IT601-0903B-07 Information Technology in Business Management - Phase 3 Discussion Board - Essay Example

How can intranets and extranets make a difference in FYC’s operations? Where should they be deployed? Study each department’s functions and processesin detail; choose one: (a) Intranet or (b) Extranet. What functionalities should the $$tranet contain? And what will be the benefits for FYC?
Solution:
For FYC to implement the seamless, paperless, real-time, workflow environment to manage all business operations, it would need to firstly improve the sales and marketing department. The company has two main types of customers, a) retail customers and b) wholesale customers. For the wholesale customers, it would be most beneficial to use the extranet to help improve the relations. FYC can provide complete access of the extranet to the customers and allow for online account management and allow for updating the requirements online. The customers should also be provided with details of the inventory levels and the company requires implementing a system where if the level of inventory falls below the safety level, automatic orders are placed with FYC (Kennedy & Dysart, 2007). The company should also allow each store to log into the system and share their details of the existing stocks, the trend of sales, exchange documents and make comments. This can be referred to as a ‘Store Extranet’.
Numerous companies usually utilise the intranet however they do not make complete utilisation of the intranet and this is mainly due to the reason that it does not work in sync with the objectives of the company (Kennedy & Dysart, 2007). The company can utilise the extranet and intranet for various purposes which include:
a) Customer Service: Where the Customer Service agents would be provided with login to provide for all customer information and help respond to the customer concerns at a faster pace.
b) Production Teams: The utilisation of high levels of Information technology will allow the production teams to be easily connected to the suppliers. This will help the company reduce the inventory carrying costs and the intranet will also permit the communication to be much quicker to the other teams like the sales, especially for the sales forecasts.
c) Sourcing and Supply Chain Departments: The Extranet will permit higher volumes of data to be communicated regarding the raw materials requirements direct to the suppliers. This will help improving the procurement process. Also the extranet allows for better communication plans to the suppliers and also timely deliveries of all supplies.
d) Human Resources Team / Finance Departments: The HR teams for each store need to be linked with Thomas. The intranet will allow for centralised recruitment and training and will act as a measure for the human resources teams. This will also allow Thomas to gain access to the payroll of all the stores and keep a complete balance in the company. The intranet will also be beneficial for the finance team as it will allow for higher levels of time with more effective invoice creation and reminders for payments (Harvard Management Update, 2009).
e) Operations and Administration Team: The intranet will also be useful for the Administration and the operations team as it will improve the admin support of the company as well.
Conclusion:
As seen from the above discussion, the Intranet will provide a high level of support to the company and does play a very important role in the effective and efficient performance of each of the departments. The intranet will also help reduce the operational costs and will also promote a common corporate culture at FYC. The intranet will also help reduce the time for the operations and will also allow for better monitoring and controlling of the key projects of FYC (Gonzalez, 1998).
References:
Gonzalez, J.S., 1998, ‘The 21st Century Intranet’, January 1998, Prentice Hall Ptr; Bk&Cd-Rom Windows NT compatible edition
Harvard Management Update, 2009, ‘The New uses of Intranets’, 3rd March 2009, Harvard Business Review
Kennedy, M.L., & Dysart, J., 2007, ‘Intranets for Info Pro’, 16th October 2007, Information Today Inc Read More