Unit 4 - Impact of the Use of IT on Business Systems
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
Both the sales manager and the marketing manager are relatives of the owner and are unfamiliar with the power of IT. Marketing is still carried out by leaflet drops and adverts in the paper, while sales staff travel long distances, knocking on doors to drum up business.
Your final proposal will b...
unit 4 impact of the use of it on business systems
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
Information Technology 2010 QCF
Unit 4 - Impact of the Use of IT on Business Systems
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Problems with current systems
There are numerous different problems with the current system that Full of Beans are using. One of
the main ones is that the current computers that they are using a slow and out of date. This has a
huge impact on the staff as they are having to wait for the computers to catch up when they could
be working. This is having a negative impact on staff productivity and is annoying for employees
making their work much less enjoyable. On top of this the machines are also unreliable so, at any
moment could blue screen, or completely freeze up. This is a huge problem for staff as they have to
constantly worry about losing sections of their work and will constantly be preoccupied with trying
to remember to keep saving their work
On top of these problems the company have no online presence. At this time having an online store
that customers can buy from is essential due to the fact that many customers will exclusively shop
online for reasons like, there is more choice, or they don’t have enough time. Having no online store
is a huge problem as you will lose a huge amount of business due to the fact that you are not online.
These are relatively few downsides as well to having an online store, as these is a much lower cost to
running than there would be with a brick and mortar store.
Currently the accounting buying systems and, sales systems are not linked in any way. This is a huge
issue as these departments need to work in conjunction with each other. Otherwise, the buying
department will not have the information about the lack of funds and may cause damage to the
business by buying more items. This is even more of a problem as they would not have information
from sales either and, it may be that the items they have bought are not selling well. This could
result in a huge loss of money for the company due to a lack of communication. This communication
would allow for smarter purchases relating to the sales information and the current state of the
company funds.
Due to the fact that the production department use a paper based system, there is a huge
disconnect in the system over departments. This is huge problem as the rest of the company will
have no idea what the production department are doing unless, someone is entering all of the
information into the computer from the paper files. This could result in problems like for example,
the customer service department not knowing whose orders have been fulfilled. This could cascade
into customers coming to pick up an item that is not finished, or not knowing something has been
finished for a while. This would also impact other departments as as sales might not know that a sale
had taken place, and accounts wouldn’t know that there was more money than they thought due to
transactions going through.
All of these problems give the company a disadvantage when it comes to competing with other
business due to the fact that you will as a whole be slower and much less efficient than other
businesses. This coupled with the fact that there is no online presence puts the company at a huge
disadvantage as most people don’t want to wait huge lengths of time before getting the product that
they wanted. Especially seeing as they have to come and collect it as opposed to having it delivered.
,This all contributes to the communication problem that the company has between departments.
This is causing huge delays in internal communication. For example as sales cannot see the data
from the accounting department, they will have to call and ask someone to tell them about it. This
takes time out of the day that the two member’s staff could be working as opposed to relaying
information to each other. This is prone to error too as the more people the information goes
through the more it changes from its original form. In the end these delays will impact customers,
and will not provide them with a good experience, causing them to likely go somewhere else. This
might not even be due to a poor product however, the service that is provided is just as important.
Overall due to all of these problems the company has poor efficiency. If their communication was
better there would be less margin for error, less wasted time and in the endless delays. If the other
problems that exist currently where also fixed that would be a huge benefit to the company.
Proposal – Website
Proposal
The new system that I propose will fix most of the problems the business currently have. The most
influential and impactful change will be the addition of an online store for the company. This will
bring in a lot more costumers for the business, and will help them expand their reach to areas that
are not as local to their store. It will also allow them to focus more on the digital marketplace, this
means they could downsize their highstreets show saving their money, or they could just have a
small showroom instead of a large shop. This also has another large benefit, as it helps put them on
a level playing field with competition. Previously they would have been largely behind the
competition due to their lack of an online presence. Creating an online store will allow them to tap
into another part of the market and keep competitive with other companies offering the same
service.
Justification
It is important that Full of Beans have an online presence due to the fact that almost every single
business has one now. This means that Full of Beans are allowing their competitors to have a section
of the market free. There is a lot of money to be had in online trading due to the low costs and high
pay-out as costumers will pay the same price as they would in the store. This is also an excellent way
to expand your business as people that have not seen your store before may hear you and then
purchase one of your products. On top of this, there is not much work required from the company to
manage the online operation as well as the store. This makes it well worth investing money in as the
pay off period will be relatively short. Especially if the business invest more money into advertising
online too. This can help build the providence of the company of the company as well as the
customer base allowing them to slowly expand and potentially become an international company
through growth as opposed to a large start up investment.
Impact on the staff
, Having an online presence will not have a huge impact on employees due to the fact that it will
interact similarly to how their current sales system works. It may result in potential sales
redundancies down the line due to the fact that there may be less of a need to have a physical store
with the digital one depending on how well the online store does. There may also need to some staff
trained on how to maintain the site. For example, adding discounts to certain items, making sure the
items are in stock. There will also need to do some training for some departments due to the fact
that there will have to be another system for them to interact with. For example, the customer
service department will have to have training in how to use software to help remedy online issues
for examples, customers emailing problems instead of phoning. They also have to train production
staff as there will have to be a way of showing the online orders that have been placed to them so
they can make the products.
Proposal – New computer system
Proposal
There will also be a new system put into place to handle everything. This will connect all of the
departments information together making it easier for sales, buying and accounts departments to
share information with one other. It will also create a much improved work environment for
employees. This will prevent them from having to look for information as it will be much easier to
access. This system will also include the production department so they will no longer be using a
paper based system. This will help make sure that all the company is working together in conjunction
with one another. This will hugely increase efficiency as it will be much easier for employees to find
what they are looking for, this in turn will free up time for their other tasks that need to be done by
employees. This will help to make sure that products are produced faster for costumers, and the
service provided is better, and less delayed.
Justification
I have decided to replace the paper system that Full of beans are using because, it is very outdated.
It is slowing down the staff due to the fact that, they need to file physical documents and if
information ever needs to be retrieved, it will take a lot of efforts to find. This is another thing on top
of employees’ normal duties that is preventing them from getting on with other more important
work. The system is Causing delays by making it difficult for department to access information that
they need, and is eating into the time that staff have available to them. Moving to a digital system
will allow for much easier searching you can use filters to remove any information you do not want
to see and can narrow down the search results to a more sensible amount very quickly, allowing for
the staff to quickly find what they are looking for. This will reduce the delays there are for
information transfer and increase efficiency. It will also integrate all of the departments together.
This means information can be shared so is easily accessible for multiple departments. This is a huge
boon for the accounts, sales, and buying departments as they need to share information to make
educated decisions. Before they would have to either visit each other to collect valuable information
or, file it more than once in different locations. Having one system accessible by everyone will allow
for much easier data transfer between departments.
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