Strategic Information System Report: 2020 Global Business Consultants

This report provides a detailed analysis of a strategic information system, focusing on a case study of 2020 Global Business Consultants. It begins with an overview of the company's functional organizational structure and the operational challenges associated with it. The report then explores the most suitable system acquisition method, specifically ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and presents a flowchart of the sales procedures. Furthermore, it identifies control problems encountered by small business enterprises and discusses the development and adoption of accounting software packages, including an analysis of the current market size and the competitive advantages of market leaders like Xero, Intuit Quickbooks, and Myob. The report concludes by examining the challenges faced by users of these accounting software packages, offering a comprehensive overview of the strategic information system and its implications for the business.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Strategic Information System
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The report gives discuss about an organization that uses the account software packages. There is
brief overview of the current organizational structure and the operational problems that the
company faces following such a structure. The report also discusses about the most likely system
acquisition method. There is a description and presentation of a flowchart of the sales procedures
chosen for the company. Further, there is discussion on about the identification of the control
problems faced by the minor business enterprises. There is discussion on the development and
adoption of the accounting software packages and the current market size. Further, the report
discusses about the identification of the market leaders and the discussions about their
competitive edge. The challenges faced by the users or customers of the software packages
discussed in the report.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
PART 1............................................................................................................................................4
1. Current Organizational Structure.............................................................................................4
2. Operational Problems Faced by the Organization...................................................................5
3. Most Likely System Acquisition Method Used.......................................................................5
4. Description and Preparation a system Flowchart Sales...........................................................6
5. Identification of Control Problems in the System...................................................................7
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
1. Development and Adoption of Accounting Software Packages..............................................9
2. Current Market Size...............................................................................................................10
3. Leaders in the Market and Their Competitive Advantage.....................................................11
4. Challenges Encountered By Users or Customers of Accounting Software Packages...........12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References:....................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction:
The report gives a brief overview of an organization that makes use of account software
packages. Here the company chosen is 2020 Global Business Consultants. The report gives a
brief overview of the current organizational structure and the operational problems that it faces
following such a structure. Then there is discussion about the most likely system acquisition
method. The report further describes and presents a flowchart of the sales procedures chosen for
the company. Further, there is discussion about the identification of the control problems faced
by the minor business enterprises. There is discussion on the development and adoption of the
accounting software packages and the current market size. The report also helps in identification
of the market leaders and the discussions about their competitive edge. The report also discusses
the challenges faced by the users or customers of the software packages.
PART 1
1. Current Organizational Structure
Small and medium sized business enterprises usually make use of accounting software
packages. Here the company chosen is 2020 Global Business Consultants. The organizational
structure is important for any company as it enables the creation of hierarchy in business for the
increase in effectiveness and efficiency of business operations (Coyte, Ricceri and Guthrie
2012). The company chosen here follows a functional organizational structure where the
hierarchy of the organization designed based on the employee’s job role. In this structure, the
employees grouped together towards a common goal. This particular structure has more focus on

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its employees. For instance, in this structure all the marketing employees belong to the same
group.
2. Operational Problems Faced by the Organization
There are certain operational problems that crops up with the functional organizational
structures. Due to the hierarchical nature of this structure, there are certain bottlenecks that the
company faces (Brammer, Hoejmose and Marchant 2012). Then there is the problem of holding
a particular employee responsible when several employees have made inputs for a task. The
scenario becomes crucial when decisions are made or when there is a mistake. In this particular
organizational structure, nobody claims responsibility for the task and with the involvement of
various specialists; it becomes difficult to pin the blame on any particular individual. This
structure of the organization also leads to poor communication across organization thereby
decreasing innovation and flexibility. The organization with functional areas also faces
challenges in terms of employees who have a tendency to undertake unique viewpoints in case of
organizational matters (Verbano and Venturini 2013).
3. Most Likely System Acquisition Method Used — Commercial Software, Custom
Software, or ERP
The most likely system acquisition method is the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).
ERP is a real time integrated management of business processes including production planning,
manufacturing, marketing, management of materials and management of inventory supported by
technology and software (Coyte, Ricceri and Guthrie 2012). Thus, ERP used for category of
business management software that an organization uses for collection, storing, interpretation
and management of data. With ERP, the organization can get an updated view of its business

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process by the use of common databases maintained through database management system. The
resources of the business along with its status and orders can be also be tracked by ERP (Asl et.al
2013). Moreover, ERP also enables flow of information among all functions of the business and
helps in managing connections to stakeholders outside the company.
4. Description and Preparation a system Flowchart Sales
The company chosen here is 2020 Global Business Consultants who mainly focus on
providing accounting service and audit services (Wei and Wei 2013). The company asks
identifies business needs and ensures services in a manner that leads to the improvement of the
operations of the organization.
The 2020 Global Business Consultants is expert at asking the right questions and
efficiently and effectively identifying business needs to add value and improve an organization’s
operations (Gross 2012). The company offers assurance service, compliance audits, feasibility
assessment, external auditing, financial modeling and analysis, probity audits, information
system audit, risk assessment, annual preparation of reports, bookkeeping, business mentoring
and coaching, business planning and preparation of tender documents (De Simone, Ege and
Stomberg 2014).

