Global Information Systems Strategy: Woolworths New Zealand

This article discusses the IT infrastructure and emerging technologies management issues faced by Woolworths Group New Zealand. It also explores the concept of Big Data and recommended strategies for Woolworths. The article provides insights into the potential of Big Data, how businesses are using it, its benefits and drawbacks, and the future of Big Data. The article concludes with key findings and recommendations. Course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

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Global Information Systems Strategy: Woolworths New Zealand
Author’s Name
ID Number
Lecturer’s Name:
Date

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Table of Contents
Part 1: Introduction and Background of Woolworths Group New Zealand...............................................3
Part 2: IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies – Management Issues.............................................3
2.1 Woolworths’ Current IT infrastructure...............................................................................................3
2.2 Issues and Challenges Faced in the Management of IT Infrastructure..............................................4
2.3 Emerging Technologies in Woolworths................................................................................................4
Part 3: Big Data – Background and Recommended Strategy.......................................................................5
3.1 Search the Internet to find out about Big Data....................................................................................5
3.1.1 Defining Big Data.............................................................................................................................5
3.1.2 Potential of Big Data........................................................................................................................5
3.1.3 How Businesses are Using Big Data...............................................................................................6
3.1.4 Business Opportunities and Benefits from Big Data.....................................................................6
3.1.5 Problems and Drawbacks of Big Data...........................................................................................6
3.1.6 The Future of Big Data....................................................................................................................7
3.2 Recommendations on the Implementation of Big Data in Woolworths Group New Zealand..........7
3.3 Information Systems, Organisations and Strategy..............................................................................8
3.3.1 The Reasons Why Woolworths Should Invest in Big Data...........................................................8
3.3.2 The Key Areas Where Big Data is Likely to Have an Impact......................................................9
3.3.3 The Risks and Their Mitigation Strategy....................................................................................10
3.3.4 The Supporting Tools, Solutions and Skills Woolworths Needs to Have...................................10
3.3.5 How the Organisation Can Measure the Success of its Big Data Initiative...............................11
3.3.6 The Composition of a Governing Body........................................................................................11
Part 4: Conclusions: Key Findings and Recommendations........................................................................11
References.......................................................................................................................................................13

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Part 1: Introduction and Background of Woolworths Group New Zealand
Woolworths Group New Zealand is among the biggest retail chains in the country of New Zealand. It
is ranked among the largest employers with over 18,000 employees working in 180 supermarkets
that are currently run by the organization. Woolworths has recently changed its name from
Progressive Enterprises and vouches that the change in name is set to improve the brand image of the
company as a whole. The URL of the Company’s official website is:
https://www.woolworthsnz.co.nz/. Apart from this, Woolworths is a franchisor of several other
brands that hold a supermarket in different parts of the country, that is, Supervalue, FreshChoice and
CountDown (Woolworths, 2019).
Founded in the year 1949, Woolworths has grown profoundly over the years by adding a large
number of services and focusing on the provision of fresh food to its customers. The mission of the
company is to evolve the diverse products that the company offers and offer convenience to its
customers in the best possible manner. Corporate Social Responsibility is being accounted as the
foremost focus of the organization as well (Woolworths Group, 2019).
Part 2: IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies – Management Issues
This section includes a comprehensive analysis of the Information Technology infrastructure at
Woolworths Group New Zealand. The analysis will further assist in understanding the drawbacks in
the system of the company and the actions that it can take to improvise itself and achieve better
business opportunities through the same. Annual reports were analysed for information on the
existing IT infrastructure and academic articles and journals were consulted to derive information on
the foremost solutions that the company can adopt to cover the challenges that it faces.
2.1 Woolworths’ Current IT infrastructure
With the evaluation of the Annual Report Published by the Woolworths Group in 2018, it was
analysed that the current IT infrastructure of the company primarily revolves around the provision of
digital services to its customers and the formation of a business continuity plan in order to protect
itself from any kind of natural or man-made disasters. Apart from this, the company fails to share
information about the internal IT infrastructure that its operational team might be using. Taking this
into account, it shall be assumed that Woolworths has not ventured itself in the field of Big Data or
has not considered the possibility of lifting the benefits that it offers to organizations (Woolworths

