Introduction to Computer Skills Report: M&S Financial Analysis

This report examines the application of computer skills within Marks & Spencer (M&S), a multinational retailer. It begins with an overview of M&S's financial condition, analyzing profit and loss data for 2016 using MS Excel to illustrate revenue fluctuations. The report then details the benefits of Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, in enhancing business productivity through improved data accuracy, communication, and efficiency. Furthermore, the report explores M&S's technological advancements, such as the 'digital lab' for rapid retail technology development, the implementation of RFID technology for inventory management, and the 'Tuesday' app for personalized customer advice. The conclusion highlights how technological integration can improve M&S's performance and profitability. The report is available on Desklib, a platform providing students with AI-powered study tools and resources.

Running Head: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SKILL
Information technology

Introduction to Computer Skill 1
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Financial condition of M&S..................................................................................................................2
Benefits of Microsoft Office to Business Productivity..........................................................................3
Technological Advancements................................................................................................................5
Technology advancement 1...............................................................................................................5
Technology advancement 2...............................................................................................................5
Technology advancement 3...............................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7

Introduction to Computer Skill 2
Introduction
Marks and spencer is a multinational retailer having it’s headquarter in London. It is a
British company listed on London Stock Exchange and is a part of FTSE 100 Index. The
company was founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer and it deals in providing
home products, clothing and luxury food products (Corporate.marksandspencer.com, 2017).
The report includes details about current financial situation of M&S stores in terms of
profits and loss earned by the company. Calculation done with the use of MS Excel, for profit
and loss, is also shown in the report. It also explains how using Microsoft Office helps the
company to increase its productivity. Report also consists of the technological advancements
done by M&S and their benefits to it.
Financial condition of M&S
Data view
Formula view

Introduction to Computer Skill 3
Graphical presentation
As per the above findings, it can be seen that the financial situation of store is not
commendable in terms of profit and loss. According to the revenue calculated for the year
2016, it can be identified that the store is making profits only in five months that are
February, March, April, November and December. The revenue after VAT in these months is
more than £2, 00,000 and the highest is in the month of April. After that, store has been
incurring losses consecutively for six months because the revenue after VAT is less than
£2, 00,000. So it can be concluded, that store is not performing well as more losses are been
incurred during the year as compare to profits made. Both the formula view and data view is
shown above which demonstrates that all steps are completed using Excel for calculating
revenue per month after VAT.

Introduction to Computer Skill 4
Benefits of Microsoft Office to Business Productivity
Microsoft office is a combined suite of software applications for windows and Mac. It
includes Microsoft word, MS excel, PowerPoint, MS Access and other email communication
programs that are used by the companies in order to run their business.
The software help the business to increase its productivity and to improve its
competitive strategies in many ways. By adopting new technology, a company can reduce the
error which are caused by humans. Microsoft office has several programs which enhances the
accuracy and security of data, helps in effective communication and achieving higher level of
efficiency in the activities performed by the business (MS OFFICE BLOG, 2017). In addition
to this, performing and managing all the human work, Microsoft ultimately removes the
burden of managing things off the organisation. Now a days, office 365 is used widely by all
the companies, as its adoption and use achieves greater productivity. There are various
software created by Microsoft which helps the business to improve its production and to
make profits (Products.office.com, 2017). Some of them are:
Microsoft Word: it is the most famous word processing program created by Microsoft. It
allows the user type and create different types of accounts and save them. It is very easy to
use and documents like letters, tests, reports, assignments can be easily created by using
Word tools. Companies can create brochures, newsletters and flyers displaying about the
product of the company. Word enables them to simplify their promotional activities which
results in increased productivity.
Standard format of letters can also be created and saved as a template. Microsoft word also
provide some templates which can be used by the businesses according to their preferences.
Setting a standard template design and style, helps the companies to maintain consistency of
branding (Linked In, 2015).
Microsoft Excel: it is a spreadsheet program which has rows and columns, in which
numerical data and values are inserted. Excel allows the user to perform calculations using
the formulas and arrange the data in such a manner that it can be seen from different
perspectives. Statistical tools like average, median can be used and graphical representation
of the data can also be done. Companies use excel to create and present their financial
statements and other information related to their business. It helps to store the data collected
from various departments like sales, marketing and so on (Wempen, 2014).
Excel allows the companies to add charts and other visualizations to their business reports to
make them more presentable and easily understandable to others. The trends emerging in the
overall organization can also be seen with the help of charts. It is also a part of office 365,
which means the leaders and the managers can access the software from any place and at any
time (Products.office.com, 2017).
Microsoft PowerPoint: it is a presentation software program which allows the user to create
different slides using graphics and other tools. Businesses uses PowerPoint to present the data
in an attractive manner. The detailed information can be presented in bullet points, activities
like making invoices and labels can be made by using PowerPoint templates and use of
graphic designs can be done for making company logo or sign (Products.office.com, 2017).

