Strategic Information System Report: Apple Inc. Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of the strategic information system implemented by Apple Inc. It begins with an introduction to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and their importance in a competitive business environment. The report then examines Apple's business processes, highlighting the need for an ERP system to improve efficiency. It outlines the business and system requirements for implementing such a system, including financial accounting, material management, production management, and customer service. The report further discusses software and vendor selection, emphasizing the importance of choosing the right tools for the organization. It explores how Apple utilizes ERP software, the level of efficiency achieved through technology implementation, potential security risks, and strategies for risk mitigation. The report concludes by emphasizing the necessity of ERP systems for maintaining competitiveness in the current business landscape.

Running Head: Strategic Information System
Strategic Information System
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
Business processes......................................................................................................................................1
Requirements of business...........................................................................................................................3
Requirements of System.............................................................................................................................4
Software and vendor selection....................................................................................................................5
Ways in which Apple uses ERP software......................................................................................................7
Level of efficiency of the technology implementation.................................................................................8
Potential security risks, data breaches........................................................................................................9
Mitigation of risks......................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Enterprise resource planning refers to the software that helps business to gain efficiency in their
business process. ERP stands for enterprise resource planning system that helps an organization
to automate their system in such a way that they gain advantage in the competitive environment.
In a competitive environment, it is difficult for an organization to sustain their activities by using
an ordinary business process. So, this process will help the manufacturing company in initiating
the activities successfully in the target market (Ahmad, and Cuenca 2013).
Further, the below mentioned report provides a brief information about the business process of
the company, requirements of the business to adopt the software along with the requirement of
the system to make use of this software in the organization. Furthermore, it also explains the
selection of vendor and software for the Apple Inc. and the ways that explains that the company
has successfully implemented this system in their process to increase the overall efficiency of the
organization. The latter part of the report explains the level of efficiency of technology
implementation, potential risks connected with the activities of the manufacturing company
using the software and the mitigations to resolve these risks. It should be noted that in the current
era, it has become the needs of the companies to make use of the ERP/ AIS software in the
business operations so as to maintain their competence in the target market. As this system will
adequately help the company in collaborating activities and completing them properly. More
details about the report are discussed below:
Business processes
Business process of all organizations varies according to the industry and the motive of each
organization to represent them in the target market. Apple Inc. is regarded as one of the most
prominent company in the IT industry of Australia that manufactures consumer electronic goods
worldwide. Most famous products of the company are iPhone, iPad, MacBook etc. It should be
noted that the company has maintained a reputable position in the market that helps in initiating
sales repeatedly. However, it should be noted that in order to manage a large scale organization,
the company needs to have an efficient process in use, but the company earlier used an orthodox
business process management to initiate their operations in the market (Alavi, and Yoo 2015).

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Further, the below mentioned is the physical business process of the manufacturing organization
Apple.
 Initially order is received by the company on the manual basis for which entry is made in
the physical books of accounts by the employees of the company.
 Afterwards, the details of the transaction are recorded (cash or credit). After acquiring
knowledge about the transaction, the employees then focus on looking for the balance in
inventory and the available stock present with the organization.

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After then, all the materials are prepared, packed and shipped by the employees of the
organization. The employees themselves record the transactions of purchase and sales of the
organization (Ali, and Miller 2017).
Further, it should be noted that these activities initiated of the organization were good till the
time the ERP/ AIS system were not introduced in the environment. Now, the physical business
process creates errors and issues for the organization in the external environment.
Requirements of business
Evaluation of the requirements of the business with respect to the need of the ERP system in the
organization so as to make the employees perform functions in an effective manner, it should be
noted that the company needs to adequately open up to the innovative technology in the
environment. The process has been now being used by most of the manufacturing organization
present in the environment as it deviate the problems and brigs success for the organizations Al-
Mashari, and Al-Mosheleh 2015).
Further, it should be noted that from the above mentioned process flowchart it can be easily
evaluated that the company has many drawbacks in its process. The employees of the company
perform all the functions of the manufacturing and operations process manually. This has
become a burden for the employees that results in decrease in the level of efficiency. Apart from
that, the company has hired some of the employees for repeated work like recording of the
inventory present at the warehouse, this aspect results in paying heavy costs to the organization.
Also the above mentioned system flow chart does not provides or increases the efficiency level
of the different activities of the organization. As the company is present in the Information
Technology industry, thus it is important for Apple Inc. to maintain their image by initiating such
activities and efficiently innovate the manufacturing activities as well (Jinno, Abe, and Iizuka
2017).
The major requirement of the business process of the company is to reduce its costs and increase
the sales of the company. The traditional business process of the company cannot provide them
greater level of satisfaction as there is presence of many errors in the system and the process is
very complex as well. Thus, it is the business requirement to make use of ERP system to achieve

