Of Technology Opportunities for GLM's Information - Literature review Example

?Review of Technology Opportunities for GLM’s Information Number Executive summary ERP is an enterprise application that integrates the processes that are done and performed in the whole organisations so that they are managed and processed centrally. The review topic is about the extent and the potential benefits of ERP enterprise in Greens Lime Mouldings Ltd. (GLM). The purpose of this review topic is to assess the status of ERP software implementation at GLM Company. The use of mobile technologies is also seen to be increasing. This new technology has been seen to have a lot of potential. With the advent of information technology, there is a lot to be desired with the adoption of mobile applications. The mobile phone technology is proving to be a simple and effective method of managing applications and businesses. There is also the technology of customer relationship management software that has been used and employed extensively. With the use of this enterprise software, it is simple to manage the relationship that the organization has with the clients. It is good to know what the clients require. This paper will look at the role that the three technologies have on GLM Company. It will assess the role that these three technologies have. Introduction There have been some trends which have boosted the growth of enterprise software in the market. The first factor that was considered is the achievement of integrated information architectures which is used to improve the performance of business systems. When one company adopts the use of enterprise software, the competition will also be compelled to adopt enterprise software so that they are at par in competition. The second fact that has boosted the adoption of packaged software is the Y2K bug which was feared as the world turned to the millennium. Since the bug was solved, another factor is the striving of the European Union to have one currency. This encouraged the companies to have packaged software to replace tailor-made software solutions. This is seen as a way of solving a universal bug instead of having independent software developers. This is hard because there will be difficulty if bugs like Y2K is realized in the market. Another factor is that there is the paradigm shift of businesses from the offline systems to e-commerce. There are the greater advances in technology where the companies are shifting to the use of the Internet for solutions to the problems and challenges found in the business world. A brief review of the organization’s IS/IM to date after the implementation of the findings from BCCD The organization’s information system has been greatly improved since the implementation of the finding from BCCD. The operations and activities in different departments have been running on smoothly. The major challenges the organization faces and need to be addressed is the fact the different systems that are running in each department are independent. These make the flow of information from one department to another and hence slow down the speed of doing business. Another issue that still exists is the fact that these systems are managed separately. This gives room to risk like fraud. As such there is need for improvement in the system so that these entire shortcomings are addressed. We must enhance marketing capability to respond to new markets 2. We must improve customer communication 3. We must build integrated IT systems which are easy to manage and responsive to customer needs 4. We must improve working environment and practices for staff. 5. We must provide customer support training for key customer interface staff. 6. We must enhance sales to increase existing markets. Description of the technologies Mobile technologies One challenge that the company has been facing is ensuring that they are efficient in offering the services and also being able to outdo its competing firms. Often, the staff is faced with the difficulty of both attending to clients and attending the training workshops that were demanded. The competition brought by the companies that over the same services has been a key challenge to this company. The company has increased its scope of services over the last few years. Eventually; they will have in addition the product research pavilion. With the introduction of tablet computing, the real time performance will improved drastically. The staff is able to accomplish their daily work with a lot of efficiency. The client orders can be loaded directly into the iPads by the attendants as they do the daily rotation with the in the field instead of waiting until the rotation is up before they do it on a computer or a laptop. This has reduced the time that the nurses take doing post-call rounds. Being the first the first company to implement the ipad technology, GLM can be the leading service provider that has simplified the work of the employees enabling them to finish daily routine and at the same time they can have adequate time to attend the trainings. In addition, the time that the staff could take sitting in front of a computer will be transferred to attending to the clients therefore improving the residential services while making the clients attention more personalized (Barnes, 2009). In addition, providing better services, GLM employees who are operating in the remote places can make use of market support systems to get information about market analysis and treatment of patients. This is facilitated by integrating the application of the system that keeps the customers details in the iPad. The inbuilt scanner in the iPad can also be used to take a photograph and of the customer services that people who is remotely located and employee who is in remote environment can use it to make