Information Technology's Role in Marks & Spencer: A Detailed Report

This report analyzes the role of Information Technology (IT) in the context of Marks and Spencer, a multinational retailer. It explores how IT, including data management and communication tools, contributes to the company's operations and success. The report identifies the ethical and social issues, such as information privacy, hacking, and cybercrime, that impact the company's use of technology. It differentiates between various network types (LAN, MAN, WAN), emphasizing the importance of the internet and intranet for internal and external communications. The report also outlines the stages of the system development life cycle and discusses the benefits and drawbacks of IT implementation, concluding that IT is crucial for effective business operations. The report highlights the importance of IT in communication, data management, and decision-making processes within Marks and Spencer.

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT
Information technology is a technology used through the personalised computer for
converting data into useful information. In this report, the role of information technology is
analysed through the various approaches such as data management etc. The ethical and social
issues are the main components to be taken care of through proper management of technology.
The difference between various networks are identified by their covering of geographical area .
The internet is important as it improves communication and intranet is important as it improves
internal communication. It can be concluded that this report shows that the information
technology is an important tool for the effective operations of the business.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
Identifying role of IT in success or failure of an company.........................................................1
Ethical and Social issues that relate the company.......................................................................2
Difference between different types of networks.........................................................................3
Importance of Internet and Intranet in the company...................................................................5
Different stages of system development life cycle....................................................................6
Analysis with discussion of benefits and drawbacks of information technology in context of
Marks and Spencer......................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Information technology refers to the use of personalised computer by an organisation to
transmit raw data into useful information. This can be considered as communication through
technology(Althobait, Kruschwitz and Poesio 2012). The information technology is a tool for
processing and a approach to calculate statistic data and a method which is used in decision
making. The company chosen for this report is Marks and Spencer which is a multinational
retailer and its headquarter is established in Westminster London and the company is a clothing
company and also produces home product and food product. This project report will cover the
role of information technology in success or failure of firm and ethical and social issues that
sustain a company. This also involves differentiation between different types of network
technologies and importance of internet and intranet and different stage of system development
cycle and how information technology influences the working of a company.
TASK
Identifying role of IT in success or failure of an company.
Information technology is a type of technology which is used through personalised
computer to keep, manipulate and transform or generate information. It can be summarised as
possessing knowledge which comes from information. This is the role of IT which is providing
knowledge through absorbing information. Marks & Spencer use information technology to
obtain knowledge by converting data into useful information through personalised
computers(Bright and et. al., 2015). This provide accurate information to the company which is
useful in the operation of the company. There are several roles which information technology
plays which are helpful in context of Marks and Spencer are as follows-
 Communication- This technology is used as communication tool in the company as
employees of the Marks & Spencer communicate through e-mail when transfer of
professional information is required. This is also useful for the company in
communicating with the outsiders such as customers, business partners and suppliers.
The transfer of information becomes easier and faster through the use of electronic mail.
But in modern era, there are many forms of communication has emerged such as Skype
which is used for video calling and many more and it saves time of the company in
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communication process. This makes the communication easier which involve less
confusion in the company and provide efficiency in operations of company which lead to
success of company by achieving company's objective.
 Data management- The Marks and Spencer is a multinational company and involves
number of companies who are dealing in different product. The management of all the
information related to all the companies involved in Marks and Spencer is managed
through Data management as company operates and manage their data digitally. The
company store data in database and provide access to employee which can be utilised by
employee for effective operations in business. This result in achievement of company's
objective which become a success of the company(ClarkeO’Connor2012).
 Management Information System- This system supports in the process of decision
making which includes assessment of information in a specified time. The company use
MIS to formulate strategies or decision by evaluating the information through online
analytical processing and communicating information to whom the information is
needed. This makes completion of task within effective time period which allow
managers and employees of the company to form quick decision. The effective process of
decision making results in better results which leads to achievement of company's
objective which is a success for the company.
Ethical and Social issues that relate the company.
The social environment is changing and with that change, the technology is also changing
which are generating various ethical and social issues. They are impacting society in negative
manner which are needed to be resolved so that the employee can use information technology for
benefit of company.
Marks and Spencer is facing some ethical issues which restrict them to use this technology such
as internet privacy, electronic communication and cyber crime which affect the employees who
work on the computer in the company on daily basis. The main ethical issues which are company
facing-
 Information Privacy- In the Marks and Spencer, computer is the main source of
interaction via email, online messaging and social networking sites. These has become
important source of communication in the company and through this important
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information is conveyed. This include threat of stealing important information by
spamming the emails or online messages which is a major issue for the company.
 Hacking- This refers to the identification of weakness in computer system and exploring
access to use that particular weakness. The use of computer is essential for the effective
operations of task in Marks and Spencer and it is required to communicate with the
external environment which result in threat of hacking and allow company to obtain
information of other company through the use of hacking. This is an issue related to
ethics as hacking is an unethical activity which will result in loss of reputation of
company(Dudin and et. al., 2014).
