The Role of IT in Marks and Spencer: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the role of Information Technology (IT) in Marks and Spencer (M&S). It explores various aspects, including the impact of IT on business operations, ethical and social issues faced by M&S, different types of networking technologies (PAN, LAN, MAN, WAN), and the importance of the internet and intranet for the company. The report also examines the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) stages and analyzes the potential benefits and drawbacks of IT investments for M&S. The analysis highlights how IT influences communication, inventory management, financial resource management, and customer relationship management. Furthermore, it discusses ethical concerns such as cybercrimes and privacy issues that M&S encounters. The report emphasizes the significance of the internet and intranet in enhancing customer relationships, expanding market reach, and streamlining internal communications. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive overview of IT's strategic importance to M&S and its implications for business success.

Introduction To Information

ABSTRACT
This report has highlighted the role of information technology (IT) in the Marks and
Spencer (M&S) Company. It has told about the issues which create restraints in running the
business. It has differentiated between the types of networking technologies. It has discussed the
importance of internet and intranet in the M&S company. It has written the stage of system
development life cycle. It has analysed the benefits and drawbacks of investing in IT.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview of the company............................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Identification of the role of IT in the Marks and Spencer Company ..........................................1
Ethical and Social issues, M&S are facing during the running of the business...........................2
Different types of Networking Technologies..............................................................................2
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................................3
Importance of Intranet and Internet in M&S company ...............................................................3
Stages of Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)..................................................................4
Potential benefits and drawbacks of M&S company investing in IT..........................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCE LIST ........................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Information technology (IT) refers to the usage of computers for the storage, retrieve,
transfer, distribution and manipulation of information in the form of electronic data for the
business purpose (Wu, Straub, and Liang, 2015).
Present report will highlight the role of information technology (IT) in the organization. It
will tell about the issues which create restraints in running the business. It will differentiate
between the types of networking technologies. It will discuss the importance of internet and
intranet in the organization. It will demonstrate the stage of system development life cycle. It
will analysis the benefits and drawbacks of investing in IT.
Overview of the company
Marks and Spencer group plc which is also known as M&S is a multinational company. It
is one of the major retailer company in the world. Its headquarters is in London, United
Kingdom. The company was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in year 1884.
Currently, it has 1500+ locations in the world.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Identification of the role of IT in the Marks and Spencer Company
Information technology plays an important role in the success of Marks And Spencer
company. These roles are as follows -
Illustrated by McKeown, 2015 Due to information technology (IT), various social
networking sites such as Email, Facebook and Twitter etc. are born which lead to create closet
between employees, suppliers and customers. Company are able to reach its target audience
easily which help them to understand better. This understanding lead organization to provide
various kinds of products and services as per the needs and demands of the customers. Before the
birth of information technology era, there is a huge communication gap between suppliers and
producers which lead to lack of availability of products in the market. But due to a lot of
development of information technologies, company and suppliers are able to connect with each
other easily which lead company to provide their products and services to their customers easily
and quickly.
In addition to this Theis and Wong, 2017 Due to information technologies, there are a lot
of invention and innovation happening in business software and devices which help company to
get to know about their inventory (stock) level, gaps between supply and demand of the products
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in any locations and recording of the selling units of the products at every stores etc. which make
inventory management system effectively at the low cost. This lead company to easily manage
and available their inventories and products at the required quantity.
Critiqued by Hills, 2018 With the help of information technology, company is able to
easily understand their usages of financial resources. Also, due to this technology, there are a lot
of financial management software available. With the help of this software, company is able to
manage and properly invest their financial resources which helps company to earn great returns.
Ethical and Social issues, M&S are facing during the running of the business
There are various ethical and social issues which are creating problems for the Marks and
Spencer to run its business activities and operations. These issues are as follows -
As elaborated by Jiao and Onwuegbuzie, 2017 Cyber crimes are one of the major ethical
issues which are increasing day by day. Cyber crime refers to the types of crimes which is related
to the computer and networking technology. Company are using computers and networking
technologies for the purpose of making black money. Company's main motive is to earn profits
but in the ethical way. But here company is earning a lot of profits by hacking and leaking
another companies' data and information which is considered to be unethical way. Thus, this can
lead company to pay a lot of heavy penalty with closure of their business forever.
As explained by Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015 Privacy is the most important key
for any business. But due to information technology and complex devices, company are not able
to maintain clients' data and company's confidentially information secure which lead to leakage
of these data and information. This lead to lost of trusts of the customers on the company. This
cause company's Customers relationship management strategy to be fail. Hence, company has to
face social issues which impact the brand image of the company (Melián-González and
Bulchand-Gidumal, 2016).
Different types of Networking Technologies
Networking Technology
As per the view of Baller, Dutta and Lanvin, 2016 Networking Technology is a type of
technology through which two devices are connected with each other, however that 2 devices
can be available in any corner of the world. It acts as a route for devices to share various kinds of
information and data which is useful for the device users.