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Figure: Cycle of Accounting
Source:( De, Ege and Stomberg 2014)
5. Identification of Control Problems in the System
There are many challenges or control problems that any service industry faces. These are
as follows:
Knowing the Customer Type:
The company in the service sector like 2020 Global Business Consultants may have to
deal with different customers for the same service. However, the customer categorized as the
user, the buyer, or the one who provides the fund ( Hatten 2015). The same service can be

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availed by different people with different benefits and needs. Therefore, it is very challenging the
service providers to understand the need of the people, develop relationships with and thereby
manage everything effectively.
Clearly Identifying the Service:
People might have differing views about the services provided by a company. This is
because a particular customer may have a single benefit in mind while others might hold very
different perspective (Blackburn, Hart and Wainwright 2013). This changes the perception of the
service provided by the company amongst people. Thus, there must be clarification of the
services provided to the people through proper communication and articulation.
Outcome and Experience Management:
One of the primary challenges of the service company lies in the fact that they cannot
draw a thin line between the how and what of the customer interface (Kerzner 2013). Thus,
simultaneous management of the experience and outcome becomes quite a challenging task for
service providers.
Customer Management:
The company providing service must ensure proper management of the customers by
ensuring that the service made to serve them individually.
Real-time Service:
Some of the real time service provided by the company does not follow a delay or
cancellation procedure. Moreover, real time services do not have a rewind button (Sekaran and

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Bougie 2016.). Thus, creating an appropriate culture and management of capacity are the key
challenges faced.
Issues Related to Co-ordination:
The small enterprise that focuses on providing service like 2020 Global Business
Consultants are not only demanding but looks for integration in people, resource and marketing
management. Co-ordination of the various parts of the organization to ensure quality service and
meet the customer needs is the utmost priority of such company.
Operation Decision and Business Success Relationship:
Initiating the right decisions that will lead to the success of the business has been a major
challenge for the service company. Business success however refers to entering new markets,
making profits, attracting new customers and reduction of cost. Therefore, it is very necessary to
understand the correlation between the factors and their impact on the company (Longenecker
2013).
Operation Improvement:
The small service enterprise continuously faces the challenges for improving and
developing the services and thereby ensures that outcome is supportive of the change initiated.
The major challenge faced in the area is the enhanced complexity that crops up because of the
change.
PART 2
1. Development and Adoption of Accounting Software Packages

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Accounting Software refers to a kind of application software that processes and records
transactions related to accounting within the modules that are functional that includes accounts
receivable, accounts payable, payroll, trial balance and gender ledger. Thus, it functions as an
information system for accounting. There are various companies in Australia that develops such
software. These include Myob, Quickbooks online, Reckon and Xero (Hu 2012). Small
business enterprises make use of such accounting software. Thus an account management
software platform can lead to the transformation of the business through acceptance of payments
and other point of sale reports, provide dashboard for business performance, tax reporting and
monitor payroll. The software also helps in claiming expense, purchase, and quote orders. The
cost of the account management software however depends on the platform that a company
chooses. Sometimes, the account management software is subscription based. However, the
importance of the Account Management Software packages felt largely by small businesses. In a
survey conducted, found that about 81% respondents said that this software was crucial to their
business while 87% said that the availability of the software simplified business operations.
However, a statistics close to 60% said that accounting software ensured business growth.
2. Current Market Size
The introduction of the GST (goods and service tax) have forced many small business to
make use of accounting software packages who previously were happy using paper based
systems of accounting. Although small businesses still feel that keeping track of things on paper
makes a difference however, the introduction of the software packages makes a significant
contribution. Moreover, shifting to a computer-based system meant that extraction of numbers
also became an easier task. There has been pressure from the government on the small-scale

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businesses to change into computerized systems. The change made to enable the small business
to closely keep a track of the operations and thereby lead to an improvement in the performance.
Thus, with time the demand for the accounting software packages is increasing for small
businesses. Initially, in Australia there were just two players responsible for accounting software
development (Brailsford Gaunt and O’Brien 2012). These players were Quickbooks and Myob.
Presently, these two players have many competitors. The providers are responsible for services
like offline and online bookkeeping for traders. The accounting software packages also enabled
preparation of activity statements for small business.
3. Leaders in the Market and Their Competitive Advantage
There are three platforms for accounting provided by Xero, Intuit Quickbooks and Myob (Carson
et.al 2012)
Xero
This is the most straightforward accounting software platform with a starting price of
about 25 dollar per month. Therefore, the platform allows making five quotes, invoices, bills
along with twenty bank transactions and single employee payroll. There are other plans available
in the range of 50 and 60 dollars. Free versions of this accounting software are also available and
it ranks highest in terms of customer satisfaction. This provides a competitive edge for Xero.
Intuit Quickbooks
They provide one of the cheap plans of accounting software that ranges from $15 per
month to $25 dollar per month. Through the accounting software developed by Quickbooks one
can not only create customized reports but also invoices and connect it with the mobile

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application. There are huge discounts provided by the software provider and thus they do pinch
the customer pockets. Thus, they create an overall satisfaction among customers that gives them
a competitive edge.
Myob
This accounting software developer has huge number of plans on offer that is good for
the business but is a bit confusing for the customers. They have four categories for their small
business plans that include essentials, account edge and account right, account right tiers and
plans for essentials. There a free application known as “on the go” that is a part of the Account
Right and Essential plan. The features that the software platform offers gives are the reason
behind its preference.
4. Challenges Encountered By Users or Customers of Accounting Software Packages
There are many challenges faced by the user or consumers of the accounting software
packages. These challenges are as follows:
Cost Consideration:
Although the accounting software comes in reasonable prices for the small business but
the applying the software involves cost that is more than using it. This is because the software
requires minimum standards for use of computers in regards to processor, RAM, hard drive
memory and speed. Moreover, the space requirement for storing the accounts data may be more
than an excel sheet. Thus,, the technical support for the software may lead to the extra cost which
the small companies may not be able to afford.