Problem in the Management of ScaterBoys - Assignment Example

 Consultancy Proposal Executive Summary ScaterBoys has been facing the problem in the overall management of the people, process and the business is considerably getting hampered due to the weak information system implemented by the company. The organization is also planning to undergo expansion in various countries so as to enhance their overall productivity. However in the process of internationalization, the organization needs to implement a flexible IT framework which would be capable of handling the large volume of task and through which all the process will be integrated. The analysis of the problems within the organization reveals the fact that the organization needs to implement a high bandwidth of network with considerable storage place in the server so that the huge volume of work can be handled properly. The organization should also look to implement the ERP system so that various areas like human resource, accounts, and customer management can be attained. The change in the system will likely improve the efficiency of the organization and all the stakeholders will be benefitted. Introduction: ScaterBoys, an organization based in the United Kingdom, deals with skateboards as their primary product. Currently the organization has focused on expansion in overseas and is on the verge of strengthening its employee base. However the organization has limitations in certain area of its operation. In the present generation the organization operates with a weak information system which causes much of the difficulty in the coordination of various units of the organization. The paper deals with analyzing the problems faced by ScaterBoys in details and proposing an information system project plan, so that the organization may be able to overcome the problems which it has been facing in continuing the business. The benefits arising from the implementation of the proposed plan are also discussed along with the approach of the consultancy in handling the problems faced by ScaterBoys. The problem of ScaterBoys: The organization deals with skateboards and the associated clothing required for skating as their main product. In the initial days, the organization used to carry out the business mainly with the reselling of the products but in recent times, ScaterBoys are also concentrating on the process of manufacturing their own product. With substantial growth received over the years, the organization has also planned for expansion into foreign market by strengthening of their ecommerce and incorporating strategies relating to their business. In the process of expansion of the business, the organization has also increased the strength of the employees. However the problem lies with the proper training of the new employees and their proper management. As the problem exists with the management of the employees, the organization cannot attain the primary objectives behind their expansion plans. The organization has also added two subsidiaries in Germany and in the United States respectively. However the acquisition process has brought lot of confusion among the employees working in UK as they fell that the simultaneous operation of the subsidiaries will lead to the duplication of the functions and operations which may lead to the redundancy in the work. The employees were made to think in this way, owing to the absence of effective communication between the management and the employees and the nature of overall communication technology present in the organization. The management of the organization also encountered with a problem regarding a spread of rumor in the organization, that the production process of the organization will be shifted to Asia. The presence of mistrust and miscommunication was growing among the employees and the management of ScaterBoys aimed to reduce such discrepancy within the organization in a cost effective way. Problem in the IT framework: Another major problem which lies within the organization is the disintegration of the information system which was already under the concern of the management. Previously ScaterBoys had a system which was not under the control of a network and standalone computers were used to enter records and fetch data from the computers. The absence of networked computers gave rise to numerous errors in the operation and often data redundancy was observed in the system. In order to tackle the problem, the organization incorporated the use of networked computers which was successful in solving the primary problem. The new IT system incorporated was simple in nature and was exposed to a variety of problem in dealing with the expansion of business, which increased the number of task. With the nature of the business becoming complex, the IT framework implemented could not support the nature of work. The system incorporated also did not have any module for the maintenance of customer relationship, ecommerce or e procurement. Beside the system also lacked the management of important business functionality including the payroll system and proper training guidelines for the newly deployed employees. In the expansion process, Scatter Boys required a system through which they could coordinate properly among the different subsidiaries in France and the United States so that the organization can carry out effective communication and proper integration between the business units existed. In the present generation of technological advancement, the maintenance of customer relationship through the web is must, as customers provide feedback and the queries through the net, so that immediate solution of their matters are taken into account by the organization. The e –selling option has also been the latest trend and