IT management help on: Fashion systems

Introduction

The significance of aligning IT and business is supported by the fashion to integrate Information systems, integration points and resources (Akkermans & Helden, 2002).  Various Companies are shifting to centralize systems of IT and recognizing that data might be coordinated centrally for achieving economies of scale, enhancing productivity and efficiently manage information. Nowadays, IT is in the position to manage the process of the business for improving quality of the data either at its lifecycle or at its source. On the other side, IS assists managers to perform their daily functions and activities properly. IS assists managers to perform various activities in timely and accurately manner with the help of different software’s (Shang, & Seddon, 2007).   Normally, IS retrieves data as input and generate them as information. This report offers the strong argument to convince the owner and other senior management that the use of IS/IT can restore the business to competitiveness. This report contains three main issues such as

• Anticipation of consumer needs faster in relation to competitors,
• Management of inventory at greater speed at less cost and
•  Having online shop capability as a part of a sizeable and strategic IS/IT investment.

It is also observed that owner of the Excellence does not view any value in IS/IT and does not want to spend money in something which will not improve the bottom line of the Company. But it is significant for the Company to use IS /IT applications to turn business performance around. In today’s environment, to remain competitive it is important for the businesses to make utilization of IT and IS applications to tackle competition in comparison with competitors. In general, IT is considered as a broad field and made companies throughout the world to operate in an effective manner. IT performs a very significant function in efficient running and management of the business. Software is considered as the significant part of IT that associates to applications of computer which make the company to store, retrieve and generate data as when required. Normally, operations of the business are managed by the software’s which are allocated for performing various tasks. Without these applications of the computer, the businesses of the organization are not able to accomplish their tasks and functions in the efficient and proper manner. ERPs, web browsers and operating systems are few examples of distinct software’s.  It is clear that IT considers to the techniques implemented in the business for storing, manipulating all types of data comprising text, graphics, speech and detail of events like intrusion, equipment malfunction etc. Information Technology associates to the software and hardware which businesses utilize to operate and manage a variety of the process of the business. In fact, most of the business relates their PCs so that information might be shared.

Issues

First Issue – Anticipation of consumer demands

It has been examined that direct competitors are even faster at anticipating changes in customer needs than Excellence. It is advisable to the owners and senior management of the Company to implement strategies of CRM and CRM software in order to anticipate changes in needs of the customers (Saraph, Benson & Schroeder, 1989).  It is very clear that CRM is considered as a strategy of the business maintained by user relationship objectives, culture of the Company, business process, CRM software and implementation methods. The goal of CRM is to grow and enhance the relationships of the customer for achieving enhanced performance of the business.

CRM Software

CRM software and strategies of CRM have become an influential combination in assisting organizations to meet their objectives of the business. For most organization and companies, systems of CRM comprise SFA, customer support and marketing automation. New inventions like open source software of CRM and delivery methods like SAAS are called as on –demand CRM (Boersma & Kingma, 2005).  In current time, global markets are becoming more competitive and it becomes significant for the organization to manage the association with internal and external stakeholders. Companies require products which offer them the capability to coordinate anything, not only relationships with users. Generally, software of the CRM offers management, delivery, framework and automation for achieving strategies of CRM. In, fact effective applications of CRM Software facilitate enhanced understanding, response and anticipation to the needs of the customer in an efficient, rewarding and timely manner. Generally, successful accomplishment of the CRM is more than just completing the onetime activity of the project (Boersma & Kingma, 2005).  It is considered as the alteration in the culture of the Company and the continuous journey which matures throughout the time. It is known that, Excellence is involved in women’s clothing and demands of the women are changing day by day because of altering fashion and trends. Being in fashion industry, it is advisable to Excellence to make use of CRM software for anticipating the changing needs of the women’s in comparison to the competitors. To remain competitive, Excellence is required to use applications of CRM software in the effective manner to anticipate changing needs of the women in the efficient, timely and rewarding manner.

Second Issue – Inventory Management

The second issue faced by the Company is competitors have far better inventory management and manage their supply chain at greater speed and at less cost in comparison to Excellence. It is important for the businesses of the Company to have better inventory management and manage their supply chain at the higher speed and at low cost. If the organization wants to have benefits from its SCM process then it will require some level of the investment in the technology.

ERP Suites – SAP Software

 It has been examined that, most of the Companies have adopted process of SCM and related technology for creating the greater level of the user satisfaction at the lower cost. The supporter for various large organizations has been the costly ERP suites like Oracle and SAP (Shang, & Seddon, 2007).  These kinds of software implementations shall include a whole supply chain of the company’s from buying of inputs and resources to guaranteed service of the items sold (Behl & Joshi, 2007).  These kinds of applications need the significant cost not only the monetary cost, but the resources and time needed to successfully execute the enterprise wide solution. Generally, there are several benefits of SAP software such as Workload planning, Order consolidation and Wave picking, Bar-code scanning and Radio frequency, Handling-unit Coordination and Cross-docking (Boersma & Kingma, 2005).   There are several solutions of ERP to select from and it is significant to choose one that suits the overall requirements of the supply chain of the Company. Instant communication among customers and vendors permits timely reviews of information which is considered as a basic step in the management of the supply chain. It is advisable to the senior management of the Excellence Company to use software of SAP for the management of the inventory in the current time in order to maintain the competition from competitors.

