The Need for Advanced Business Technology in Business - Coursework Example

Strategic Management Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Aim 3 Objectives 3 Rationale for the Study 4 The Need for Advanced Business Technologyin Business 4 Use of Advanced Data Processing Technologies in Royal Mail 5 Effects of incorporation of Data Processing Technology on the Business Performance of Royal Mail 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction The Royal Mail Group holds three companies under its banner viz. Royal Mail, Post office and Parcelforce Worldwide. (Royal Mail Group, 2011). The group as a whole has some specific challenges to meet ahead in order to sustain its leadership position in catering to the needs of the customers. Innovation, efficiency and modernisation are the keywords which the 155,000 people consisting company stresses on to sustain itself in the highly competitive European market. Furthermore Royal Mail a government owned company also focuses to deliver its postal services at highly reasonable prices while catering a mass European market. The 370 year old company is endeavouring to progress while rendering enhanced focus on the needs of both the internal and external people. Royal Mail through continuous innovation of its products and processes by incorporating newer technology and also through motivating its people through incentive and other schemes is trying to enhance its service parameters. (Royal Mail Group, 2011; Barker & Sheppard, 2007). Aim The main aim of the report is to find the impact of advanced data processing technologies upon business performance. The report endeavours to estimate the degree of enhancement and decline of business performance on account of the incorporation of advanced technologies regarding processing of customer and other business data. Objectives To understand the impacts of incorporation of advanced technology on the business performance. To understand the business strategy of the company in incorporating advanced technology in its business activities. To understand the reasons that tempted the business company to incorporate such technological innovation in its business processes. To understand how the business endeavours to measure the benefits or losses imposed on the use of such technology in its business processes. To understand the future plan of actions of the company in mitigating the harmful effects if any of such technological incorporation. Rationale for the Study The research aimed in this paper would help in understanding the need for incorporating technological and process based innovation in the business activities of a company. Such researches can be used by the managerial team of a concern in making their business act more efficiently and effectively in the competitive market. The research project involves the case study of Royal Mail to reflect on the strategic initiatives taken by a business company while incorporating technology as the key driver. The Need for Advanced Business Technology in Business Big business houses round the world are moving forward to make optimum utilisation of advanced information technology to render efficiency in their business processes. The main reason which is attributed behind such incorporation is the expansion of the business sphere along geographical borders and also of changes in the employee profile. Business processes in the current world are become more knowledge centric are thus in need for knowledge based workers than manual workers demanded previously. Furthermore the business organisations in today’s date are endeavouring to become much faster in delivering their services to the customers. Thus the use of information technology helps the business organisations to successfully organize large amounts of business data which acts as future reference of the business company in catering to large number of customers. Information Technology workers in the organization are involved behind the processing of large volumes of business data in the digital atmosphere. This data processing function in the computerised environment nullifies the use of manual records and helps the business organisations to perform more effectively and efficiently. Moreover the large amount of data captured in the digital sphere by the data entry operators in the companies also helps the concerns to conduct large amounts of analysis on such. This analysis helps the business companies to take strategic business decisions which would help it gain success in the future. (Drucker, 1988, pp.3-4). Use of Advanced Data Processing Technologies in Royal Mail Royal Mail endeavours to render significant amount of investments to promote large scale technological innovation in its services. The company through the use of information technology aims to gather a large amount of databases pertaining to their customers and thus focuses on bettering up the business to customer relationship activities. The postal company operating in the technological medium renders effective communication with its customer base through the online sphere. Customers on the other hand also feel the value of the investments made with the company being largely met for being better cared for. Royal Mail through the effective maintenance of customer data endeavours to make them aware of launching of new products through communicating via the online medium. Thus the company through the optimal use of data