Discuss about the Strategic Information System Of Apple INC.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERO) is a procedure through which manufacturing industry such as Apple Inc. could integrates and manages crucial parts of the business. It is a type of information system through which an organization could integrates and manages its sales, marketing, human resources and other types of functionalities. In contemporary business environment, many organizations have adopted ERP system into their workplaces with the objective of portraying a transparent picture in front of the target audience along with the objective of developing an effective image in the competitive business environment. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) mainly includes advanced accounting procedures, integrated communication system through which communication gap could be reduced in the workplace. Along with this, it develops an effective communication system in the organization through which employees could reach to the top management directly without any barrier. Apart from this, ERP system is also essential for maintaining financial statements of the organization in an appropriate manner along with portraying transparent and error-free image in front of the stakeholders. Control and monitoring of this approach is done from the management and administration end. Various activities of the organization could be managed in an effective manner along with fulfilling the expectations set up by the top level management (Altamony, et. al., 2016).
This report will include the business process in the first section along with requirement of businesses with regards to the ERP system. Second phase of the report will focus over the system requirement in relation with ERP and the software and vendor selection. With the help of this, organization will analyse the significance and effectiveness of ERP software through which organizational activities could be managed in the desired manner. Further, focus of the report will be imposed over the utilisation of ERP system in three ways with regards to the enhancement in organizational efficiency. The last phase of the report will determine the level of efficiency in relation with the implementation of the technology. Along with this, potential security risks will be determined with regards to the implementation of ERP system within the workplace and in addition to the risk analysis, certain effective and advanced measures will be discussed in the last phase of the report to mitigate these potential risks with the motive of uplifting organizational efficiency.
Business process is a collection of functionalities in an organization which are directly linked with the production, delivery, and marketing as well as with the processing of a particular product and service. Every business organization has unique type of business processes and with the changing time, organizations adopt unique and effective measures so that the efficiency of the business process could be enhanced along with gaining competitive advantage. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation engaged in manufacturing of consumer electronics goods, software, and online services. Company’s major attractions are iPhone, iPad, Mac personal computers, etc. Company launched its first iPhone in 2007. This phone is based on the iOS operating system and since then, organization has amended its operating system as well as the features of iPhone with regards to the customer’s current and future requirements. Reviewing these functionalities of organization, Enterprise Resource Planning system will be an effective medium for managing Apple Inc.’s functionalities in an effective manner along with gaining positive outcomes (Apple Inc., 2018).
With regards to analysing the requirement of ERP system, following are crucial functionalities of Apple Inc. are as follows:
There is a separate department for each of the activity mentioned above in Apple Inc. and by this way; organization manages its operations with the objective to attain desired goals and objectives. With the help of ERP system, organization could easily and effectively manage its operations in an effective manner as well as it will also reduce the cost of management and control of these activities. Apart from reducing cost, organization will be able to uplift organizational efficiency. Adaptation of ERP system will help the organization to reduce the utilisation of paper as organization will move towards the automation and digital platforms to manage its operations (Cao, Nicolaou & Bhattacharya, 2013).
Supreme authority of the organization will hold the full access to the system adopted so that the employees could not misuse data, information and client’s credentials in unethical manner. In order to manage the functionalities, top level management will decide the accessing rights for the employees as per their roles and responsibilities. For example, general manager of the organization will hold more access rights as compared to a supervisor because his accountability will be high towards the organization as compared to a supervisor. Imposition of accessing rights is necessary because database of Apple Inc. contains large amount of information along with the secret information about the organization and its clients. To maintain the confidentiality of the information, imposing control over access rights are necessary.
When all information will be recorded on a single platform, complications will be reduced along with reducing the chances of arising issues of mismatching the data amongst the departments. ERP system will also help the organization to develop secured software for securing organizational information along with gaining positive outcomes. Apart from this, ERP system will build an effective platform through which organization would be able to match up with the constantly changing business requirements, trends as well as customers’ requirements. Thus, overall organizational performance will be enhanced because all activities will be controlled and monitored from one end and it will help the different departments of the organization to share the information amongst each other and it will develop an integrated communication system within the whole organization (Chofreh, et. al., 2014).
