Intelligent Systems, DSS, and Cloud Computing in the Retail Sector

This report provides an overview of the role and significance of Decision Support Systems (DSS) and cloud computing in the retail industry. It highlights how these intelligent systems have transformed the business structure and operations in the digital era. The report explains how DSS enhances decision-making by quickly gathering and interpreting information, providing retailers with tools to analyze customer trends and plan marketing strategies. Additionally, it discusses the cost-reducing benefits of DSS and the increased flexibility offered by cloud computing, particularly in supply chain management and transparent transactions. The report emphasizes the growing adoption of DSS and cloud computing, predicting their essential role in maintaining a competitive edge within the retail market. The example of Wal-Mart is used throughout the report to illustrate how DSS and cloud computing are used in the retail industry. The report concludes that business intelligence is crucial in the modern retail industry.

A Report on Intelligent System in Retail Industry
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Executive Summary
The report is aimed to précis the role and significance of decision support system and
cloud computing the retailing industry. It has been explained that its use has drastically changed
the business structure and functioning into a digital era. The decision support system has
improved the decision making process of the organisation by providing systematic and quick
gathering of information and interpreting it according to retailer’s requirement. Not only, the
system has provided various tools, techniques and models to the retailers to accumulate the
customer trends and marketing planning but also it has reduced the cost of products and services
offered by the retailers. The cloud computing system has also increased flexibility in the function
like selling and purchasing of the organisation. It has also improved the supply chain
management of the organisation and widely responsible for the transparent transactions between
customers and retailers. This has majorly influenced the trust of customers and suppliers that has
built and maintained good relationship between retailers and its stakeholders. in the recent time,
retail industry is highly using DSS and cloud computing system in its organisations. It can also
be estimated that in upcoming times, it will be a compulsory tool to survive in the competitive
market.
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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Business..............................................................................4
Cloud Computing and Business.......................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
This report aims to explore the importance and role of business intelligent system concept
that is Decision Support System (DSS) as a digital tool in the retailing industry. It provides an
insight on the use of DSS as a problem resolver of business issues with different techniques,
tools and models in the recent time is highly beneficial. Wal-Mart uses DSS such as RFID and
EPOS that makes the function of selling and purchasing very handy and easy (Wong, et al.
2013). It also enables the organisation in maintaining the records very flexible. The report also
describes cloud computing in the retailing industry and how it is improving the business
activities presently. The report focuses on the new opportunities of cloud computing in the
retailing industry as it has been explored that its deployment is continuously increasing in
retailing industry more than any other industry. Thus, this report is reporting significant use of
computer based technology in Wal-Mart as an example that has changed the whole scenario of
retailing industry in current times.
Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Business
Decision support systems are the computer-based information system in the business
organisations that performs various functions. In the contemporary world, it helps the
organisation in collecting data through help of software and hardware to gather useful business
information and interpret it according to requirements (Cadavid and Zuluaga, 2011). In addition
to this, it often helps the organisation in preparing marketing strategy with the accessed
information. Decision support system helps the organisations in resolving the business related
questions with the help of several tools, models and techniques. In order to create a solution for
business question, it assembles the relevant information and construes for better decision
making.
Decision support system is business intelligence reporting tool of modern business
organisations that combines the methodology, process and tools of computerized system with
human to make a helpful business decisions (Cadavid and Zuluaga, 2011). In case of retailing
business activities, it also has a very imperative role in fastening the process of decision making.
Not only this, it helps the retailing organisation in growing their business activities in present
world by increasing personal efficiency of workers, improving the organisational control,
assisting automated managerial processes, but also eradicates the value chain activities and easily
resolves problems in the organisation.
As an example in the retailing organisation like Wal-Mart, retail information system
helps in basic functions such as data driven supply chain management along with the inventory
tracking through RFID Sensor and EPOS data of the customers which also helps in automate
purchase orders of suppliers and makes demand and supply transparent between supplier and
retail stores (Vasista & AlAbdullatif, 2015).
