Information Technology Systems Analysis for British Home PLC: A Report

This report examines the implementation and impact of Information Technology (IT) systems on British Home PLC, a medium-sized company operating in diverse industries. The analysis covers the use of IT across various departments, including Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, and Administration, highlighting how IT can improve efficiency and effectiveness. The report details how IT systems store and process data for knowledge management, customer relationship management (CRM), and communication. It also evaluates the use of IT to improve business operations, sustainability, and performance, with a specific focus on process improvisation, product development, and cost efficiency. Furthermore, the report provides recommendations for a practical IT solution for British Home PLC, emphasizing the benefits of IT adoption for achieving organizational goals and objectives. The report highlights the significance of IT in enhancing communication, streamlining processes, and driving overall business success.

Information Technology
System

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1) Use of IT systems within different functions of an organisation ....................................1
P2) Contribution of IT system in achievement of Objectives ...............................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3) Analysis of different ways in which IT system store and process data...........................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4. Evaluation of use of IT systems to improve performance, sustainability and business
operations ..............................................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P5) Recommanded practical IT solution .............................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is basically represent the use of computers and other electrical
devise to store, transmit, retrieve and manipulate a set of data or information. Information
technology system includes all the hardware, computer equipment, servers and all other
information technology systems that are owned and used by an organisation or business firm to
create, process, store, secure and exchange all relevant data in an electronic form (Abbasi, Sarker
and Chiang, 2016). This assignment is based on British home Plc which is a medium sized group
of companies. British home plc is operating and deals in many industries which include retail,
travel, property for renting purpose and also provides legal and accounting consultancy. This
assignment includes analysis of use of IT systems within different functions of organisations and
also evaluate the different ways in which IT systems store and process data for knowledge
management, customer relationship management, data management and communication
management. Beside this, this report also consists use of IT in improving business operations,
sustainability and performance. Finally, recommendation for practical IT system solution is also
included in this report.
TASK 1
P1) Use of IT systems within different functions of an organisation
British home plc is a successful medium sized organisations from 1950 which deals in
various industries like consultancy, retail, travelling and also in property. But this organisations
failed in innovating and improving its operations thus, lacks in appealing and attracting youth
and also its business operations has became obsolete with passes of time. Thus, its chairman
decided to sell British home plc to an American company. Currently this organisation is having
no centralised department thus, the new chairman of British Home plc has decided to become
modernise and invest in information technology. The use of IT systems within different
functions of organisations that can be availed by British home plc after its modernisation and
advancement is provided below:
Human resource department
HR department of every organisation is responsible for recruiting and hiring talented and
skilled people (Abramowicz, 2015). It includes making advertisement and appeal for respondents
to apply for vacant jobs. Use of IT system by British home plc is helpful is increasing the
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efficiency and effectiveness of HR function through attracting more customers and also
facilitates effective training. The main role and use of IT systems in HR function with respect to
British home plc is described below:
Online advertising- Use of It systems for adversing facilitate reach to larger number of
individuals thus, attract more better pool of individuals for a vacant position. At the same time
online advertising provides a cheap and much cost effective way to British home plc to make
regular advertising which reduce the cost of printing advertisement in newspaper or any other
media. Use of their on website and social media can be made British plc for the purpose of
online advertising.
Email- Use of IT systems also provide an effective away to British home plc to
intimating and informing its probable targets for filling any urgent vacancy through sending
Email. This facilitates an easy and less time consuming process for HR department and also a
provide a more talented and suitable individuals for a specific job who's skills and talents are
already evaluated by HR manger (Abu Naser and Al Shobaki, 2016). Thus, transfer of
information regarding job vacancy through sending Email minimise the crowd and also attract
only those individual who have potential to perform that job in an effective way. Use of IT in
British home plc will also helps HR department in scheduling meetings and informing all
employees and member about meeting.
Video conferencing- IT systems has provided the facility of video conferencing through
which online interview has become easy for HR department. Use of IT systems in British home
plc will facilitate conducting interviews and interaction among employees more easily and
efficiently through videos conferencing (Anaya, Dulaimi and Abdallah, 2015). This also
facilities a medium for providing virtual training to workforce so that their skills and talents can
be enhanced. An effective way of communication is also provided by use IT systems in
organisations through way of video conference and virtual interaction which saves the cost and
time of travelling.
