HC1041 IT for Business - Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery Case Study

Explore how Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery implemented a new POS system to manage their business efficiently. Learn about the advantages, disadvantages, and strategies to protect against risks.

HC1041 IT for Business
1

Table of Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the new POS system?....................................5
2. How will the POS system help the business gain a competitive advantage?...........................7
3. What are the advantages of having a centralized database?.....................................................8
4. How could this POS system facilitate decision making?.........................................................9
5. Recommend telecommunication options for this POS system..............................................10
6. What type of risks does the POS system bring and how to protect the business against the
risks?..............................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................14
2

Executive summary
Information and technology are being used for the business management. Four Season
greenhouse and the nursery is an organization which provides garden related products and
services. All types of the plantation are available in this organization. Further, this Nursery has
implemented new POS system for the management of their business. This POS system identifies
all the objectives of the organization and introduces methods to achieve them. Some information
and technology related components will be embedded in this POS system. This will help out to
grow the business reach and balance the profitability of the organization. This POS system also
helps the organization to improve the turnover.
3

Introduction
IT systems are getting popular in the business industry and nowadays all the small business
organizations are also including this IT system. An IT system works on the basis of the
information and details inserted regarding the company. The medium of the information can be
anything that is related to the organization. Some employees will also be included in this process
to gather sales related details. This POS system is able to evaluate employee performance with
the use of their details and information. As this organization is related to garden making and
plantation so there will be some plantation methods and techniques will be included to aware the
customers how they can maintain the plants and their gardens. It is beneficial for the customers
as well as the organization. Business management is done automatically after implementing this
POS system in Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery. POS system also embedded in this
Nursery to increase the overall profitability.
4

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the new POS system?
POS systems are referred as a “point of sale” system which is a profitability calculating system
based on the information of the prices of products. All the detail regarding the gardening services
and plants will be attached to the database system of the organization which is used by the POS
system. POS system has the ability to analyze profitable items form a bunch of products. It is
beneficial for the business owners so they can focus more on the higher profitable items.
Advantages
Employee performance: POS system analyzes the performance of the employees working in a
particular organization or company. Their work related details and sales get stored in the
organization database. POS system uses these details and information to calculate the employee
performance. The business owner can use this function to choose right employees for their
organization (Vizgaitytė & Skyrius, 2012).
Product management: Before implementing the POS systems, the organizations were not able
to know about the products which have a lower margin. Due to this issue, some items get
increased in stock without any use. The POS system helps in shortlisting the items that are
already in stock and there is no need to purchase more. It helps the business owners in making
strong financial decisions related to their business.
Efficiency: While business management is done using the POS system, the efficiency gets
increased due to the accurate results as expected. All the resources can be used efficiently using
this POS system for business management. This process helps in saving a lot of wasteful
investment of the business owners (Al-Tarawneh , 2012).
5

Disadvantages
Communication & Connectivity: This is one of the common disadvantages of the POS system
because connectivity can be lost anytime. Technical components can cause connectivity issue
instantly which can affect the business on a large scale. All the payment related details can get
inaccessible due to connectivity problems. The communication system is used for the employees
in the Nursery and if the connectivity gets into some issue then the communication is not
possible (Vizgaitytė & Skyrius, 2012).
Security: IT systems are not so secure because there are a lot of individuals who can get
unauthorized access to the database and information of the organization. Four Season
Greenhouse and Nursery include garden products related information. If this information gets
changed then the entire business can get stuck. Incorrect details will also result in providing
incorrect results.
Web management costs: After implementing the POS system, there is a full-time need for the
communication and internet services. This requires a technical employee who can manage and
maintain the database and update the price details and other information regarding the changes
made to the organization. This will add some extra investment for the business owners. Along
with this, the POS system will need time to time update for which all the employees of the Four
Season Greenhouse and Nursery should be communicated. This process also causes complexity
to the business of the Nursery (PLOMP, RIJN, & BATENBURG, 2012).
6

2. How will the POS system help the business gain a competitive advantage?
All the business organizations are working their level best to compete with the other organization
in the market. Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery also wants to stick to their place in the
market. POS system will provide the ability to identify some business growing methods to gain
the competitive advantages. The following aspects will define how POS system can gain
competitive advantages (Ahmed & Omotunde, 2012):
Productivity: POS system will increase the productivity to gain competitive advantage.
Profit Evaluation: Evaluate the overall profit to improve the work efficiency.
Workforce: Workforce can be increased in POS system by evaluating performance.
Improvement: Find out improvement opportunities.
Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery have a large marketplace in the gardening sector. POS
system will gain the competitive advantage of the entire business. All the problems and issues
get resolved easily using point of sale system. In each update, the information gets changed
according to the market using which the POS system will also change the outcomes. The
automatic working capability makes the POS system more reliable and efficient for business
management (Omotayo, 2015).
7

3. What are the advantages of having a centralized database?
A centralized database has the raw information of the organization which is sorted in the
database while implementing an IT system. Business management totally depends upon the
information stored in the organization database. Without the database, IT and POS system cannot
be implemented. A centralized database provides functionality to the employees of the Four
Season Greenhouse and Nursery to fetch the required data and information in a short time
instance. Using algorithms and data sorting methods, the database can split the information of the
organization into separate departments. There are some following advantages of having a
centralized database system in an organization which are given below:
 Data and information sorting
 Quick access
 Information availability
These are some main advantages of having a central database in the organization. All the staff
members and employees can get an instant access to the data and information regarding the
prices of products and services of Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery ( Azad, Amin, &
Alauddin, 2012).
(Figure1 : POS)
8