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Group Annual Report 2018). In addition to this, it was learnt that the company has a single
Information Technology Infrastructure that caters to the online needs, the shares etc.
2.2 Issues and Challenges Faced in the Management of IT Infrastructure
The primary issues and challenges that are faced with the management of the IT infrastructure
include the expansion of operations to cover the information security challenges that are posed by the
existing programs and infrastructure. Cyber crime has no doubt troubled every big or small
organization that collects data and confidential information of its customers. Another important issue
that is faced by the company and its management is the need for allocation of a large sum of money
for covering the growing threats that are posed by the existence of the cyber attacks and threats on
the information security. The single integrated system is indeed a challenge that the company must
deal with urgently. Separating the infrastructure, especially the one that stores the information has
become the need of the hour, in order to survive the continuous attacks and threats (Woolworths
Holdings Limited, 2017).
2.3 Emerging Technologies in Woolworths
Based on the information gained from the official company website and the annual reports of
Woolworths Group, it was understood that the focus of the leadership is towards the formation of an
improved security system to safeguard the confidential information of its customers. Apart from this,
the focus is being laid on the integration of a constructive policy on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Based on the challenges that the company has highlighted to be facing with its Information
technology infrastructure, a series of recommendations can be made to assist in reducing the threats
posed by the challenges and assist in acquiring a more secure IT structure.
The first recommendation would include the replacement of the hardware of the company with the
latest computing systems to support software that are designed to assist in controlling cyber threats.
The second recommendation would be to formulate an off-site location for the transfer of
confidential information and its protection to secure it in case of a disaster. Training and
development of the employees to ensure that they do not use social media websites or open private
emails on the company servers is another recommendation that could assist the company in dealing
with its cyber threats and potential attacks (Halaweh, 2013).

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The third recommendation will be the integration of the Big Data tools and mechanisms. With the
use of Big Data, Woolworths can further improvise its presence in New Zealand and expand its
business, products and services in different parts of the world. Big Data would also allow the
company to judge the market trends and assist in getting notified in case a cyberattack is expected to
come along. Lastly, the company might want to consider the additional investment in hiring skilled
professionals who carry the ability to know about the Big Data analytics and its operations. The
additional resources can be mapped and tracked to ensure that the output is good in comparison to
the investment that the company would make. Since the company is already investing largely in the
field of sustainability, it will be improvising its brand image. Through this, it can attract investors
who would be interested in witnessing the performance of Big Data and the value it brings in a big
retail chain (Chanopas, Krairit and Ba, 2006).
Part 3: Big Data – Background and Recommended Strategy
3.1 Search the Internet to find out about Big Data
3.1.1 Defining Big Data
Big Data can be defined as the collection of information from different resources whether these are
highly credible or not. The information can also be derived from resources that are human or through
machines. From another perspective, Big Data is also understood as the mechanism or tool used to
analyse various resources and systematically collect information that can be structured and used by
leaders of an organization to take more informed decisions from the short term and long-term
perspective both (Ylijoki and Porras, 2016).
3.1.2 Potential of Big Data
According to Hammer, Kostroch and Quiros (2017), the potential of Big Data in the near future is
exponentially positive. Big Data has allowed people to understand the reason behind the current
happenings, get alerts on the future and formulate strategies to tackle them. With the evolution of
technology, it is estimated that the growth in the sector of Big Data will allow organizations to
predict future from the perspective of political, economic and external factors. It will also become
easier to know about the stock market activities in the future and hence give investors a better
opportunity to invest and gain profits.