Finance department
This function of an organisation is having the responsibility of preparing report and
timely budget. Use of IT systems provide an effective way for recoding and keeping tracks of
day of day transaction and also reduce the chances of bugs and calculation mistakes in
preparation of financials budget and other reports. Use of an effective transaction processing
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system can be made by British home plc to properly record, collect, retrieve and modify its
financial data. Use of IT also facilitates an easy transfer of data from one branch to another to
have a centralised processing of financial data so that a compile and complete report regarding
the over all expanses and profit of British home plc can be made which will provide better
information regarding achievement of objective and financial success of an organisation.
Marketing function
This function is concerned with promotion and advertising of an organisations and its
product also maintain effective relationship with customers (Bach, Čeljo and Zoroja, 2016). Use
of IT system in marketing functions increase its reach and also provide an effective way to
promote and communicate with its customers. The main advantage offered by IT system in
marketing function in respect of British home plc is provided below:
Attractive content creation- Use of IT systems provide better way for creating a more
attractive and informative content through making use of various videos, images, pictures,
graphs, etc. in content. This helps marketing department of British home plc in attracting more
customers and also facilitates creation of awareness in its customers about its services and
products.
E- commerce- It is the latest trend in business market which is impossible without IT
systems. E- commerce facilitates an easy way of electronically buying or selling product with
use of internet and other IT systems thus, increase scope for success and better profitability for
British home plc.
Digital media- This provide an effective way for communicating and interacting with
customers through making use of social media and other software and apps (Benckendorff,
Xiang and Sheldon, 2019). Implementation of IT systems in British home plc will facilitates an
effective way of communicating and provides a better of interaction with costumers which helps
in maintaining healthy and long lasting relationship with customers that is necessary to meet the
objectives of organisations.
Administration function
this function is related with management and control of people and is related with
planning, budgeting and organising. British plc can make use of IT system for improving its
administrative system as various app and control measures are provided by IT system for
efficient planning and control of employees. Use of thumb impression for digital attendance of
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employees can be made by British plc to have a better check on absenteeism and attendance of
employees.
Accounting function
This function is mainly related with budgeting and report keeping. Thus, use of IT system
in accounting function of British home Plc will ensure timely recording of day to day transaction
without any error or calculation mistake. Thus, use of IT system enhance efficiency and
authenticity of accounting function through keeping a check on all financial aspects and reducing
the chances of error and miss calculation while preparation of budget and other accounting
report.
P2) Contribution of IT system in achievement of Objectives
A vital role is played by IT system in achievement of organisational goal and objectives
through improving efficiency and effectiveness of its business operation. The contribution and
role played by IT systems in timely and most efficiently achievement of targets and objectives
of British home Plc can be understood from following points:
Process improvisation- Many software and technology are provided by IT system to
have improvisation and improvement in process and operations of organisations which enhance
their efficiency and also improve productivity. British home plc can make use ERP software
(Enterprise resource planning) which include product life cycle management, supply chain
management (like purchasing, manufacturing and distribution),customer relationship
management (CRM), warehouse management, sales order processing, financials, human
resources, online sales and decision support system thus, lead to overall process improvisation
(Burrough and et. al, 2015). Thus, use of IT system will makes process of British home plc more
accurate, easy and quicker which will yield better result.
Product Development- For every organisations to remain successful and to have better
competitive strength it is necessary to develop and create better quality product with best features
and minimum possible cost. Use of IT system provides an effective way to British home plc to
design and develop it product and services through making use of computer aided design( CAD)
software and other techniques for speed up its production and also helps in taking effective
decisions regarding features and quail of product and services.
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Cost efficiency- Installation of IT system can be expensive but its implementation
increase and improve the efficiency of all function and department thus, in overall IT system
makes operations cost effective thus, yield better profit. Use of various software and other
technology will lead to better performance of operations like better management of resources,
effective design, etc. which improve the cost efficiency and at the same time all reduce the
expenses and other wasteful activity through keeping a check on all financial transaction
( Cassidy, 2016).