With relevance with the functionalities of Apple Inc., it has been observed that there are numerous activities which are being performed by them. Every activity is being executed with the motive of making organization more effective, efficient as well as to fulfil its target and potential customer’s needs. Apple Inc. is a leading multinational corporation engaged in producing consumer electronic goods and software. Various departments exist in Apple Inc. and every department is responsible and accountable for their activities. Every department record its own operations and execute their functionalities as per the organizational standards, policies and procedures so that the organizational requirements could be matched up. But with the help of ERP system, organization would be able to accomplish its tasks in an effective manner along with reducing the chances of glitches in the performance (Costa, et. al., 2016).
Apple Inc. is a multinational corporation, thus, there are huge amount of information and activities which are carried by different departments of the organization. It makes a difficult task for the top level management to take information for every centre from other sources and with the implementation of ERP system, every transaction and activity will be recorded at one place which will help the top level management to access the information regarding any centre from anywhere. Organization will be able to manage its operations in an effective manner along with gaining positive outcomes with accomplishing the tasks in an effective manner. Apple Inc. is an organization dealing in software, and various other digital services, thus, they require an effective management and controlling system through which all the functionalities could be managed in an effective manner along with developing an effective image in the competitive an dynamic business environment. In order to manage operations of organization, centre head is appointed for every location to manage the operations. After recording transactions and other information, those were required to share the information with headquarter but with the help of ERP system, centre heads and other employees could take training and consult from headquarter regarding any type of query, challenges faced by them, etc. This will help the organization to save time as well as to enhance organizational productivity. Reviewing the efficiency of ERP system, various multinational companies across the globe has adopted this strategy with the objective to attaining positive outcomes along with the establishment of an effective image in the competitive and dynamic business environment (Eden, Eden & Tan, 2014).
Enterprise Resource Planning is an effective tool especially for the multinational corporations and for those who have numerous functions across the globe. Implementation of ERP system, requires various efforts along with the analysing the functionalities of organization so that they could cope up with the methodologies of ERP system. Following are crucial aspects of the organization which needs to be matched up with the business’ requirements:
With the help of ERP system, organization will be able to record its all transaction in relevance with the accounts. Apart from this, at the end of the year, final financial statements will be prepared automatically. These will be error free as well as it will also help the organization to attain growth and development related objectives. Accounting process and maintaining financial statements is a vast and wide process and with the help of ERP system, organization will be able to make its short and effective procedure. Traditional system of accounting was complex as well as time consuming whereas contemporary accounting systems are effective enough so that the goals and objectives could easily be attained by portraying an effective image in the front of the internal as well as external stakeholders. With the help of ERP system, headquarters will be able to access the financial position of its centres across the globe. This will help the organization to develop its effective position along with portraying the same image in front of the stakeholders with relevance with attracting them (Garg & Garg, 2013).
Material management is bit complex and difficult task for the organization but with the help of Enterprise Resource Planning system, it will become an easy and effective task for the organization. Management of inventory is wide process especially for Apple Inc. which is a tech giant of this era along with the most profitable country of the international market (Ha & Ahn, 2014). They are requiring maintaining the quality of the raw materials purchased from the suppliers in relevance with maintaining the quality of their products which is their one of the crucial USP. ERP system will analyse the quality of the raw materials used for producing the finished goods and those will be compared with the standards set up by the top level management in the system. Below that level, materials will be rejected and it is necessary because once bad quality products delivery will affect organizational performance as well as image in the international market (Hoch & Dulebohn, 2013).
Production management department maintains appropriate stock level with the organization so that the target and potential customer’s demands could be fulfilled. In relevance with the recording and maintaining the stock required and the demand in the target market, organization requires an effective system. ERP system will be the most appropriate approach in relevance with maintaining a minimum level of stock along with uplifting organizational image in the target market. Apple Inc. produces software and certain parts of its phones, computers, etc. (Hunton, McEwen & Wier, 2015).For other parts, it outsources in the international market and then assembles all the parts to make an efficient and effective product. Thus, maintaining record of every supplier is bit complex and lengthy procedure but with the help of ERP system, it will be an easy task and system will automatically send the notification to the suppliers when there will be an indication regarding less quantity left with the organization. Organization will move towards an advanced methodology through which the efficiency of the organization will be uplifted (Kermani & Rouhani, 2014).