Marks and Spencer use the computer as an essential part of the company and changing
technology has negative effect on it which is generating various social issues which are described
below-
 Location Tracking- The excess use of technology affects the company in many ways.
The Marks and Spencer is operating its business based on utilisation of technology as
they deliver their products to customer through online which increases the threat of
security in delivery of their product. The location tracking becomes a threat for the
company as if product location is tracked and competitor can misuse with the
information. This is a big threat for the company due to online delivery process.
 Cyber crime- This is a type of crime based on the the excess use of computer. This can
be considered as an offense which is committed with a person or group which can affect
the mental state and physical state of the victim. Cyber crime is a threat for the Marks
and Spencer security which include hacking of personal information of company with a
intention to harm the company's growth and success. This also generates threat towards
private information which can be hacked by the competitor through hacking e-mails
server or IT system of the company. The management is required to take effective steps
to reduce this type of threat for the company.
Difference between different types of networks.
A computer network is consist of group of computer which are interconnected to each
other which allow communication of computer with each other through sharing the resources,
data and application. There are mainly three types of computer network which are described as
below-
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LAN( Local area network)- This networks connects computer in a local area such as
buildings or office where company work. This network connects computer through a
intermediate such as twisted pair and coaxial cable. This network is more safer then any other
network as it do not involve connection with outside computers.
MAN(Metropolitan area network)- This networks cover large area and interconnects
various LAN to main network. The Marks and Spencer use RS_232 as protocol in MAN and in
MAN, the various local networks are connected to each other(Heijungs, Settanni and Guinée
2013).
WAN(Wide area network)- this networks cover large geographical area such as state or
country and it involves wider area than LAN. The Marks and Spencer use internet as biggest
WAN in the world which is used for the operations of the business.
Difference between LAN, WAN and MAN are as follows-
Basis LAN WAN MAN
Defining This network connects
computer within small
area like office or
buildings.
This network
interconnects the size
of network between
LAN and WAN which
cover area like town.
This networks cover a
huge geographical area
such a state or country
and involves
communication to
broader area.
Speed The network has
highest speed in
comparison of other
network as it covers
smaller area.
This network provide
higher speed in
comparison of WAN
and lower speed in
comparison of LAN as
it covers more
computers than LAN
and less computers
than WAN.
This networks provide
low speed in
comparison of LAN &
MAN as it covers
connection over huge
geographical area.
Connects This network only
connects single
This networks allows
interaction of multiple
This network allows
large number of
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devices pair for
communication(Kanea
nd et. al., 2012).
computers
simultaneously.
computer
communication at
same time.
Chances of fault This network has low
chances of fault and
allow high tolerance of
fault.
This network has more
chances of fault in
comparison of LAN as
it covers more area
than LAN.
This network covers
higher chances of fault
in comparison of LAN
and WAN as it covers
huge area and large
number of computers.
Medium of
communication
This network use
Ethernet cable as the
medium of
communication.
This network use
Coaxial cable as
communication
technology.
This network use
High-speed
communicate as it
cover large area for the
company.
Importance of Internet and Intranet in the company.
The both terms intranet and internet are very important for any organisation, without
these terms a business can not succeed in the marketplace. These both terms are different from
each others and they both have their own uses. In context of Mark & Spencer these both terms
plays an curial role in their company. As Mark & Spencer is a largest retailer store these both
terms plays the crucial role in this company. In reference to intranet, it is a private network
which is mostly used by an private organisation and specific group of people. Intranet is used by
M&S for sharing company's information to their employees regarding training process, product
information, and many others informations which are related to their work. On the other hand,
internet is a world wide network system which can be used by anyone who knows their internet
protocol address. M&S uses internet in their organisation because to provide benefits to its
customer as well as for their growth. An organisation can not survive in the market without both
of these terms, there are some importance of intranet and internet in the M&S which are
described below:-
Importance of intranet:-
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 Improve internal communication – In reference to M&S, with the help of intranet they
can encourage their employees to do open team discussion, for sharing knowledge, and
also by helping of this they can easily provide updates to employees related to their
organisation(koo,and et. al., 2012).
 Reduce emails and meetings – It will help them to reduce meeting and email which can
take a lot of time. Because of intranet they can easily communicate with each other that
keeps everyone informed with their ideas and information. Intranet help to M&S to save
their time and money so they can invest their time and money in the production process
and can increase their productivity and profitability also.
Importance of Internet:- Marketing benefits on the internet – Internet helps M&S to get benefits from effective
marketing strategies for their business. It provides various platforms to do their products
marketing which helps them to gets build trust, loyal customers, and increase their overall
productivity. With the help of internet they can do faster marketing, cost saving, required
less staff, and many others benefits which they can get by using of internet.
