Business Information Systems: ERP, CRM, EAI for Axle Construction

This report examines the business information system of Axle Constructions, focusing on the strategic importance of ERP, CRM, and EAI systems for organizational success. It begins by emphasizing the need to understand business processes, particularly in the context of Axle Constructions' recent challenges. The report then explores management challenges, including operational and technical hurdles in implementing information systems. A detailed analysis of CRM, ERP, and EAI applications highlights their role in enhancing Axle Constructions' business, focusing on customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and enterprise application integration. Recommendations are provided to guide Axle Constructions in successfully implementing these systems. The report concludes by underscoring the necessity of incorporating information systems to gain a competitive edge and mitigate managerial issues, offering insights that can be applied to similar business scenarios. Relevant academic references support the analysis.

Running head: BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEM
Business Information System
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Executive Summary
This assignment highlights the importance of IS in the business organizations and the advantages
that the implementation of ERP, CRM and EAI systems impart to any business organization. The
case study of Axle Constructions has been given. This assignment highlights the competitive
advantages that that are imparted with the implementation of ERP, CRM and EAI.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
1. Need for the understanding of the business practices..................................................................2
2. Management challenges...............................................................................................................3
3. Application of CRM, ERP and EAI in the enhancement of the business of Axle Construction.5
4. Recommendations........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Business processes are complex processes that have to be understood, in order to ensure
organizational success. This assignment highlights the business processes of a company named
Axle Constructions. The company has not been able to make remarkable profit in the past few
years. However, in order to ensure that the company revived its business, it is important that the
information system and enterprise resource system (ERP) be enhanced and revived. In order to
ensure the success of Axle Constructions, the various management challenges that the company
faces, has been highlighted, along with the application of CRM, ERP and EAI, in the company.
1. Need for the understanding of the business practices
Business processes and its clear understanding have a major role to play in the
enhancement of business for any organization. In the given case study, Axle Constructions has
been facing various challenges, thus degrading the business of the company. However, it is
important that the business processes are understood and followed (Abdallah et al. 2016). The
incorporation of the information system (IS) in the business is effective. The people in the
managerial positions need to develop a clear understanding of the business, such that
improvement of the business of Axle Construction could be done (Hinkelmann et al. 2016). The
lack of clarity in understanding of the business process will result in the decline of the business
even further.
The use of information system has a key role to play in the enhancement of the business
of Axle Construction. The main business functions of any business organization include the
marketing and sales, production, accounting and finance, human resources (Leon 2014). The use
of the information system helps in supporting the operations as well as the management of the

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organization. The information system includes the management support system (MRS), the
decision support system (DSS), executive information system (EIS), transaction-processing
system (TPS). The implementation of the information system helps in the efficient storage of the
information, along with retrieval of the information efficiently, as and when required (Cabrera et
al. 2016). The information could be stored effectively, with the use of the information system
along with protecting the information from internal and external threats. The ERP system assists
in effective decision-making and helps in taking business decisions.
2. Management challenges
The successful implementations of the Information Systems have a key role to play in
ensuring the success of Axle Constructions. The implementation of the Information system in
the small to medium sized companies is faced with various challenges. These challenges are as
follows:
i. Operational challenges
The design and implementation of the Information Systems in the small companies is
faced with various operational challenges. These include the communication challenges, lack of
clarity in the requirements, increase in the cost, market pressure as well as delay in the project
delivery. The communication among the various levels of employees is unclear in small
organizations such as Axle Constructions (Hinkelmann et al. 2016). Thus, in order to implement
the Information Systems, the communication challenges needs to be overcome. Another issue
that the implementation of the IS is faced includes the lack of clarity of the requirements. In
order to implement the IS system, it is important that the requirements of the business are clear
(Seethamraju 2015). However, in case of small business organizations, the requirements remain