Effective communication- Use of IT system facilitates effective channels of
communication with in an organisation and with customers also. Use of online and digital media
provide a better base to British home plc to interact with employees and its customers through
making use of social media and other platforms.
Evaluation of IT system to achieve higher performance
Use of IT system improves performance and working of all functional department in an
organisation. Like, it provide a more effective way to finance to keep timely records and budgets
also facilitates effective check on all expanses thus, reduce the amount of wastage which is
helpful in achieving the target of cost efficiency. Beside this, it improves the marketing function
through providing an enriched way for promotion and advertising also develop an effective and
long lasting relation with customers through making use of social media and other platforms
thus, increase the productivity and revenue of an organisation. Therefore, adoption and
implementation of IT system in British home plc will facilitates achievement targets of cost
efficiency and improvement in its operations thus, lead to avheivemt of higher performance.
TASK 2
P3) Analysis of different ways in which IT system store and process data
IT system provides different ways and software and technology to store and process data
for knowledge management, data management, customer relationship management and
communication management. The role of IT system in storing and processing of data in British
home plc is explained below:
Costumer relationship management (CRM)
CRM software consolidates customer information and documents into a single CRM
database so that mangers and other employees can more easily access and manage customer
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information. CRM provides a combination of strategies, practices and technologies that can be
used by British home plc to effectively analysis customer interaction and other data through out
the customer life cycle which will improve quality of services and lead to better customer
relationship and retentions of consumer for a longer period of time thus, drives sales growth for
an organisation (Chang, 2016). Use of CRM by British home plc also ensures better sales
management, delivering actionable insights in customer preference and will also provide an
improved integration with customers and employees through making use of digital media. The
various advantage and disadvantage that can be yield by implementation of CRM system in
British home plc are provided below:
Advantages of CRM
 Provide stronger connection and a deep relationship with clients and customers through
proper recording and retrieving information about customers.
 Through making use of relationship and past order detail helps in discovering new up sell
and increased opportunity for cross sell (Hitomi, 2017).
 Trough developing and establishing better communication channels with in the
organisations, CRM also facilitate better team collaboration.
 CRM also lead to increase in revenue and profitability through increasing productivity
and reducing time taken in sales cycle thus, enhance the ability to provide some
additional products and services to its client to improve their satisfaction level.
Disadvantage of CRM
 The issue bad challenges related with data protection and security of information has
increased with the use of CRM system as all the data is centralised and recorded at a
single place.
 The implementation of CRM process is costly thus, can lead to increase in cost of
operations of British home plc.
Knowledge Management System
It is a IT system that stores and retrieves knowledge to improve understanding,
collaboration, and process alignment (Jaques, 2017). Knowledge management refer to a
systematic approach for capturing and making use of collective expertise of business to create
value. Knowledge management system act as a repository of all information that an organisations
wants to transfer between its internal team and also to its customers. Use of knowledge
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management system will allow the British home plc to publish all necessary documents for
betterment of organisation and its wide consumption. With effectively making use of knowledge
management system tools, British home plc can put together and implant a collection of best
practices and it also lead to effective customer support and other related activities for workforce
Enablement. The main advantages and disadvantages of knowledge management system in
context with British home plc is provided below:
Advantages of Knowledge Management System
 Improve organisational ability through better and faster decision making and also
facilitates quicker problem solving.
 Through systematic approach for allocating expertise it lead to increase in rate of
innovation and also support employee growth and development (Laudon and Traver,
2016).
 It also provide an effective way of communication through providing a set of most
relevant information which is necessary to transfer to all employees to have an improved
business process.
Disadvantages of Knowledge Management System
 It is a hard and complex system to understand through an average worker and training of
worker through knowledge management system is also costly.
 Knowledge management system require internal updates to function efficiently which is
difficult task for an organisation to keep with a new technologies which can effect
working of knowledges management systems (Long, 2018).