Types of Networking Technology
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There are various types of networking technologies which are as follows -
Personal Area Network (PAN)
According to the view of Avgerou and Walsham, 2017 Personal Area Network or PAN is
an interconnection of personal information technology devices within the range of personal space
of an individual. The space can be spread within 10 meters. It is the easiest network to use. The
devices which is out of the range of 10 meters can't share the information which means it is not
effective in case of long distance. Connection of Laptop with printer is the example of PAN.
Local Area Network (LAN)
As citied by Lloyd, 2017 Local Area Network or LAN is an interconnection of devices
which is within the particular area. That area can be school or laboratory or office building or
university campus. Sharing of information is happened to be at the fast speed. Connection
between devices through this network can be costly. In a office, all devices are interconnected
with each other , this is the best example for LAN.
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
As explained by Schwalbe, 2015 Metropolitan Area Network or MAN is an
interconnection of devices which are apart from each other but available in one city. It covered
that area which is more than LAN but less than WAN. Here, through this network, devices which
are connected to this network, are easily shared high storage data with each other. It requires a
lot of cables and technicians which make it expensive. Example of MAN is 2 devices of
divisional offices which is established in different area of one city.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
As elaborated by Dutta, Geiger and Lanvin, 2015 Wide Area Network or WAN is an
interconnection of various kinds of devices. It can be defined as the combination of MAN, LAN
and PAN. It covers the area of one country or state. It is considered to be most expensive
network. Through this network, company can expand its business by expanding it outside the
boundary of its own country. Example of WAN is Internet.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Importance of Intranet and Internet in M&S company
Meaning of Intranet
Intranet refers to the private network system which is accessible to the employees within
the organization. It involves the interaction of the LAN (Local Area Networks) and WAN (Wide
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Area Network). Its main purpose is to share and communicate the data and information within
the employees and staffs of the organization.
Importance of Intranet for Marks And Spencer (M&S) company
Due to intranet, M&S company is able to maintain their privacy regarding the
information which is required to be communicated within the organization between the
employees and other staffs of the organization. Thus, it helps in maintaining the privacy of the
organization for the purpose of gaining competitive advantages. It also makes communication
effectively which is helpful in creation of co-ordination between all the departments, activities
and employees (Wu, Straub, and Liang, 2015).
Intranet is a private network system which can be easily accessible to the employees
within the organization and employees can easily get the information at the faster speed
according to their requirements. It leads to time saving and fast communication which improves
the process of decision making, which will increase the productivity of M&S company.
Meaning of Internet
Internet refers to the global network system which is accessible to all the persons. It is the
connections of millions computers. It can be defined as the network of publicly sharing and
exchanging information and data. Internet is also known as network of network. Its main purpose
is to share and communicate all the kinds of information and files with each other easily.
Importance of Internet for Marks And Spencer (M&S) company
Due to internet, M&S company is able to use the customer relationship management
software which enable company to keep records of the customers' needs and buying patterns.
With the help of this software, company is able to change in their products time to time by
keeping data in their minds which helps company to retain their customers for long time.
Due to usage of internet, company is easily access to its global audience in the global
market by using various kinds of social media sites and marketing. Here for the company,
geographical boundary is not an issue any more as they are able to sale their products to all the
customers who are in another country. This lead company to generate more and more revenue
(Madon and Krishna, 2018).
Stages of Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Systems development life cycle (SDLC) is the process of creating a hardware system
only or software system only or combination of both hardware or software systems in order to
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result in high quality which can meet with the expectations of the customers and work effectively
in the infrastructure of the information technology. The term “SDLC” is a conceptual model
which convert the new project into operational project. It can also be used to modify system and
implement a new one. However, SDLC is used to design new system in a systematic way. This
conversion is done through the 7 stages of systems development life cycle which are as follows -
 Planning
 Analysis
 Design
 Development
 Testing and Integration
 Implementation
 Maintenance
Description of these stages are as follows -
Planning
It is considered to be the most important stage of SDLC as it will determine the success
of the system. In this stage, Company will define the problems and find the alternative solutions.
It will include the looking upon the availability of the resources and capabilities.
Analysis
After determination of objectives and finding out alternative solutions, company will
analysis the end users' needs and wants. Also, company will analysis the development of
products in order to make it better than competitors. Also, company will check the feasibility of
the project in order to analysis its costs (Madon and Krishna, 2018).
Design
The third phase of SDLC is to design the system according to the customers'
requirements. Here, company will understand the elements, components, security level,
infrastructure, interface and data which will be gone through the system. After understanding
these all, company will decide the functional and technical requirements of the systems and
accordingly prepare the design of the system.
Development
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According to the design of the systems, Company will begin the development of the
system. For that, they do install the new components and programs. Also, in this stage, training
are given to the users of the systems along with the details of all the components of the systems.
Testing
After the development stage, next stage come which is known as Testing. Here systems
are tested by the Quality Assurance Teams. That teams will see the structure of the systems,
extent to which the developed system is user friendly and how that system will fulfil the needs of
the end users etc. On the basis of these above parameters, teams can asks company to do
adjustments and changes which immediately made by the company.
