Evaluation of an IS in an Organization - Assignment Example

Introduction Our industries, factories, organizations, SME’s are revolutionized significantly with the aid of information technology. The manual procedures which were conducted by physical interaction are now integrated in to computerized software programs and systems. The automation processes are now only a few mouse clicks away. These systems enabled the organizations to get accurate and efficient information almost instantly. Information technology is penetrated in to each and every aspect of this world including corporate organizations, small businesses, online businesses, cell phones, home computers, fax machines, emails, Internet, and our day to day activities. Hence, Information technology is a part of our lives, culture and society. On the other hand, the robust revolution of information technology advancements has enabled itself almost essential for every organization. The adaptation of information systems enables the business to automate the manual processes, productivity and reliability efficiently. The objective is to automate organizational processes and decisions with the help of information systems. These organizations use computing technology to support the internal part of their information processing systems. The objectives are to optimize the throughput and productivity at lowest cost. Evaluating information systems is listed in one of the most crucial aspects of this industry. Computer scientist showed the propensity to concentrate their efforts in terms of developing methods for evaluating the performance of information systems. The values which they consider as parameters to evaluate information systems are; the total throughput of the system, CPU utilization and processing a given job at lowest cost (, Oxford Journals). Today, information systems equipped with latest technology are mandatory to be incorporated in every corporate organization. However, gaining benefits from the new systems need an extensive consideration on various factors related to the success or failure of these systems. 2 Evaluating Information Systems The key elements for evaluating information systems are as follows: 2.1 Theory of Change The evaluation of the information systems should begin with the efforts of “theory of change”. The staff should be clear regarding the expectation from the new implemented technology within the organization. A clear understanding will certainly become a fundamental component of evaluation (, Innovation Network). 2.2 Clarity of Purpose The purpose should be clear. The clarity of purpose is essential. Each and every individual should know the technological expectations. Why, and for whom, questions need to be asked and answered frequently by a group of key constituents including staff, end users and people who are involved in implementing new systems (, Innovation Network). 2.3 Scope of Efforts The staff should be aware of limitation related to internal capacity buildings. Staff may receive more queries from customers, or the customers are referred to other resources. This does not ensure effective handling of client queries. 2.4 Grounding The key workers who are involved in the transformation must possess working knowledge of the limitations of information technology. 2.5 Trusted Technical Assistance For making educated purchasing decisions, trusted technical assistance plays an important role for small nonprofit without the in house expertise. 2.6 Training Training is the most significant key to the success of technology. Organization must provide ongoing training to use new tools. 3 Benefits of Information Systems The information systems certainly have various impacts on the organization’s overall performance and efficiency. There are negatives impacts as well as positive impacts. While implementing information systems, organizations must analyze the challenges and responsibilities associated with them. 3.1 Eliminating Redundancy The elimination of tasks or processes having redundancy results in cost savings. The manual processes require human efforts which are time consuming. If these processes are handled by computerized processes, human efforts can be utilized in other tasks. Information systems plays a vital role for reducing redundancy by human intervention, increases staff productivity and boost efficiency in performance. 3.2 Supporting business Processes The requirement of supporting the business processes of organizations is the prime objective of an information system. It improves the overall performance of the organization by automating the processes. There is a high level of accuracy for outputs of tasks handled by the computing systems. Employees also contribute in terms of entering the parameters, values, and data in the correct way. Efficiency and data integrity performs simultaneously to provide the business to maximum efficiency. 3.3 Profitability By combining the factors including redundancy, supporting business processes and adequate planning, information system meets the expectations of organizations. With proper planning, organizations can increase profits by reducing the overhead costs. The implementation of Information technology certainly involves large cost figures. If proper planning is implemented, results related to profitability can also be in large figures. 4 Challenges of Information Systems Www.businessdictionary.com defines business information systems as the ”Combination of hardware, software, infrastructure and trained personnel organized to facilitate planning, control, coordination, and decision making”. Investment in information technology certainly gives the competitive advantage in business of this evolutionary digital economy. To align with current competitors, organizations must implement information systems otherwise they will be left behind. The integration of information systems with the current business functions of the organization involves strategic planning and decision making processes. The challenges in the context of businesses, information systems must support the business processes and functions. 