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3.1.3 How Businesses are Using Big Data
Not one, but many organizations have agreed to the use and adoption of Big Data analytics and tools
to gather information from the varied sources, filter the information and know more about the aspects
that they can expect the future to hold. Many organizations have agreed that they alter their products
and services based on the predictions in the changes in consumer choices over time. It allows
companies to follow the patterns and trends especially through the online multimedia channels.
Companies that largely deal in online transactions or selling tend to collect a vast amount of
information of consumers. Big Data filters the preferences, tracks the progress of each visitor and
gives reliable information for consideration (Alsghaier, Akour, Shehabat and Aldiabat, 2017).
3.1.4 Business Opportunities and Benefits from Big Data
As discussed in the above sections, Almeida (2017) shares further insight that Big Data is a
methodology to filter and learn information about the market and an industry. Taking this into
account, organizations that are successful in the use of Big Data and its deployment, they tend to
have a competitive advantage over other organizations in the industry. Formation of solutions before
customers change their preferences, gives Big Data companies the ability to tap the market, build a
brand image for itself and gain a high number of profits from the changes in the demands even
before other companies understand it and compete. Apart from this, Big Data has allowed many
industries to grow profoundly through the information that it can gather and provide, especially in
the field of science and medicine. Thus, the opportunities that arise from the integration of Big Data
are vast and can definitely become the cause of success or failure of an organization.
3.1.5 Problems and Drawbacks of Big Data
While Big Data continues to propose a high number of benefits for companies that adopt it, like
every other technology, it has its own set of limitations as well. Big Data is a relatively new
technology due to which it is often difficult to find professionals who have the expertise and the
experience to run the mechanism in the right manner. In addition to this, Big Data is a fairly
expensive technology and requires a high number of upgrades to be integrated in the infrastructure of
a company. Hence, very few companies are able to adopt the technology and use it for their own
advantage. Data storage and security of information are certain other challenges that are posed by the
technology (Almeida, 2017).

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3.1.6 The Future of Big Data
Clearly, Big Data is still in its early stage of development and has a long way to go and much more
to be discovered. The data systems that we know today do not carry the ability to filter the large
sums of data and information that is collected from the varied sources. Thus, as internet and its usage
grow, the development of Big Data and hardware to support its massiveness is expected to be
developed as well. Organizations are now realizing the growing importance of Big Data and the need
to turn to it, in order to survive in a globally competitive marketplace. Many applications are being
developed that are industry focused and designed to reduce the stress of decision-making on a
regular basis (Lovalekar, 2014).
3.2 Recommendations on the Implementation of Big Data in Woolworths Group New Zealand
Based on the information that was gained through the annual reports and other articles published by
Woolworths Group over the course of time, it was learnt that there is no presence of Big Data in the
company as yet. The mention of concerns relative to the cyberattacks and potential threats were the
only things that were strongly mentioned by the company in its annual reports. In addition to this, the
absence of adequate number of funds to match up to the additional requirement of resources to
secure the confidential information of its customers was presented by the company.
Woolworths Group New Zealand is definitely among the most reputed retail chains in New Zealand.
The integration of Big Data analytics and tools in the company can fetch a high amount of business
to the organization which it has not been able to consider due to the shortage of adequate number of
funds for the same. The impact of Big Data on the value of a firm and increase in its business is well
established. From the above information, it was also learnt that Big Data has been successful in
alerting the management on any potential attacks as well. Hence, if Woolworths Group takes into
account the establishment of a Big Data infrastructure, it would certainly be able to tackle the cyber
threats with ease as well (Bhandari, Hans and Ahuja, 2016).
According to Akter, et. al. (2016), the first primary factor to account when integrating Big Data in a
company is to align the company objectives with the Big Data tool and ensuring that the
professionals understand the objectives of the company as a whole. The second step is to acquire the
hardware, software and hire professionals who carry the skills to take care of the Big Data
requirements of the company. The third step is to analyse the external and the internal environmental
conditions that can strongly benefit from the Big Data integration. The value that an organization can
acquire from Big Data comes from the number of resources that the company is willing to allocate to