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unclear, thus imposing a major challenge on the implementation of the IS systems. The
implementation of the IS is a costly affair. The entire system needs to be upgraded and
implemented, thus resulting in a huge cost for the small business organizations. However, the
small organizations might not be able to bear the implementation costs, thus resulting in
operational challenges (Hinkelmann et al. 2016). Moreover, the internal and external
stakeholders might not be able to bear the implementation costs, thus resulting in the major
operational challenge.
ii. Technical Challenges
Along with the operational challenges, the small business organizations face technical
challenges as well. The technical challenges include the understanding of the business needs as
well as the successful use of the IS. The lack of adequate training among employees, will result
in technically challenged employees, unable to handle the IS system successfully (Hinkelmann et
al. 2016). The quality control for the IS needs to be taken care as well. The IS will be installed in
order to enhance the business of the business organization. Hence, the quality control of the
system needs to be ensured. The implementation of IS ensures that the information stored are
secured. However, the technical challenge of breach of privacy and security. Thus, as the IS are
implemented in small or medium sized companies, the employees need to be made aware of the
security issues (Lange et al. 2016). It is also important that the employees be educated about
reverse engineering as well. The small business organizations such as Axle Constructions, needs
to ensure that the employees are made technically advanced in order to implement the IS
successfully.

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3. Application of CRM, ERP and EAI in the enhancement of the business of Axle
Construction
CRM could be defined as the tools and technologies that are used in any business
organization to improve and facilitate the sales of the company (Khodakarami and Chan 2014).
The customer relationship management activities needs to be taken up by the company, such that
the loyalty of the customers could be achieved (Lapalme et al. 2016). Moreover, it is important
that a positive relation with the customers are achieved, such that customer retention is done
successfully, thus enhancing the business of Axle constructions. The effective use of the CRM
will ensure that the company gains competitive advantages, over the other contemporary
business organizations. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) has a key role to play in the
business organization. The ERP is a business planning system that helps a business organization
use an integrated systems and applications, in order to automate back office functions (Chorafas
2016). The ERP system needs to be developed effectively such that Axle Constructions could
ensure significant development in the business (Hinkelmann et al. 2016). The ERP system will
enhance various technology based back end processes, thus ensuring that Axle Construction
gains competitive advantages (Hoch and Dulebohn 2013). The Enterprise Application
Integration (EAI) is a middleware technology such as message-oriented middleware (MOM) that
helps in assisting the integration of the systems. Implementation of the EAI will ensure that the
company gains competitive advantages.
4. Recommendations
It is recommended that Axle Constructions implement ERP, CRM as well as EAI
systems, such as the company is able to retrieve its business successfully and gain competitive

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advantages as well. Moreover, the employees need to be trained effectively, such that they are
able to use the recommended systems effectively.
Conclusion
The IS is an essential system that needs to be incorporated such that the company Axle
Constructions is able to gain competitive advantages over the other contemporary companies.
The implementation of the CRM, ERP and EAI are effective. These solutions, along with the
given recommendations will enhance the business of the company. The implementations of these
systems, along with the adequate training given to the employees, will ensure the development of
effective IS, in Axle Constructions, thus mitigating the various managerial issues.

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References
Abdallah, A., Lapalme, J. and Abran, A., 2016. Enterprise architecture measurement: A
systematic mapping study. In Enterprise Systems (ES), 2016 4th International Conference
on (pp. 13-20). IEEE.
Cabrera, A., Abad, M., Jaramillo, D., Gómez, J. and Verdum, J.C., 2016. Definition and
implementation of the enterprise business layer through a business reference model, using the
architecture development method ADM-TOGAF. In Trends and Applications in Software
Engineering (pp. 111-121). Springer, Cham.
Chorafas, D.N., 2016. Enterprise architecture and new generation information systems. CRC
Press.
Hinkelmann, K., Gerber, A., Karagiannis, D., Thoenssen, B., Van der Merwe, A. and Woitsch,
R., 2016. A new paradigm for the continuous alignment of business and IT: Combining
enterprise architecture modelling and enterprise ontology. Computers in Industry, 79, pp.77-86.
Hoch, J.E. and Dulebohn, J.H., 2013. Shared leadership in enterprise resource planning and
human resource management system implementation. Human Resource Management
Review, 23(1), pp.114-125.
Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management
(CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.27-42.
Lange, M., Mendling, J. and Recker, J., 2016. An empirical analysis of the factors and measures
of Enterprise Architecture Management success. European Journal of Information
Systems, 25(5), pp.411-431.

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Lapalme, J., Gerber, A., Van der Merwe, A., Zachman, J., De Vries, M. and Hinkelmann, K.,
2016. Exploring the future of enterprise architecture: A Zachman perspective. Computers in
Industry, 79, pp.103-113.
Leon, A., 2014. Enterprise resource planning. McGraw-Hill Education.
Seethamraju, R., 2015. Adoption of software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning
(ERP) systems in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Information systems
frontiers, 17(3), pp.475-492.