The Value of Effective IT Systems

This report analyzes the overall value of effective IT systems within Aldi, a retail business organization. It explores the use of IT systems in different functions of Aldi, their contribution towards achieving organizational objectives, and how they support value-added change. The report also discusses different ways IT systems store and process data and provides practical IT solutions for common business problems experienced within Aldi.

The value of Effective
IT Systems

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Use of IT Systems Within Different Functions of Aldi.........................................................3
P2 Contribution of IT systems Towards Achievement of Organisational Objectives and Goals
in Aldi..........................................................................................................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
P3 Different Ways IT Systems Store and Process Data..............................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P4 Analysing How IT Systems are Used to Support Value Added Change for Improving
Business Operations Within Aldi................................................................................................7
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................8
P5 Practical IT Solutions For Common Business Problems Experienced Within Aldi..............8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Information technology refers to the use of digital computers and peripheries with the
intention to store, transmit, retrieve, analyse and manipulate information or data as per the
requirements of the user. An Information Technology system refers to a general digital computer
system that is made up of appropriate hardware, software and peripheral machines and
equipment that is used for varying operations based on the user’s requirements (Lohrke,
Frownfelter-Lohrke and Ketchen Jr, 2016). This report analyses the of overall value of effective
IT systems within Aldi, which is a private German owned retail business organisation, that was
founded in 1946 and currently operates from its operational headquarters in Essen Germany and
Mulheim Germany respectively. Aldi operates more than 11,234 distinct retail establishments
across 20 different countries around the world. Aldi specialises in selling retail merchandises,
groceries and household essentials to the customers within retail industry of UK in order to
effectively satisfy their needs and demands and conduct the operations of the retail business
organisation in a successful manner.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
P1 Use of IT Systems Within Different Functions of Aldi
Most of the varied organisational functions of Aldi such as manufacturing, finance,
marketing, sales, human resources, logistics etc., make appropriate use of IT systems within the
business organisation in order for the business organisation’s overall operations to be conducted
in an increasingly effective, efficient and successful manner. The way in which the various
organisational functions of Aldi make use of IT systems is as follows:
Finance: The finance department within Aldi is required to make effective use of IT systems
within the retail business organisation in order to conduct its daily operations in an increasingly
successful and efficient manner. The finance organisational function of Aldi uses IT systems for
analysing how efficiently the business organisation is able to make use of its allocated financial

resources, in order to maximise the profit margins generated by the retail business organisation
within the retail sector of UK (Randall, Goel and Abujamra, 2017). In addition, the finance
department within Aldi also uses IT systems to effectively manage the payroll of all its
organisational employees. Finance department of Aldi also uses IT systems to perform financial
audits of the operations of the other organisational functions within Aldi, in order to identify
which operational function is not able to make optimum use of its allocated financial resources
so that appropriate changes can be made towards increasing the profit margins generated by the
retail business organisation.
Sales: The sales functions of Aldi are also required to make effective use of IT systems within
the retail business organisation in order to maximise the productivity and profitability of the
business organisation within the retail sector of UK. The sales department of Aldi uses IT
systems to forecast consumer demands within the external consumer retail markets, for assessing
the effectiveness of the diverse sales and marketing strategies used within the retail business
organisation, amongst other operational uses. The sales department of Aldi also uses IT systems
to store and record the operational data and information about their clients and their sales
requirements in order to be able to satisfy these needs and demands of their clients in the future
in an increasingly effective and efficient manner.
Human Resources: The human resources department of Aldi also makes use of IT systems in
order to be able to effectively conduct its daily operations within the business organisation in an
increasingly effectively, efficient and successful manner. The HR department of Aldi uses IT
systems to create dedicated recruitment plans and strategies for the retail business organisation
by recording relevant data and information related to the operational vacancies within the
organisational structure of Aldi, along with the the skill gaps present amongst its operational
employees and workforce (DeLone and McLean, 2016). The HR department of Aldi also uses IT
systems for managing workforce planning and management operations within Aldi, which
enables the retail business organisation to become able to conduct its daily operations towards
optimum standards of performance and efficiency within the retail industry of UK.

