Flash Mobz: Information Systems Challenges for E-commerce Transition

This report examines the business and technical challenges faced by Flash Mobz, a mobile phone retailer, as it transitions to an e-commerce platform following its acquisition of Phones RU. The report delves into key issues such as poorly written code, differences in IT systems, the shift from physical stores to e-commerce, data management, website traffic, default configurations, market uncertainty in Belgium, associated costs, security and compliance, website traffic, and making digital platform a high productivity place. It identifies barriers to implementation, including DNS issues, cultural differences, availability of experts, resource limitations, and legal and regulatory frameworks. The report offers recommendations to overcome these challenges, providing valuable insights for business development and information systems management. The report also includes reflective statements and self-assessment.

Information Systems

Table of Contents
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Identification of key business and technical challenges of Flash Mobz on acquisition of
Phones RU and its transition to e commerce..........................................................................1
Barriers to implementation of new program and recommendations to overcome.................4
Inclusive and persuasive argument to be presented to Asif...................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................................................6
PART B............................................................................................................................................7
Reflective statement...............................................................................................................7
Online discussion self assessment..........................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

PART A
INTRODUCTION
Information system is an important aspect of any organization as it helps in making the
process faster, easier and reliable as well (Laudon and Laudon, 2015). A comprehensive
discussion in the report will be made on technical and business challenges that are faced by Flash
Mobz on acquisition of Phones RU and its transition to e commerce. Further, to make the
knowledge to the subject concrete, the report will focus on barriers to implementation of new
program in the organization. A brief discussion will also be made on Inclusive and persuasive
argument to be presented to Asif.
Identification of key business and technical challenges of Flash Mobz on acquisition of Phones
RU and its transition to e commerce
Flash Mobz is a retailer of mobile phone and accessories functioning in UK which is
owned by Asif. The company has successfully expanded itself from one store to eleven stores
situated in UK and Belgium. In July 2014, a new company was acquired by Asif, named Phones
RU (Peppard and Ward, 2016). Two of the company's stores were started in Belgium which
shows that, Flash Mobz have also been able to expand itself to European countries as well. The
entity is then planning to expand itself in business to customer based e commerce functionality.
The passage will be integrated to retail stores through which the customers can collect there
material or other ordered accessories from. There are various technical and business challenges
that are involved in acquiring Phone RU. Some of them are discussed below:
 Code poorly written: The issues can be faced by the company if the code of not properly
written for the website which will help in switching to e commerce business. Some of the
problems include, insufficient algorithm, leak in the memory leading to data hack, dead
lock in the system and application restricting basic functions as well. Further, usage of
old versions of the software can also bring the performance of the company down further
slowing the growth rate. Hence, it is important to consider all the tools and appropriate
algorithm is used which can ensure performance of proper coding.
 Difference in IT systems: IT systems followed by Flash Mobz and Phone RU are quite
different from each other. Flash Mobz is involved in usage of Transaction Processing
System (TPS) which functions at the bottom level of the pyramid (Venkatesh, Brown,
and Bala, 2013). TPS is one of the types of information system which helps in collecting,
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storing, modifying and retrieving the data transactions of the enterprise. The operation is
performed by the shop floor workers or the staff from front line. They tend to provide key
data to the managers of who in turn involve in further decision-making process. The data
is obtained through tracking process which is automatic or semi-automatic, based on the
transaction performed. It is efficiency oriented system and ensures that all the available
resources of the company are efficiently utilised.
However, Phone RU have Decision Support System (DSS) which is dependent on knowledge
majorly used by top level managers or senior. DSS is one of the important type of information
systems which helps the decision makers to collect the useful information with the help of
combining it to raw data, documents and personal knowledge so that adequate decisions can be
made in order to solve the prevailing problem. It helps in creation of knowledge and helps in
better decision making. It helps in analysing the present structure of the organization and helps in
assessing potential impacts of decision making in near future. It helps in making the entity
structured. Easy access to databases, analytical tools and helps the organization to exchange the
information.
