CFPBUS003 - IT in Business: Frasers Group Case Study Report

This report analyzes the role of Information Technology (IT) in the success of Frasers Group plc. It defines IT and its application within the organization, exploring its significance in driving business objectives and maintaining competitiveness. The report also delves into the ethical and social issues associated with IT, such as technoethics, data privacy, and the impact of social media on business practices. Furthermore, it differentiates between various networking technologies (LAN, MAN, and WAN) and discusses the importance of the internet and intranet for the company. The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is also explained. The report highlights how IT enables functions like inventory management, customer relationship management, and online sales, thereby improving efficiency and profitability. The study is based on the London School of Commerce, in association with the University of Suffolk, and the report is designed to help students understand computing terminologies and the practical application of IT in a real-world business context.

INTRODUCTION TO
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT
The study reviews role of Information technology in success of Frasers Group plc. The
study had defined information technology and its use in organization. It has covered the social
and ethical issues that affect to running organization. The report had differentiated various types
of networks. The study had discussed significance of internet and intranet in the company. It had
explained different stages of system development life cycle. Through this study student is able to
grasp a deep knowledge of computing terminologies.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................4
Role of Information technology in failure or success of a business.........................................................4
Social and ethical issues related with technology that affects a running business....................................5
Difference between various types of networking technologies................................................................7
Importance of Internet and Intranet in chosen organization.....................................................................9
Various stages of System Development Life Cycle...............................................................................10
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCE LIST...................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Information technology refers as study of systems which are telecommunications and
computers in order to retrieve, transferring of information and storing. Information technology
plays a vital role to lead the company towards the success. The study is based on Frasers Group
plc which is formerly known as Sports Direct International. It is a Public limited company. The
company is founded in the year 1982. It is founded by Mike Ashley. The headquarters of firm
are situated in Shirebrook in England. The firm deals in products such as sporting goods, shoes
& boots, fashion clothing, cosmetics, accessories, home ware, furniture and electrical. The study
will explain the role of IT in the business in context of its success or failure. Then, the report will
identify the ethical and social issues which pertain to running organization. It will differentiate
between various types of networks. Furthermore, it will discuss the significance of intranet and
internet in the business. Lastly, it will define the various stage of system development life cycle.
MAIN BODY
Role of Information technology in failure or success of a business
Information technology means the use of computers to transmit, retrieve, store and
manipulating the information or data. This is typically used in context of organization as opposed
to entertainment and personal technologies. Information technology is considered as subset of
communication technologies and information. According to Inman and Nikolova, 2017, it is
stated that IT is the application of technology that helps to resolve the business problems at
broader level. Information technology has its own significance to lead an organization in order
to achieve its desired goals.
IT acts as a backbone for Frasers Group plc to exchange and communicating the
information. IT helps to maintain coordination and synchronization between various departments
of Frasers Group plc. This helps the company to take competitive lead. Information technology is
also very important to do innovation. Information technology handles various functions that play
a crucial role to keep the things running in the business. As per the view point of Krishna,
Akhilesh and Hegde, 2018, it is said that IT department in an organization is able to automate the
production processes. IT department of Frasers Group plc is aligned with the organization goals

