The Role of IT in TESCO's Retail Business: An In-Depth Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of information technology (IT) within TESCO, a major player in the retail industry. It explores the crucial role IT plays in TESCO's success, including customer database management, maintaining transparency, and store management. The report delves into ethical and social issues such as discrimination, harassment, and data privacy that TESCO faces. It identifies and differentiates between various networking technologies like WLAN, PAN, and SAN, and highlights the importance of the intranet and internet for TESCO's operations. The report also examines the different stages of the system development life cycle and analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of IT investment for the company. Ultimately, this report aims to understand the effectiveness of IT within TESCO and its impact on the business.

Introduction to
Information
Technology
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Abstract
Information technology is now using by each and every company around the world
because through it they able to gain numbers of advantages in effective manner. Tesco is
conducting its business at the retail industry which is fastest growing sector, they also adopt
information technology for conducting their business operations. While conducting operation IT
plays major role in respective company as it help in database management, maintaining
transparency and tracking and so on. But there are some ethical and social issues which are faced
by company while implementing IT at their workplace as well as there are several networking
technologies which they may adopt such as PAN, SAN, WLAN and so on. While this respective
company also need to conduct several analysis such as determining importance of internet and
intranet as well as they for implementing IT they adopt system development life cycle.
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Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................4
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business.....................................................................................4
Ethical and social issues that pertain to running businesses.....................................................................5
Identify and differentiate between different types of networking technologies.......................................6
Importance of Intranet and Internet in your business...............................................................................7
Different stage of system development life cycle....................................................................................9
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................10
Determine benefits and drawbacks for a company for investing on information technology.................10
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES............................................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Information technology is considered as usage of advance technology computer system
for doing storing, retrieving, manipulating data or information and transmitting information
according to the organization requirement. Using advance technology will also help in growing
business and conducting operations properly as well as effectively (Crews and Butterfield, 2020).
Organization selected for the report is TESCO which is operating in the retail industry at the
worldwide level. It is founded by Jack Cohen in year 1919 as well as its head office is located at
the England, United Kingdom. By using advance information technology respective company
able to conduct their business operations and functions in effective manner. The main aim of
developing this report is to understand effectiveness of IT at TESCO. Topics explained in report
are role of IT, impact of IT on successor or failure of business, ethical and social barriers faced
by business and different types of networking technology. Moreover it will also include
importance of intranet as well as internet; stages of system development life cycle as well as it
will also include benefits and drawbacks of investing in IT.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business
Information technology is considered as methods or tools which are generally used by all
companies for conducting their business operations and functions in effective manner. For all
organization it is necessary to determine every aspects of information technology as that will
help in determining where it will leads to succession or failure of business. In respect of TESCO,
they are conducting their business at the retail industry and by adopting advance information
technology they able to boost their business at the potential marketplace (David, Judd and
Zambuto, 2020). There are several benefits of information technology which leads to the
succession of business, from which some main role of It is given which show it help in
succession of TESCO:-
 Help in customer database management – In order to conduct customer database
management information technology plays a major role in the retail industry as it help in
collecting as well as maintaining database of customer in proper secure manner. In
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addition to this, in respect of TESCO, by adopting information technology they able to
gather, maintain as well as sift mass data base in proper ways as well as it will also aid
them in converting database in the useful customer centric sector in effective ways.
 Maintain transparency and tracking – By implementing advance as well as modern
information technology a company able to track information and it also help in
marinating transparency within the workplace (Goncharova, 2020). In respect of TESCO,
by adopting effective advance information technology they able to track their products
according to the demand as well as at the warehouse and at store. In addition to this,
respective company also able to maintain transparency at the workplace so that every
employees will feel equal and effective.
 Management of store – Implementation of effective information technology help in
managing business operations and functions in effective manner as well as it will also in
determining requirement in effective manner. In context of TESCO they are operating in
the retail sector, so by implementing information technology they able to manage store
properly as well as it will also help in determining which product is not available in store
so that they can accordingly rearrange products from the warehouse.
These are some of the main benefits TESCO gain by implementing information
technology at the workplace as it will also help in succession of business effectively. Moreover it
will also help in forecasting demand as well as sales of products at the different locations stores
as well as it also helps in retaining business successfully.
Ethical and social issues that pertain to running businesses
At an organization staffs experience numbers of ethical as well as social issues that
straightforwardly influence their performance and outcome. Ethical issues are considered as
circumstance, decision, action, or situation which makes conflict in regard to society's good or
standards (Hasibuan, 2020). In addition to this, firms or people may include in the event that they
put the inquiry from an ethical perspective. Then again social issues are characterized as a
difficult that impacts numerous individuals in the public eye. These issues have a few
classifications like depth as well as light such as health problems, pollution, discrimination, and
many more. In respect of TESCO they are operating in the retail sector and they have numbers of
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employees with them, they also go through some ethical as well as social issues, from which
some are mentioned below:-
 Discrimination and harassment – It is one of the most common ethical as well as social
issues which are faced by every employees at their workplace, it is generally takeplace
because one member have power to another. These issues impact on employee’s mental
as well as physical health and it will affect their career negatively. Respective issues can
be take place because of difference in gender, colour, age, income, status, position, power
and so on (Kerr, Troth and Pickering, 2020). In respect of TESCO, when discrimination
and harassment take place it directly affect on their performance as they feel demotivated.
