Developing Business Information System Solutions - EquipHire - Case Study Example

Developing Business Information System Solutions Name: Institute: Developing Business Information System Solutions Introduction Business Information System (BIS) has influenced the overall performance of many commercial companies, whereby in the last decade tremendous achievements were attained in service delivery, networking customer reactions, and profitability. Nearly all organisation employees are coerced to cope with the demands of information technology (IT) dominating global market platform. As a result, customers have benefited from enhanced service delivery and networking, which unavoidably improves business profitability and competitiveness. However, despite these achievements, EquipHire has witnessed acute downturn in terms of Business Information System since it rests on the creative capability of the human being. Modern development theory posits that commercial sector advances influence long-run growth with the fundamental function of EquipHire being provision of efficient mechanism for business transactions. With the expansion of the economy, SMEs such as EquipHire have endured hardships since they do lack the strength related with large companies. In this regard, EquipHire have to faucet IT power and a connected information system (IS) to remain both customers oriented and competitive. Aslan et al. (2012) considers BIS as the answer for SMEs survival, as observed presently BIS market has become the largest information technology investments globally. Description of the business Presently, to compete in the competitive world, organizations need to have an excellent technology and utilize the available resources efficiently to enhance the overall performance. Information systems (IS) develop a crucial keyword in accelerating information technology businesses, but it possesses a distributed architecture established on unfixed nodes, and safety issues outlined in services provided. Essentially, emergence of BIS has rapidly changed everyone’s intuition of infrastructure structure, development paradigms, and software delivery. Today, BIS is achieving heightened popularity, worry are being raise. With the increase in ubiquitous furnishing of resources based computing in the past decades, BIS has been founded to provide relevant innovation in distinct manner. According to Low et al. (2011), progress of computing history that developed from immense tabulating devices and mainframe architectures that dominantly provided calculating resources through decentralized and transmitted client server structures to computers, and in the end to ubiquitous handheld device. The advancements achieved in the past few decades in computing techniques, particularly in Grid computing permitted introduction of several computing paradigms. Low et al. (2011) outline these paradigms, and they include utility computing, cyber-infrastructure, ubiquitous computing, e-infrastructure, and Cloud computing. Even though, many scholars believe that these BIS-established technologies can introduce an effect of radical change in the Internet, actual incorporation of BIS services in business is still way under anticipations. Marston et al. (2011) posit that transformation from classical business IT paradigms to internet computing remains the enormous challenge in business platform, despite all the progresses that braced this transformation. Furthermore, intricacy in the available value structures and formula for achieving cost efficiency practices are the primary challenges endured in the BIS. Brumec and Vrček (2013) believe that intricacy challenge the main factors that contribute to weak business deployment, less sustainability, and low adoption. The key information required to successfully operate the business EquipHire management should adopt ERP systems given that the contribution of ERP packages such as SAP AG, and Oracle to the financial industry world is remarkable. ERP systems will provide a platform where EquipHire will access as much information as they require hence increasing their efficiency. This feature will enable EquipHire to take a rapid pullback to competitive compressions and opportunities in the market. As a result, EquipHire will manage to sustain tightened supply chain links, thus reducing inventory leading to production of products with flexible configuration. Benefits obtained from ERP implementation can be grouped to either tangible or intangible. The tangible benefits will include, increase productivity, staff reduction, reduction on IT and purchase costs, and improvement in management of cash flow. While the intangible benefit will include computer platforms standardization, Y2K compliance, increased flexibility, and improved customer responsiveness. Development of web-based technology information will start moving smoothly through the EquipHire value chain; this development will seduce many competitive companies to add ERP in their functionality in order to achieve their set objectives. Furthermore, integrating E-commerce with ERP software will produce a better solution to inflexible functionality. Long before considering ‘E-commerce’, the implemented ERP systems will deliver as monolithic code, which can fail to contemporize ideas. Basically, componentization is the process of breaking down a giant ERP system into individual units that work together while components are code pieces that can be exchanged betwixt applications. The EquipHire management can as well adopt cloud computing whose ability to measure up services at a minimal warning prevents the need for underused servers in peak demand expectation. Consequently, when EquipHire has unexpected application wedge in computing above its installed volume, then it can plea for more computing resource. Cloud computing will provide EquipHire with the ability to productively utilize time conveyed computing resources. Cloud computing will permits EquipHire to overcome excess needs during those two months without enduring additional costs of hosting a custom infrastructure for the rest of the year. Perilously, cloud implementation will contain