analysis. This is called telemedicine. The implementation of such project can cut down on the time and cost of travelling by both the employees and the customers. More so, data concerning the. It can also facilitate exchange of product data between different departments in the company. Benefits The goal of this project aims at increasing the efficiency of doing business using state of the art technology called tablet computing. This project is motivated by the necessity to provide service that enables the company to compete favorable in the market. To attain the target, the project will utilize the latest technology such as cloud computing where all the operation done in the business and data storage are based in the internet. The key tool that is used to achieve this is by use of iPads from the leading technologist Apple. The mission state to define the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad The expected result of this project is approximately 60% decrease in the time taken by the employees to complete a business transaction and also complete elimination of the inconveniences that are brought about by human error. In addition the transport cost that the company incurs annually will be halved. Customer relationship management (CRM) Customer relationship management refers to software internet ability and the techniques that are used to assist the company to manage and control the activities that are cared out concerning the customer relationship management. The primary purpose of this system is to ensure that the management of the customer related activities I sin an organized manner o that the corporate name of the organization is maintained. The major functional components of CRM are Assisting an organization modernize the department of marketing such that it is able to evaluate their marketing strategies such as marketing campaign to enable the department achieve target. Help the organization to have advanced online sales by maximizing the use of data that can be exchanged via the internet by the employees in deferent locations. It also optimize account and sale information. Benefits One of the recommendations that can be implemented by the company is that of on-line customer relationship management (CRM). With this information system, the company will be in a position to understand the clients and know what they want. With on line CRM, the customer needs will be understood. It is important to understand client. The use of technology can be used to get the feedback from the client. Customer history and preferences can be used to make new products. GLM has grown extensively and it has aligned their processes. There has been growing concerns that businesses should align themselves to tap from information technology. There have been four major issues that have been said to be of major concern with many organizations. One of the issues include business process engineering, business and IT alignment, IT strategic planning and privacy and security. Given the fact that nearly all operations of the company are done online, an online CRM should be implemented. This will boost the company to get feedback from clients from many places. They will be able to get information that will be used to further their competitive advantage against the competition (Bakos & Brynjolfsson, 1993). Enterprise resource planning (ERP) The software that is used includes ERP system that is used in human resource activities in the company, the office suite and protective software such as anti-virus. Enterprise resource planning is the key software that facilitates complete interconnection of different sections of the human resource department. In addition, it is shared with other department so that the data can be availed. ERP is a software that is use to manage the human resource activities in a company. Basically, the software is meant to integrate all the tasks that are carried out in the various departments in a company by making it computerized such that the management can be centralized and a single system that is computerized runs in all the departments. The primary principles that an ERP software applies is interconnecting the subsystems that are used in different department such as finance, human resource procurement. An ERP runs in one database enabling easy sharing of the information by different departments. The ERP has its modules representing the different subsystems that handle the operations in various departments. The various subsystems handle the specific process in concurrently. Benefits ERP systems have been the most reliable and trusted tools that can bring the information from various departments. The ERP system serves as a central database that is used for information feeding for the various modules that make the ERP system. With the advent of e-business, automation with the use of ERP is very important. The modules operate in a common platform. With the use of ERP systems, the data will have one uniform standard and format. They are entered only once to the company. In the work of the ERP system to maintain integrity of the data that has been stored in it. The ERP system, in this case, provide data which are consistent and of high integrity. One direct benefit if this feature is the fact that redundancy of data is eliminated and thus rationalization is achieved which reduces the cost of the operations within organization. Another benefit of an ERP system is the fact that communication is improved in the sense that the data modules which are spread across the organization are integrated to provide better communication and sharing of data (Kenneth,2008). The overhead operation cost is also reduced by use of an ERP by interconnecting the subsystem of different department and come up with a single broad information system that is able to centrally