Introduction to Computer Skill 5
All this will ultimately reduce the burden of employees and motivate them to increase their
performance. Microsoft office helps in managing the company data in very effective and
efficient manner and enables the employees to focus on other areas also (Carey, et.al. 2016).
Talking about Mark & Spencer, to provide best quality to its customers it is very
important for the company to be active and responsive. For doing this, it used new tools of
technology to develop its business. M&S choose to adopt Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based
tools to increase its productivity and to bring change in its business culture. Use of Office 365
have impacted M&S’s headquarters, stores and distribution centres to a large extent. It is very
helpful in communicating from anywhere, diminishing geographical and time zone barriers
that can affect the productivity of a company which is working at global level. M&S can
store, access and share the data on any device in secure way with the help of MS Office 2016
and One Drive. It also enable the team members to collaborate and work on documents to get
things done faster. Skype is also used by the business to conduct its operations online to
quickly find the people who are available for contact, for doing video conferencing and
sometimes to share desktop. The company call this new way of working as ‘Smarter
Working’ and it is considered as a big revolution inside M&S. Employees can take quick
decisions and can contribute more to the company. Every function or part of the business is
developed and improved by using this technology, making the company more mobile and
agile (Office Blogs, 2016).
Technological Advancements
Technology is one thing which is majorly used by companies in order to increase their
productivity, profitability and overall development. The primary objective of any business is
to make profits by satisfying its customer needs. However, to achieve this goal, technology is
used in performing each and every function of the business. Technological advancement also
help the companies in gaining competitive advantage. Companies must make sure that they
have sufficient knowledge and skilled employees for implementing a technology in such a
manner that maximum return on investment can be obtained. They can use it in production
process, transportation, improving the quality of customer care services, human resource
management and business communication. There are many other areas where businesses can
use technology in order to improvise its activities (Ross, 2014).
Marks & Spencer is taking a greater advantage of its IT systems to become more
agile. It has make some technological advancement which results in the development of retail
sector and the company. Three advancements currently in use at Marks & Spencer are:
Technology advancement 1
One of the technology used by M&S is that it has designed a ‘digital lab’ which will
bring a technological change in retail sector with a more quickly development process. A
start-up type approach is adopted by the retailer for developing a wide range of in-store
technologies and a digital platform for employees which is to be used within the organization
(MacDonald, 2013). Employees of digital lab will work with M&S’s in-house software
engineering team. This will allow the companies to introduces concepts to trial with
customers and in cases where large scale implementation is required, a quicker movement
will be there than before. The digital lab technology will increase ability of the company to
deal with the fast changing technology which affects high street retailers (Finnegan, 2013).

