Case Study: Business Information Management at Amazon (BUS507)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of business information management within Amazon. It begins with an introduction outlining the report's objectives, which include a critical review of Amazon's information systems, an examination of how Amazon utilizes business information, and recommendations for improvement. The discussion section delves into Amazon's information systems, focusing on Management Information Systems (MIS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, highlighting their roles in automating business processes and improving efficiency. The report then explores how Amazon leverages business information gathered from various sources, including databases, surveys, and market research, to guide strategic planning, evaluate market trends, and maintain a competitive advantage. The report also categorizes the business information as external and internal. Finally, the report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for Amazon to enhance its business information strategies and operations.

Running head: BUSINESS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Name of student
Name of university
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Discussion......................................................................................................................2
Critical review of Information systems of Amazon...................................................2
Use of business information in Amazon....................................................................5
Recommendations..........................................................................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
This report aims to discuss the aspects of the business information management in the
Amazon Company. A critical review of the information systems of the Amazon Company is
briefly discussed in this report. The methods by which the company utilises the business
information in the organisation has been briefly stated in this report and at last, three
recommendations are provided to the Amazon company for suggesting some better methods
of the management of the business information in the organisation. Lastly, this report
concludes with the appropriate conclusion for the report.
Discussion
Critical review of Information systems of Amazon
In the present times, there is the increase of the use of the information systems in the
organisation for gaining significant benefit and the automation of the business process is also
feasible by the use of information system. Amazon Company utilises information system in
the organisation to automate the working of the various business process. Some of the
information system that are presently being used in the organisation are:
Management information system: The management information system could be
considered as the proper utilisation of the information technology, business processes and the
people for effective recording, storing as well as processing the data for the production of the
information that could be efficiently utilised by the decision makes for making the better
known daily decisions (Ogiela & Ogiela, 2015). The management information system could
be characterised as the collection of the systems, hardware, people and the procedures that
could work with coordination under the similar platform for the effective processing, storing
and then producing the information that could be useful for the organisation (Meyr, Wagner
& Rohde, 2015). The main components of the typical management information system could

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be discovered as the people, business procedures, data, software and the hardware (Brocke &
Rosemann, 2014). The levels of the information system that have been implemented in the
organisation are the management information systems, the transaction processing systems,
and the decision support structures.
The company extensively utilises the features of Enterprise Resource Planning or the
ERP software aimed at automation of various business processes of organisation. The
Enterprise Resource Planning could be defined as the modular software system which has
been planned for integration of the main purposeful areas of business processes of the
organisation within the common platform and help in the automation of the business (Leon,
2014). The ERP system involves the core software modules that are frequently entitled as the
modules that majorly focuses on the important business areas like the finance as well as the
accounting, supply chain management, the customer relationship management, production,
HR as well as the material management. The organisation chose the right modules from the
cluster of the modules and implemented the functionalities in the organisation (Tarhini et al.,
2015). The major feature among the ERP software and the other automation software is that
the ERP software comprises of the mutual central data using which the several modules of
the ERP software could access the information and some to which could be shared with any
other modules that are included in the business process. it denotes that the company, by the
utilisation of the ERP could be significantly saved from the having of the making the double
entries for the updating the information due to the fact that the data is shared by the system
and in turn allows the increase of the enhanced accuracy and the collaboration among the
departments of the organisation (Seethamraju, 2015). The company gained significantly from
the employment of ERP system and the most important benefit that was gained by the
organisation as the standardisation and the effective sharing among the various departments
of the organisation and it helped in the enhancement of the various business processes. The

