Offer Products Via the Internet - Report Example

Information System Technology Roll No: Teacher: 11th August 2008 Provide a report which considers likely information systems requirements if the company goes ahead with its plans to offer its products via the internet and also if/when it begins to open coffee bars. (Max 1500 words) Establishment of systems that make use of internet and information technology for the enhancement and expansion of business procedures is a common factor that is considered by businesses nowadays (Mata, Fuerst and Barney, 1995). Rista Coffees Limited is a company that is developing manifold with the passage of time and is in need of information systems technology for the expansion of its business. As the company’s business has expanded through the course of previous years, the company’s management feels appropriate that they should offer their products via the internet. With the help of internet and online servicing, the company will be able to move towards more expansion of its business of coffee. With the inauguration of information technology in the company, there will be more chances for the customers to gain access to company products within no time. The company is also interested in initiating their own coffee bar business. With the help of internet and information technology, the company will be able to connect all its offices and newly constructed bars with online networking. The company will be able to get orders through their online website, which will enhance their chance of business expansion. For considering the solution of internet technology for the expansion of business of coffee, all the companies have to consider all the costs that they will encounter while implementing the system. Rista Coffees Limited will have to provide training facilities to its employees so that they can be able to make use of computerization and can be able to conduct all the duties fixed for them. The company’s financial establishment indicates that the company can develop its system into a network that is able to connect all the company. MIS (Management Information System) is the best option for the company’s internal automation and networking of all procedures while for company’s external networking in form of online processing of order, an order processing system is required by the company. For online order processing system, the company has to develop a website, which will work as getting orders from the customers, generation of invoices, containing customer details and other details concerning the processing of orders related to coffee sale and purchase. All the computer systems that are present and that will be purchased in the future need to have the software of MS Access, MS Outlook, Word Processing, Internet Explorer and Dreamweaver. The company will be connected internally by means of MIS that will connect different computer systems located in the company. With the help of MIS, reports related to all processing will be generated for the management for evaluation of the current procedures of the company. The recommended option for the online order processing system of the company is e-commerce based website using Access as database and Dreamweaver for development, which will run the whole business procedures over internet. Online order processing and enquiries can be easily managed and controlled by the system administrator. The website will be accessed globally by the consumers, who are located all over the world. This means that it is not for any specific consumer area, this is for all levels of suppliers and consumers. Anybody from anywhere can access the site and can get information about the required about the required products and the pricing conditions. If a customer is to place order, a secure method will be involved to make the transaction. A web address that is the domain name will be purchased from any ISP (Internet Service Provider) along with the hosting. The allocation of a web address and ISP support is very important in order to develop an online order processing system. The ISP also provides SSI data transaction for the companies that wish to secure the transactions and their e-commerce based website will be saved from external threats (Mata, Fuerst and Barney, 1995). The database hosting will also be taken in order to store sales and other information over the internet and get timely access to this information from that database. The MIS will be connected to online processing system due to which, the management and the employees will be able to use both the networks in form of one network. The new networking that is the online order processing system will reduce the time used in processing of an order till its completion and will also minimize the time for responses as the departments can interact with one another within very less time and can pass the needed information quickly. Currently, the order at Rista Coffees Limited takes enough time in terms of its processing and completion and many days are required in order to generate documents related to record and maintenance of orders. As these documents pass from one department to other for analysis, so, this also consumes time. This consumption of extra time will be reduced to minutes by the help of networking. The network will interconnect all the functional areas (departments) of the company and their interconnection will help in data communication process. Because of computerization of all the departmental procedures, all the data will be available on the computers and within very less time, it will be transferred from one department to the other. Because of this interconnectivity, the business functions will be able to deliver the information related to order of procurement and roasting of specialist coffee along with the self-developed brand of coffee available at the bars. In addition, the personnel of different departments can interact with one another to know about the conditions of processing of transactions about orders, payments and stocks. With the establishment of company’s e-commerce websites, there will be many promoting facilities available with the help of which, the company will be capable enough to open its coffee bars on the local as well as on international basis. The company’s website will help it to expand its business to international markets after which, there will be fair chances of expansion of the company’s business. With the help of their website, they will be able to conduct their marketing program through internet, which will reach not only to local market but also to international market as well. The development of networking in terms of online access enables any company in terms of expansion of their business procedures (Melville, Kraemer and Gurbaxani, 2004). The employees will be in need of training in case of development of an online order processing system. The training can be provided by means of hiring trainers in order to facilitate the staff members in terms of obtainment of training. After obtaining training classes, the employees will be able to process the system without any difficulty. The management of Rista Coffees Limited has to examine all the costing requirements that they are going to encounter in terms of development of a website for order processing, the development of networking, training, hardware and software requirements and other costs involved in the expansion procedures. The opening of coffee bars introducing the brand of the company, expansion of wholesale operations, online accessibility of orders and other operations considered by the company, all are in need of input of finance. The operational costs for information system technology for Rista Coffees Limited are given as under: Operational Costs for information system Technology for Rista Coffees Limited     Project: Recommendations for new Hardware, Software, Networking, Web Development and Operational Costs Date: 11th August 08 Current state: No Networking is there. Computers are present with Access Database     Required Recommended costs Hardware Yes 2500   Rental or Purchase Purchase   Maintenance Yes 500   Network Yes 3800   Software Yes 1000   Rental or Purchase Purchase   Maintenance Yes 500   Manpower Yes 5000   User departments Yes 10,000   IT Department Yes 500   Operations 1500   Other No   Administration Yes 3000   Overheads 500   Materials Yes   Stationary Yes 1000   Consumables Yes 500   Training Yes 3,000   Web costing Yes 1700   Total Operating Cost   35000   With the need of technology, the companies have to bear some expenses regarding to the increasing capacity of computer systems along with new software options, which enable the employees to make use of newly set technology (Melville, Kraemer and Gurbaxani, 2004). Rista Coffees Limited’s requirements in terms of expansion of its network and business, requires the assessment of all the features involved in the development process. The online ordering procedure will enable the company to expand to a higher level as it will make the order processing, invoicing, recording and all other business procedures quite easy. The procedures will be performed in very less time as compared to current processing of the company. The consideration of establishment of an information systems technology is a beneficial option that will accommodate the company with many benefits in terms of market expansion, business expansion and revenue expansion. The online order processing system will enable the company to establish its coffee bars as the automation of the company in the form of an online processing e-commerce website. The online order processing system will not only minimize the time of processing but will also minimize the costs of various accessories such as stationary cost, clerical costs and many others. The online order processing system will connect all the departments of the company due to which, the management of different departments can interact with one another related to the order processing needs and requirements and the progress of the company. There can be automated reports concerning cost benefit analysis of the company. References Mata, F., Fuerst, W.L. and Barney, J. B. (1995). Information Technology and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based Analysis. MIS Quarterly, 19(4), 487-505. Melville, N., Kraemer, K., and Gurbaxani, V. (2004). Review: Information Technology and Organizational Performance: An Integrative Model of IT Business Value. MIS Quarterly, 28(2), 283-322. Read More