Analysis of IT Systems in Business Operations and Recommendations

This report analyzes the application of Information Technology (IT) systems within a business context, specifically examining their role in various organizational functions and their contribution to achieving business objectives. The report delves into how IT systems store and process data for knowledge management, customer relationship management, data management, and communication management. It evaluates the impact of IT systems on business operations, performance, and sustainability, highlighting value-added changes. The analysis includes an examination of specific software like ERP and CRM, and their applications in supply chain management, research and development, marketing, and customer relationship management. Furthermore, it discusses the use of knowledge management systems, expert systems, groupware, decision support systems, and data management systems to improve business efficiency and decision-making. The report concludes with recommendations for IT solutions to address business challenges and improve overall performance. The case study is based on British Home Personnel and its business processes.

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Use of IT systems in different functions and how they contribute in achieving the
organisational objective. .............................................................................................................1
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the different ways in with information system can store and process data for
knowledge management, customer relationship, data management and communication
management.................................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Evaluate how IT system can be used to support value added change in improving business
operation, performance and sustainability...................................................................................6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................8
Recommend the IT solutions ......................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Information System is an integrated tool that collects, store and process data that are used
for providing information & knowledge. Nowadays businesses has dependency on Information
Technology systems to manage their operations, connect with customers & suppliers and to
compete with rival companies. Organizations are using IT system for processing financial
accounts, managing personnel and for connecting to their customer's. An IT system is combined
of people & computers that process and interprets information. IT system supports the
operations process, management and decision-making of an organisation. British Home
Personnel was established in 1950 by Colonel Williams.. The business developed at a very fast
pace as it served the premium class customer's of target market. The supermarket was earning
profits due to the exclusive customer's but did not grow comparatively to other companies. The
study highlights about the usage of IT system in different organizational functions and how the
system contribute in accomplishing the objectives of the company(Arnott, Lizama and Song,
2017). Further it describes about how IT systems store & process data for customer relationship
management etc. and how the system is used in supporting value added change in improving
operations of business and it's performance. Furthermore, the study describes that how IT system
is helpful involving business problems.
TASK 1
Use of IT systems in different functions and how they contribute in achieving the organisational
objective.
Technology has brought many different ways in commerce & trade and changed
traditional concept and business models into new and revolutionized methods that can help
businesses in solving their problems effective and efficiently . IT has given many opportunities
to change one's perspective and approach to conduct businesses and brought efficiency in
business(Beauvisage and Mellet, 2019). IT systems has been a source of security & support for
businesses as it helps in storing and processing data or information. Information Technology has
made it possible for businesses to reach to a wider scope like internet is the best example of the
same. IT systems are used in various functions in retail industry, are as follows:-
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Supply Chain Management (SCM): It consist of a wide range of activities which are
required to plan, monitor & control for the execution process of product.. SCM includes planning
according to the demand, production, stock management and their storage, return of defective
products etc. British Home Personnels can use Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Tool to
improve supply chain management of the company(BELAY, 2019). ERP is a software that helps
the organizations in managing and automatize the back offices tasks. British Home Personnels
can be beneficial as it helps the organisations in monitoring the materials and stock that is being
produce by the businesses. It can automatically show the stocks remaining at the warehouse so it
can be refilled and production of new product not suffer due to lack material. British Home
Personnels can achieve their objectives of managing the products, as the ERP tool helps the
organization as the business process and sub process are combined into one system that
eliminates repetition of the process and reduce the wastage of product.
Research and Development: This department provides information to the company
after educating the customer's about the product's benefits & features. They give information to
customer's via advertising, direct selling etc. They provide research support to different
departments in the company(Box and et.al., 2015). They also collect feedback from the
consumer's and give it to the manufacturing department so that the feedbacks can help the
manufacturers in planning the product. British home personnels can be using Master Control's
research and development software system to enhance the research about the customer's in the
target market. This software offers unique functions that helps in research and development
about the market. Through the software the department make the product as per the demand of
customer's and collect the feedbacks so that they can plan about the product and improve it
according to the customer's feedback. This way British Home Personnels can achieve their
objective of identifying consumer demand and developing the product accordingly and thus
maximizing sales.
