IT's Role in Marks & Spencer: Networking, Ethics, and SDLC Analysis

This report analyzes the crucial role of Information Technology (IT) in the success of Marks & Spencer (M&S), a leading UK retailer. It details how IT supports business operations, including customer service, inventory management, and online shopping experiences. The report explores the ethical and social issues arising from technology use, such as data privacy and security, and how M&S addresses these concerns. It further describes various networking technologies like LAN, WAN, and EPN, highlighting the importance of intranet and internet for internal communication, resource sharing, and customer engagement. The report also examines the different stages of the system development life cycle (SDLC), providing a framework for understanding how new projects are implemented within the company. Overall, the report emphasizes the strategic importance of IT for M&S's operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance.

Individual Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Describing the role of IT in the success or failure of M&S........................................................3
Some ethical and social issues related to technology which affects the performance of Mark
and Spencer.................................................................................................................................4
Different types of networking technologies................................................................................5
Importance of intranet and internet in Mark & Spencer.............................................................5
Analysis and Discussion..................................................................................................................7
Different stage of system development life cycle.......................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Information technology plays an important role in the retail sector and its application is
important in this modern world for the success of a business. The chosen firm for this report is
Marks and Spencer (M&S) which is one of the leading firm in UK and provides the best quality
of products to their customer(Dutta, Geiger and Lanvin, 2015.). It also uses Information
Technology into its workplace to reduce the operational cost. Report will describe the role of IT
in the success and failure of a business and then describe the ethical and social issue for running
the business. Further, it also describes different types of networking technologies and show the
importance of internet and intranet. Further, it also describes the different stages of system
development life cycle.
Describing the role of IT in the success or failure of M&S
Information technology helps to store and retrieve, transmit the information for a
business and it has been analysed that in Marks and Spencer. It helps to provide success of a
business especially in customer service such that earlier, customer have to wait for so long in
order to overcome the problem, company start providing self help kiosk which help a business to
save money and increases the satisfaction of their customer as well. This machine is consider an
excellent application of IT in the industry(Laudon and Laudon, 2015). Apart from this, Marks
and Spencer also uses online technology which provides the best personalized shopping
customer experience.
On the other side, according to some researchers an inventory management system is also
essential for the business because the practice of managing an inventory is always quite costly.
But, M&S also uses advance technology in order to maintain its inventory management system
i.e. Quantum Retail Software solution that helps a manager to manage end to end inventory
forecasting and order planning needs for company's food division(Fink, 2019).
The data of the company remain protected with the help of software and hardware
which the company is using. Firewall helps the company to protect data, it block traffic which is
not desirable by the company. Firewall also helps in preventing malware and also restrict user
from carrying any illegal activity.
The company has also announced a new technology transformation programme in order
to provide better customer experience(Wortmann and Flüchter, 2015). This programme will help

the business to create more faster technology function which will help the business to grow. The
transformation programme help Mark and Spencer to slowdown the food store opening
programme, it has help in boosting up UK store estate programme. The IT has helped a company
to do its functions more efficiently.
The company has also appointed a Tata consultancy services, it is one of the leading company in
technology which will help the company to manage its core supplier services. The specialist
suppliers of the company will come under the control of TCS.
Some ethical and social issues related to technology which affects the performance of Mark and
Spencer
By looking in the history of industrial revolution it can be seen that during the nineteenth
century many ethical and social issues raised such as concern for safety at work place, wage law,
issues related to discrimination, etc., it resulted in protection of workers(Agarwal and et.al.,
2016). Similarly as the industrial revolution occurred technological revolution has also occurred
during twentieth century which resulted in use of internet and home computers. Due to the wide
use of internet and home computers many social and ethical issues have arises. Earlier people
personal information remains personal and confidential but due to wide use of internet now the
personal information does not remain personal. Now the people stays or we can say live online
without realizing that our information is being used by the others we continue to make use of
internet.
According to Richard O. Mason there are four ethical issues. There are various
challenges which the information age is facing such as threat to privacy and the increase use of
information in decision making. Therefore extracting individual personal information can result
in misunderstanding between professional and personal relationship.
Various companies use the data such as data on customer preferences, there purchasing
behaviour etc., which is an unethical practice(Tumanov and et.al., 2016.). The various social
and ethical issues affects the performance of the company. If the company take proper care to
avoid negative impact of such factor on the company's performance than the company should
take proper actions. For example Mark and Spencer carries a strong trust between its employees
as one of the ethical issue which the company face is integrity and trust. The company tries to
carry ethical business activity which helps the business to develop a high level of trust among its
employees. The various ethical and social issues such as integrity and trust. The company also

