Exploring IT's Impact on Shanghai Wireless Cafe Operations

The assignment focuses on the pivotal role of Information Technology in enhancing the operational efficiency and strategic planning at Shanghai Wireless Cafe. Through a detailed analysis, it examines how Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems contribute to optimizing business processes. Additionally, the document explores future technological advancements such as 5G technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT), which promise to revolutionize business operations by increasing speed and smart decision-making capabilities. The competitive landscape is also considered through Porter’s model, highlighting how IT strategies can provide a significant edge over competitors. Furthermore, social media marketing's potential in augmenting the cafe’s visibility and customer engagement is discussed, illustrating an integrated approach towards leveraging technology for business growth.

Running head: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
Management Information System
Name of the Student
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Table of Contents
Part 1- Role of IT.................................................................................................................2
Part 2- About the Shanghai Wireless Cafe..........................................................................2
Part 3- Role of Emerging Technologies in improving the business of Wireless Cafe........4
References............................................................................................................................6

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Part 1- Role of IT
IT plays a significant role in supporting the performance of the organizations in turbulent
business environments by providing various solutions like CRM, SCM, ERP, data mining and
accounting software. The seven main components of IT infrastructure are hardware, software,
operating system, enterprise software, networking platforms, storage, consulting systems and
internet platforms (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). Each of these components has a unique role in
enhancing the organization’s productivity and performance.
CRM systems can be adopted for integrating customer information in a single database.
CRM software helps the organizations to effectively interact with the customers and improve its
customer service level (Khodakarami & Chan, 2014). Accounting software can be implemented
for the purpose of managing the financial decisions and operations of the company (Romney &
Steinbart, 2012). This will enable the organization to maintain competitive advantage over its
competitors at a low cost. ERP solutions will enable the organizations to manage resources
effectively and efficiently (Monk & Wagner, 2012). It will improve the productivity of the
business by integrating information of various departments into a centralized database.
Part 2- About the Shanghai Wireless Cafe
Shanghai Wireless Café is the newest and most modern café in China. This café offers
classical Chinese dishes like Chili Prawn in starters and crisp squad in main dishes. It also offers
dessert like mango rice pudding (Higheredbcs.wiley.com, 2017). The most attractive feature of
this café is its inventive dining experience that it provides to its customers. It is located on the
most popular promenade called Bund. The splendid view of the Shanghai Skyline and Huangpu

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River also plays a significant role in attracting the customers. This café offers free Wi-Fi
connection to its customers. Other attractions of this café are its display and printing services. It
also fulfills the presentation needs of the customers who visit the café for business purposes.
Shanghai Wireless Café has hierarchical organizational structure. Jimmy Kwok, the
owner of the café is at the top of the hierarchy followed by the manager and chef in the second
level of the hierarchy. William Feng is the head chef of this café. This café is considered to be
one of the most contemporary and novel restaurants in China. Shanghai Wireless Café has
received the “Golden Chopsticks” Award for the offering the best Chinese cuisine and the
Shanghai Reader’s Survey Restaurant Awards for providing the best wireless connection
(Higheredbcs.wiley.com, 2017). This café is also a recognized member of Chinese Cuisine and
Shanghai Restaurant Association.
The current job opportunities provided by the Shanghai Wireless Café are for the
position of wireless technician, assistant chef and event manager. Customers can contact the café
via telephone, fax, email and website. The contact information is given on the website of the
café. The intranet of the Wireless Café allows its employees to login and access internal details
about the café. This café communicates with local fishermen over the intranet and has Wi-Fi for
connecting the kitchen and wait staff (Higheredbcs.wiley.com, 2017). Its online ordering,
reservation and inventory system indicates that this café is a digital enterprise. Maintaining
competitive advantage is the market pressure of the hospitality industry. The societal pressure is
to meet customer requirements without harming the society. The market pressure of the
Wireless Café is to gain competitive advantage over other cafes and to offer reasonable price to
the customers. The societal pressure of the café is to offer hygienic and good quality food to the

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customers and provide the customers with best services. This Wireless Café is involved in
sponsoring adult education, youth events as well as community improvement activities.
Part 3- Role of Emerging Technologies in improving the business of Wireless Cafe
Few questions developed by using “IT Performance Model” for better understanding of
the current operations of the Wireless Café are:
1) What is the goal of the Wireless Café? Where does it want to reach in future?
2) How will it maintain its competitive advantage even after the emergence of new cafes?
How will it make use of advanced technology? How will it automate the workflow and used
virtualized solutions?
3) Is there any possibility of expanding the business in the future? Will the expansion
cause any change to the hierarchical structure of the enterprise? How will it manage the change?
4) How will the business monitor business processes and measure its relative advantages?
5) How will the business use innovative applications and successful carry out business
process management?
Two advanced emerging technologies that can improve the business operations in the
future are 5G connectivity and internet of things. These technologies will help to transform the
cafe’s business and increase its productivity and generate more revenue. 5G technologies are
recommended for the Wireless Café as it will enable the customers to connect to the internet at a
faster speed and transfer data in real time (Andrews et al., 2012). It will speed up the current
capabilities of the business and will provide new opportunities for the business. IoT is also

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recommended for the Wireless café as it will help the enterprise to make smarter decisions and
does business operations in a smarter way from remote locations (Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015).
It will improve the efficiency and productivity of the café.
The potential competitor of this Wireless Café can be any other café that provides similar
service along with free wireless internet connection. Any café that adopts advanced technology
will give competition to this café. Any other café that provides same services with low price will
be a potential competitor for the Wireless Café. These competitors will try to offer more benefits
to the employees and offer a cheaper rate to the suppliers. These competitors will try to provide
better service to customers at a lesser price than the Wireless Café. Competition has the highest
influence among the five forces of the Porter’s model (Dälken, 2014). Rivalry among various
cafes will help the Wireless Café to improve its service. The dominant competitive strategy is the
IT strategy that provides free Wi-Fi connection to the customers.
Social networking websites can enhance the café’s visibility. Creating a page on social
networking websites will help to increase the number of followers and this will increase its
visibility and make the café more popular with time. It will attract new customers by sharing its
menu and other attractions like wireless connectivity and splendid view around the café. The
café will be able to improve its capabilities by taking suggestions from the followers.

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References
Andrews, J. G., Buzzi, S., Choi, W., Hanly, S. V., Lozano, A., Soong, A. C., & Zhang, J. C.
(2014). What will 5G be?. IEEE Journal on selected areas in communications, 32(6),
1065-1082.
Dälken, F. (2014). Are porter’s five competitive forces still applicable? a critical examination
concerning the relevance for today’s business (Bachelor's thesis, University of Twente).
Higheredbcs.wiley.com. (2017). Shanghai Wireless Cafe | Home. Retrieved 6 November 2017,
from http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/turban/0471705225/shanghai/
index.html
Khodakarami, F., & Chan, Y. E. (2014). Exploring the role of customer relationship
management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information &
Management, 51(1), 27-42.
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
Monk, E., & Wagner, B. (2012). Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage Learning.
Romney, M. B., & Steinbart, P. J. (2012). Accounting information systems. Boston: Pearson.
Wortmann, F., & Flüchter, K. (2015). Internet of things. Business & Information Systems
Engineering, 57(3), 221-224.

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