(Source: ( Stephanie Faris in Business on Main, 2012))
4. How could this POS system facilitate decision making?
As the POS system is based on the right information of the organizing so it also plays a major
role in the decision making of the business manager and owner. Some positive and negative
impacts can be analyzed using the point of sale system. While taking a decision for the business
management, the business manager and owner need to take care of several aspects and their
impacts on the business. Sometimes their decisions can put a negative impact on the business so
the POS system helps them to take a right decision to gain the profitability and advantages of the
organization (Omotayo, 2015). There are some following functions provides the point of sale
system which can be helpful for decision making:
 Pricing analysis
 Investment reports
 Business outcomes
 Margin related issues and concerns
These are the main factors that taken care essentially while taking decisions for a business
management. The higher authorities take these decisions when the business owner wants to
spread their business reach. If the entire management process is done manually then it can take a
lot of convenient time which will be time-consuming for the business. All the decisions taken
using the POS system will be more convenient and a statistic which can help the business owner
and managers to take right decision regarding the company (Almutairi & Alruwaili, 2012).
9

5. Recommend telecommunication options for this POS system.
 Types of Network LAN, WAN or MAN?
There are the following options for telecommunication:
LAN: It stands for Local Area Network. It works in a small range of an office, room, school or
small organization. All the computers are connected in series and parallel ways. This network
provides a convenient connectivity between all the computers.
WAN: WAN can be called as a Wide area network. This network has a wide range of
connectivity. It is mostly used for wireless transmission and connectivity. Large organization and
business use this method for the telecommunication.
MAN: This is Metropolitan Area Network which provides connectivity between cities. The
working range of this network is less then WAN and greater than LAN. It uses wireless media
for establishing the connection.
Recommendation
In this POS system the Metropolitan Area Network is best to be used because it provides large
range of connectivity. This telecommunication method can be used to provide the accessibility to
the customers and employees of Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery. The computer system of
the Nursery will be connected using the wired medium and a wireless router will be added to this
system to get the ability of wireless communication. LAN networks can be used as an alternate
in some specific situations. The implementation of communication components will help the
whole IT system and the customers will also be able to take information regarding the
organization (Al-Tarawneh , 2012).
10

 Types of media? --Wired or wireless technologies? Which types of cables should be
used for wired technologies? Which types of wireless technologies?
Types of media:
Wired: Wired media is used to establish a network within a small working range. Some
hospitals, small organization, schools and colleges use wired media because of the small range.
Wired medium is expensive but provides a fast transmission speed.
Wireless: Wireless media is the latest technology of telecommunication and provides
connectivity without using any wires. Some router and satellites are sued to provide connectivity
between two ends. It is beneficial to communication within a wide range.
Recommendation
Wireless technology can be recommended to be used in the POS system because it will save a lot
of cost of wires and provides connectivity to a wide range. Wireless components like routers are
necessary to build the POS system. It will be used for the establishment of connectivity in the
business environment. Wireless mediums will be used for the telecommunication in the POS
system so the information can be assessed from a remote location. Wired medium only
connected to the centralized database due to security purpose. The wireless communication
system is used for a wide area in which the customer can also get access to the information
regarding the company and the plantation related prices ( Azad, Amin, & Alauddin, 2012).
11

6. What type of risks does the POS system bring and how to protect the business
against the risks?
POS system has its own risk factors. While running a business the critical situations can occur
instantly. Some risk management plans will be made while making the business management.
These risk factors need to be resolved to handle the critical situations of the Four Season
Greenhouse and Nursery. There are some risk factors given below (Ahmed & Omotunde, 2012):
 Information security: All the sensitive information and data can be theft by
hackers and other individuals which can be a large barrier for the organization.
 Privacy issues: All the personal details of the employees of the organization can
be leaked which can cause the issue to the employees of the organization.
 Data Breach: While uploading the data, the data can get corrupted and after that,
the information will be destroyed. It can stop the entire business.
 System failure: System failure is common while running digital systems. These
failures can affect the business temporarily.
To avoid these risk factors the employee will be trained to overcome the situation of crisis. Some
risk management strategies will be used to avoid these risks.
12

Conclusion
Four Season Greenhouse and Nursery implemented the IT system using the POS system which
uses the information related to the company and their business statistics to evaluate the
performance of the working employees. To resolve the system related issues and concern, some
planning and strategies are made. This IT system has the functionality to evaluate the
performance of all the staff members of the organization which is used to divide the work
equality among all. Telecommunication facilities are also added in this IT system to provide
connectivity ability to the entire organization. All requirements is fulfilled in building the IT
system.
13

Bibliography
 Azad, D. M., Amin, M. B., & Alauddin, M. (2012). Executive Information System.
International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 12.
 Stephanie Faris in Business on Main. (2012, November 14). small biz technology.
Retrieved January Wednessday, 2018, from www.smallbiztechnology.com:
http://www.smallbiztechnology.com/archive/2012/11/small-business-pos-technology-a-
match-made-in-heaven.html/#.WlXW1KiWbIU
 Ahmed, M. T., & Omotunde, H. (2012). Theories And Strategies of Good Decision
Making. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH, 1(10).
 Almutairi, A. H., & Alruwaili, A. H. (2012). Security in Database Systems. Global
Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 12(17).
 Al-Tarawneh , D. A. (2012). The Main Factors beyond Decision Making. Journal of
Management Research, 4.
 Omotayo, F. (2015, October). Factors Affecting Adoption of Point of Sale Terminals by
Business Organisations in Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research in
Business and Social Sciences, 5.
 PLOMP, M. G., RIJN, G. V., & BATENBURG, R. S. (2012). Chain digitisation support
by point-of-sale systems: an analysis of the Dutch product software market. International
Journal of Information Technology and Management, 11(4), 257-272.
 Vizgaitytė, G., & Skyrius, R. (2012). Business Intelligence in the Process of Decision
Making: Changes and Trends. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 91(3).
14