Enhancing Business Efficiency: Enterprise Applications and Collaboration Systems

1. How businesses use information systems (Part 2) By: Zeeshan A. Bhatti

2. Enterprise Applications • How can different Functional systems manage the information in these different systems??? • Enterprise applications help businesses become more flexible and productive by coordinating their business processes for efficient mgmt of resources • Types of Enterprise Application: • Enterprise Resource Planning Systems • Supply Chain Management Systems • Customer Relationship Management Systems • Knowledge Management Systems • Intranet & Extranet • Collaboration Systems

3. Enterprise Applications

4. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) • Collects data from various key business processes in manufacturing & production, finance & accounting, sales and marketing, & HR • Stores data in a single central repository • Information that is previously fragmented in different systems can be easily shared across the firm to help diff. parts of business work closely • WEBLINK EXAMPLE: OPEN ERP SCREENSHOTS

5. Ex: ERP System (e.g., SAP) • A customer places an order, the data flows automatically to other parts of the company • Order transaction triggers the warehouse to pick ordered products and schedule shipment • Warehouse informs the factory • Accounting dept. is notified to send customer an invoice • Customer Service representatives track progress of order to inform customers about status • RESULT: IMPROVED EFFICIENCY and LOWER COSTS • Ex. Oracle ERP, SAP etc.

6. Supply Chain Mgmt System (SCM) • Help businesses manage relationships with suppliers • Purchasing from distributors, logistics companies share info. Orders, production, inventory levels, and delivery or products & services • Objective: Right amount of products from their source to their point of consumption with least amount of time and lowest cost • They are a type of Inter-organizational Systems – across organizational boundaries

7. Ex: Supply Chain Mgmt Systems • Haworth’s Transportation Mgmt System (TMS) • Examines customer orders, factory schedules, carrier rates and availability, and shipping costs to produce optimal lowest-cost delivery plans • Plans are generated every 15 min

8. Customer Relationship Mgmt Systems (CRM) • Help manage their relationships with their customers • E.g., Sales, Marketing, and Service • E.g., Mobilink/UfoneCRMs, Banks CRM etc. • Consolidates customer data from multiple channels – Telephone, Email, Wireless devices, retail outlets, Social Media etc. • E.g., Pizza Hut CRM, Mobile Operators CRM

9. Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) • Values of a firm also depends on intangible assets • Support processes for acquiring, creating, storing, distributing, applying, integrating knowledge • How to create, produce, distribute products and services • Collect internal knowledge and experience within firm and make it available to employees • Link to external sources of knowledge

10. Intranets & Extranets • Alternative tools that increase integration and expedite the flow of information • Intranets: • Internal company Web sites accessible only by employees • Extranets: • Company Web sites accessible externally only to vendors and suppliers • Often used to coordinate supply chain

11. E Business, E Commerce & E Govt. • E-business • Use of digital technology and Internet to drive major business processes • E-commerce • Subset of e-business • Buying and selling goods and services through Internet • E-Government: • Using Internet technology to deliver information and services to citizens, employees, and businesses and other govt. agencies

12. Collaboration & Communication Systems • Collaboration: • Working with others to achieve shared goals • Short-lived or long-term • Informal or formal (teams) • Growing importance of collaboration: • Changing nature of work • Growth of professional work – “interaction jobs” • Changing organization of the firm – hierarchy • Changing scope of the firm – multiple locations • Emphasis on innovation – Strength of week ties • Changing culture of work

13. Business benefits of collaboration and teamwork • Investments in collaboration technology can produce organizational improvements returning high ROI • Benefits: • Productivity • Quality • Innovation • Customer service • Financial performance • Profitability, sales, sales growth

14. Tools for Collaboration • Internet-Based Collaboration Environments • Geographical teams collaboration • E.G., Internet Conferencing, WebEx • E-Mail and Instant Messaging (IM) • Cell Phones and Smart Phones • E.g., IPhone, Android, BB etc • Social Networking Services (SNS) • E.g., Facebook and Internal SNS • Wikis • Wikipedia, Internal Wikis • Blogs

15. Collaboration Systems

16. Establishing Information Systems Department • Programmers • Specialists • System Analysts • Translate business problems into information system requirements • IS Managers • Leaders of team of programmers, Telecommunications, DB • Chief Information Officer (CIO) • Head of the IS dept. • Have knowledge about business as well as IS

17. Chief Security Officer (CSO) • In charge of security policy • Educating and training users about security • Keeping management aware of security threats • End users • Representatives of departments for whom applications are developed • They play an important role in the design and development of of IS