Introduction to Computer Skill 6
Technology advancement 2
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been used by Marks &
Spencer for its retail stores. M&S had applied RFID tags on its delivery trays in food supply
chain and has only been tested on small scale in-store. Now, the company has begun the
testing of RFID on large scale also. The technology uses microchips through which serial
numbers are transmitted wirelessly to a reading device (Retailtechnology.co.uk, 2014). This
helps in tracking the goods electronically from warehouse to the place of sale. Automatic
tracking provides accurate status of stock so that appropriate level of inventory can be
maintained. M&S is the first company that uses ultra-high-frequency tags that makes data
transfer more agile and longer read ranges. This advancement makes the company able to
read different individual items, even if they are closely related (Swedberg, 2015).
Technology advancement 3
Mark & Spencer has so far created an app named Tuesday. It enables the internal
stylist of M&S to give regular advice to its customers regarding clothing according to their
body shape and season. Initially, the app has very less users but as the time passes number of
users of the app has increased resulting in the reappraisal of M&S brand. This technology app
can also be applied to food choices. It can advise people about making food choices
according to their schedule and activities, helping them in maintaining a balanced diet. Use of
Tuesday app increase the productivity of Mark & Spencer to a great extent (Hobbs, 2017).
Conclusion
The report concluded that Mark & Spencer can raise its profits and productivity with
the help of technology. The technological advancement happening at M&S has really proved
to be very helpful for the company in its development. The company is not performing very
well as per the data derived during the year 2016. It can recover its losses by being more
technically advanced and agile. Overall it can be said that, technological changes will
definitely increase the capability of company to produce more and hence making more
profits.

Introduction to Computer Skill 7
References
Office Blogs. (2016). Marks & Spencer uses Office 365 to boost competitive edge in global
business - Office Blogs. [Online] Available at:
https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2016/05/04/marks-spencer-uses-office-365-to-boost-
competitive-edge-in-global-business/?eu=true [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Carey, P., DesJardins, C., Shaffer, A., Shellman, M. and Vodnik, S., 2016. New Perspectives
Microsoft Office 365 & Office 2016: Introductory, Spiral bound Version. Cengage Learning.
Corporate.marksandspencer.com. (2017). Home. [Online] Available at:
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/?intid=gft_company [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Finnegan, M. (2013). Marks & Spencer creates 'digital lab' to speed retail tech development.
[Online] ComputerworldUK. Available at: https://www.computerworlduk.com/it-
management/marks-spencer-creates-digital-lab-speed-retail-tech-development-3424283/
[Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Hobbs, T. (2017). M&S looks to augmented reality in bid to boost GM sales. [Online]
Marketing Week. Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/08/01/marks-and-
spencer-considers-augmented-reality/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Linked In. (2015). Benefits of Using Microsoft Word. [Online] Available at:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/benefits-using-microsoft-word-fareed [Accessed 4 Dec.
2017].
MacDonald, G. (2013). Marks & Spencer launches digital lab to fuel multichannel growth.
[Online] Retail Week. Available at:
https://www.retail-week.com/topics/technology/multichannel/marks-and-spencer-launches-
digital-lab-to-fuel-multichannel-growth/5045543.article [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
MS OFFICE BLOG. (2017). A Brief Introduction to Microsoft Office - MS OFFICE BLOG.
[Online] Available at: http://msoffice2007download.com/blog/a-brief-introduction-microsoft-
office/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Products.office.com. (2017). Microsoft Office | Productivity Tools for Home & Office.
[Online] Available at: https://products.office.com/en-in/home [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Products.office.com. (2017). PowerPoint 2016 by Microsoft - Presentation Software | Office.
[Online] Available at: https://products.office.com/en-in/powerpoint [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].

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Retailtechnology.co.uk. (2014). Accurate inventory tracking benefits M&S | News | Retail
Technology. [Online] Available at: http://www.retailtechnology.co.uk/news/5115/accurate-
inventory-tracking-benefits-ms/ [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Ross, E. (2014). Using technology to make your business more efficient: top tips. [Online] the
Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/oct/22/technology-make-your-
business-more-efficient [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Swedberg, C. (2015). Marks & Spencer Expects to Achieve 100 Percent RFID-Tagging by
2017 - 2015-05-11 - Page 1 - RFID Journal. [Online] Rfidjournal.com. Available at:
http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?13028 [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].
Wempen, F., 2014. Computing Fundamentals: Introduction to Computers. John Wiley &
Sons.