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What is the impact of ict on business
The impact of information technology on the business world
Impact of information communication technology on business
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A. Approach
The use of information technology by firms that want to gain competitive advantage has increased dramatically in the last twenty years. Large and small firms have been utilizing information systems to connect their internal business functions and the company’s activities to stakeholder such as suppliers and customers. (FORMAN WEB 13). Supply chain management and customer relationship management are some of the many systems used by firms to accomplish the aforementioned functions. Before comparing Supply Chain Management and customer relationship management systems to Tradition Systems, a brief description of Supply chain management and the activities it involves is fully warranted. This brief easy attempts to compare and contract SCM and CRM systems to traditional management systems in terms of approaches , efficiency, cost saving, and firm profitability.
Jiambalvo (2010) describes supply chain management as,” the organization of activities between a company and its suppliers in an effort to provide for the profitable development, production, and delivery of goods to customers.” (P, 15). Sunil & Peter further describe ( ) supply chain as, “consisting of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain includes not only the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and even customers themselves. Within each organization, such as a manufacturer, the supply chain includes all functions involved in receiving and filling a customer request. These functions include, but are not limited to new product development, marketing and operations, distribution and finance, and customer service.”(P...
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...in saving costs for firms that effectively implement the systems. Alan and et al.(2009) state that, “ full-scale implementations lead to system-wide inventory optimization, which in turn leads to cost improvement associated with inventory balances and turns.”(See Page 21 for note). Mikko & et al (2002) conducted a study of the cost reduction benefits of SCM and found that,” the sharing of demand information in supply chains typically increases the performance of the supply chain by increasing availability and reducing inventory related costs.”
That other major distinctions between the two systems and traditional management systems is that the former need a small amount of date input and out put to perform sophisticated and complex functional, while the later takes and produces data in a large amount.
A. profitability
Ridgeline Mountain Outfitters has been in business since the late 1980’s and currently operates a combination of brick and mortar retail stores, catalogs, and online sales. Over the lifespan of the company, RMO has implemented a complex set of information systems applications to support operations and management. Unfortunately, due to growth and technology antiquation, these systems are no longer keeping up with customer expectations and there is a gap between the existing capabilities in RMO systems that support sales and customer interactions. Supply chain management (SCM) and customer support systems (CSS) are the two system areas that need to be enriched. SCM is the highest priority and will need to be developed first to ensure that the
Scott and Westbrook (1991) and New and Payne (1995) describe supply chain management as the chain linking each element of the manufacturing and supply process from raw materials through to the end user, encompassing several organizational boundaries.
A supply chain is a system through which organizations deliver their products and services to their customers. The network begins with the basic ingredients to start the chain of supply, which are the suppliers that supply raw materials, ingredients, and so on. From there, it will transfer the supplies to the manufacturer who builds, assembles, converts, or furnishes a product. The chain now needs to get the product to the consumer by transporting the finished product from the manufacturer through a warehouse or distribution center. An example is that Wal-Mart has a nearby distribution center where products are delivered there and then split up to be delivered to a retail Wal-Mart. “Wal-Mart will take responsibility for breaking down larger loads and delivering the product to other Wal-Mart stores” (Ehring 1).
Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd (RCCL) has two distinct supply chains which create a unique challenge. Each supply chain is managed by a Provision Master. The first supply chain includes all food, beverage, and lodging inventories that needed for the trips. The second supply chain encompasses “corporate spend” materials, such as office supplies, printing services, hardware and software, printed materials, computer supplies, marine consumables (spare parts, fuel, lubricants, any and all services associated with the ship maintenance and etc).
Customer service: supply chain management is all about providing an effective and efficient customer service. However, providing the right product and services to the right customer as per their need to the right place and time has been always challenging (Anderson, 2016). In my opinion, managers should give a detailed attention in the deliver & logistic and defect & excess stage to ensure that they provide a high level of customer service.
In a traditional manufacturing company, the supply chain covers the following roles: suppliers, labour, engineering, production, product, quality assurance, inventory, competitors and customers. The last role, that of customers, is different from the rest of the roles within a classic supply chain, meaning that suppliers are oriented upstream, while customers downstream; the labour is situated internally, while customers are external; engineering is done only by qualified engineers; production is protected from customers; products represent the offering that the customers obtain; quality assurance prevents faulty products to get to the customers; inventory can be managed in order to saturate the demand in time; and finally competitors offer customers different choices to satisfy their needs. Taking separately, the customer role in the traditional supply chain often resumes at “selecting, paying for, and using the outputs” and sometimes proving feed-back and promoting a company’s offerings by recommending to others (Sampson and Spring,
“Supply Chain Management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion and all logistic activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third parties service providers and customers. In essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.’
Supply chain management is basically refers to the fundamental supply chain analysis of the organization which predominantly describes functionalities from source to the delivery point. In this process of delivery, supply chain management framework divides in four categories: In Planning the products and suppliers evaluated and selected, Sourcing pull the information process including contracting, ordering and expediting, Moving is a physical process from suppliers to end user and Paying is the financial process including payment and performance measurement.
‘Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. It encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, thir- party service providers, and customers’. (Web: Council for Supply Chain Management Pr...
Supply chain management has been defined as that process that involves the management of information, materials, and all the finances that are handled within and across the entire supply chain process (Christopher, 2016). The management is usually done through out the entire supply chain management from that moment when the suppliers are involved through all the manufacturing activities, different distribution activities, and the way that the products are served to the final product consumer (Turban, et al., 2002). The process also includes all the activities that different organizations offers to their customers as after sale services for purposes perfecting their services and products towards their highly valued customers (Christopher,
Recently in an article Information systems research it is stated that supply chain management is seen...
A supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products, and deliver the products to customers through a distribution system [1]. The basic objective of supply chain is to “optimize performance of the chain to add as much value as possible for the least cost possible.
The Supply chain management system manages raw material, manage suppliers, schedule human resources while Customer relationship management system is in support to identify customer needs and wants, customer facing system etc. Enterprise Resource system is part of AIS integrating human resources and support services in a company. (Chen, I. J. 2001)
Inventory management involves planning, coordinating, and controlling the acquisition, storage, handling, movement, distribution, and possible sale of raw materials, component parts and subassemblies, supplies and tools, replacement parts, and other assets that are needed to meet customer wants and needs (Collier & Evans, 2009). In order for business and supply chains to run smoothly, they must meet all the listed requirements for effective inventory management. Thus, inventory management must be managed wisely in order to be a successful an...
(Ehret, 2004) Their business model focused on economies of scope, as opposed to economies of scale. Industrial firms realised they needed to manage buyer-seller relationships in order to manage cross-functional and cross-organisational processes that would allow them to become more flexible. Today’s CRM systems are vast, multi-functional systems that allow firms to manage multiple elements of relationships with their customers. Xu et al.