4.1 Organizational Change Organization change categorizes itself as one of the most significant barriers when retransforming the business environment in to information technology enabled environments. Employees who do not have computer skills do not encourage this change. There is a possibility of eliminating staff productivity when appropriate trainings are not conducted. 4.2 Development Cost The development cost to design and implement information systems is always high. The cost also depends whether the organization has legacy systems already implemented. If there are no legacy systems then the cost is relatively much higher as compared to the implementation of systems in legacy networks. The organizations want to be ensured with the new technology deliverables. Deliverables involves long term benefits, mile stones and strategic goals. At the same time organizations also ensure that the cost does not out weight the return on investment. In some cases the projects are delayed or avoided due to huge initial investment involved. 4.2.1 Monitoring the Development Process The organizations make sure to determine the efficiency and accuracy of this development process so there will be no hurdles in terms of time and cost. A thorough system analysis is required before the technological change in order to ensure that the information systems full fill all the requirements of the business and operations. 4.3 Security The information systems enhance the productivity, efficiency and profitability for the organization significantly. On the other hand these systems are also vulnerable to potential and existing threats. The information which is stored in these systems needs to be protected .The mission critical is highly confidential and can generate great loss in terms of revenue and business for the organization. Security policies must be tailored in strict compliance. Although the security procedures do not return any revenue, strict security hardware and software must be incorporated to handle security threats, virus attacks, and hacking attacks. There are situations where organizations conducting marketing or sales business, do not enforce sufficient security controls on their information systems. The results are devastating including revenue loss, or bankruptcy due to leak of goals, financial information and milestones which might be beneficial for the competitors. 5 Tesco PLC UK Detailed Profile The origin of Tesco was started in 1919 when Jack Cohen started selling groceries from the stall in London. Since then Tesco has claimed itself as one of the leading food and grocery retailers in the world and has over 2000 store worldwide (, Tesco PLC - Our history ). It was rewarded to adopt award winning online strategy (Award-winning online strategy for Tesco. 2009). Over the years, the organization has focused on maintaining a successful level of satisfaction for customers. Tesco diversified stores in new areas with new services and products. In 2000, Tesco was representing only 8% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). As 65% operations of Tesco selling space are dispersed across the globe representing 53% of GDP. In 1997 the international business generated 1.8% profits. In 2010 the profit grew to 22% which is a remarkable achievement. The organizations recorded revenues till February 2010 were $ 5,494.1 million. The stores are dispersed in Europe, Asia and the Unites States. Tesco currently has 472,000 employees. For achieving customer loyalty, Tesco is focusing on maintaining a business model by value added retailing. In spite the recession, Tesco was able to meet customer satisfaction by launching schemes for instance double points, Club cards, Discount brands, Market Value and finest collection ready meals. By implementing the value added retailing, the sales figures were immaculate also changing customer behavior. In a low growth market this strategy was a successful one for Tesco (DATAMONITOR: Tesco PLC. 2010). Tesco as an international retailer included a variety of non food merchandise in an effective way and represent itself with a variety of products, not just a grocery store. Category types of stores include Tesco Extra, Tesco Superstores, Tesco Metro, Tesco Express, One Stop and Tesco Home plus (, Tesco - Current Prices, Offers, Deals, Tesco Clubcard, Tesco Personal Finance). The organization acknowledged its existence strongly with the effective and aggressive expansion in the market shares across all categories. 5.1 Tesco Plc UK Information Systems To make Tesco different from all others, enormous investment has been conducted. The front end of Tesco includes the introduction of new offers and services every now and then. The back end is supported by the information systems to ensure proper implementation. Although Tesco is a multi-vendor environment, Customer Relationship management (CRM), Supply Chain management (SCM) and Entity Resource Planning (ERP) are the major ones. 5.2 CRM(Information System Supporting Customer Royalty) The implementation of CRM added new technique for interacting with customers. The customer feedback scheme was launched, enabling customer to give their feedback regarding Tesco services via SMS, phone or email free of charge. The next feature for providing better customer services was the ‘Live Expert’ (, Tesco Implements ClairVista's Live Expert for Real-Time Expert Service. - Free Online Library). The kiosk with interactive display was installed in some selected stores. Customers can select the topics available with the touch screen. If customers want to know an expert opinion about any electronic product, they can interact with the kiosk. The most experienced technical support personnel will give the briefing on the kiosk regarding the product. One more customer loyalty service was launched named as ‘Right Now on demand CRM’ (, Tesco Deploys RightNow April 4, 2009). Before buying any product, customer can communicate with the technical staff when buying technology products online or from a store. The technical staff can respond instantly via chat or email regarding customer queries while buying any technology product. 