Marketing: In retail industry marketing function includes transportation, warehousing
and promotion and sometimes can be labelling, grading etc. Marketing department undertakes
campaigns to promote sales through different form of advertising and publicity, so that they
attract customers and meet demand for their products(Cassidy, 2016). British Home Personnels
can use Marketing Information Systems to marketing procedure for the company. Marketing
Information System is deigned to support the market decisions . The system brings people, data,
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equipment and procedures together to help the organizations in making better decisions. This can
benefit marketers of British Home Personnels in collaborating with consumer's to work on
product design so that the product is according to the customer's requirements.
Relationship Management: It is approach to manage organizations relation with its
customer's. data of the customer's are analysed to improve the business relations with the
customer's, specially focusing on customer's tastes and preferences. British Home Personnels can
use Customer Relationship Management Software to improve the relation of customer's with the
company. Organisation develops relationship with their customer's, as it increases customer's
loyalty towards the business(Durmaz, 2015). The company can fulfil it's objective of increasing
customer's loyalty and maximum sales. The company can increase customer's relations through
offering purchase cards like discount coupons or personalized offers are some effective offerings
to increase customer loyalty.
Applying all this software in their respective departments can help British Home
Personnels in achieving their objectives.
TASK 2
Analysis of the different ways in with information system can store and process data for
knowledge management, customer relationship, data management and communication
management.
Information management system is the integrated combination of different set of
components for collecting and storing of data by the process of providing proper knowledge,
information and digital products. Business firms mostly used to have dependency on the
information technology as to have proper management in operations and interaction with the
customer and suppliers to achieve competitive advantage in business.
Knowledge Management System.
It is the system for proper application and usage if knowledge management principle as it
have inclusion of data driven objectives for productivity of business, competitive business model
along with analysis of business intelligence(Kasemsap, 2018).
The impact of utilization of knowledge management system as it helps in the
improvement of business efficiency along with better implementation of to organizational
methods in business process. It also have contribution in creating a healthy business
environment which helps in facilitation in improving business efficiency and effectiveness.
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Basically structure of knowledge management system is based on companies business strategy
as there should be proper alignment between technology, structure and work culture.
The process for the storing and processing data in knowledge management system is about-
1. KMS adoption for the internal analysis along with the valuation of the information.
2. Acceptance of KMS provide adequate and technical and managerial support in multiple
perspective of the store knowledge(Kaul, 2017).
3. KMS assimilation refers to have the content management along with perceived attractive
factor and proper budgeting which have proper focus on collaboration and involvement
of management.
Types of knowledge management system for processing and storing data.
Expert System helps is having knowledge regarding various subjects as to facilitate the
subject matter expert. With help of development in expert system in company is providing the
various decision factor which will help in overall development of British Home Personal. The
company will be able to take better advices from experts regarding the particular fields and
current scenario of organization and global world.
Groupware is software which is used for collaboration of team members spread across
regions for completion of various projects. In era of globalization, British Home Personal have
of team members across different region due to expansion of business. The groupware is used to
collaborate the different team members across the region and mutually deal regarding particular
decision which will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of organization.
Decision Support System is used by operational managers such as the sales manager,
production manager or marketing manager to take the decision regarding operational strategic
decision. This all comprises primary data along with secondary data which enable s data editing
and conversion of information in desired formats(Laudon and Laudon, 2015).
Share point is having significance for team members as to store the various types of
documents at a single location which enables to store the different versions of particular field at
a single location. The team members will be able to have access of different version of files.
Customer Relationship Management System.
It is systematic approach which helps British Home Personal in managing the
interaction with current and potential customer. It helps in analysis the history of customer to
have improvement regarding the business relationships in terms of focussing the customer
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retention and efficient of sales growth. With the help of customer relationship management,
British Home Personal became efficient and accurate for addressing challenges by actionable
insights which will help in transformation of British home groups. The company would be able
to have better understanding regarding the demands of customer with cross selling and up selling
opportunities to gain competitive advantages(Montgomery, Jennings and Kulahci, 2015). There
are basically three types of CRM systems-
Operational CRM- For managing day to day operations for marketing and sales along with
complete journey of customers. There is need of coordination among employees for company to
be effective.
Analytical CRM-The proper interaction between customer acquisition and retention is tracks in
analytical CRM. This can help company in having trace record of the potential customer to
increase productivity .
Collaborative CRM-This helps in strengthening the engagement across various departments such
as suppliers and stakeholders.