It is difficult for a particular company to work for both IT systems and hence it is important to
opt for one suitable system that is Decision Support System which is followed by Phone RU for
better decision making process. It can act as barrier to switch from one system to another (Hall,
2012).
 Process shift from physical store to e commerce: Shifting from one process to another
is a difficult process. The company, Flash Mobz is a retail company and hence products
are transferred to the customer directly from the single set up shop. However, switching
the business to e commerce will demand different aspects which are to be considered by
Asif. It includes, development of website, Promotion of the website to attract customers,
etc.
 Growth of data is not managed properly: The data systems used by the companies
tends to degrade with time. Proper management and monitoring as and when the data of
the entity grows plays important role in the success of web performance. Appropriate
requirement of data storage must be fulfilled to mitigate the risk of data loss.
 Management of traffic on the website: Increased traffic is a good indicator of increased
people who are visiting to check the website. However, if the company is not prepared
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for the traffic, it can lead to crash of the website further hanging all the important
functions. It can impact the transactions of the company as well further slowing down the
growth rate.
 Default in configuration: Improper tuning of the systems that are being prepared to
work can lead to create problems for the company. Default configuration helps in
establishing new components in the system and bring them at running state. It is
important to check every setting, thread count, allocation of memory, access to the users
etc. The parameters of configuration must match to the demand that placed in the web
application and not just based on the convenience.
 Uncertainty through Belgium market: Phones Ru, being a mobile accessories company
was not able to generate profits from its stores set up in Belgium market. The generation
of profits for Flash Mobz may also be uncertain. If the company is not able to generate
profits from its set up business in Europe, it may hit its functioning badly. It may create
financial loss to the company (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta, 2016).
 Involvement of cost: The cost involved in changing the setup of the business is high.
There will be rise of various technical and non-technical requirement while expanding
business in Europe. In order to have transition to e-commerce, IT systems will be
required with experts to handle it. Further, the company have to hire new professional in
Europe to handle store there as well. It may prove to be costly for the business bringing
hindrance in the functioning of the enterprise (Galliers and Leidner, 2014).
 Security and compliance: Protection of data of the client is another major challenge that
is faced by the companies these days. It is important to have appropriate firewall in the
company so that unauthorized access to the data can be mitigated. Further, using
appropriate kind of antivirus, managing the authentication of user and performing
security check after specific period can help in offering the best to the customers. It
ultimately helps in safeguarding the interest of the stakeholders.
 Lack of visitors to the website: The important aspect of going on line is making it easy
for the customers to go through the products and services and make purchases from there.
However, the activity may act as a challenge when people are not aware if the website
actually exists or may not be able to find in the initial links of search engine. The problem
can be treated through the use of appropriate Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It in
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important to have right kind of links and keywords in the website. Further, the company
must have adequate knowledge regarding the mindset of the customers and what they are
searching for. It helps in meeting the requirements of the company as well as the
customers further serving the best to them (Hashem and et.al., 2015).
 Making digital platform a high productivity place: Lack of strategies in the business
can affect the productivity of business which is functioning digitally. Hence, it is
important to have blueprints of the tasks that are to be executed by the company which
can be converted into guide for further references. Understanding the requirements
through industry specific collaboration models and have IT equipped platform that can
help in assessing investment, unified communication process, productivity, security and
compliance (Michalski, Carbonell and Mitchell, 2013). It is initiate fast processing of the
procedure and activities.
Barriers to implementation of new program and recommendations to overcome
Flash Mobz is planning to expand itself in European market for which it is going to adopt
e commerce to deal with the clients. There are various barriers attached to the implementation of
the process. Some of them are discussed below:
 DNS issues: DNS queries are responsible to create the large amount of web traffic on the
website. Any issue in DNS can create various problems which includes, preventing
access of the website to the visitors, error results, 404s and wrong path ways. It is
important for the entity to make use of DNS monitoring safeguards so that problem can
be solved immediately. Further, revision of switches, checking VLAN tags and
distributing the tasks between different servers to shift the load. It helps in
troubleshooting the issues to comprehend the problem.
 Cultural differences: It has a significant impact on the functioning of the brand. It is
important to understand the taste and preferences of the customers so that appropriate
marketing practices can be adopted. Further, it also helps in understanding that what
product is actually liked by them and production process will depend on it (Goes, 2014).