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success in the target market. As the organization is vast and diversified in nature, so it should be
noted that the manufacturing functions of the company are spread in different parts of the world.
Thus, in order to manage all these activities, operate effectively, plan, develop, the company
require one database. Use of single database will effectively help the company in organizing
activities and achieving success in the market (Kulkarni, et. al., 2015).
Requirements of System
It is not easy for the organization to implement the ERP system software in the business as it
requires understanding, communication, efforts by all the employees of the organization. The
system that is to be implemented in the organization requires many aspects from the organization
as well. Thus, the system requirements from the company are discussed below:
Financial & Accounting: This aspect is one of the major requirements of the enterprise resource
planning system as it is the only process that requires being used and implemented in the
organization on a daily basis. Further, is there is presence in any error in the financial accounting
of the company then it can directly affect to the image of the company in the external
environment. With the help of this system, the organization can easily convert complex
transactions into simpler ones. Also, the employees need not to record the repeated transactions
on a daily basis as the system can easily add it on itself (Manthou, Stefanou, and Tigka 2015).
Material Management: With the help of the enterprise resource planning system, the
organization can effectively manage the inventory in the organization. Inventory control and
management is considered as one of the biggest task for the manufacturing unit as it requires the
employees to calculate and record the stock. If any mistake occurs then the employees are liable
to pay for it. Thus, in order to perform all the functions effectively without making any mistake,
company should use this system. Further, it should be noted that it is the requirement of the
system to gain access of all the materialistic data about the company and store it into the cloud
(Silver 2017).
Production Management: While looking at the manufacturing aspect of the Apple Inc., it was
noted that the company needs an adequate procedure with the help of which the management can
function their activities in the external market according to the current demand. The ERP system

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of the company induces many steps that are important in the eyes of the organization as it helps
them in fulfilling the organizational goals effectively. This aspect will help the company to
manage the production and manufacturing activity by effectively collaborating all the functions
and acquiring the inventory requirement as well. This process will adequately place the right
amount of products in the market according to the demand and supply (Sudhaman, and
Thangavel 2015).
Customer Service Management: This part of the process explains that the system used in the
company requires managing the services that are directly related to the satisfaction level of the
customers. The system should involve the post-sale services so as to increase the satisfaction
level of the customers (Wease, et. al., 2018).
Lastly, it should be noted that the system that is to be applied in the activities of Apple Inc. also
requires various functions to be performed by the management of the company. The system
requires the management to co-operate with new operations of the organization, the management
should not resist to such changes present in the environment of the company instead they should
welcome it with a positive approach in mind. Another requirement is that the management
should start using thus process in their system once all the issues are solved because if the
company introduces the process in the organization while there are issues in the system, then the
ERP system would get close to fail (Sarno, Djeni, Mukhlash, And Sunaryono 2015).
Software and vendor selection
Selection of software and vendor selection is very crucial aspect for the organization. The
working of the organization is based on the process that they use in their business, so
implementation of new ERP system will totally help them in turning the face of organization and
inducing innovative activities in the business. It is the most important job for any organization to
recognize the correct software and the right vendor for the organization. The right type of
software will help the company to grow extensively in the market and selection of right type of
vendor will help the company to attain proper after sale services as well. The selection of ERP
software is a crucial decision as it requires huge investments and expensive automation decision
for the company as well (Tarhini, Ammar, and Tarhini 2015). Thus, it should be noted that a
wrong decision in this case can attract huge penalties for the organization. Further, in order to

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implement adequate software the company needs to initially analyze the internal capabilities and
then look for the external features that can affect the installation of the ERP software in Apple
Inc. (Tasevska, Damij, and Damij 2014).
In the process of selecting the adequate software and vendor, the company needs to look after the
requirements of their business, the management needs to identify the flaws in the business that
are currently hampering their growth in the external environment. Apple being present in IT
industry needs to use software that represents their significant activities in the target market.
Apart from that, the company also needs adequate software that implements the operational
activities effectively. The selected software should collective organization all the manufacturing
and operational activities in such a way that the activities of the business centralized and
decentralized at the same time (Yeh, and Xu 2013). Also, when it comes to using the software
many processes fails because they are not aligned to the interest of the organization, so the
company should test all the options available on prior basis in order to implement the software in
the business. The company should use the software that can easily optimized by the employees in
the business process because if the management adopt a software that uses high technological
application and the organization is unable to perform simple functions on time, then software is
of no use for the organization (Laudon, and Laudon 2016).