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insights of the data of the various departments were improved as the data that was obtained
from the ERP system were significantly accurate and efficient.
The company also implemented the CRM system for the better management of the
customer and the requests of the customers (Khodakarami & Chan, 2014). The CRM or the
customer relationship management could be considered as the strategy for the management of
the relationships as well as the interactions of the organisation with the customers and the
possible customers. Any CRM system supports the companies in the remaining effectively
associated to the customers, rationalise the important processes as well as progress the
effectiveness. The CRM helps the company in focussing on the relationships of the
organisation with the separate people that comprises the colleagues, customers, service users
as well as the suppliers. The software of the CRM executes the task of the recording the
contact information of the customers of the organisation like the email, website, telephone,
social media profile and any other information gathering places (Choudhury & Harrigan,
2014). It has the capability of the automatic pulling in the other information like the recent
news regarding the activity of any other company and it could effectively store all the details
like the personal preferences of the customers and the preferences on the communications.
This software has been implemented by the organisation for the better management of the
customers of the organisation and execute the fulfilling the requirements of customer
effectively. The proper organising of the required information for the business is done by the
CRM system for the providing of the total record of the companies and the individuals for the
gaining of the better understanding of the relationship over the period of time (Nyadzayo &
Khajehzadeh, 2016). The CRM software significantly improves the customer relationship
management by the creation of the total view of any customer, capturing the major
interactions with that business and by the surfacing of the information that is required for the
having of the better conversations with any of the customers of the company. The CRM

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allows the business in the deepening of the relationships with the services users, customers,
colleagues, suppliers and the partners (Amazon, 2015). The forging of the good relationships
and maintaining of the better track of the prospects as well as the customers is significantly
essential for the customer retention after the acquisition that is the major function of the CRM
system. This system is used for the fulfilling of the various kinds of the demands of the
organisation and then focussing on the requirements of the customers of the organisation.
Use of business information in Amazon
The business information that is gathered by the organisation is gained using the
various surveys, search engines, books, articles, references and the interior records that could
be used by the business for the guiding the planning, evaluation and the operations of the
activities of the organisation (Peer, Vosgerau & Acquisti, 2014). The Amazon company uses
this information of the business for the effective management of the various business
processes of the organisation and the improvement of the working of the organisation. The
company obtains the information of the business from the effective databases of the
organisation that provides the effective insight regarding the revenue and the conditions of
the various departments of the organisation. Such information could come from the
customers, vendors and the associates (Lipton, Herzberg & Welsh, 2014). The available
sources might be the day-to-day newspapers, trade, financial along with the associated
magazines, statistics of the government, directories, technical manuals and several other
information sources. In the effect, the information could be defined as increasingly by the
setting than by the content, the business information is the kind of the information that helps
the business with the knowledge about the environment (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015). It is
majorly considered by the company that the business information could be of significant
worth in the problem resolving plus the strategic preparation and the information could be
effectively utilised for the evaluation of the marketplace by the measuring of the altering

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needs and the tastes, monitoring the intentions as well as the attitudes of the buyers and the
assessment of the characteristics of any market (Ritala, Golnam & Wegmann, 2014). The
information is significantly serious in the care of the flags on significant opposition by the
observing of the new developments of the products, shifts and the changes in the market
share, the individual company performance, as well as the overall trends in the industry. The
company utilises this information of the business and the market information for
understanding the required changes that are to be made for gaining the competitive advantage
and also maintain the business value. The intelligence that is gained from the business
information helps all the managers of the business to predict the legal as well as the alteration
in the political environment and then monitor the economic conditions in the various
countries where the company has implemented their market (Lorimer, 2018). The company
majorly divided the information gained from the analysis as the external information and the
internal information within which the certification is easily completed accessible to all public
from any third party as well as the interior information that comprises of the data that has
been shaped for the only utilisation of company as the company is the only source from
where the information is produced and it includes the personnel files, data of the board
meetings and the trade secrets.
As the business is performing the business in the online platform, there is the ever
greater scope and the speed of internet and it is starting to shift the web into the most
powerful information source for all small businesses. With the suitable subscription facilities,
the access even for the printing sources is significantly easier for the achieving than any of
the actual searching newspaper or the trade magazines (Galloway, 2017). The search skills
are required to be immensely developed but the company has deployed the skilled employees
for the effective management of the information of the business. It has been observed that the
business effectively utilises the database for the gaining of the information relevant to all the