 Communication – Internet makes easy for organisations to communicate with their
customers. M&S can easily connected with their customers by sending them emails,
discussed their strategies, solving their issue and problems. This will help them to do
quick response to their customers and they can also increase their efficiency and can
build trust among their customers. Because of their faster services customers can also
attract towards them which results higher sales and higher profitability of the M&S(Mao
and et. al., 2016).
Different stages of system development life cycle.
System development life cycle is also known as application development life cycle which
is applied in software engineering and work related to computer science. It involves a process of
developing information system through a definite process of planning, creating and testing. The
system development life cycle applies to hardware and software configuration as system can be
form with combination of both(Rai Tang 2013).
The identification of need to develop a system is necessary to attain business objective. This is
the first and foremost step to be taken before commencing development of system life cycle.
This includes identification of problem and finding solutions for the problem and the resources,
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time and effort are the important criteria for this stage. There are six main stages to develop a
system which are as follows-
 System analysis- After the identification of problem, possible solutions are estimated and
the solutions are analysed to identify the best solution for the problem. This is the stage
where the functional need of the solutions are considered and analysis of system takes
place where the requirements of the end user are identified so that the new system can
meet the expectation of end user. The company can use tools such as software
engineering and computer aided system in this stage for the process of analysis.
 System design- This stage consider every specification, features and operations which
will fulfil all the requirement of the end user. In this step, end user specify the need of
business information for the new system and hardware and software and their procedures
which are an important components are considered for developing design for the new
system(Roelfsema and et. al., 2012).
 Development- This is the working part of the project as a programmer or engineer starts
working on the main project. This stage involves development of flow chart to examine
that system is properly organised. At this stage, the production of system is commenced
and it involves focus on training programmes which will be a benefit for the company.
 Integration and Testing- This stage involves the integration of system and testing the
validity of system which is performed by team of quality assurance professionals which
states that the new system is according to the standard requirement of the system to
achieve business goal, Testing can be performed more than one time to remove all the
bugs and errors. The testing will only stop when the new system is accepted by the end
user.
 Implementation- This stage involves installation of new system and all the cods are
written for future. The new system replaces an old system as it moves all the data and
information of old system and puts it into new developed system. This involves a huge
risk and many complications as there is a chances of cutover which normally happens at
peak hour and the end user can realise the changes after implementation(Zerillo
CenturyLink2013).
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 Operation and maintenance- This stage involves operation of the new developed
system and it requires updates and end user can add its own additional requirement to
boost the performance.
Analysis with discussion of benefits and drawbacks of information technology in context of
Marks and Spencer.
Information technology is not limited towards education, health and entertainment as it
has emerged as a broad concept which includes operations of company through the use of
computer in companies, schools and at many places. Marks and Spencer is highly rely on the
information technology for their online delivery process. This emergence of information
technology has impacted in both positive and negative manner.
The positive impact of information technology on Marks and Spencer are as follows-
 Increase sale and saves time- This allows company to increase their sale and earn more
profit by allowing them to accept orders of customer through an online website. This
saves time of Marks and Spencer by linking customer to the company directly and
eliminating roadblocks(Searcy2012).
 Improves Data storage, file management and data analysis- The Marks and Spencer
use cloud hosting service to retain and save business information. This saves time of
doing paperwork in company and it makes easy transfer of information through the
remotely. There are services which allow business owners to get access on their data
whenever they want. This allows company to take better decision as information is easily
available which is required to form a decisions.
 Improves customer relationship- The Marks and Spencer is using social media to build
relation with customers by interacting with them and solving their queries. This result in
increased customer loyalty and their involvement in the company(Tumanov and et.
al.,2016).
 Increased competitive advantage- The Marks and Spencer is technology based
company and it results in competitive advantage for the company as the company who
use innovative technology will be able to reduce its cost of operation and the company
can meet the expectation of consumer.
The negative impact on information technology on the Marks and Spencer are as follows-
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 Implementation Expenses- The Marks and Spencer find the implementation of
technology expensive and take more effort in understanding the use of new technologies
which require professionals to perform the operations and includes high cost on it.
 Job elimination- The emergence of technology has resulted in elimination of job of
many human body as the work of accounting is performed by an software which makes
the work of human body easier and the requirement of human body decreases. This job
elimination is creating dissatisfaction among employees working in the Marks and
Spencer(Ongsakul 2012).
 Security breaches- The Marks and Spencer retain their important information on cloud
servers which can be assessed online and there is a threat of losing the important
information to the hackers and a virus can interrupt the information partially or
completely.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the information technology plays an
important role in the success and failure of business and there are some ethical and social issues
such as hacking and many which impacts the company. There are different type of networks such
as WAN,LAN and PAN and they are different from each other. Internet and intranet both are
essential for effective operations of business and the new system is developed by performing six
stages and information technology provides both benefits and draw backs to the company in their
operations.
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