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Source: (https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/03/30/apple-sap-launch-enterprise-oriented-cloud-
platform-sdk-for-ios)
The process should eliminate the complexity of work for the employees and it should deliver its
best use to the company so that organizational objective is easily achieved. Apart from the
software, the vendor’s with which the company wants to buy the software also requires equal
importance. The company not only buy the software with the vendor but they also undertake a
contract with the vendor of software. As the organization would not use the software for just one
time but they will use this process for a long term, also the cloud based software requires the
assistance of vendor in the environment (Mittelstädt, Brauner, Blum, and Ziefle 2015). So, if the
organization purchases software from the vendor that does not provide good after sale services,
then even after attaining a good product the company would not be able to gain adequate
satisfaction from the product. The vendor with which, the company Apple would form alliance
should be a reliable organization that can adequately satisfy their requirements (Harmon 2014).
Further, other aspects that the organization should consider while purchasing the software from
the vendor are discussed below:
 After-sale services: The vendor with whom the company organizes the company should
provide efficient after sale services to them. This will increase the satisfaction level of the
organization and help them to effectively co-ordinate the software in the organization as
well. Also, the contract should have flexible that can be easily complied by both the
parties. The contract should also provide the terms of non-compliance of the cases.
 Certified company: The vendor with which the organization Apple should come into
contract should be a verified vendor. The vendor should be reliable and should also
provide expected services to the company in increase their satisfaction (Banerjee 2018).
 Fix then automate: Before selecting a vendor and software, the organization should
initially fix the issues present in the system that many arise while using the software.
While testing the software, the organization might various face various challenges, so the
management should initially fix them and then use the software in the organization.
The company Apple uses SAP software to organize the activities in their business. This process
effectively helps the organization in corporate accounting that decreases the stress of the
employees in the organization. Further, it should be noted that there are various vendors present

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in the market but the company selected SAP organization to provide the software related services
to the organization (Ake, et. al., 2016).
Ways in which Apple uses ERP software
There are many ways with which the company used the software SAP to increase its profits in
the market and gain appreciation as well. Further three of these ways are discussed below:
 Creating security for organization: This services software is used by organization to
increase the security for the organization. The company started storing all the information
in the cloud based software that decreased their threat of misplacing any price sensitive
information. The process introduced various security tools that enhanced the business
functions as well. The management used this software to store the information and
actively record the transactions. With the help of this process, the management only
displayed the personal and price sensitive information to the people who were authorized
by the organization. The process the level of security in the organization. Leakage of one
information can impact the image of the company in the external market, so the
organization stores such information at places that can be accessed only few people (Dhar
2018). Also, it should be noted that the digitalization of this work reduced the number of
people to whom the information is to be shared that increased the privacy for the
company.
SAP System Review

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Source: (https://www.softwareadvice.com/erp/sap-software-brand/)
 Employee Productivity: It is one of the most crucial work for the business, the
management of the organization needs to satisfy the employees so as to increase the
efficiency of the organization in the external environment. Before introduction of SAP,
the company used to induce the employees in regular periodical work, the employees
used to manually record all the transactions in the books of accounts. But, this system
eliminated the duplicacy of work and increased its accuracy as well. Thus, it should be
noted that with the help of utilizing SAP, the employees reduced their workload with the
help of this software (Kapp, Latham, and Ford-Latham 2016).
 Method of integration: The Company used the ERP software to integrate effective
communication in the organization. The company increased informal communication by
integrating various functions and centralizing various activities under one service system.
With the help of this process, all the employees started using the software, now when all
the employees worked on one software; it integrated various functions and eliminated the
repetition of work as well. Also, the company effectively used the chain management
program with the help of this process. The software connected a chai with the employees

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along with the suppliers that helped them in knowing various activities of these people
(Marian 2017).
Level of efficiency of the technology implementation
The level of efficiency achieved by the use of enterprise resource planning system in the
organization can be determined by comparing the growth effectiveness and profitability of the
organization with the past year data of the company. The level of effectiveness and efficiency in
the organization rose with the use of ERP system in the organization by 25%. Before the
implementation of this process, the employees were unable to achieve the expected margin of
25% of excellence in the company. But later with the introduction of this process, the company
attained innovative measures to level up the effectiveness of the organization. Further, post
implementation of this process, the strength of the organization doubled in the environment.
With the introduction of enterprise resource planning, the company induced innovation in their
internal process that helped them to use their resource and capabilities effectively. Resulting to
which, the organization gained success in the target market. With the increasing level of
satisfaction for the employees in the organization, the satisfaction of customers gradually
increased that increased the market share of company in the external market (DeStefano, De
Backer, and Moussiegt 2017).
Further, it should be noted that the chances of errors for the organization also reduced. With the
use of SAP enterprise resource planning system, the company increased the digital corporate
accounting process. This process resulted in increased accuracy of the accounts of the company.
Potential security risks, data breaches
There are many risks that are connected with the process of use and adoption of ERP system in
the organization. Further, these risks are discussed below:
 Selection of inadequate software: This is the biggest issue connected with the activities
of the organization. As it is noted that the process of ERP system in the organization
requires the company to change many aspect and openly welcome this process. So, in
order to adequately install this process in the organization, the company needs to