So it is necessary for respective company management to take proper step over it and for
that they can develop rules, regulation and policy as well as they also need to ensure that
everyone follow it.
 Staff data or privacy – This is another major ethical and social issues which takes place at
the workplace because management not able to ensure that their employees personal as
well as private information are safe. In this situation hacker hack information of
employees or clients and they further sale it to competitive companies or use it for the
illegal activities. In respect of TESCO also faced respective social and ethical issues
according to which their employees, clients and customers personal as well as private
information get stolen for the illegal activities. In respect of this it is essential for
companies to use advance technology or software so that they can secure their employees
as well as customers information properly.
These are some of the main ethical as well as social issues that are faced by TESCO
while operating their business at the potential marketplace. So it is essential for their
management to take proper steps and develop strategies so that they can minimize these issues
successfully.
Identify and differentiate between different types of networking technologies
Networking technology takes into consideration the trading of information among large
as well as small data system utilized essentially by organizations and instructive institutions. It is
also used to exchange of information, statistics and data from one location to another (Koong,
Liu and Liu, 2020). In respect to implementing networking technology at workplace companies
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connect its systems through several resources such as wireless. Satellites, communication, cable
and so on. Through this interaction can be done in several ways such as voice call, video call,
texting, and many others. In respect of TESCO, there are several networking technologies which
they adopt for conducting business operations and functions in effective and successful manner,
from which some are mentioned below:-
 Wireless local area network (WLAN) – It is a wireless distribution strategy for at least
two gadgets that utilization high-frequency radio waves as well as frequently
incorporates a passageway or access point to the Internet. A WLAN permits user to
move around the inclusion zone, regularly a home or little office, while keeping up a
system connection (Lloyd, 2020). In respect of TESCO, they use respective networking
technology for providing internet connectivity to employees so that they accomplish their
work properly. In addition to this, they can also provide internet connectivity to the
customers when they have no internet and they want to make payment online.
 Personal area network (PAN) – It is a computer network for interconnecting electronic
gadgets centred on a person’s workspace. A PAN gives information transmission among
gadgets, for example, personal computer, cell phones or smart phone, tablets, and
individual digital assistants. In context of TESCO, they are operating at the retail
industry, so they can adopt personal area network in provide to provide internet
connection to two or three employees of one team or cabin. This will help them in
getting high speed data which help them in accomplishment of work in effective manner.
 Storage area network (SAN) – It is a computer networking that gives access to solidified,
block level information storage. SANs are primarily used to get to capacity gadgets, for
example, disk arrays as well as tape libraries from servers so the device appear to the
working framework as immediate connected storage (Logan, 2020). In respect of
TESCO, they can use respective networking technology in order to store their data,
information or statistics in effective manner. This will help them in ensuring that all
information of clients, employees and customers are safe.
These are some of the main networking technology which TESCO can adopt at their
workplace so that they can conduct business operations and functions in effective manner.
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Importance of Intranet and Internet in your business
For each organization both intranet and internet considered as important as that plays
essential role as through it they ready to lead their business tasks just as capacities in an
increasingly successful way. An intranet is characterizing as a private system which is utilized to
create association inside the firm. This connection for the most part incorporates organizing
through at least one portal computer to internet network from outside. In addition to this, internet
is considered as a worldwide computer network that gives numbers of data as well as interaction
service through standardized protocols for the communication (Rosenthal, 2020). In regard of
TESCO they are conducting its retail business around the world, in their operations both internet
and intranet plays major role. Below benefits of internet and internet are given in respect of
respective company:-
Importance of Intranet-
 Through appropriate intranet employees or individuals of TESCO which is as retail store
able to share as well as access essential information, data, information, statistics, and
encounters in a viable way.
 Through intranet various properties and staffs can access or utilize beneficial information
or data that are related to products demand as well as supply in a successful manner at the
store.
 Through this employee of TESCO able to learn from one another by showing
accumulated data and access to centralized practices.
 Through this staffs get satisfied and motivated as that will leads to high staff involvement
as well as their will be effective sharing of information at the TESCO.
 Through intranet respective company employees able to share resources effectively
which leads to high customer’s satisfaction as they get want they want on the time.
Importance of Internet-
 By adopting internet TESCO able to conduct effective marketing of their products and
services at the worldwide which provide them various benefits such as increase
customer’s base, develop positive image in market, help in providing effective
information to sellers (Schaffarczyk, 2020).