Data Management
This is an administrative process that includes acquiring, processing, storing, validating
and finally protecting the required data with the aim of ensuring relatability and accessibility of
customers data. Use of data management system can be made by British home plc to have a
better collection, storing, organizing, protecting, verifying & processing essential data to make it
available to organization. It is important for an organisation to reduce the number of compliance
related with mishandling of customer data (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta, 2016). The main
advantage and disadvantage of data management which can be availed by British home plc are
described below:
Advantages of Data management
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 Use of data management provides better access to important information and also
facilitates effective management of personal and crucial data of customers.
 Data management system improve the security level thus, provide better protection to
information of customers and saves it from threat of hacking and other issues.
Disadvantages of data management
 Many sophisticated software and other technology are required for implementation of
data management system which is costly for an organisation.
 It is a complex process which makes use of many technology thus require a skilled
personnel to handle this system which enhance the cost of training and development
(Peltier, 2016).
Communication management
Communications Management is mainly associated with systematic planning,
implementation, monitoring, and control of various communications channels and activities
going on in an organisation. It ensures timely transfer and flow of information between different
department and branches of an organisations. Use of communication management system should
be made by British home plc to have a strong and efficient communication between all its
branches and department winch ensure free flow of operation without any confusion and chaos
thus, lead to achievement of desired target (Smith and Wong, 2016). Communication
management also provides a base for having better interaction and relation with customers
through providing a coordination between all channels of communication. The other advantages
and drawbacks of communication management system in respect of British home plc are
elaborated below:
Advantages of Communication management
 The biggest advantage of this is that it reduce the cost of communication through
providing effective coordination between all channels and also reduces cost of
communicating through print media by providing effective use of digital and social
media.
 Effective implementation of communication management improve performance and
productivity of an organisation through providing better interaction which reduce chances
of chaos and flaws thus, improve overall performance.
Disadvantages of Communication management
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 The threats of virus and other security and safety issues are increased as data can be
hacked and lost in transaction (Baumecker, EntIT Software LLC, 2018).
TASK 3
P4. Evaluation of use of IT systems to improve performance, sustainability and business
operations
There are various software and technology provided by IT system use of which can
improve performance, sustainability and business operation. Theses systems which can be used
by British home plc for improving performance, sustainability and business operations are
described below:
Management Information System
Use of this system is made by organisation to record, store and process data to produce
information that is required by mangers and other decision makers to take an effective decision
in during performing their day to day operation (Darnton and Giacoletto, 2018). MIS is a
collection or set of hardware, systems, procedure and other related people that work together in
coordination to effectively process, store and produce relevant information that is useful for the
organisation. Use of management information system can be made by British home plc as it
analysis all the data and inputs with proper algorithms which provides better summarisation and
comparison of information so that better decision can be made to have better performance in
future. For example: sale system which is a part of MIS provides information about the products
which are doing well and having good sale and also provide information about product or
services which lacks in performance so that effective decision can be made for improvement in
those products and services (Abbasi, Sarker and Chiang, 2016).The other advantages and
disadvantages of MIS with respect to British home plc is provided below:
Advantages of MIS
 Use of MIS improves the quality and efficiency of plans through providing all the
relevant information for sound decision making.
 MIS minimize information overload through converting complex data in to a summarize
form thus, avoid confusion which may arises because of complexity of data.
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 Use of MIS brings coordination in an organisation through integration of specialised
activities which makes control easier thus, improves the ability of management and
overall performance of organisation (Abramowicz, 2015).
Disadvantages of MIS
 MIS record most sensitive information thus, proper monitoring and security is required
to protect the leakage of information.
 Budgeting through MIS is difficult as it lack flexibility.
Decision support system
It is a computerised IT program that is used by an organisation to support judgements,
determinations and course of action in a company (Building Decision Support System User
Interface, 2019). Use of decision support system cab be made by British home plc to analysis
massive amount of data and for compiling comprehensive information that can be used by it for
solving problem and effective decision making. The other advantage and disadvantage of
decision support system which can be availed by British home plc are described below:
Advantages of decision support system
 It enhance the productivity and performance of an organisation through making use of
computerized decision support system which reduced decision cycle time thus, increase
employees productivity.
 Use of decision support system lead to better communication and collaboration among
decision makers which encourage fact based decision making for success of organisation.
