Sage E-Business Consultancy - Essay Example

?Sage E-Business Consultancy Report Knowledge and employment of current technologies is the key to the success of any business. Adapting to technological advancement is a matter of survival in the business and above all it can bring the goodies and benefits, most wanted for a business. E-Business is not a new technology anymore and if some businesses are avoiding it they are already late. The economic cost of implementing an e-business solution is far less than the benefit it brings to the business. Return on Investment (ROI) is major concern for all businesses and boutique business is no exception. This report will focus some major e-business concern that the Sage administration can use to assess the ROI on e-business implementation. The report will also focus various aspects of the business that will have a positive impact on adapting the suggested e-business model. Putting it simple Dave (2009, p. 4) states, “E-business has introduced new opportunities for small and large organizations to compete in the global market place.” The trend of using information in getting the competitive advantage is getting more and more acceptability by intelligent business managers. In a fast pace business environment today the intelligent use of information can provide an edge in decision making process. Business profitability heavily relies on the decisions that the management has to takes in nick of time. A good decision can bring more business to the company and a bad decision can play havoc with the business. The sell-side of boutique business has special concern for ensuring and maximizing its item display management. Moreover, the emerging trends in fashion industry can have a very positive impact on decision making process. The increasing number of young online users is of special interest for boutique business as it can promote its business objectives rather easily by engaging this lot. Dave (2009, p. 4) has also pointed out this when he states, “In 2006, the global number of internet users passed 1 billion for the first time and in many countries over half the adult population is online.” The e-business model is a complete solution. It includes several internal and external system modules to cover the business operations. The internal system modules such as Human Resource Management (HRM), Finance, Stock Control or Inventory Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) etc and the external system modules such as Customer Care Management, Display Services, Orders Management, Trends Management System etc. form part of this e-business model. These internal and external systems are part of Knowledge Management (KM) system which provides decision support to the managers. Wei et. al.(2011, p. 235) has pointed out the use of this KM model, “By support of basic system modules, perfect KM could finish the process to collect, arrange, spread and apply the knowledge.” The e-business model for boutique is supposed to provide decision support through focused and targeted information for sell and buy side operations of the business. Some basic features and recommendations of such KM system are outlined in the following lines; (a) The system development phases should be properly outlined and a strict timeline should be followed for gradual migration on e-business information systems. (b) Priority should be assigned to the modules which have a direct impact on business growth. (c) E-sell (the selling side of the e-business) must offer the convenience that can move the customer to e-business and customer should find it easy, effective and rapid to purchase goods online then coming all the way to boutique outlets. (d) E-sell order placement should be very convenient and proper feedback mechanism should be in place to keep close contact with the customer. (e) The objective of facilitating customer should remain the top priority of e-sell system and it functional aspect should not cause delay. (f) The customer time engagement should be minimized. (g) The minimal input required forms should be used where the input is facilitated by built in lists, pictures, combo boxes, radio button, checkboxes etc. (h) The ultimate objective of e-sell system is to provide management with customer trends while ensure in time deliveries. (i) Similarly e-buy (the buy side of e-business) should be used extensively to overcome the supply chain issues. (j) Finding best products at best prices within manufacturing department deadlines is the core objective of e-buy. (k) The system should ensure the close contact with suppliers and should be integrated with the e-stock to keep stocks at an economical level. (l) The ultimate objective of e-buy is provide the precise picture of stocks in hand, stock in pipeline and suitable suppliers who can offer stock if there a requirement. (m) HRM module should cover each and every aspect of the employees to facilitate decision support at managerial level. (n) The management should know exactly the performance of every employee to ensure justified promotions, rewards, and discipline. (o) The objective of internal systems should be to streamline the company processes. (p) The e-business should bring visible changes in the internal processes and there should not only be a time cut in process completions but also the efficiency of the overall business should be improved. (q) Business processes should fully digitized the internal processes and as a result company should incur less expenses in maintaining boutiques operations. (r) The e-business should not only cover the selling and buying operations but every business transaction should be digitized regardless of its role in boutique finances. (s) The e-business system should cover both the business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) financial and non-financial transactions. The effects of Internal Systems on business The implementation of internal systems should bring visible changes in the business model of the Sage boutique. There should be an enormous expansion in boutiques market shares and the boutique should react to these changes instantly. The products line is expected to widen to meet the needs of a more diversified consumer lineup. The Sage boutiques marketing strategy will have to meet the needs and demands of these new potential markets. The reach of boutique to the consumer markets can only meet the challenges with better adoption of e-business practices. The Sage is required to reshape its business model from the traditional communication channel to new electronic market channels through extensive web presence and paperless processes materialized through these internal systems. Impact of UK Government Initiatives The Sage boutique should respond to UK government Initiatives for e-business promotion. These initiatives provide a golden opportunity to capture new potential market while minimizing the investments. It is important to understand the e-business or e-commerce is a very broad concept and it covers almost every aspect of business as well as the government functionaries. The UK government’s spending in the e-commerce industry has increased many times to provide better facilities and infrastructure to businesses. The infrastructural changes and governmental support is pivotal in the expansion of e-culture throughout UK. The UK government initiative in the areas of information security, encryption has given trust to consumer in e-commerce and this has a very positive impact on e-business. Moreover today’s UK has a knowledge driven economy which is based on the success of e-commerce initiatives that were realized a decade ago. Business can now come and flourish in the environment set by the UK government long stretched effort in the e-commerce industry. Conclusion The Sage Boutique is expected to flourish on the implementation of e-business model. There are several rational to this inference but the first and far most is the over whelming increase in the use of internet and other online services. The emergence and growth of global economies has change the dimension of businesses. Today, e-commerce is not a requirement but a necessity for businesses without which there is no real growth can be achieved. Local markets are shrinking whereas the global markets are expanding and global market share can only be drawn by the businesses if they can keep pace with the emerging technological advancement in the field of e-commerce. Boutique business is a very good candidate for e-business as it has supply chains and market place all over the globe. It can adapt its product line to cultural changes very easily and can bring new dimension to local cultural values. The international consumer is also open to these advancements in e-commerce and is ready to adopt changes in life style. The Sage boutique can cash on this global acceptability and change. References Dave Chaffey 2009, E-Business and E-Commerce Management, 3rd eds, Taj Press, New Delhi, India. Wei William Song, Changxuan Wan, Wita Wojtkowski, Henry Linger, Shenghua Xu, Yuansheng Zhong & Gregory Wojtkowski 2011, Information Systems Development: Asian Experiences, Springer Science + Business Media, London, UK. Read More