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actions of the business owners. Internet involves the data about the demographic and the
markets, business and the economics, banking and the finance, foreign statistics and the
international trade, laws and the government regulations and the information of the
investments. The business gains this information from the various kinds of the internet news
collections, the online forms of the newspapers and the publications as well as the trade
associations. In the competitive environment where the business has been functioning, the
business information shows the significant character in the enhancements of the business and
the working of the business (Welch, 2015). The information of the business has the
influential effect on the competitive benefit in either the cost or the difference. This
information disturbs the value actions or it permits the companies in the gaining of the
competitive benefit by the utilisation of the deviations in the competitive opportunity. The
methods by which the business information helps the business could be categorised as:
Lowering of the cost: As it has been seen with the various other companies, the
Amazon company has been also successful in the effective use of the business information
for the lowering of the costs of the various business processes and the functions. In the earlier
days, the gaining of the information was considered as significantly higher but with the
introduction of the internet in the business world, the gaining of the information has been
simplified for the business (Li & Yang, 2014). As an instance the Canon company could be
considered that built the low cost copier process of the assembly around the automated
selection of the parts and the systems of the material handling. The assembly workers
comprise of the containers that contains all parts that are required for any specific copier. The
success of the company with the system is derived from software that helps in the controlling
of the parts record and the assortment. In the insurance brokerage, the amount of the
insurance businesses commonly participates in the underwriting the contract.

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Improving the differentiation: The impact of the business information on the
differentiation strategies could be considered as significantly dynamic (Dolata, 2017). The
role of the company and the product in value chain of the buyer is considered as the crucial
determinant of the differentiation. The information of the business that is gained with the
utilisation of the modern technologies makes it significantly to customise the products
efficiently. By the bundling of the increased information with the physical product bundle
that is sold to any of the buyer, the business information affects the ability of the
differentiating from itself.
Altering the competitive scope: The business information could help in the altering
the connection among the competitive advantage and the competitive scope. This technology
increases the ability of any company for the coordinating the activities provincially,
internationally and also nationwide. It could help in the unlocking of the power of the wider
geographic scope for the creation of the competitive advantage (Gray & Vander Wal, 2014).
The information revolution in the modern era is creating the interrelationships among the
industries that were earlier not connected using the similar platform. The Amazon Company
gained significant benefits from the connection with the markets where the business could not
be done earlier. The information of any business could help significantly in the gaining of the
effective insight for the growing of the business in the unexplored markets and the business
could analyse the products that could be provided to the customers of the new market for the
retaining the customers.
Recommendations
The Amazon Company could be recommended some major methods for the
management of the data efficiently. Some of the ways are:

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1. Extensive focus on the information and not on the data centre: The focus on the
creation of the information infrastructure, which helps in the optimisation of the
ability of the organisation for finding accessing and then consuming the critical
business information.
2. Gain the complete understanding: It is required by the business to have the proper
knowledge of the essential information for the business and then recognise the
information that could be utilised for the enhancement of the various business
processes.
3. Implementing the consistent policies: It is significantly important to implement the
strict policies for the information that could be enforced in the places where the
information is maintained, that could be either physical, cloud environments or the
virtual environments.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the Amazon company is utilising the business
information for the gaining of the enhanced products and the business processes. The
Amazon Company utilises the information system in the organisation to automate the
working of the various business process. The management information system could be
considered as the proper utilisation of the information technology, business processes and the
people for effective recording, storing as well as processing the data for the production of the
information that could be efficiently utilised by the decision makes for making the better
known daily decisions. The company extensively utilises the features of Enterprise Resource
Planning or the ERP software aimed at automation of various business processes of
organisation. The Enterprise Resource Planning could be defined as the modular software
system which has been planned for integration of the main purposeful areas of business

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processes of the organisation within the common platform and help in the automation of the
business.

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References
Amazon, E. C. (2015). Amazon web services. Available in: http://aws. amazon.
com/es/ec2/(November 2012).
Brocke, J. V., & Rosemann, M. (2014). Handbook on business process management 1:
Introduction, methods, and information systems.
Choudhury, M. M., & Harrigan, P. (2014). CRM to social CRM: the integration of new
technologies into customer relationship management. Journal of Strategic
Marketing, 22(2), 149-176.
Dolata, U. (2017). Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-
competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur
Organisations-und Innovationsforschung, SOI Discussion Paper.
Galloway, S. (2017). The four: the hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
Random House.
Gray, D., & Vander Wal, T. (2014). The connected company. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".
Kantor, J., & Streitfeld, D. (2015). Inside Amazon: Wrestling big ideas in a bruising
workplace. New York Times, 15, 74-80.
Khodakarami, F., & Chan, Y. E. (2014). Exploring the role of customer relationship
management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information &
Management, 51(1), 27-42.
Leon, A. (2014). Enterprise resource planning. McGraw-Hill Education.