processing technology can work to gain a much wider market to promote its services. (Royal Mail Group, 2011; Personal Customers, 2010). In addition to the general data processing activities Royal Mail also endeavours to carry out other data analytical activities through the capturing of large amount of business data. The large amount of business data captured by the firm also helps the business managers to identify the products which do not help the firm in gaining more amounts of revenues. Thus a careful analysis of the data captured through the data entry process program helps Royal Mail to sustain its revenue paradigm. Further the data processing technology also helps Royal Mail to set separate identification numbers for different categories of mailing products. This categorisation further helps the company in specially tracking the movement of the product in the market. (Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies, n.d., pp.3-4; Royal Mail, 2010). Effects of incorporation of Data Processing Technology on the Business Performance of Royal Mail The use of advanced data processing technologies helped Royal Mail to expand their retail operations pertaining to postal services. Royal Mail introduced newer technologies to help render efficiency in the process of delivering the mails. The technology estimated the time of arrival of the project and endeavoured to link it to several mail delivery networks based on road, rail and air to help in the faster delivery of the same. Exploration of the service parameters of the project conducted before launching the said program reflected that owing to poor management functions the company was not being able to rightly track the reasons for faltering performances. Thus the use of data entry mechanisms to track the flow of mail via the several mailing routes helped the management to closely identify the obstructing areas to take necessary actions. (ocp.co.uk, n.d., p.1; Advanced Function Presentation Consortium, 2011,p.21) . Furthermore Royal Mail also recorded a rise in the operational revenues for the synchronization of the different processes monitored in a close manner by the data entry program. The company also became able to strictly focus on a target market for effectively selling its different postal products like stamps to the European customers. (Royal Mail, 2010). Conclusion Royal Mail a government listed company caters to the delivery of large mail orders to huge number of customers spread along a large geographical basis. This company in order to strategise its activities incorporated data entry technological process in its business activities. The data entry operators of Royal Mail work on gathering and listing a large number of customer data which are duly addressed by the company through electronic mails. Royal Mail makes optimal use of the data entry network to market large number of products through the online paradigm. Further the data sets are closely analysed by the business company to enhance the profitability parameter through pulling out the less performing objects. Thus through the incorporation and effective utilisation of the data entry technological process Royal Mail successfully competes in the business environment. References Advanced Function Presentation Consortium. (2011). Bar Code Object Content Architecture Reference. [Pdf]. Available At: http://www.afpcinc.org/BCOCAREF07.pdf. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Barker, M. & S. Sheppard. (2007). Special Delivery. [Online]. Available At: http://www.ikmagazine.com/xq/asp/sid.0/articleid.B76A58E4-03F0-44D7-85CE-051642962881/eTitle.Case_study_Royal_Mail_Group/qx/display.htm. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Drucker, P. (1988). The Coming of the New Organization. [Pdf]. Available At: http://home.base.be/vt6195217/neworganization.pdf. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies. (No date). Use of Technology to Increase USPS Top-Line Revenue. [Doc]. Available At: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/usps/offices/domestic-finance/usps/docs/use-of-technology.doc. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Personal Customers. (2010). Operations. [Online]. Available At: http://www2.royalmail.com/royal-mail-jobs/professionals/operations. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Ocp.co.uk. (No date). Royal Mail Group Plc. [Pdf]. Available At: http://www.ocp.co.uk/_Attachments/Resources/58_S4.pdf. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Royal Mail Group. (2011). Welcome to Royal Mail Group. [Online]. Available At: http://www.royalmailgroup.com/portal/rmg/home/. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Royal Mail Group. (2011). Challenges. [Online]. Available At: http://www.royalmailgroup.com/portal/rmg/content1?catId=23200554&mediaId=23200555. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Royal Mail Group. (2011). Our Brands. [Online]. Available At: http://www.royalmailgroup.com/portal/rmg/content1?catId=23200554&mediaId=23700541. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Royal Mail. (2010). Join the Team. [Online]. Available At: http://www2.royalmail.com/royal-mail-jobs/working-operations/manual-data-entry-keyers/join-team. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Royal Mail. (2010). Personal Customers. [Online]. Available At: http://www2.royalmail.com/customer-service/customer-news. [Accessed on April 10, 2011]. Read More