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Figure1: Vender Management Information- Decision Support System Model
(Source: Vasista & AlAbdullatif, 2015)
Cloud Computing and Business
Cloud computing is defined as ‘large scale distributed computing paradigm that is driven
by economies of scale, in which a pool of abstracted virtualized, dynamically-scalable, managed
computing power, storage, platform and services are delivered on demand to external customers
over the internet’ (Ali and Haseebuddin, 2015). It is used by various industry whether small
scale or large scale industries to help them in improving department functions in their business.
Furthermore, cloud computing helps organisations in maintain relationship with their customers
and suppliers, positioning and targeting their products in the liberalised and global market and
also segmenting their market effectively. Along with this, it helps the organisation in cost cutting
in their products manufacturing, maintenance of business and services they offer to their
customers (Revesencio, 2017). Technologies such as grid computing, utility computing,
distributed computing and service computing are viably used by every industry. Moreover, cloud
computing is facilitating various new possibilities and opportunities in the market.
Today, cloud computing is bringing various opportunities in the retailing industry in
comparison to other industries as an integral part of business (The Economist- intelligence unit,
2016). In retail industry like Wal-Mart, it is very important to maintain the strong goodwill and
positive customer reviews to deal in the competitive market. Mobile and online shopping are the
most recent trends that are increasing enormously. It can easily provide wide storage space to the
retails and tracks current trends of customers by recording their purchasing patterns and buying
behaviour in the market. It access to data of customers to the retailers as an analytical result and
in a very secured way too. Some of the most common example of cloud computing systems used
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by the retailers is Oracle, Net suites and salesforce.com. As a growing opportunity it can further
supportive to the production processes, can be used for more improved version of supply chain
management, enabled design and prototyping and betterment of inventory management, orders
and distribution management (The Economist- intelligence unit, 2016).
Figure 2: Graph of presence and relevance of cloud computing in Retail Industry in comparison
to others
(Source: The Economist- intelligence unit, 2016)
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that business intelligence is growing in
retailing industry and in fact becoming need of the hour in the modern business conditions. The
decision support systems are the computer based system that helps the retailing industry in
making appropriate decisions and solves problems of business questions. Furthermore, it helps in
maintaining and building relations of retailing organisations like Wal-Mart with their customers
and suppliers. The decision support system is bringing speediness in every department of the
organisation that helps the retailers in assorting and analysing the trend faster. In case of cloud
computing in retailing business, it is the most growing tool in retailing in compared to any other
industry. It helps the organisations in storing large amount of data and accesses the information
as per the requirement in easy and in the most convenient way. It has further opportunities in
supply chain management system and improving customer’s satisfaction with products and
services of retailers.
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References
Ali, M. M., and Haseebuddin, M. 2015. Cloud Computing for Retailing Industry: An Overview.
International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology 19(1), pp. 51-56.
Cadavid, D. C. U., and Zuluaga, C. C. 2011. A framework for decision support system in
inventory management area. Ninth LACCEI Latin American and Caribbean Conference
(LACCEI’2011), Engineering for a Smart Planet, Innovation, Information. Technology and
Computational Tools for Sustainable Development, August 3-5, 2011, Medellín, Colombia.
Revesencio, J. 2017. Buying In the Cloud: How Cloud Technology is Revolutionizing the Retail
Industry. [Online] Available at: https://www.business.com/articles/buying-in-the-cloud-how-
cloud-technology-is-revolutionizing-the-retail-industry/ [Retrieved on: 17 August 2017].
The Economist- intelligence unit. 2016. Ascending cloud- The adoption of cloud computing in
five industries. [Online] Available at:
https://www.eiuperspectives.economist.com/sites/default/files/EIU_AscendingcloudMBP_PDF_
1.pdf [Retrieved on: 17 August 2017].
Vasista T. G. K., and AlAbdullatif A. M. 2015. Turning customer insights contributing to VMI
based decision support system in demand Chain management. International Journal of Managing
Value and Supply Chains 6(2), pp. 37-45.
Wong, C., et al. 2013. Optimizing Decision Making in the Apparel Supply Chain Using
Artificial Intelligence (AI): From Production to Retail. Elsevier.
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