Disadvantage of decision support system
 Collection of all the relevant data is difficult and complex process.
 Use of decision support system can lead to overload of data or information thus, analysis
and evaluation of data become difficult for taking any mutual decision (Abu Naser and Al
Shobaki, 2016).
IT system add value to organisation
use of management of information and decision support system which are two important
tool of IT system add value to organisations as MIS improves and facilitates better decision
making through providing all the relevant and required information need for effective decision
making, thus add value to organisation. Decision support system also add value and lead to
success of organisation through enhancing productivity and efficiency of organisation as all the
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decisions are made after due analysis of prevailing situation through making use of computerized
decision support system.
TASK 4
P5) Recommanded practical IT solution
IT is helpful for an organisation to manage all its business activities and operation in a
effective and efficient way. IT system helps in evaluating problems and also provide effective
solution for there removal. The main problem and issues which are faced by British home plc
with recommanded practical IT solution are provided below:
Problem faced: British home plc is facing a problem of lack of innovation in its
organisations.
Practical IT solution: for solving and effectively handling this issue of lack innovation,
it is recommanded for British home plc that it should make use of Computer aided design (CAD)
which is a IT or computer technology for design a product and lead to better documentation
(Anaya, Dulaimi and Abdallah, 2015). It facilitate manufacturing process by transferring detailed
diagrams of a product’s materials, processes, tolerances and dimensions with specific
conventions for the product thus, helps in developing new features. Thus, will improve the
creativity and innovation level of British home plc.
Problem faced: British home plc is facing issue in management of resources and
unskilled workforce is also a problem faced at its workplace.
Practical IT solution: for addressing the issue of management of resources use of ERP
(Enterprises resource planning) system is recommanded which lead to better control and
planning of resources (Bach, Čeljo and Zoroja, 2016). For solving the issue of unskilled
workforce use of virtual training can be made by British home plc to provide effective online
training to its workforce and employees.
Practical IT solution
use of following tools and techniques of IT system can be made to have better solution
for various problems arsing in an organisation related with inefficiency of operation and
function. British home plc can also make use of theses practical IT solution:
Cloud computing
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Use of this technique provides and offer a faster innovation, flexible resources and
economies of scale through delivering better computing services which include different servers,
storage, database, networking, software, analytics and other intelligence tool. It provide an easy
way for organisations which helps in lowering operating costs and run infrastructure more
efficiently. Cloud computing provides different services through the Internet, including data
storage, servers, databases, networking, and software. Cloud-based storage makes it possible to
save files to a remote database and retrieve them on demand thus, provide better tool for
recording of important data and information.
5G
5G basically represent the 5th generation network. 5G will elevate the network to not
only interconnect people, but also interconnect and control machines, objects, and devices. It will
deliver new levels of performance and efficiency that will empower new user experiences and
connect new industries thus, provide better connectivity to organisations. 5G will deliver multi-
Gbps peak rates, ultra-low latency, massive capacity, and more uniform user experience thus,
provide a better way to organisations to connect with their customers. Use of 5G network
provides much higher data rates enabling customers and organisations to download and transfer
data more easily and has also increased the capacity as network has expended.
ERP Software
It is a modular software system that is designed to integrate the main functional areas of
an organization with other business processes into a unified system to facilitates better
efficiency in operations. Use of ERP(enterprise resource planning) system offer next generation
capabilities to an organisations like AI, IoT, and other advanced analytics to foster digital
transformation thus, provide solution to many problems of organisations which are related with
effective communication through providing an effective digital way for managing business
operations.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above assignment it can be concluded that use of information technology
is made by an organisation to properly store, retrieve and process a collection of data or
information. Use of IT systems are made within in different organisational function to improve
their effectiveness and performance. IT system plays an important role in process improvisation
through making use of ERP software. IT system also facilitates better communication with
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customers and within the organisation through making use of digital media. Use of management
of information system and decision support system are also made to enhance decision making
process. At last, it can be summarised that IT also provide solution to different issues and
problem faced at workplace.
REFERENCES
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Peltier, T. R., 2016. Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for
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