the inability to support these options will reduce the customer base and no matter how much expansion the organization carries out its overall business goals will suffer drastically. The absence of proper ecommerce model will also affect the Business to Consumer (B2C) revenue potential of the business. The present information system in practice also has accounting software which will be inefficient to handle the vast amount of data owing to the expansion process and the failure of it will give rise to the occurrence of bad debts in the organization. As a result the accounting software used in the organization also needs to be refurbished to support the new system. The organization also needs to takes in to consideration the privacy of the data in the process of daily operation of the business. The information system currently in use does not guarantee a secure platform for all the data to be stored and the accessibility of the data by unwanted person can hamper the cause of the business in the long run. Scatter Boys needs an information system which can support them strategically and operationally and through which the future goals of the business will be attained without any hindrance. The IT system required by the organization should focus on the need to store huge volume of data and the data retrieval process needs to be done in a fast manner. The IT system should also address the need for the system access in the different countries simultaneously without much disturbance in the system. Project proposal: Based on the problem which ScaterBoys faces, the consultancy suggests the use of a wide variety of techniques to address the individual needs of carrying the business. In order to integrate the overall process and in order to maintain a coordination of the process among the subsidiary units, the organization should opt for client server architecture of the overall networking process. The servers to be installed should have high storage facilities so that the data can be stored in a proper fashion. Scatter boys may look to incorporate a server of 12 TB with an opportunity of further expansion, so that the future needs may be taken care of easily (high capacity server, n. d). In order to eliminate data redundancy in the storage of the data, Redundancy Elimination at the block level (REBL) should be deployed (Prat, n. d). The privacy of the data can be maintained by the incorporation of user protected account where the employees of the organization can take the help of password protection so that the data cannot be accessed by unauthorized persons. The highly confidential data also needs to be segregated and should be put out of the reach of the employees and such data are to be stored in the server with adequate password protection. The implementation of a superior network will solve the problem regarding the storage facility of the data along with maintaining the security. The highly capable larger bandwidth can also enable the organization to maintain a proper communication channel with the subsidiaries. In matters of e selling, Scaterboys needs to develop the web portal and provide the option of selling their product through the online facility. In matters of online selling, the website should be built using secure layer of gateway payment, so that the customers do not lodge any complaints regarding the security of the account during the process of payment (Kahate, 2008, p.272). In order to strengthen the e-commerce activity and to take care of the overall customer management, the organization may also look to implement software like ERP to gain operational efficiency in the business process (Gupta & Malik, n. d, p.275). In the operation of ERP, the organization needs to select an internet service provider, so that the ecommerce transactions can take place in a faster rate. The ERP platform will also take care of the successful operation of the client management as the ERP contains a separate module for the customer management. However if the organization looks to implement the system, it also requires the training of the individual so that they can understand the operation of the ERP system in much detail (Leon, 2007, p.320). The ERP system in practice also maintains a separate section for the management of the finance and accounts and the transactions are carried out in an error free manner. The accounting part in the ERP is sophistically maintained and also contains all the necessary support which is required by the accountants and the finance executives in their day to day operations. The overall functional efficiency of the organization is bound to increase by the strategic implementation of the ERP system (Sumner, 2006, p.76) . Cost Benefit analysis: The cost benefit analysis is undertaken to analyze the feasibility of the proposal. The cost for the project is compared against the set of benefit which it is expected to provide (Nas, 1996, p.3). The proposed system of renovation of the Information technology system of ScaterBoys will involve high cost. Cost is to be incurred in the installation of the new servers and superior quality of network with high band width capacity. The implementation of the ERP system will also involve a certain amount of cost along with the training facility required by an expertise so that the employees can handle it in a proper way. Though the cost involved will be on the higher side, the associated benefit of the overall system will surely outweigh the cost factor. The stakeholders of the organization which involves the owners, employees, customers will all be benefitted largely. The incorporation of the system will eliminate the problem of mistrust among the employees, and the management of the organization will not have to tackle such problem and can