5.3 SCM(Information System supporting Supply Chain Management) The supply chain management is the most complex of domains in Tesco. Total 4,813 stores are wide spread in 14 countries across the globe (DATAMONITOR: Tesco PLC. 2010). The organization needs to focus on key areas in order to adopt a successful supply chain management. State of the art SCM system is up to the task: 5.3.1 Cost Efficiency The transportation and cargo documents can be exchanged electronically.  SCM system facilitate shippers, freight forwarders to rationalize document handling without the financial and time speculation which is vital by the manual and conventional document delivery systems. 5.3.2 Distribution Structure SCM systems supporting Electronic commerce features enhanced Tesco to be more flexible in order to manage the vastly complex movement of products and information between businesses, suppliers and customers. SCM secures the association among customers and distribution centers. Customers can manage the vastly complex movement of products and information via supply chain. 5.3.3 Customer Orientation The E-commerce feature of SCM plays a vital role in the sustainability of logistics and transportation services for both internal and external customers. It enabled the organization to provide improved services to their clientele. The efficient supply chain management system of Tesco increased the growth of the e-commerce enterprise that is significant to the business at the same time lowering the operating costs. Customers will be able to track shipments, access price information, set delivery orders, and deposit freight bills. 5.3.4 Online delivery tracking Online delivery tracking gives instant order information for customers from the website. The customers can track and verify the delivery of the products. The transportation cost of customer and recital can be evaluated. The customers can negotiate the payment options as well. 5.4 ERP (Information System Supporting Decision and Business Forecasting) For the demonstration and operation of a high level view, Tesco has implemented a state of the art ERP Oracle financials (, Tesco - CIO 100 Company - CIO UK Magazine). The ERP prime objective was to add these features to empower the financial processes; Centralized banking, MOAC, Sub ledger Accounting and Ledger Sets, eBTax, Global intercompany system, Reporting using XML Publisher and R12. 6 Tesco Plc UK Information System Limitations Tesco has implemented a multi vendor environment which is devastating to manage. Tesco has implemented above 200 applications, it is extremely difficult to troubleshoot and ask for support to different vendors. This will be time consuming and not easy to manage. The organization must adopt a standardized software policy for making troubleshooting and maintenance tasks easier. Information systems are highly sensitive and require 24 / 7 monitoring. The budgeting of these complex systems is extremely complex and time consuming. The systems are not tailored to be updated automatically. Human intervention is required for this process which is time consuming and may disrupt services as well. MIS reports also takes a lot of time due to more than one MIS systems. The staff requires regular training and time which may also include sufficient cost along with variation in staff productivity. It is difficult for the staff to adopt frequently changing new systems and functionalities. If wrong information is fed in the system, pandemonium is created in the environment due to large number of systems. 7 Conclusion As the Information technology is evolving, organizations are adapting new technologies in order to be competitive in this current digital economy. Before implementing new technology in organization, evaluating is an essential process which needs through investigation. The proper planning of information systems is beneficial for organizations. However, implementation cost is huge, information system increase organization productivity and efficiency. They also eliminate redundancy enabling staff productivity. To protect information systems, strict security compliance and protection is required, as the loss is huge if the network is breached. Tesco was the prime example to utilize information systems in terms of productivity, efficiency, redundancy and implementation of systems supporting business functions. CRM, SCM and ERP were selected to show the functionality and integration of these software models in to business logic. References , information system definition . Available: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information-system.html [1/10/2011, 2011]. , Innovation Network . Available: http://www.innonet.org/client_docs/File/Eval_tech.pdf [1/10/2011, 2011]. Award-winning online strategy for Tesco. 2009. Centaur Communications. , Oxford Journals | Mathematics & Physical Sciences | Computer Journal . Available: http://comjnl.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/4/290.full.pdf [1/10/2011, 2011]. DATAMONITOR: Tesco Plc (2010). Datamonitor Plc. , Tesco Implements ClairVista's Live Expert for Real-Time Expert Service. - Free Online Library . Available: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tesco+Implements+ClairVista's+Live+Expert+for+Real-Time+Expert...-a0189162948 [1/10/2011, 2011]. , Tesco - Current Prices, Offers, Deals, Tesco Clubcard, Tesco Personal Finance . Available: http://www.supermarket.co.uk/tesco.html [1/10/2011, 2011]. , Tesco PLC - Our history . Available: http://www.tescoplc.com/plc/about_us/tesco_story/ [1/10/2011, 2011]. , Tesco Deploys RightNow April 4, 2009 | RightNow . Available: http://www.rightnow.com/crm-news-7241.php [1/10/2011, 2011]. , Tesco - CIO 100 Company - CIO UK Magazine . Available: http://www.cio.co.uk/cio100/tesco/4137/?yr=2007 [1/10/2011, 2011]. Read More