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 Through internet respective company provide opportunity to customers that they can
shop their products through the internet which is known as online shopping.
 Through internet TESCO able to develop as well as maintain effective relationship with
the potential and targeted customers which help in increasing sales as well as profit.
 It will also provide opportunity to conduct their payment through online methods such as
PayPal, Google pay, credit card, debit cards and so on.
These are main benefits gain TESCO through adopting internet as well as intranet for
their business operations and functions.
Different stage of system development life cycle
System development life cycle is also called as the application development life cycle,
which is the technique of arranging, making, testing, and building up an information system that
helps a company in leading in conducting their business operations and functions (Schostak,
2020). The system improvement life cycle can be utilized for both hardware development as well
as software development. The respective life cycle incorporates five phases which are clarified
below in respect of TESCO:-
 Planning: This is an initial stage of system development life cycle in which company
will determine its requirement of new system, which can be hardware or software. In
respect of TESCO at the first they conduct workplace analysis and determine issues for
which they need to develop new hardware or software. In this phase there will be
involvement of manager, stakeholders, employees, investors and many more.
 Analysing: This is the second stage in which company need to conduct analysis or
evaluation of every factor related to the system development. In respect of respective
company their management wills so evaluation of every factor which is related to the
development of new system for the workplace. In this they will determine requirement of
resources, material, users need, risk and so on.
 Designing: Respective is the third phase of system development life cycle in which
company will start designing hardware or software according to their requirement so that
they can improve their work performance (Tuch, 2020). In respect of TESCO they will
hire experts or professional who will design their hardware or software according to their
requirement. This stage will take huge time as well as resources.
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 Implementation: The next stage is related to implementation of design which is
designed by professional or experts. In this management try to implement new system in
order to determine its effectiveness for the workplace. In respect of TESCO they will
implement new software or hardware system at the respective stage so that they can they
can determined that new developed system is working properly or not. It will also help in
determining where it is effective for company or not.
 Maintenance: This is the last phase of the system development life cycle at which
company will conduct maintenance activities according to the requirement. In respect of
TESCO at this stage they will conduct evaluation of new system so that they can conduct
changes according to the requirement (Turgunova and Turgunov, 2020). Moreover, at
this stage they will also develop strategy related to the maintenance of new developed
system.
These are the main stages of system development life cycle through that TESCO can
develop new system (hardware or software) according to their requirement.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Determine benefits and drawbacks for a company for investing on information technology
In current time almost each and every company is using information technology for
conducting their business operations at the marketplace. This is so because it will make their
work easy as well as effectively through which they can attain their desire goal successfully. On
the other hand it also has some limitation which impact on the decision of a company when they
are planning to invest on information technology services (Vieru, Vidolov and Westergren,
2020). Below some of the main benefits and drawbacks are given which TESCO will consider
while investing their funds on the information technology:-
Benefits gained by TESCO from investing in information technology-
 By adopting or investing in information technology respective company able to enhance
their communication at their workplace among the employee, stakeholders, customers,
clients and so on. In addition to this it will also help in satisfying members of stores so
that they perform effectively.
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 By investing in information technology TESCO management able to improvement its
process as they able to adopt new machines which make their work easier, effective as
well as help in conducting in less time.
 Investing in information technology also help in improving tracking system through
which respective company can know its products supply and demand at the stores of
different location. This will also help in refilling the store at the proper time so that
potential customers get required products on time successfully.
 Information technology also helps respective company management in conducting
effective data storage, file management system, data analysis systems and many more.
This will directly or indirectly help in decision making process.
Disadvantage faced by TECSO by investing in information technology-
 The first limitation which is faced by almost every company is that its implementation
cost because for adopting new information technology system TESCO need to conducts
several related practices (Watrous-deVersterre, 2020). That will include hiring of process,
conduct training of staffs, conduct testing and many more.
 Investing too much in the implementation of information technology will develop feeling
of job insecurity among the employees as they feel company will remove them after
sometime. This situation will directly impact on their working quality as well as
productivity.
 After implementing the information technology there is increase in additional expense
which is related to the maintenance of system on the regular basis.
These are some benefits as well as limitation faced by TESCO when they invest in the
information technology at the workplace.
CONCLUSION
By conducting analysis of above discussed points it can be conclude that in today’s time
it is essential for every company to adopt advance information technology as that will help in
conducting business operations and functions in effective manner. At a retail industry
information technology plays major several roles such as help in conducting operations properly,
adopt innovation, and improve productivity and so on. On the other hand while performing their
operations through IT they go through several issues and it is essential for retail business to
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overcome these issues properly. Moreover, there are several networking technologies which a
company may adopt for conducting operations such as Personal Area Network, Wireless Local
Area Network, Storage Area Network and many more. It is also essential for retail firm
management to determine which information technology is effective according to their
investment plans.
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