concentrate on issues relating to the overall productivity of the organization. The customers of ScaterBoys will also not face any difficulty in carrying on the online transaction and their queries will be handled in a much better fashion. As a result the overall popularity of the organization will increase. The employees of the organization will be benefited the most as operational excellence will be achieved by the organization and the employees will not face any difficulty in the communication process with the subsidiaries and all the units of the business will be able to keep in touch with other with the help of ERP and networking. As the proposed plan is expected to expected to eliminate the errors of the organization, so better results are to be expected which in turn will increase the value of the shareholders in the market. Thus the cost benefit analysis reflects the result that the implementation of the new system will benefit all the sectors of the business considerably. Project Plan: Installation of high bandwidth of network Installation of high capacity servers Building up of a client server architecture Strengthening of the internet security for safe ecommerce transactions Implementation of ERP Training of the employees in ERP Review of the newly implemented system. Benefits of ScaterBoys from the consultancy: According to the proposal suggested, the organization should incorporate various technologies to bring efficiency in the overall business process during expansion. The cost associated with the refurbishment is a matter of concern and it also requires some expertise in implementing the system properly within a short period of time. However the consultancy can address the needs and the challenges in implementing the new system and reduce some burden of the management. The implementation process can be carried in a cost effective way by the organization. The consultancy can also help in providing the expertise that can also provide the training required by the employees in order to have a transparent idea regarding the use of ERP system. The consultancy will further assist the organization in reviewing the implemented system and addressing any further problems as identified during the process. As the consultancy has fairly studied the limitation of the organization in the context of technology so it will be much easier for them to address the issues accordingly. Approach of the consultancy: The consultancy will at first study the nature of operation of the business and depending on the organizational structure it should implement the ERP system. In building a secure network for the effective process of e- commerce to commence, it should study the rate of e-business which the organization has to undertake and depending on that the security in different layer are to be built. In the implementation of ERP, the consultancy should analyze the other units of the business in details and decide which process is to be brought under the framework of ERP. The consultancy will approach in such a manner in which it will receive the participation of the employees and the cooperation of the different level of management. The consultancy needs to have a rough estimate regarding the amount of data processed by the organization, so that it can analyze the size of the server to be installed. The rules and laws regarding the sharing of cyberspace are also required to be studied by the consultancy so that they can effectively set a network for the operation of the organization in various countries by adhering to the respective protocols of the countries. After the implementation of the system the consultancy also needs to collect the views of the system from various levels of management, employees, and the customers and carefully document their problems and work on them so that the problems can be addressed and the working of the overall system gets unaffected. Conclusion: A thorough investigation of Scaterboys highlighted that the organization was lacking in the implementation of proper framework of information technology which would have caused difficulty in managing the business after the expansion process was initiated. Because of the incapable technology, the operational activity of the organization was taking a setback and the communication between the employees and the management was also significantly hampered. The present technology in practice was also incapable of handling the huge nature of operation of the business. Considering the problems, few recommendations are suggested by the consultancy and it included renovation of the networking and installation of high capacity servers. In order to gain efficiency in the overall operation process, suggestions to implement the ERP in the system was made. Though the overall cost of the change in the system was high but the benefits assumed from the change is many and is expected to revive the condition of the organization. References Gupta, A. & Malik, A. (n. d), Management Information Systems, New Delhi: Firewall Media High capacity server, (n. d), aberdeeninc, available at:http://www.aberdeeninc.com/abcatg/KITX317.htm(accessed on 4.1.2012) Kahate. (2008), Cryptography and network security, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education Leon, A. (2007), Erp Demystified, 2/E, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education Nas, T, F. (1996), Cost-benefit analysis: theory and application, London: SAGE Prat, I. (n. d). Alternatives for Detecting Redundancy in Storage Systems Data, usenix, available at:http://www.usenix.org/event/usenix04/tech/general/full_papers/policroniades/policroniades_html/rabinPaper.html (Accessed on 4.1.2012) Sumner, M. (2006). Enterprise Resource Planning, New Delhi: Pearson Education India Read More