progressive safety technologies, which are mostly available because of information centralization and universal structure. In its quintessence, cloud computing has the ability to address numerous shortcomings endured by traditional architectures due to its unique attribute Moreover, EquipHire can use Amazon S3or EC2 services to offer services; thus, EquipHire can offer services from the cloud directly with assistance from application service providers (ASPs), Network Authentication, and Authorization Service (NAAS). Finally, EquipHire management can as well adopt Business process re-engineering (BRP), which is an inclusive process that applies a dramatic/radical change in the way business processes principles are performed. BRP can focus on designing and analyzing processes within EquipHire, which will help it improve their services, reduce operation cost and out-smart their competitors. In addition, BRP will help to identify superfluous redundant activities and eliminate them. Moreover, BRP might visualize on new work strategies, contained in the design process activity and the implementation of alteration in respect to organizational dimensions (Adewoye et al., 2011. BIS requirements A quick review of present BIS studies indicate that diverse strategies for implementing BIS systems based on organizational, employees, and technical strategies has failed tremendously in most organizations. According to Subramoniam et al. (2009), BIS organizational implementation has been recorded as a sophisticated process, where altering administration, communication and stakeholder participation are vital in an equal manner as the technical implementation team. Furthermore, the hardships endured in conveying expertise efficiently amid the distinct actors in BIS system implementation such as user, supplier, and implementation partner has resulted to a heightening concern based on how knowledge management (KM) may reinforce this process (Kwahk & Lee, 2008). Annamalai and Ramayah (2011) defines Knowledge management as a planned and progressing administration of processes and activities for gaining level knowledge to improve competitiveness through excellent utilization and generation of personal and collective knowledge resources. Furthermore, some of the problems that management has to subdue include the recognition and eradication of diverse knowledge transfer limits in technical jargon form, language, and encouragement. In this regard, knowledge management may provide an excellent basis for BIS success. The utilization of knowledge management in BIS implementation can allay the implementation process and offer synergetic influence in the advanced shape of BIS system application. Besides, research that is more scientific is required in order to comprehend the definite benefits that can be attained from the argued consummating processes (Kwahk & Lee, 2008). Recommendation and Conclusion In this regard, EquipHire can utilise the suggested BIS systems to integrate core business functions such as finance, logistics, and human resource there were other processes. With development of web-based technology information has started moving smoothly through the company’s value chain, this development seduced a lot of companies to add it in their functionality in order to achieve their set objectives. Integrating E-business with BIS software will produce a better solution to inflexible functionality of the organization. Through web-based components like Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) or data based components EquipHire will manage to select various components from different vendors instead of a single vendor. In this regard, the suggested BIS system can be grouped into various modules depending on the functionality, enabling the vendor to fix or add functionality in the system without affecting other functional modules. The need for flexible system will compel EquipHire to assemble the models to improve the required flexibility. This flexible customization will come when vendors allow their customers to choose components for themselves then assemble it to their satisfaction. It is worth noting that, customer expectation and demands can increase due to the advancement of technology. EquipHire management should realize that momentous supply chain disturbances can diminish the company’s profits, reduce their market share, and lead to over budget, increase expenditure, and intimidate manufacture and supply. As a result, the company may fail to produce, vend or distribute. Such disturbances as well can smash up the company integrity with stakeholders, by this means steering up the cost of capital. In modern’s impulsive epoch with industries and, purposely, supply chains are turning out to be more and more universal, the manufacturing setting is greatly influenced by ambiguity, which probably can become startling disruptions. Thus, EquipHire management should strive to implement the suggested BIS systems and follow the BIS requirements closely to succeed and gain competitive advantage. References Annamalai, C. & Ramayah, T., 2011. A review of ERP implementation in India. International Journal of Business and Systems Research (IBSR), 5(4), 406-421. Aslan, B., Stevenson, M. & Hendry, L. C., 2012. Enterprise Resource Planning systems: An assessment of applicability to Make-To-Order companies. Computers in Industry, 63(7), 692-706. Brumec, S., & Vrček, N. (2013). Cost effectiveness of commercial computing clouds. Information Systems , 38 (4), 495-508. Kwahk, K.-Y. & Lee, J.-N., 2008. The role of readiness for change in ERP implementation: Theoretical bases and empirical validation. Information & Management, 45(7), 474–481. Low, C., Chen, Y., & Wu, M. (2011). Understanding the determinants of cloud computing adoption. Industrial Management + Data Systems , 111 (7), 1006-1023. Marston, S., Zhi Li, S. B., Zhang, J., & Ghalsasi, A. (2011). Cloud computing — The business perspective. Decision Support Systems , 51 (1), 176-189. Subramoniam, S., Tounsi, M. & Krishnankutty, K. V., 2009. The role of BPR in the implementation of ERP systems. Business Process Management Journal, 15(5), 653-668. Read More