Operations and Enterprise Resource Planning - Essay Example

Operations and Enterprise Resource Planning The success of a company or firm relies on productive application of technology. With contemporary developments in technology, any firm that wants to thrive in intense competition must make use of immense technology (Bearingpoint.com, 2014). In this paper, an assessment of Benitoss as a case study in the use of SAP is conducted. Benitoss specializes in retailing beauty products. The company’s head offices are situated in Chicago. Benitoss was founded in 2006 and has gradually earned the distinction of a limited and micro company given its capital base. Since its inception, the company’s growth has been exemplary and to this day, it has hired 50 employees on a permanent basis and a number of casual ones. Primarily, the company sells different brands of hair care, skin care, color, and body products under a private label. Appropriate application methods for all the products are provided by scientific professionals hired by the company. The professionals apply skin physiology and makeup history to identify different skin types and recommend products based on them. It is for this reason among others that Benitoss brand has received great achievement. In addition to this, the professionals collaborate with Benitoss clientele and provide them with great fragrances based on their different preferences. The fact that Benitoss manufactures and distributes its own brand of products makes the application of SAP business by design programs crucial to the company’s success. Nevertheless, SAP business by design program can only be effectively applied in the company’s retail division. Customers form the foundation of success for a company (Daniels and Radebaugh, 1998). For this reason, having a clear understanding of customers’ preferences and tastes provides favorable circumstances for the success of a product. Based on customers responses, a company’s management is able to know whether to hire more staff and in which department, what to order from suppliers and the quantity that should be produced for each product. Benitoss has a vision of growing its share of the market by increasing the reach of its products to more states and consequently more people. The company employs a simple method of production hence the company’s stock volumes are discernible. The method currently being employed in the company relies on the demand of the market covered by the company. Units of products are produced in relation to customer demands and this is usually after the company’s determination of market share. Despite this, the company has a past record of failing to sufficiently meet the demands of customers. It can therefore be said that the company has not applying its complete potential. Consequently, SAP becomes a requirement so as to enable measuring of activities in the market and reasons for heightened demand. Benitoss primary need is to increase its market share. This way it will be able to reap the benefits that come from economies of scale. It is for this reason that the application of SAP business by design software becomes relevant. With the software, there will be a single point of operation for the company based on its needs. SAP business by design software will provide a full and unified suite for the company running from the cloud. This way, the company’s services will be available all over the world rather than just being based in Chicago. In addition to managing the company’s sales, SAP business by design software will allow supply chain, human resource, customers, procurement and finance management, which is an enhancement to the running of the company. By adopting this technology, the company will enjoy numerous benefits (Heizer and Render, 2001). It is important to mention that the end to end process of the company will be enhanced which will lead to increased efficiency. Cooperation between the company and the market which comprises of suppliers and customers will be boosted. Apart from this, there will be reduced response time from the company and the market. Both ends will therefore have the convenience of gaining prompt insights that will augment decision making and immediate action. SAP business by design software applies integrated analytics and reporting as its main functions, which allow gaining prompt insights that augment decision making and advocate immediate action. Moreover, the businesses scope of access will be elevated and its services will be accessible through a variety of platforms such as tablets, mobile phones and computers. In regard to security, this will be guaranteed. This is especially because SAP security experts provide protected servers which they use to observe threats focused on the business (Heizer and Render, 2001). Increase in the utilization rate and mean rate per employee as well as market share will be enabled by the acquisition of a SAP business by design. Consequently, the company will gain more profits from its products. Since the company’s products will be made available online making them increasingly accessible, the company’s market share will be boosted. The software will also enable customers make comparisons of product prices, availability and specifications freely. This will consequently influence the decisions they make regarding the products. All human resource capital functions, store operations, supply chain and demand will be managed using SAP for retail (Hesseldahl, 2014). This software functions behind the basic idea of increasing profits or returns by minimizing expenses in the fields mentioned. Full access will The user will be granted full access to the software so that he can promote control of project deliverables. This is usually referred to as gaining real time visibility of