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Big Data. The more the investment, the larger the results can be. Considering that Woolworths
Group is a large corporate organization, it is estimated that the company can acquire funds to form a
concrete team for the Big Data and infrastructural development which it is direly in need of (Lukic,
2017). A pilot session can be done to further understand the use of Big Data and how best it can
benefit the organization as a whole. This could also include the analysis of case studies on how other
companies have used Big Data in their organization and gained benefits from the same. The case
studies can assist in ensuring that the manual fields that are being added to filter information is
accurately done so that the information can be relied on (Wielki, 2013).
Lastly, even if Big Data is accounted as the foremost solution in terms of technology and offers a
vast number of benefits to an organization, the limitations must also be taken into account by the
company and ensure that it takes the right measures in the right direction to derive the results that it
requires to. The economic value that the tool brings in to the company must also be judged. Though
many companies have agreed that it has worked well for them in the past; however, Big Data has
also failed for many companies.
3.3 Information Systems, Organisations and Strategy
Big Data is a large initiative and requires the allocation of a significant number of resources, in order
to gain benefits from the its integration as a whole. The following are some of the areas and issues
which the strategy takes into account when proposing a reliable solution for the company to match
up to.
3.3.1 The Reasons Why Woolworths Should Invest in Big Data
The primary reason that Woolworths must invest in Big Data is because it is among the leaders in the
retail business in New Zealand and in order to maintain their standards, they must ensure that they
understand the ever-evolving demands of the customers that arise from time to time. Apart from this,
it was also understood that Woolworths is largely concerned about the cyber attacks that might
potentially have a strong impact on the confidentiality of the information of their customers. In order
to tackle both the problems in one go, the company can resort to the adoption of Big Data and secure
its place from the short term and long-term perspective both.
Woolworths Group must contend with other leading retail chains in the European, Asian and
Western market if it wants to grow in the near future and lift the benefits of Globalization and
Digitization. With the use of Big Data at this stage, the company would be prepared to estimate the

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requirements of consumers in a foreign market and ensure that it has a competitive advantage over
other brands that might give high competition to the company as a whole. Furthermore, Big Data is
likely to assist Woolworths Group in analysing the best practices that they can adopt to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of its resources. When information is backed by concrete amount of data
and information, it is easier to make changes and take decisions towards the betterment of the
company as a whole.
3.3.2 The Key Areas Where Big Data is Likely to Have an Impact
The key areas where Big Data is likely to have an impact for Woolworths Group New Zealand
include marketing, sales, business intelligence, information management, decision-making from the
present and futuristic perspective both, evolution of products and services, innovation and even
human resource team. The HR team at first would require to ensure that it hires the right individuals
with experience in the retail industry to manage the Big Data integration and fetch results in
accordance with the company goals and objectives. The examples of its impact on each area have
been briefly discussed in the following few paragraphs.
Big Data gives indication on the changes in the consumer preference and alterations in the industry
that are likely to happen in the days, months or years to come. With such information, an
organization can prepare itself well in advance and ensure that its products and services are
innovatively changed to cater to the new requirements of consumers. The environmental concerns
that are arising in different parts of the globe are an example of the information that can be supplied
by Big Data and used by leaders to change their course of action (Muller, Fay and Brocke, 2018).
The marketing and sales teams can be supplied with information on the type of digital media that
suits best for the industry and the market that the company is dealing with. In addition to this,
valuable information for leaders can be drawn from the data that is collected through digital sources
and the collection of information done by the management in the past. It supplies appropriate amount
of insight that is required by leaders to make decisions that would benefit the company as a whole. It
is not only the business decisions for which the leaders might require insight but also for the
operational and other areas in which insight might be required based on case studies and theoretical
frameworks made available in studies by experts on search engines like Google.
Thus, the integration of Big Data practically has an impact on the entire organization. The
operational team is required to work with the new professionals of the Big Data team and supply
information. Improvisations with the operations can be made based on the information supplied by