There are various benefits of SAP software such as minimized costs through enhanced flexibility, enhanced alignment of operations and strategies, enhanced corporate governance and financial management and offer constant access to the enterprise information.It has been examined that SAP software helps in improving process standardization, adaptability and efficiency.

• It helps in extending information, collaboration and transactions functions for a wide business society.
• It offers workers new ways for accessing the information of enterprise needed for their routine activities.
• It helps in achieving corporate goals through aligning organizational objectives and workforce (Buonanno, Faverio & Pigni F. et al, 2005).  This software also helps in gaining visibility in the organization with management and financial accounting functionality mixed with the business analytics.
• It helps the company in retaining high performers with clearly defined development and career plans. At last, it offers employee’s new ways for accessing the information of enterprise needed for their routine activities.

Third Issue – Online Shop Capability

The third issue faced by the Excellence Company is various direct competitors have an online shop capability as part of a sizeable and strategic IS/IT investment but Excellence does not. It is advisable to the senior management that they should use some software’s for online shopping in order to maintain the competition from the competitors.

Shopping Cart Software

There is software called shopping cart which is utilized in e-commerce to help consumers while purchasing online. If Excellence Company uses this kind of software then they would be able to manage the competition from competitors. This software permits online shopping users to build a group of items for buying. During checkout, this software computes a total sum for the placed order comprising handling and shipping charges and related taxes. This software is divided into 2 main categories such as Hosted Service and Licensed Software. The main benefit of licensed software is, the merchant buys a license and upload it on server and fulfills the requirements of the server (Schniederjans, & Kim, 2003).  Hosted service offers predefined templates which the user may choose for customizing their feel and look.

Case –Study

It has been examined that communication and information protocols of Zara are considerably distinct in comparison to its competitors. It is analyzed that Zara spends minimum 5% of total income on IT and moreover employees of IT are responsible for only 5% of the total workforce of Zara (Dessain, Mcafee, & Sjoman, 2004). Zara implements information technology and human intelligence to have a smooth flow of the information from stores to main headquarters. For e.g. Managers at the stores of Zara utilize handheld devices for sending standardized information in regards to ordering needs and customer feedback straightly to the in-house designers. This makes designers of Zara to know about the demand and trends of the customers. Unlike hybrid model of Zara, competitors depend entirely on the information technology. The unique approach of Zara to human intelligence helped IT workers to manage the inventory at the greater speed, linkages among supply and demand and minimized costs. Still, there is a room for the improvement in their process of the IT to achieve more efficient management of the stock levels.

The communication system and hybrid information that the Company utilizes offers cost benefits to the operations of Zara and capability to react to the changes in the demand of the customer. At last, it can be said that information plays a greater role in the business of the Company like in the case of Zara (Dessain, Mcafee, & Sjoman, 2004).  With the help of technology, designers of Zara continuously tracked preferences of the customer and executed orders with the external and internal suppliers. The management of the Zara uses information technology applications to have a smooth flow of the information from stores to main headquarters. It is very clear that implementation of the IT in operations of Zara results in minimized costs, management of the inventory at the greater speed and manage the linkages among the supply and demand. Technology has become innovative and advanced in the current world. Bar coding, computer related designs and online shopping are sort of improvements to the business. In, fact technology may minimize the costs and enhance the quality. With the help of technology, Zara is able to deliver large orders of the stock on time in comparison to the competitors.These developments may benefit the consumers of Zara and the organization through effective source of the technology.

Conclusion

At last, it can be concluded that the Information Technology plays a significant role in the businesses of the Company. Being a senior manager, I strongly believe in technology and its application and try to persuade senior management to implement technology in operations in order to minimize the issues faced by the Company. It is very difficult for the businesses to survive in the competitive world without technology. In fact some issues have been faced by the Excellence because of non implementation of the technology. These all issues can be solved with the implementation of technology in the operations of the Company. Like first issue faced by the Company is anticipation of consumer demands, this issue can be solved with the implementation of CRM software, second issue faced by the Company is management of inventory at greater speed and at lower cost and this issue can also be solved with implementation of SAP software which helps in maintaining of stock levels at higher speed at minimized costs and third issue faced by the Company is to have adequate online shopping capability and this issue can also be solved with the help of Shipping Cart software.

Being a senior manager in a Company, it is advisable to the owners and senior management of the Company to effectively utilize the CRM software, SAP software and Shipping Cart Software in order to avert the issues faced by the Company in regards to Sales and Profitability. At last, it is advisable to the owners of the Company that they should spend their funds and investment in IS applications in order to remain competitive in the Fashion Industry. The business of the Excellence Company is in women’s clothing and demands of the women’s are changing everyday in regards to fashion and trends. To keep all this factors in mind, it is advisable to the senior management of the Excellence Company that they utilize some applications of IT in their operations as Zara did.

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