the project. Specified period expected return estimates for the company can be made. Through the use of graphical representations, it will be possible to determine whether the company will be able to fulfill its operational cost by making specific changes. Any projection showing a deficit in returns will lead to the company rejecting the idea. For this reason, it can be said that the software will enable rapid decision making by providing a neutral platform that is risk-free. The application of SAP business by design software will additionally promote innovation in Benitos. This is founded on the fact that chances and opportunities are bound to arise and they will room for more product enhancement. Benitos will focus on production of the right service (services and products with great acceptance from users) (Sap.com, 2014). This will ensure prompt delivery as a result of reduced production. The success of the business relies on the incorporation the software as a service. The customers’ needs will be met when the products are offered as a service. The SAP software adopted by the company will promote sales from the website interface hence meeting business needs. Customers will be able to place orders online, pay for them and wait for them to be delivered. This way, the firm will focus on delivering the products to the customer as a service. The adoption of this method of sale will increase the company’s market share and its expansion rate (Kanaracus, 2014). Areas with high rates of demand will allow the company set branches for supply of their products within the locality. Consequently, delivery time will be reduced and customer satisfaction for service provided will be ensured. A number of aspects will enable the company gain high performance and increase returns. These aspects include innovation, customer focus and commercialization. Due to the fact that the company is committed to providing high quality products by carrying out in-house development of its products, SAP will be an added advantage to the present technology. The focus of the software will promote enterprise efficiency through demand generation, customer centricity, managing the available talent and enhancing collaboration and innovation. This will be attained through the application of a highly performing and responsive system that will take the business’s current requirements and future goals into consideration (Sap.com, 2014). Due to the fact that the software is preconfigured to meet the business requirements, it is worthwhile noting that it is tailored with the capability of o jump-starting the organization by supplying ways to meet its specifications (Slack, 1998). Consequently, there is a significant compression of the anticipated time frame in the implementation phase. Subsequently, this reduces costs and lowers the risks and at the same time, enhances the quality and value of the company’s products to the customer. There are numerous reasons as to why SAP business by design package has been selected to attend to the problems facing Benitos. The criterion is that the cloud holds the future of retail sale and shopping (Sedgley and Jackiw, 2001). The package is all-inclusive and is designed as per the business requirements. Apart from this, it is affordable for most small and medium sized companies. This is a basic factor that facilitated the acquisition of this technology based on the capital base and size of the firm. By doing away with the upfront IT infrastructure, equipment and other support costs, the company is able to save a considerable amount of capital (Slack, 1998). The price of acquisition for the package is affordable especially given that immediately after the installation is complete, returns will start being generated. Moreover, the programs are intelligent as they promote real time delivery of information which is in turn used in decision making in a prompt way through the use of analytics. The key role of the software is carried in its baseline adaptability, unlike other products (Sedgley and Jackiw, 2001). Among its greatest strengths is its ability to combine the different areas of the firm from finance to supply and human resource management. It is also important to consider other factors such as security and added value, which are advantageous to any business. Case studies Customer satisfaction, warehousing and sales have been considered as shown below Reference List Accenture.com. 2014. SAP Services for the Retail Industry – Accenture. Available at: http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/service-retail-sap-summary.aspx Bearingpoint.com. 2014. SAP Business ByDesign™ - BearingPoint. Available at: http://www.bearingpoint.com/en-ie/7633-5898/sap-business-bydesign/ Burleson, D. K. 1999. Oracle SAP administration. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly. Daniels, J. D. and Radebaugh, L. H. 1998. International business. Reading, Mass.: Addison- Wesley. Heizer, J. H. and Render, B. 2001. Operations management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.  Hesseldahl, A. 2014. SAP Cutting Back on Development of Business ByDesign. Available at: http://allthingsd.com/20131019/sap-cutting-back-on-development-of-business-bydesign/ Kanaracus, C. 2014. Oracle moves aggressively to poach SAP Business ByDesign customers | PCWorld. [online] Available at: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2058500/oracle-moves- aggressively-to-poach-sap-business-bydesign-customers.html Sap.com. 2014. Implement | Business ByDesign Software | Cloud Computing | SAP. Available at: http://www.sap.com/pc/tech/cloud/software/business-management- bydesign/implement/approach.html Sedgley, D. J. and Jackiw, C. F. 2001. The 123s of ABC in SAP. New York: Wiley. Slack, N. 1998. Operations management. London: Pitman Pub. Read More