ensures to keep the employees data confidential in order to avoid any type misuse of the data.
The company tries to avoid emergence of any social issue which can be occurred due to practices
such as identity theft by keeping the employees data confidential.
Different types of networking technologies
Local area network (LAN ) : LAN connects all the personal computers of an institution to a
central hub. Such type of network speed up the communication as it help to share the
information. Some institution also uses their email protocol in order to avoid the systems from
virus and other malware(11 types of networks explained, 2019).
Wide area network ( WAN ) : It is similar to local area network but it provides it services in a
wider range.
Metropolitan area network (MAN) : This type of network is made up of wireless modem
which usually connect large number of computers usually such type of network is used by the
large companies. These type of network cover the entire geographic area.
Enterprise private network (EPN ) : This type of network is used by the company which want
to securely connects its various company sites. Here site refers to office site, shop site and
production site.
Campus area network (CAN ) : Such type of network is usually seen in universities and large
schools. Users can share resources easily across the several buildings.
Storage area network ( SAN ) : Such type of network connects the various storage devices to
the several networks. Such network are usually composed of switches, hosts and storage
devices.
System area network (SAN ) :
As Mark & Spencer is a one of the leading firm in UK and has its store in the various
locations therefore the company use enterprise private network in order to connect to its various
business unit. The company also use wide area network and local area network within the
organisation which helps in speeding the communication.
Importance of intranet and internet in Mark & Spencer
Intranet is usually reserved by a company i.e., it run within the organisation only. It
consist of interlinked local network. The purpose of an intranet is to share information within the
employees of an organisation. It help the companies to share private messages with the use of
public network(Mason, 2017).

Intranet helps in better communication within the organisation. It also helps to share
resources and also enhance collaborative working. Intranet provide better access to information
which helps in improving customer service.
Mark & Spencer uses intranet in order to publish new directories and web documents. It
also helps to manage the administrative functions within the organisation. Administrative
processes such as staff performance review, equipment booking and holiday request etc.
It also help the company in employee engagement as it helps the company to inspire its staff
members in order to play their part in completion of a project. Intranet also helps in various
business functions such as accounting, human resource activity and marketing by providing
necessary and structured information.
As per Anisha Gupta, Rivana Christie, Prof. R. Manjula, internet is one of the rapidly emerging
field in the today's world. It helps to collect and analyse data in order to run various business
functions. While internet is a global computer network which helps the users to access
information from any computer(Denecke and et.al., 2015.).
It helps the company to promote its products to the large number of customer with the
help of social media platform. As in order to manage supply chain it is required to visit the
factories but now with the use of internet company can contact manufactures of various
countries. It help the company to easy translate language and deliver message. It also help
company to get the reviews of the product with the use of review site. It help the company to
improve there performance and to know that whether the customer is likely their product or not.
The one of the major and most beneficial feature which help the business is automation. As the
internet is capable of performing task automatically therefore it help the company to save money
and perform their task more efficiently.
The entire system which the companies use now a days make use of internet. Internet
help the companies to extract the necessary information. It helps the company to carry out
various surveys online which help the company to save its time and money. J
As usually in order to survey a team is required which have to be paid but internet has made this
task easy for the companies. It also help the company to take feedback and review from the large
number of customer across the world(Gupta, Christian and Manjula, 2017.).