manage by having a single database. Operation costs that are cut down include the inventory control cost, production cost, and marketing cost. It also provides a well facilitated and simple management of the activities that are carried out everyday by bringing in backbone storage of data. This is by ensuring that the security of data in the company is availed every time it is needed whenever a decision making team needs to use it. Another benefit of implementing this system is the reduction of the number of employees that are needed to carry out a certain activity for example those needed to in accounting department but there will be need for sale assistance because the customers needs to be thought the importance of using the system. Challenges However, the implementation of the system comes with a few challenges such as the cost of buying the hardware, the ERP software itself and the network facilities needed to support this project. The other is the resistance by the employees because they are afraid of losing their jobs and hence would want to sabotage the system. Recommendation Another challenge that still faces the company’s information system is the type of network that they use. The weakness in the current network setup exposes the company’s information system to some security vulnerabilities. As such the company needs to change its network setup and employ a more improved network setup technological recommendations Project Name: IS/IT ERP system Purpose and Description: A project to build software that will integrate subsystems used In different departments at GLM. Processes affected; all Size: medium (Cost ?150k) Risk: low (medium size, high structure) Time Scale: two year. Constraints: Lack of adequate finance. Lack of subsystem expertise that traverses more than one business processes. Will involve many different departments. Project Name: IS/IT ERP tablet computing system Purpose and Description: A project to implement the use of tablet computers in the business to facilitate effective communication between the employees In different locations and between employees and the customers Processes affected; communication Size: small (Cost ?50k) Risk: low Time Scale: one year. Constraints: Lack of employees knowledge and willingness to use the system staff sabotage Project Name: IS/IT ERP CRM integrated system Purpose and Description: A project to implement the use of an advanced computerised CRM system to facilitate effective and more personalised customer relationship. Processes affected; communication Size: medium (Cost ?70k) Risk: low Time Scale: 3 year. Constraints: staff sabotage lack of management commitment 2012-2017 GLM’s future business plan They must build integrated IT systems which are easy to manage and responsive to customer needs They have to improve working environment and practices for staff. They must avail customer support training for key customer interface staff. Must check on enhancing sales to increase existing markets and meet the upcoming challenges. They must enhance marketing capability to respond to new markets They must improve customer communication and also the communication between different departments Possible risk As it is evident that the three technologies that need to put in place by the company are suppose to be carried out concurrently, the possible risk that might hit the company is the possibility of paralyzing activities in other department. These activities could be those that bring revenues to the company. The mitigation measure can be used to address this risk is ensuring that the significant business activities are not affected in anyway and the company can also go for a loan. Conclusion The company’s information system has improved the management of the company. It also gives an opportunity to the employees to check their status concerning payment, personal information, tax information and employment data. More so, the system has a user friendly interface which enables the user to complete the intended task with a lot of simplicity. In addition, the system is able to track all the details about the employee’s vacation automatically using a project planner (Porter, 2010). The role that is played by a good network in the company cannot be underrated since without it, different computers that support the system cannot communicate with each other and with the database server. There are three network components that are used to automate a business. These are the network operating system, the physical connection and the application components. Applying the above technology in the right way will solve the problem and at long run it will translate to increased efficiency of dealing with human resource activities employees will have good morale since automation will change all the business undertakings in the department that were manually done. References Porter, M. (2010). Competitive creating and sustaining superior performance : With a new introduction. Simon and Schuster. Kevin, R. (2011). Enterprise relationship management: high-impact strategies. Emereo Pty Limited. Gertsbakh, I., & Shpungin, Y. Network Reliability and Resilience. 2011: Springer. Kenneth, K. J. (2008). Tutorial, modern business automation. University of California: IEEE Computer Society. Barnes, S. (2009). Unwired Business: Cases in Mobile Business. Idea Group Inc (IGI). Glenn, G. (2010). Enterprise Resource Planning 100 Success Secrets. Lulu.com. Hamilton, S. (2008). Maximizing Your Erp System: A Practical Guide for Managers. McGraw-Hill Professional. Leon, J. (2010). Enterprise Resource Plannin. Tata Mcgraw-Hill Publishing Company Limite. Steve, H. (2011). APICS, the performance advantage. University of Minnesota. Truch, E. (2010). Leveraging Corporate Knowledge. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Read More