P2 Contribution of IT systems Towards Achievement of Organisational Objectives and Goals in
Aldi
The use of IT systems within business organisations such as Aldi contributes significantly
towards the business organisation being able to effectively and efficiently accomplish its
organisational objectives and goals within its operational industries and gain a sustained
competitive advantage against the competitor business organisations of the business
organisation. The same can be said for the operations of Aldi within the retail sectors of UK.
This is because of the following key reasons:
 Use of IT systems allows for a business organisation such as Aldi to increase the overall
performance and efficiency with which the business organisation and its employees
conduct their daily operations through which it is able to accomplish and achieve its
organisational objectives and goals in an increasingly effective and efficient manner. This
is because such IT systems allow for Aldi to effectively ease and eliminate redundancies
in the previous roles and responsibilities of the employees, allowing for the business to
increase the individual operational performance and efficiency of their employees.
 Use of IT systems within business organisations such as Aldi also allows for the business
organisation to innovate its operational processes and manufactured goods and services
with the intention to increase the overall value of such processes and manufactured
goods, which allows for the retail business organisation to achieve its organisational
goals and objectives in a much more effective and efficient manner (Trantopoulos and
et.al., 2017).
 Use of IT systems within Aldi also allows for its leadership and management to identify,
assess and analyse which operational functions and employees within the business
organisation are not able to conduct their individual operations towards optimum
standards of performance and efficiency, which is significant contributing factor that
decreases the overall productivity and profitability of Aldi within the retail sector of UK
and hinders the ability of the business organisation to accomplish its organisational goals
and objectives. With the leadership and management of Aldi being able to identify and
analyse such contributing factors through the use of IT systems, allows for them to
effective address such issues within the retail business organisation, enhancing the overall

ability of Aldi to accomplish its organisational objectives and goals in an increasingly
efficient and effective manner.
 Use of IT systems within Aldi also allows for the business organisation to effectively
conduct thorough market, industry and consumer analyses, with the intention to identify,
monitor, record and retrieve the information related to the ever changing trends,
demands, requirements and preferences within the external environments of the business
organisation. Knowledge of such contributing factors enabling the retail business
organisation to achieve its organisational objectives and goals in an increasingly effective
and successful manner (Wang and et.al., 2017).
LO 2
P3 Different Ways IT Systems Store and Process Data
There exist various different ways in which different IT systems within business
organisations such as Aldi store and process their operational data with the intention to improve
the overall productivity, performance and profitability of the business organisation within
operational industries as follows:
Knowledge Management Systems: These types of IT systems store and retrieve data and
information within a business organisation allowing for the effective communication,
collaboration and cooperation between the various different operational functions of a business
organisation such as Aldi. These types of IT systems also locate knowledge sources within the
business organisation, aid in mining repositories for hidden organisational knowledge and
enhance the capturing and use of organisational knowledge of the business organisation,
allowing for the business organisation to maximise its operational performance and productivity
in an effective and efficient manner. Such types of IT systems comprise of knowledge base and
an interface engine, with the knowledge base functioning as a repository and interface engine
functioning as a search engine to store and process data.
Customer Relationship Management Systems: These types of IT systems are used by the sales
and marketing functions of a business organisation such as Aldi with the intention to improve
and enhance the overall interactions of the business organisation’s employees and its customers

from the external environments (Vysotska, Chyrun and Chyrun, 2016). Such IT systems are able
to store, retrieve and analyse the individual demands, requirements, preferences and needs of
their varying numbers of customers, allowing for the business organisation to be able to
effectively address and satisfy such needs and create a productive and healthy relationship with
their customers so that their long term loyalty can be gained for the sustained successful
operations of Aldi within the retail sector of UK. Such systems store data in databases and use
various kinds of algorithms to process information as per the demand of the user.
Transaction Processing Systems: This type of IT system allows for a business organisation to
effectively collect, record, modify and retrieve all of the business organisation’s transactional
data and information as per the demands and requirements of its users. Such types of IT systems
are commonly of two main types- Batch Processing, where clusters of transactions of a business
organisation are analysed and processed simultaneously by the IT system, in which time delay
exists and real time processing which carries out transactions exclusively, in order to ensure that
there exist absolutely no time delay for the processing of a transaction.
LO 3
P4 Analysing How IT Systems are Used to Support Value Added Change for Improving
Business Operations Within Aldi
There are several ways in which IT systems can be used within business organisations
such as Aldi to support value added change within the business organisation so that the
operational performance, efficiency, productivity and profitability of the retail business
organisation can be effectively improved and enhanced within the retail industry of UK. IT
systems such as the transactional processing systems have completely innovated, revolutionised
and changed the manner in which the sales and finance departments of business organisations
including Aldi conduct their daily operations allowing for them to conduct their daily operations
in an increasingly improved and enhanced manner (Beckhusen, 2016). Such IT systems support
value added change within the business organisation through the innovation of the individual
roles and responsibilities of the business organisation’s employees, allowing for them to be able
to conduct their daily operations within the retail business organisation in an increasingly