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Big Data analytics. Lastly, the supply chain model can be altered or the company can find better
solutions to acquire raw materials through the added information gained through Big Data. New
policies and other reforms can be brought about to improve the business functions and decrease the
costs of the operations as well (Pugna, Dutescu, and Stanila, 2019).
3.3.3 The Risks and Their Mitigation Strategy
The primary risk that Woolworths Group New Zealand should account for is the high financial
investment that would be needed to support the changes in the hardware, software and the hiring of
new professionals. Apart from this, the company might be required to alter its operational structure,
invest in training and development and bring about a change management plan to ensure that the new
introductions in the company do not have an adverse impact on the existing system that the company
was already working in since a long duration of time.
The mitigation strategy can also be the intake of additional investment from stakeholders and other
external investors to complete the task within the stipulated deadline. With a company as large as
Woolworths Group New Zealand, it is crucial to get an in-house team of Big Data rather than
outsourcing these functions to another IT company. With the use of these mitigation strategies, the
organization would be able to save costs and invest further into growing its business across borders
(Raguseo, 2018).
3.3.4 The Supporting Tools, Solutions and Skills Woolworths Needs to Have
According to Chen, Chiang and Storey (2012), the tools that the company needs to start with are the
hardware and the software. Apart from this, the company might also require the setting up of a server
unit for storing of vast amount of information that would be later evaluated by the Big Data software.
There are varied database management software that are made available in the market. The company
can compare the pricing and the services and pick the one that best suits its requirements. Some of
the tools that are needed include management tools (Simple DB, Bigtable etc.), Hadoop (which can
process large sums of information with ease) and other data life-cycle management tools.
The skills that are required of the professionals who would be expected to run the software and fetch
information are technical skills in which the professionals acquire training over the course of their
education and through courses that are now being developed to impart Big Data skills. Certain other
skills include database management, computer systems, data filtration, language processing, financial

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accounting, team management skills, communication skills, marketing and even statistics
(Radovilsky, et. al., 2018). In addition to the above-mentioned specifics of skills, tools and solutions;
experts suggest the formation of a sources for acquiring raw data from different sources. This would
enable the organization to supply its professionals with information which they can filter and offer
information that would assist in improved decision-making (Khan, et. al., 2014).
3.3.5 How the Organisation Can Measure the Success of its Big Data Initiative
The measurement of the success of the Big Data Initiatives can be achieved through the analysis of
the quality of the information that was supplied by the Big Data. Some of the primary key
performance indicators include costs, percentage of customer service and satisfaction, profit margins
etc. The second factor of measurement would be speed. The speed of the decision-making after
acquiring information is another important factor that defines whether the information was up to the
expectations or not. The third factor is robustness. The decision should be robust in nature even if an
unexpected change is identified (Mikalef, et. al., 2019).
3.3.6 The Composition of a Governing Body
A governing body for Big Data area of function is crucial to ensure that the KPI is maintained and
the ROI are judged from varied perspectives. Thus, the management can select one senior individual
from each area of the company and formulate a governing body that can keep the Big Data team can
be made accountable to (Malik, 2013).
Part 4: Conclusions: Key Findings and Recommendations
The key findings include the analysis of the Woolworths Group’s problems with cyberattacks and
potential threats. The organization does not support a constructive team of Big Data analytics and
hence the need for the formation of such a team is required to assist the organization in tackling the
cyber threats while it also improvises the efficiency and effectiveness of other areas and departments
of the company. The benefits and meaning of Big Data were accounted along with the best ways that
Woolworth Group can strategize and implement the changes that are required to integrate the system
in its operations and business. The skills that would be required in the Big Data professionals and the
tools for Big Data integration were also highlighted. In addition to this, a brief discussion the

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challenges that the company might face with the integration of the system in its business were also
accounted for.
Certain other aspects that were found include the three major measures that can be taken to analyse
the contribution of Big Data in the company and the best ways it can be seen as a successful
endeavour. Considering the fact that Woolworths Group has a financial problem in allocation of
resources to the development of the IT department, it was recommended that external investment be
taken to upgrade the systems. The benefits that arise from the integration of Big Data would assist in
reducing the costs and averting disasters to a large extent. This would assist the company in
acquiring profits that can be used to repay the investors in the long run.
Apart from the above-mentioned recommendations, Woolworth Group can use the governing bodies
to evaluate the performance of the Big Data investment and resources and ensure that the other
departments offer the much-needed support to acquire success for the company. The research was
successful in sharing ideas about the importance of Big Data and the positive outcomes that can be
achieved by companies if it is integrated in their system. The limitations of the Big Data analytics
and its processes can be overcome by organizations as big as Woolworth Group with ease.

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