Implementation
At this stage, Company will replace the new system with old system and accordingly
make changes in the data and components which is necessary for the successfully
implementation of the new systems for the production of the company's products. It is most
important phase as in this entire system is implemented. It takes a lot of time to implement
system.
Maintenance
This is the last stage in SDLC. In this stage, end user of the new system can change and
update the system after using it. Users of the system should be kept up-to-date concerning the
latest modifications and procedures (Saunders and Brynjolfsson, 2016).
Potential benefits and drawbacks of M&S company investing in IT
Potential benefits of M&S company investing in IT
Investing in Information Technology, company can make its communication system
efficient and effectively with the latest technology. This will improve the way and speed of
sharing information at the fastest pace which will enhance the decision making process and work
will be done on time. This lead to improve the productivity of the organization.
Due to investment in information technology, employees of the M&S company is able to
make their strategies more effectively with the aid of new or upgraded technologies. Also, it
helps in company to develop new advanced tools which help them to evaluate their market and
competition level easily. This will improve the strategic thinkings of the employees by getting
accurate information regarding markets.
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Due to investing in information technology, company is able to improve their security
system in order to safely store the valuable information which is very important and crucial for
the company's success. It also improves the capabilities of the computers and other systems to
store, share and backup of the information for the later use.
Potential drawbacks of M&S company investing in IT 170
M&S company is investing in information technology for the purpose of control the
operational services such as finance, marketing, management, research & development,
preparation of financial statements and management of pay-roll etc. Due to change in business
environment, these aspects and related trends also rapidly change which will lead organization to
spend huge amount on the installation of new systems for the better operation of the business
which lead company to earn low profits (Tarafdar and et.al., 2015).
M&S company is working under the retailing industry where varieties of products are
available in the market provided by retailing companies. In order to handle and manage the
product portfolios, company required complex system which lead company to not able to handle
such system. Thus, investment in IT can lead company to face such complex system which will
create constraints in the running of the business.
Due to a lot of changes in data regulations and security legislation act, company has to
follow these regulations and legislation which is a difficult task for the company. Thus, in order
to avoid new technology which will be more complex in nature in compare to old one, company
is avoiding investing in information technology.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that Information technology has played an
important role in the organization and its growth. Due to application of various information
technologies on the business and its operations, company are becoming efficiency and
effectively. There are various issues which arise due to information technology. These issues
create a lot of another issues which lead business not to able to operate its activities. There are
various networking technologies through which company are able to connect their various
devices and share important data, file and information within the business itself. Internet is the
most important term for the business as it helps business to grow and expand its business in
many ways. For the maintenance of data and information confidentially, company is using
intranet which is proving efficient for the company's growth and privacy. There are various
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advantages and disadvantages which is related to the company investing in information
technology. Thus, company should focus on every aspects of IT. For the development of the new
model or projects related to the information technology, company should follow SDLC stages.
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REFERENCE LIST
Books and Journals
Avgerou, C. and Walsham, G. eds., 2017. Information technology in context: Studies from the
perspective of developing countries: Studies from the perspective of developing
countries. Routledge.
Baller, S., Dutta, S. and Lanvin, B., 2016. Global information technology report 2016. Geneva:
Ouranos.
Dutta, S., Geiger, T. and Lanvin, B., 2015. The global information technology report 2015.
In World Economic Forum. (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. P80-85).
Hills, J., 2018. Information technology and industrial policy. Routledge.
Jiao, Q.G. and Onwuegbuzie, A.J., 2017. The impact of information technology on library
anxiety: The role of computer attitudes. Information technology and libraries. 23(4).
pp.138-144.
Lloyd, I.J., 2017. Information technology law. Oxford University Press.
Madon, S. and Krishna, S., 2018. The Digital Challenge: Information Technology in the
Development Context: Information Technology in the Development Context. Routledge.
McKeown, P., 2015. Information technology and the networked economy.
Melián-González, S. and Bulchand-Gidumal, J., 2016. A model that connects information
technology and hotel performance. Tourism Management. 53. pp.30-37.
Saunders, A. and Brynjolfsson, E., 2016. Valuing Information Technology Related Intangible
Assets. Mis Quarterly. 40(1).
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Tarafdar, M., and et.al., 2015. The dark side of information technology. MIT Sloan Management
Review. 56(2). p.61.
Theis, T.N. and Wong, H.S.P., 2017. The end of moore's law: A new beginning for information
technology. Computing in Science & Engineering. 19(2). p.41.
Wu, S.P.J., Straub, D.W. and Liang, T.P., 2015. How information technology governance
mechanisms and strategic alignment influence organizational performance: Insights from
a matched survey of business and IT managers. Mis Quarterly. 39(2). pp.497-518.
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R., 2015. Information technology and consumer
behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet. Journal
of Retailing and Consumer Services. 22. pp.244-249.
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