The research will also help in assessing the market scenario and earn larger profits. The
failure of system at one place can have significant impact on the other location as well. In
IT networks, it is difficult to determine the origin of the problems. The process if known
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as Domino effect. Some abnormal errors may also be included in the system to push the
boundaries of recovery and flexibility.
 Availability of experts: Flash Mobz is not equipped with appropriate experts. In order to
opt for e commerce, the company will require expert professionals that can handle the e-
commerce platform. The area requires appropriate kind of knowledge regarding IT
systems which may add up to the cost of the company. In order to solve this problem, the
entity can hire new people in the business so that online platform can be handled
smoothly. Further, it will also get the enterprise equipped with certain line of people with
adequate amount of knowledge in the given field.
 Lack of resource: To opt for online business platform, it is important to equip the
company with IT systems such as laptop, computer, internet connectivity etc.
Unavailability of the resources may create hindrance in the functions of the business.
Hence, to mitigate the issue, it is important for the entity to opt for adequate updated IT
resources so that there is adequate amount of updated technology is available, smoothing
the function of the organization. Further, the ratio of virtual machines and server ratio
must be high for better functioning (Mishra, Srinivas and Mukhopadhyay, 2014).
 Laws and regulatory framework: Every country follow its own set of rules and
regulations. The policies of business may be different in UK from that of the regulatory
functions being practised in Europe. It is important for the companies who plans to
expand in other geographical region must have sound understanding with respect to the
laws of business. It helps in making appropriate decisions where the company do not
unintentionally breach any law being framed by the government of that country. Hence, it
is important for Flash Mobz that it go through all the policies and framework of business
that are applied while expanding in Europe. The sound knowledge to the law will benefit
the entity.
 Assessing test load performance: It is important to test the problems at every specific
interval before it leads to the crash of whole server. The server must be available to take
the load of heavy users without crashing. It will help the entity to maintain appropriate
traffic on the website (Peppard and Ward, 2016).
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Inclusive and persuasive argument to be presented to Asif
The acquisition of Phones RU by Flash Mobz can prove to fruitful for the company. It
will help the entity expand its market from UK to European countries. The technological
enhancement that will take place in the company make the process reliable and fast as well.
Adoption of technological advancement in the organization makes the process efficient and
effective Management Information System helps in providing processing and storage of data in a
defined manner so that managers can form the best output out of it. It ensures that appropriate
information is also available to the top level management so that it can contribute to better
decision making.
All the companies dealing in competitive environment which includes, retailer,
manufacturer, service providers etc. requires adequate information in order to stay at top in the
market. There are various steps that are taken by the entity in order to solve organizational
problems (Top 6 Challenges in Software Development, 2017). To deal with these issues certain
aspects are considered such as, analysis and design of system, program coding, performing test,
converting, producing and then finally heading towards maintaining in the end (Chen and Hsiao,
2012).
The system analysis helps in finding out the issues the entity is facing through system
analysis and try to solve the problems through information systems. Appropriate usage of all the
available resources can help in solving the problems that can arise in adoption of Business to
Consumer functionality of e commerce. Adequate use of firewall connectivity can help in
keeping the data safe, secure and reliable. Integration of different systems and technology can
help in solving the problem related to inventory management, website issues and data
management problems. Some other available alternatives are, usage of multiple web browsers,
increasing the complexity of preparing and function of the software and its solutions linked to it
(The 10 Most Common Web App Performance Problems, 2015).
The project will prove to be successful as there are various ways that can be adopted by
Flash Mobes in order to deal with the problems arising in information systems. Hence, it will be
fruitful for the entity to opt for Business to consumer electronic commerce functionality. It is
recommended that Asif must add e commerce facility in its business functions to gain higher
profitability and target large amount of customers with ease. Further, adoption of Decision
Support System is also suggested.