that help to achieve the targets of the company on time with the help of Information technology.
IT is helpful to complete the organization tasks vastly and even in less cost. According to it is
stated that IT provides an edge to an organization that is needed for outsmart, out deliver and
outpace the competitors. It is helpful to drive the business of Frasers Group towards the success.
IT is much needed to take a lead from the competitors and gain competitive advantage in
the firm. Business process remains insufficient if there is no use of information technology in the
organization. Thus, Frasers Group plc use technological software’s and equipment to remain
competitive in the market. Electronic Data Interchange software is being used by Frasers Group
to track their inventories. This software facilitates the manager to track the inventory level as
direct transactions can be done from the company's stores to the vendors (Mikhailov and
Razmochaeva, 2018). This system contains database that provide information to ordering
systems. Automatic replenishment machine is being used to manage the restocking the stocks
which are previously sold. Virtual shelves are also used by the firm that helps to expedite on time
replenishment and communication between vendors and retailers. Hence, Technology helps to
increase the productivity of the company. To improve the customer service Frasers Group plc is
using CRM software that allows the retailers to track their customers. Thus, by this customer
satisfaction in the company gets increased. In store interactive kiosks are used to provide
consumers about the product details. This provides customers a convenient experience of
shopping. Thus, by this sales in Frasers Group get increased. The company is also using digital
technology to improve the communication between their distribution channels and also started
online sale of their products with the help of digital platform. Hence, company is able to generate
high profitability with the use of technology. The effective implementation of IT helps the
Frasers Group to decrease the liability and cost of failures.
Social and ethical issues related with technology that affects a running business
According to Dacko, 2017, it is stated that Ethics are the principles which differentiate
between wrong and right. It is about to maintain morality at the workplace. Information
technology has raised various ethical questions as this is creating opportunity for intense society
change, obligations and rights and threatening distributions of power. Also, information
technology is associated with new types of crimes. IT gives a new rise with widespread of home
computers and internet. This derives to serve new social and ethical concerns. It is a matter of

protecting personal information and data while using online mode. Thus, online privacy is a
measure concern of Frasers Group plc. Social and Ethical issues linked with network security
and privacy are discussed as follows -
Technoethics - It refer as interdisciplinary research area which is concerned with ethical and
moral aspects of technology in business and society. As per the view point of Mikhailov and
Razmochaeva, 2018, it is said that technoethics signifies a business should focus on discovering
an ethical use of information technology. Frasers Group has to protect against the misuse of
technology in the organization. Implementation of Technoethics is must required because the
information is transmitted on very quick basis between managers and co workers in the company
which increase the risk of leak of private and confidential data of the company.
Technology and business data - Technology is helpful for making business more efficient
(Balaji, Roy and Chong, 2018). However, it influences the business of company. It also impacts
the employee and employer relationship. Employee has no right to use company assets or
technological equipments for their private use; it means an employee cannot send private email
to anybody by using technology of company.
 Social Media - Employers are nowadays taking help of technology to screen the
applicants and for verifying their information during recruitment and selection. The
company doesn't possess any right to ask the employee to login into their social media
account because it is not ethically and legally justified (Ethical and Social Issues in
Information Technology, 2020). It is a matter of ethics and cell phone privacy. A
company cannot ask for login credentials of any social media channel from its
employees. If they want to gather information about the employee’s personal detail then
they can simply talk to them or can ask for the legal documentation.
 Information as a business - It is not ethical to collect the data about the individual and
sale it to other business. It is not permitted to transfer business information to other
business. It is seen that organization collects the data for their own purposes but it is
realized that the data has value to others as well. Thus, selling data is nowadays
becoming an income stream for organizations which is ethically and socially wrong.