Data management system
It is software package which is design to define, manipulate , retrieve along with
managing data in data base. The software generally manipulates data, format of data, field names
along with record structure and file structure. There are also rules defined as to manipulate and
validate the data. The integration of programmes which works as interface data base and
application of programme. The basics of DBMS are architecture, data model, schemas, data
independence , E-R model, relation model, RDBMS( Relational database management system)
and storage and structure of file(Pawełoszek, Grabińska and Turek, 2016).
Challenges which can be resolved with implementation of IT in data management-
Inconsistency And Redundancy Of Data- the data can be inconsistent due to typing errors or due
to lack of inundation. The data can turned out be redundant sometime due to matching error or
getting copied issues. The issue can be solved with implementation of software as data is stored
accordingly as per need of company for managing different challenges according to different
customers.
Recovery And Backup Issues.- the company is majorly facing issue of assigning data in case of
backup . This process has been turned out to be tedious as lost of data has no incorporation with
backup in case of lost and corrupt file.
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Communication Management.
The exchange of information, views and thoughts among the individual through different
medium along with involvement of information technology. Hardware and software
communication tools are used foe the purpose of communication which leads to smooth and
efficient flow between parties. According to the changes in the environment and other
situations , there can be implementation of tactical communication which helps in maintaining
the connectivity among employees. This will directly and indirectly have impact in increasing
the customers effectively and efficiently(Peters, and et.al.,2016).
TASK 3
Evaluate how IT system can be used to support value added change in improving business
operation, performance and sustainability.
Information technologies are considered as most essential tool in business unit, it always support
s in storing essential information and managing data in effective manner. By taking support of IT
system companies can improve its operations and can raise its performance to great extent. Britis
h Home Plc. Use of CRM system helps the firm in managing records of all consumers significant
ly and analyzing needs or trends in the market. Use of IT system has supported in reducing issue
s related to product life cycle. Data warehousing and use of analytics always aid in gathering fee
dback from consumers and developing products accordingly. This is beneficial tool as it makes c
onsumers loyal towards brand hence overall performance of British Home Plc will be improved a
nd it will be able to sustain in market for longer duration.
Innovation opportunists.
The implementation of the knowledgable management system will help in analysis the
different situation and demand of the customer. It will be properly analysis on the basis ODF the
experience of customer. As the British home groups is dealing in retailing and travel and tourism
then the company should identify the best opportunities. There should be development of various
strategies for the proper implementation of the system in company to identify various
opportunity and increase productivity of organisation(Robinson and et.al.,2015).
Customer Delight.
There is the development of the product life cycle software which is having the expectation of
the highest growth in developing and developed nation. The implementation of the software
helps in reducing the cost in both the terms of implementation and acquisition. Due to reduction
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in product cycle , there will be reduction in margin along with cost which will automatically
serve the customer with premium quality product with low cost. There will be data warehousing
along with analytical capabilities which will help in collecting the feedback from customers to
developing business product and meet expectation of customer. The customer delight will lead
to loyal customer along with brand ambassador(Trigo, Belfo, and Estébanez, 2016).
Business transaction system of information technology always take care that routine proc
ess and operations are done in smooth manner. It closely monitors sales transactions and payroll
etc. By this way companies can improve its performance and sustainability as well. IT system ar
e always helpful in executing decisions, for example If British Home Plc take support of decision
support system then it would be able to execute exact function in smooth manner. By this way pr
oductive of business unit gets increased as well.
Value add for organisation.
Executive decision support system makes the contribution in overall development of business
and overall productivity. The effective use of decision support system by the top-level
management leads to proper identification of the problem. The proper rectification will lead to
achievement in short term and long term goals. Business get effective improvement in the
productivity and effectiveness of business due to implementation of information system in
British home groups. Overall with implementation of different information system can help in
achieving the low cost, improved productivity along top line growth and competitive advantage
in market with help of correct development and deployment(Verhoef, Kannan and Inman,
2015).
\IT system add value to the organisation, development in information system aids in improving p
roduction ability of business and entity can grow well by reducing its wastage and monitoring th
e data well. Use of IT system has supported in making drastic changes in business unit which ha
s contributed well in accomplishing goal of business unit significantly. Email, video system etc.
are the elements of IT system. Use of such tactics supports in improving workers productivity an
d increasing collaboration between various departments.