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CONCLUSION
Based on the above report, it can be concluded that, information systems play an
important role in the functioning of the organization as it helps in maintaining right kind of data
which further help the to top management in decision making. Flash Mobz is planning to acquire
Phones RU and further opt for business to consumer e commerce functionality as well. The
technical issues have been discussed in detail in the report with respect to, data management,
website traffic management etc.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the above analysis performed, it can be recommended to Flash Mobes that it opt
for information system technology so that e commerce process can be smoothly implemented in
the organization. Further, it is important for the companies to use upgraded technology and
software in IT system so that problems related to obsolete technology can be mitigated. In the
end, it is recommended that the entity must promote cloud computing so that majority of storage
of data can be made there. It is recommended that the company must opt for Decision Support
System type of information system so that decision making can become easy, considering all the
important aspects of the prevailing issues in e commerce field. Further, it can be recommended
that improvement in the technological factors and adoption of appropriate kind of software can
help in better application of the new field into the business.
PART B
Reflective statement
The assessment helped me to gather adequate knowledge regarding information systems
where I get to learn about different techniques that can be used while opting for e commerce
functionality. Further, a comprehensive knowledge was collected by me to assess the barriers
that can be faced by Flash Mobes while opting for business to consumer e commerce function. I
focussed on studies being conducted in last 8 years so that I can make appropriate discussion
regarding upgraded technology available in the market. Further, I also collected basic knowledge
regarding information technology system through books and online articles so that I am aware
about the basic terms used in this subject.
In order to concrete my knowledge base, I studied about different challenges faced by the
company when they opt for the online functioning of the company. Further, some basic business
challenges faced by the companies in expansion to the market of other geographical region is
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also noticed by me so that prudent decisions can be made on behalf of the company. I also get to
learn about firewall which is an excellent feature adopted by companies these days in order to
restrict the function of foreign host to the privacy of the enterprise (Fayard and et.al., 2012).
In the end, based on the knowledge I was able to gather on the topic, I prepared certain
recommendation that can be adopted by Flash Mobes to make the function smooth, reliable and
fast. Overall, the project helped me to develop adequate knowledge regarding information
system which will further contribute in my work experience as well.
The online resources used in the completion of the project are authentic enough in order
to rely on the results. Further, the online resources found be me that helped in the enhancement
of my knowledge includes, cloud computing, firewall, assessment of the requirement of antivirus
etc. It helped in concreting the knowledge of information system. The opinion on the topic is
differentiated in different authors where critical thinking aspect have been applied to reach to a
valid and reliable conclusion. In the end, the report produced through the analysis is reliable
providing appropriate information on information technology system
Online discussion self assessment
Benchmark Grade Description
Quality of contributions 70 – 79
Several good contributions
were made
The contribution was made
through the understanding of
various aspects such as fire
wall, cloud computing etc.
Attribution of references 60-69
Clear referencing to all
sources.
Clear referencing style have
been used i.e. Harvard where
the name of the author and its
journal or book is mentioned
clearly. Citation of it is made
where appropriate.
Evidence of collaboration /
facilitation skills
80+
Appropriate use of skills is
made in giving contribution to
the discussion and following
The thoughts and opinions of
several authors are made to
make the research and analysis
concrete. Critical thinking
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the contributors as well. aspects in considered the most
to assess the barriers and
challenges.
Reflection on online
contributions
70 – 79
Good reflection based on clear
evidence from online
discussion made
The reflection is based on what
is being studied, understood
and applied in the project
further contributing the
knowledge and enhancement
as well.
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Fayard, D. and et.al., 2012. Effect of internal cost management, information systems integration,
and absorptive capacity on inter-organizational cost management in supply
chains. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 37(3).pp.168-187.
Chen, R. F. and Hsiao, J. L., 2012. An investigation on physicians’ acceptance of hospital
information systems: a case study. International journal of medical informatics. 81(12).
pp.810-820.
Mishra, D., Srinivas, J. and Mukhopadhyay, S., 2014. A secure and efficient chaotic map-based
authenticated key agreement scheme for telecare medicine information systems. Journal of
medical systems. 38(10). p.120.
Michalski, R. S., Carbonell, J. G. and Mitchell, T. M. eds., 2013. Machine learning: An artificial
intelligence approach. Springer Science & Business Media.
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