Social and Ethical issues have five moral dimensions namely, information rights, system
quality, property rights, accountability and control and quality of life. Information systems are
used by many organizations. Thus, growing dependence on systems increase system errors and
also defines poor quality data. Non obvious relationship awareness is a type of technology that
analysis data which can take data from many sources about people. It is helpful to find potential
criminals and data hackers. The Frasers Group plc has to design security and privacy related
policy. There are many privacy concern issues to Frasers Group plc as there are chances the
company personal data get leaked. Even during online payments company insure that their
customers conferential information does not get leak. Secure and safe payments method is
important from customer loyalty perspective view.
Difference between various types of networking technologies
Local Area Network - LAN or Local area network links network devices in such a way that
personal computer and workstations can share data, tools and programs. The transmission occurs
at a very fast rate as the number of computers that are linked restricts to be limited (Levius, Safa
and Weeks, 2018). LAN covers a smaller geographical area and is privately owned. One can use
it for a home, office building, hospital, schools, etc. LAN is easy to design and maintain. The
Communication medium used for LAN consists of twisted pair cables and coaxial cables. It
covers a short distance, and so the error and noise are minimized.
Metropolitan Area Network - MAN or Metropolitan area network covers a larger area than the
area covered by LAN and smaller area as compared to WAN. It connects two or more computers
that are at a long distance but restricts in the same or different cities. It covers a large
geographical area and is able to serve as an internet service provider. It is very hard to design and
maintain a Metropolitan area Network. Diagrammatic example is costly in MAN and may not be
owned by a single organization. Mostly this type of network is used to communicate between
two towns or two cities.
Wide Area Network - WAN or Wide area network is a computer network that connects over a
large geographical area. A WAN could be a connected to LAN. Wide area Network can be and
cannot be privately owned. The communication medium used for wide area network is PSTN or
Satellite Link. Due to long-distance transmission, the noise and error risk is more in WAN.
Propagation delay is considered as one of the biggest problem faced by its users. WAN's

diagrammatic example unlike LAN, WAN uses switching that allows the user to connect
multiple computers with several switches instead of connecting only with each other.
Difference between LAN, MAN and WAN -
Basis LAN MAN WAN
Definition It is a network that
connects a group of
computers only in a
small geographical
area.
It is a network that is
able to cover a
relatively large area
such as towns, cities,
etc.
It is a network that is
efficient enough to
connect in a large
geographical area
such as it connects
countries together
(Dlamini and
Johnston, 2016).
Full Form Local Area Network Metropolitan Area
Network
Wide Area Network
Maintenance and
design
It is easy to maintain
and design local area
network as it doesn't
require any big or
complicated structure.
Difficult to design and
maintain a
metropolitan area
network as it use
complicated device
structure.
Much difficult to
maintain a wide area
network as it connect
on a large scale and
thus requires a extra
large structure.
Delay in propagation Short Medium Long
Ownership Privately Public and private
both
Both privately and
publicly
Speed High Medium Low
Tolerance of fault Most Tolerant Less Tolerance Less Tolerant
Mostly used by School, college and City and small towns Countries and states

hospital
Service Allows single pair of
device to connect
Allows multiple
devices to interact
with each other
A big group of
devices can
communicate at the
same time
Importance of Internet and Intranet in chosen organization
Intranet - It refer as private network which can only be access by authorized users. The business
create intranet for allowing their employers and employees to share secure message and
information in the organization It is helpful to maintain secure communication at the workplace.
It facilitates effective communication between staff and management of the company. This
provides a virtual space for the staff to work on together basis.
Internet - It refer as global computer network which provides a variety of information source
and communication facility. It is consist of interconnected networks through using standard
communication protocols. This is electronic communication network which connects various
computer networks and company's computer all over the world. As per the view point of Rezaei
and Valaei, 2017, it is said that internet is termed as network of global exchanges.
Importance of Intranet and internet in the business
Intranet serves Frasers Group digital communication needs. Intranet provides a secure
network or space for accessing and storing the data through electronic devices (Morimura and
Sakagawa, 2018). This helps to speeding the workflows in the organization and also reduces the
errors. By this company is able to reduce traditional business practices and able to discover
effective business solutions. The applications of intranet allow multiple users or employees to
access the same network folders and files. This is helpful for improving the efficiency of
organization. The tasks of business get accomplished in very less time as this provides speedily.
This also allows employees to do internal emails related to their work or job responsibilities.
Instant messaging can be done in Frasers Group with the help of intranet