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TASK 4
Recommend the IT solutions
The issue of increased cost along with improper management of data across from different
location in the company.
There can be proper implementation of the ERP (enterprise resource planning)
software which used to integrate all the aspects of the business including all the activity of the
raw materiel and all related to operations and management in inventory planning of production
to financial stability and customer satisfaction. It will help in British home groups to maximize
efficacy, increase in on time delivery along with satisfaction of customer service.
Issue of Financial planning & budgeting, forecasting , profitability and cost analysis
The company is facing the issue of Financial planning & budgeting, forecasting ,
profitability and cost analysis and to overcome this problem company can implement Financial
Ratio analysis software(Walsham, 2015). Financial planning and budgeting problems can be
resolved by implementing Financial Ratio Analysis Software in the company, this helps in
analysing the financial performance of the company against the industry standards. The software
will help in the analysis of the sales and profits of the company and can compare it with the
previous years performance. Any deviation can be evaluated through this software, so the
company can analyse the problem and can quickly come to it's solution. This software can help
the company in analysis demand of the product by forecasting it's demand by the public. The
company can forecast the future demand and can calculate the stock required for manufacturing
the product so that company will not suffer the problem of less raw materials. Due to it the
company might face issue in producing new products and this will effect the sales and eventually
profits of the company. So this software helps in proper forecast so that company doesn't face
this problem. Issues related to Profitability Analysis and Cost Control can also be solved by
Financial Ratio Analysis Software as through this software application company can evaluate
their previous years profitability ratios as well as current years ratio, so they can compare them
and can find the deviation and can solve them(Walsham, 2015). This software can be used via
multiple methods and it has ease the process of reporting. The software assist in managing the
costs acquired by the product and analysing their profits. So by implementing this software
British Home Personnels will be benefited in analysing their financial performance, forecasting
the demand and controlling cost.
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Issue of data storage
The company is recently facing the issue of data storage where latter is exposed to the thr
eat of leakage of confidential data & information due to the persistent inability of their software's
and application to store valuable data effectively. In order to overcome this problem, Cloud com
puting is one of the most vital model which can be efficiently used along with delivering high res
ults. Cloud computing through the use of data centric virtualisation, provides users with a well de
fined virtual storage framework which is scalable enough to suit the application requirements. Th
e biggest advantage of this is that data once stored in cloud, it gets stored at different places and c
ountries wherever the data centres are situated thus this enables the providers to have a multiple c
opies and files of data which eventually ensures that the information won't suffer from leakage a
nd destruction(Williams and Dobelman, 2017).
Issue increasing fraudulent practice
Another issue which the company commonly encounters is increasing fraudulent practice
s whereby the company comes across the various activities which not only harms their electronic
data but also involves unlawful use of software's. To cope up with the following, Auditing infor
mation system encompass the assessment of various management controls in information technol
ogy framework. Apart from managing the data integrity, its main objective is validating the accur
acy of varied system calculations to ensure that systems and applications are properly accounted
for assets as well as verifying the confidentiality of data and its exposure to illegal individuals. A
udit information system focusing on the terminating the fraudulent activities comprises technolo
gy controls which enforces the various confidentiality controls upon any database, application se
rver etc that provide admittance to identifiable data(Arnott, Lizama and Song,
2017). Fraud activities whether related to data entry or check payees can be effectively prevented
through the use of this system by recognized auditors who implement some control measures.
CONCLUSION
From the study it can be concluded that British Home Personnels was earning profits just
because of its exclusive customer's and it was not actually growing. The company need to change
its operations or systems to achieve its objectives as well as growth. The organization will be
using Enterprise Resource Planning tool to manage the inventories of the company. Through this
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software the company can manage their stocks and thus improve the supply chain management.
Master Control's research and development software system will be used to enhance the research
of the market by knowing customer's tastes and preferences and getting their feedbacks will help
in modifying the product according to their choices. This will help in achieving the objectives of
the businesses like maximising sales. Marketing Information Systems will be implemented to
support the marketing decisions of British Home Personnels. Information Technology is
beneficial in each and every operations of business and successfully help in accomplishing it's
objectives. IT software can solve many issues related to financial planning, forecasting analysis,
profitability analysis these all can be solved by Financial Ratio Analysis Software.
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