Analysis and Discussion
Different stage of system development life cycle
The system development life cycle helps in transforming new project idea into action. Or
in the other words system development life cycle is a multi step process which provides an steps
in a methodical way(Fang and et.al., 2016.). It provides a framework to carry out technical as
well as non technical activities.
There various stages in the system development life cycle :
Planning : This step identifies that whether it is necessary for the new system to achieve
business objectives or not. The main purpose of this step is to find the problem. The various
factors such as time, cost, benefits and resources are analysed under this stage. This step help the
user to analyse the problem, and accessing the alternative solution after having meeting with the
clients, suppliers and employees(What is system development life cycle ?, 2019).
System analysis and requirements : At this phase the company will work on the need for
change. If a problem or need for changed is analysed than possible solutions are analysed in
order to find the best solution which will best fit the requirement of a project. The user need to
document its expectations. At this step the various aspect such as economic, social, technological
are take into consideration.
The various tools can be used by the business in this phase such as :
 Requirement gathering
 Structured analysis
 CASE ( computer aided systems/ Software engineering)
System design : After understanding the requirement of a customer in the second phase. This
phase defines the various elements of a system, architecture, different interfaces and various
types of data.
Development : Once the system requirement is analysed than the actual construction process
begins. The actual code is written under this phase for example if a system contain hardware then
the under this phase configuration and fine-tuning of hardware will take place. At this phase the
system become ready to be installed. At this phase the training of the end users may be needed in
order to make user familiar with the system. This phase may take long time depending upon the
complexity of a system.

Integration and testing : once the system has been developed it is necessary to test the system.
As it will help to ensure customer satisfaction. Testing of a system can be done either by a end
user or by a team of experts.
Operations and maintenance : It is very important for a system to be maintained properly in
order to assure that the system is running properly and is there replacement is required or not.
This phase also involves to properly check that the system meet the standard. It is necessary to
introduce latest technologies in a system to avoid security threat.
The system development life cycle helps in having clear view of an entire project. This
helps in defining timeline. It helps in getting the information regarding the cost required for
conducting the project. This step helps in improving the quality of system at each phase.
CONCLUSION
Information technology has become an essential part of the businesses now a days.
Almost every business whether it is small or large make use of information technology. It has
become an important for every business in order to survive in the current market. The study
helps in understanding of the role of IT in the success and failure of the business. It also explains
various ethical and social issues that helps in running the various business activities. There are
various network technologies such as LAN, WAN, MAN and many other. The business based on
its size selects the network. The study also provides an understanding that how intranet as well as
internet helps in working of the organisation. The use of intranet and internet helps the
organisation in many ways. Intranet helps the business to maintain privacy of the working of
business whereas internet helps in accessing various information and promoting its product to a
wide range of customers.

References
Books and Journals
Agarwal, P. and et.al., 2016. Systems and methods for cloud bridging between intranet
resources and cloud resources. U.S. Patent 9,253,252.
Denecke, K. and et.al., 2015. Ethical issues of social media usage in healthcare. Yearbook of
medical informatics, 24(01). pp.137-147.
Dutta, S., Geiger, T. and Lanvin, B., 2015. The global information technology report 2015.
In World Economic Forum (Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. P80-85).
Fang, L.L. and et.al., 2016. Life cycle assessment as development and decision support tool for
wastewater resource recovery technology. Water research, 88. pp.538-549.
Fink, A., 2019. Conducting research literature reviews: from the Internet to paper. Sage
Publications.
Gupta, A., Christian, R. and Manjula, R., 2017. Scalability in Internet of Things: features,
techniques and research challenges. Int’l Journal of Computational Intel. Res, 13(17).
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Mason, R.O., 2017. Four ethical issues of the information age. In Computer Ethics.(pp. 41-48).
Tumanov, I. and et.al., 2016. Collection of intranet activity data. U.S. Patent 9,477,574.
Wortmann, F. and Flüchter, K., 2015. Internet of things. Business & Information Systems
Engineering, 57(3).pp.221-224.
Online
11 types of networks explained. 2019. [Online ] Available through
<https://www.belden.com/blog/smart-building/network-types>
What is system development life cycle ?. 2019. [Online ] Available through
<https://airbrake.io/blog/sdlc/what-is-system-development-life-cycle>