhanced between the two departments. This implies that the company should emulate a knowledge management system (KMS) (Spiro et al, 2008). This entails timely collection and dissemination of information to the relative authority. For example, all the members of the sales force should maintain a document or an order from their clients thus is further scanned and emailed to the manufacturing department (David, 2010). In this way, workers in the production facilities will not be caught by surprise. Customer feedback is a prudent aspect in any company regardless of the nature of its products. One of the key importances of customer feedback is that it enables the production of brands that are in line with the needs of the consumers. In its endeavor to emulate technology, BMW should establish an avenue through its website where customers can give feedback regarding the level of their satisfaction among other issues. This should also be done by opening an email address that customers can use to communicate with the company marketing teams and managers. Another way that BMW should use to ensure that the contributions of its customers are taken into consideration is the use of suggestion boxes that can be located in the company premises. By depositing their suggestion in these boxes, customer’s feedback will easily become accessible by the managers. In the contemporary business arena, use of social sites such as face book and twitter has become part of doing business. In this regard, BMW should establish an official page where customers can give feedback that will go directly to the concerned party. This is a major strategy that would lead to a strong positive relationship between BMW and its customers both in the local and international markets. For the marketing team to be successful in their campaigns, it is worth to use e-marketing and social sites in their activities. This is based on the fact that majority of young people including celebrities have now turned to internet during their purchasing process (Kurtz, 2010). Similarly, the company should use digital bill boards especially along the highways thus attracting the attention of large group of customers. BMW human resources and finance departments are also facing information storage and communication problems. As a result, the company is not in a position to meet the deadline. In this regard, there is need to emulate appropriate software such as QuickBooks accounting package that track customer order and company estimates. For example, once the finance department receives an order, the human resources are notified the exact date when the product is needed thus eliminating unnecessary delays that may put off regular customers. On their part, the human resources managers should undertake regular evaluation of the company tasks to ensure that any deviation is noted and steps taken to avoid delays (Gokhan and Needy, 2010). This calls for regular updates from the employees on the progress of their tasks an aspect that requires constant use of emails and telephone calls within the company. To avoid the high costs of transporting and stressful condition experienced by the drivers, the company should maintain a database that indicates customer orders and date of their dispatch. This implies that the company should store all the products that are transported in the same day in one single store. In this way, high costs associated with transporting small payloads will be significantly reduced. The chart below indicates the process flow diagram that BMW should employ. Suppliers Sales executives and managers Manufacturing Designing Distribution Management Customers Marketing team Merits and potential issues of BMW adopting various information systems By the use of various information systems, BMW will be in a position to identify its weaknesses and strengths as a result of adequate storage of employee’s record and customer’s information (Laudon and Laudon, 2010). For example, by maintaining a database that indicates the location and the contacts of its customers, BMW will notice its customer segments thus making it emulate effective marketing strategies to maintain its loyal customers. Reduction is costs of operations leading to high profit are other merits that BMW will enjoy. It is worth to note that as compared to traditional methods of data storage and marketing, use of computers is cheap and efficient. Even though the initial costs of installing the information systems will be high, the benefits arising thereof will outshine such costs thus raising the company profits in the long run. Use of information system will improve the overall image of the company (Pant and Hsu, 1995). As a result, BMW will attract large number of skilled employees from competing firms and other companies thus improving the company workforce leading to more production. Timely delivery of products is another merit that BMW will experience. Based on the regular tracking of production process, the company will significantly reduce the time taken to deliver their products to its consumers. This will not only create a strong relationship between the company and its customers but also it will result to high level of customer trust and loyalty. Through the provision of feedback system, BMW will have a chance of producing brands that are inline with customer requirements (Lucey, 2005). Consequently, majority of customers will undertake repeated purchases thus making the company sales to increase remarkably. In its marketing strategies, BMW will use information system to undertake extensive promotion and advertising of its brands thus increasing customer awareness. In this way, the challenges that the company marketers are currently facing will be addressed. Another notable merit of adopting the information systems is security of the company data. It is worth to note that one of the aspects that jeopardize the operations of any firm is loss of vital information that relates to finance, marketing and employees. However, with the use of secured information systems, BMW will not be exposed to various risks that are related to data loss and unauthorized access of the company vital information. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that as companies put in place various strategies to face off their competitors, the use of information system in all the departments cannot be overlooked. In the procurement process, information systems will help BMW to be certain on when to receive the raw materials that are used in the production facilities. Similarly, the human resources will use the technology to maintain close contacts with potential employees who have online accounts. This will make the company to fill any vacant position that urgently arises. In its part, the finance departments will install accounting packages including QuickBooks that is important in tracking customer orders and company estimates. Information systems are also vital in marketing. As the competition becomes stiff in the local and international markets, firms are using e-marketing to advertise their products. Through the use of social sites, companies have taken initiatives to establish official pages that are used by all the stakeholders including customers to search for their favorite products (Peter, 2000). As indicated above, through the use of information systems, BMW will experience various benefits. These includes identification of weaknesses and strengths, timely delivery of products, improved image, extensive marketing, security of company information and maintaining of customer trust through production of products that are compatible with their needs. References David, B. 2010. Supply Chain Management Best Practices. New York: John Wiley &Sons. Gokhan, M and Needy, N. 2010. Development of a Simultaneous Design for Supply Chain Process for the Optimization of the Product Design and Supply Chain Configuration Problem.. Engineering Management Journal 22 (4): 20–30. Kurtz, D. 2010. Contemporary Marketing Mason. OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Laudon, K and Laudon, J. 2010. Management information systems: Managing the digital firm. NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Laudon, et al. 2009. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. New York: Prentice Hall. Lucey, T. 2005. Management Information Systems. London: Thomson. O’Brien, J. 1999. Management Information Systems – Managing Information Technology in the Internetworked Enterprise. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. Pant, S and Hsu, C.1995. Strategic Information Systems Planning. A Review, Information Resources Management Association International Conference, May 21–24, Atlanta. Peter, D. 2000. Value-Based Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Corporate Growth and Shareholder Value. New York: Wiley. Spiro et al, 2008. Management of a sales force. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Read More