The internet serves opportunity to Frasers Group plc to create network, communications,
information retrieval and marketing of products. Firm used internet to sale its products to the
customers. By taking help of digital marketing company also does effective advertisement of
their products through which company products sales gets increased. Frasers Group plc also use
internet to gather information about their customers, members and clients. Through doing regular
interaction with their customers the company is able to get feedback and customer perspective
about their products. By this they make further improvements in their product quality. Hence, the
satisfaction level of customers gets increased. The company use internet for doing
communication between management, employers and staff and also access to business related
information through internet.
Various stages of System Development Life Cycle
Systems development lifecycle - It is also called the application development lifecycle, it is a
process for testing, creating, planning and deploying an information systems. This concept
applies to a wide variety of software and hardware configurations, as a system can be consists of
software only, hardware only, or combination of both.
Stages of system development life cycle -
1. Planning - It is the first stage in the systems development lifecycle. It analyses if there is need
of new system development lifecycle or there is the no need for a new system in order to achieve
a strategic objectives of a business (What is the Systems Development Life Cycle, 2020). This is a
preliminary strategy for a company's business initiative to acquire the necessary resources in
order to build an infrastructure to modify or to improve a service.
2. Systems Analysis and Requirements - The next stage is where a firm will work on the main
source of their issue or the need for a change. In condition of a problem, possible solutions will
be analyzed to identify and choose the best alternative solution for the achievement of goal. This
is a stage in which teams consider the functional requirements of their project or best solution.
3. Systems Design - The third stage describes, in detail, the necessary specifications, operations
and features that will satisfy the functional requirements of the proposed system which will take
place. This is the stage for end users to determine and discuss their specific business information

and needs for the proposed system. In this stage firm will consider the essential processes,
components and procedures for the system to achieve the goal.
4. Development - The fourth stage is where the main work starts, when a programmer, network
engineer or database developer are brought to do the major work of the project. This work
consists of flow chart to ensure that the process of the system is properly organized. The
development stage indicates the end of the initial section of the process. This phase signifies the
starting of production.
5. Testing and Integration - The fifth stage includes systems integration and system testing,
generally carried out by a quality assurance professional to determine if the design meets the
initial set of business goals. Testing may be repeated, specifically to check the bugs, errors and
interoperability. This testing will be performed until the end user finds it acceptable.
Figure 1 System development life cycle (Source: What is the Systems Development Life Cycle,
2020)

6. Implementation - The sixth stage is when the majority of the assurance for the program is
written. Also, this phase includes the actual installation of the newly-developed system (Huang,
2019). This step puts the project into production by moving the data and components from the
old system and transferring them in the new system with the help of direct cutover.
7. Operations and Maintenance - The seventh and final stage includes maintenance and regular
updates of the functions performed. This step comes when the end users will finalize the tune in
the system, if they wish, to boost performance they can add new capabilities or can use
additional user requirements.

CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that Information technology referred as use of computers,
networking, and storage or any physical device, processes and infrastructure in order to create,
store, process and secure the electronic data. It has been concluded from the above study that
Frasers Group plc is effectively using information technology in order to drive their business
towards success. Information technology plays crucial role to increase the productivity and
efficiency of the company. It has been determined that Frasers Group is using technological
software’s for increasing the efficiency of their supply chain. There are certain ethics and social
norms related to use of technology is need to be followed by the firm. It has been evaluated that
both the intranet and internet is helpful to increase the effectiveness of management and
communication in the company. System Development lifecycle is the process of testing,
planning, deploying and creation of information systems in the organization.

REFERENCE LIST
Books and Journal
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Internet of Things (IoT) in retail businesses: A literature review. In 2016 International
Conference on Advances in Computing and Communication Engineering (ICACCE) (pp.
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Huang, T.L., 2019. Psychological mechanisms of brand love and information technology identity
in virtual retail environments. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 47.pp.251-
264.
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decision framework incorporating shopper attitudes and privacy concerns. Journal of
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Krishna, A., Akhilesh, V. and Hegde, C., 2018, December. Sales-forecasting of Retail Stores
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Rezaei, S. and Valaei, N., 2017. Branding in a multichannel retail environment. Information
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