effective and efficient manner, enhancing and improving the overall performance and
productivity of the business organisation within the retail sector of UK in a significant manner.
Use of customer relationship management IT systems also supports value added change
within the business organisations such as Aldi, as such IT systems come to completely innovate
and revolutionise the way in which business organisations and its employees create and manage
their relationships with their customers and fundamentally change the way in which the business
organisation and its employees interact and engage with their customers present in the external
environments of the business organisation. Such customer relationship management IT systems
support value added change and have implemented organisational change with respect to how
the employees of the business used to conduct their daily operations and interact with their
customers previously, improving and enhancing the overall ability and capability of Aldi to
create and maintain productive and healthy relationships with their customers present in the
external environments of the business organisations.
The use of IT systems allows for business organisations such as Aldi to effectively
support value added change within the business organisation and the retail industry of UK,
allowing for the retail business organisation to improve upon the performance and efficiency
with which its employees conduct their daily operations and increasing the overall productivity
and profitability metrics of the retail business organisation in an effective manner.
LO 4
P5 Practical IT Solutions For Common Business Problems Experienced Within Aldi
There are various common business problems within Aldi that can be addressed through
some practical IT solutions, with the most major of these being recommended below:
One of the most common problem or issue for Aldi within the retail industry of UK relates to its
ineffective time management, which adversely affects the overall productivity and profitability
metrics generated by the retail business organisation within the retail sector of UK. This is quite
a common issue organisational wide and can be effectively addressed through the use of IT
solutions such as Gantt charts, operational digital schedules etc., which can allow for the
business organisation to effectively keep a track of its organisational performance and efficiency,

the organisational deadlines that have to be respected, allowing for the retail business
organisation to better manage their limited organisational time to improve upon the overall
productivity and profitability of the retail business organisation within the retail industry of UK
(Valverde, 2016).
Another major organisational wide issue for the retail business organisation Aldi relates
to the maintenance and management of the overall quality of the manufactured product and
goods of the retail business organisation. The overall quality of the manufactured goods and
services that are produced by Aldi can be effectively improved and enhanced organisational wide
through the use of dedicated IT solutions such as Total Quality Management (TQM) software.
This digital IT solution allows for Aldi to digitally assess the quality of the manufactured goods
and products produced by the retail business organisation and compares them to the optimum
standards of product quality that is expected to be achieved by Aldi, improving the overall
quality and standards of all the manufactured goods and products of the retail business
organisation. By improving the overall quality of the manufactured products, Aldi is able to
effectively satisfy and meet all the varying needs, demands, preferences and requirements of
their customers through the quality of products and goods that is expected of a large retail
business organisation such as Aldi within the retail industry of UK.
Another common issue within Aldi relates to the its digital marketing strategies being not
able to attract required number of customers from the external environments for effective
promotion and advertisement of the manufactured goods and services of the retail business
organisation. Aldi’s marketers are recommended to make use of dedicated IT solutions such as
digital marketing tools and software like Google Analytics or Hootsuite, which can provide them
with digital marketing metrics based on the digital marketing strategies implemented by the retail
business organisation (Thatcher and et.al., 2018). Analysis of such digital marketing metrics by
the marketers of Aldi should allow for them to identify and assess the issues and problems with
their chosen digital marketing strategies so that relevant and required modification to the digital
marketing strategies of the business organisation can be made. This would allow for the retail
business organisation to attract and interest increasing number of customers and effectively
promote and advertise to them the manufactured goods and products of the retail business
organisation.

CONCLUSION
Through this report’s findings, it is effectively concluded that the use of IT systems is of
immense importance and also contributes significantly towards allowing for business
organisations such as Aldi to gain a sustained competitive advantage against their competitor
business organisations within the operational industries and allowing for the business
organisation to enhance its operational performance, efficiency, productivity and profitability in
an effectively manner, which enables the business organisation to conduct its daily operations in
a successful manner over a sustained period of time. This report analyses the use of IT systems
within the different operational functions of Aldi. The report also evaluates how IT systems
contribute towards Aldi achieving its organisational objectives and goals in an increasingly
effective and efficient manner. Further the report assesses different ways IT systems store and
analyse operational data within Aldi and how IT systems can be used within Aldi to support
value added change for improving the business operations of Aldi. Finally, the report makes
recommendations on practical IT solutions that cover common business problems of Aldi.

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