It is a crucial part of organizational process and customer service management system plays vital role in increasing organization efficiency. For increasing customer service management, it is required for the management to provide appropriate quality goods along with effective after sale services. This will develop reliability for the organization amongst the target and potential customers (Kurbel, 2016). High efficient services rendered by the organization to its customers will lead to increase customer satisfaction level and in contemporary business environment, most of the industries have adopted customer satisfaction with regards to obtain effective place in the dynamic and competitive business environment. Apple Inc. will be able to determine all the factors in relevance with the customer satisfaction with the help of ERP system, thus, attainment of desired objectives will be an easy task for the organization (Leon, 2014).
With regards to the selection of software and vendor through the software will be purchased, organization must determine all internal as well as external factors so that the appropriate selection amongst the software required for the organization could be made. This will be done in relation with the analysis of the organizational requirements so that the selection of the appropriate software could be made. Along with this, software selection will be based over the workplace requirements so that effective results could be attained. In relevance with this procedure, it is required for the organization to involve the employees of the organization in the decision making and selection of software procedures, their valuable feedbacks will be attained along with developing an effective reputation of the organization amongst the employees (Nah & Tan, 2015).
Selection of software is significant task and in relation with this, organization is required to adopt strategies and measures so that the appropriate software could be selected. If unsafe and inappropriate software selection will be done in respect to reducing cost of production, it will affect organizational efficiency. Major limitations in terms of software selection is leakage of confidential information of the clients, leakage and stolen of data and information of organization, etc. Thus, along with the selection of software, it is required for the organization to adopt appropriate measures so that the information of the organization along with the clients’ information could be kept safe and secure (Nofal & Yusof, 2013).
Vendor would be selected as per the above mentioned requirements of the organization along with determining the reliability of the vendor in the market. The more reliable will be the vendor; chances for fraudulent activities will be less. Apart from this, organization could also hire technicians and IT experts who could develop advanced and customised software as per the requirements (Sarno, et. al., 2015).
ERP system is an effective tool through which organization could attain its desired goals and objectives along with improving efficiency of the organization. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation engaged in manufacturing industry of consumer electronic goods. There are various processes through which organizational functionalities could be managed in an effective manner so that organizational requirements could be fulfilled. In relation with the ERP system’s requirements, organization is required to adopt or develop appropriate and effective software so that the desired goals and objectives could be attained. With the implementation of ERP system, following will be the key benefits to Apple Inc.:
In relevance with determining level of efficiency of the ERP system, it is necessary for the organization to set up appropriate standards, quality measures, etc. attributes through which the performance attained by the system could be compared with the attained performance. Motive of adaptation of the ERP system is enhancing efficiency in all aspects such as profitability, revenues, and in other relevant aspects. With consideration to the Apple Inc., management has set up standard criteria i.e. at least 30% revenues need to be increased. Every activity is interlinked with each other in the workplace, thus, adaptation of automation will lead the organization to uplift its performance. Increase in the level of efficiency will only be recorded when the set targets and benchmarks will be attained. Cost of implementation of ERP system will be high, thus, it is necessary for the organization to recover the cost incurred for implementing ERP system needs to be recovered.
With the implementation of ERP system, organization will be able to enhance its efficiency along with gaining effective position in the target market. Increase in the organizational efficiency will help the organization to ease its operations and burden over employees will also be reduced. Organization will shift towards automation, thus, it will be beneficial for the organization along with the chance for attainment of the set benchmarks will be attained appropriately. Implementation of ERP system will help Apple Inc. to enhance its image in the global market along with attaining competitive advantage (Shen, Chen & Wang, 2016).
With the higher positive benefits in relation with ERP system, there are major risk factors involved with this system. In relation with attaining higher benefits, ERP system needs to be customised as per organizational requirements. From the software selection till the implementation of software selection, all aspects need to be considered in an effective and appropriate manner. Along with the implementation of ERP system at workplace, it is required for the organization to review and analyse all aspects so that the latest market requirements could be fulfilled. Making the software on the basis of business’ environment, target and potential customer’s requirements as well as on the basis of competitor’s business strategy is necessary but this also leads to several security and safety concerns. Vendor selection also plays vital role, and in relation with the organizational requirements, it is necessary to select a reliable and authentic vendor. This will provide appropriate benefits to the organization in relevance with security issues. If these concerns will not be managed in an appropriate manner, organizational performance will be affected as well as chances of risks factors also gets increased (Tarhini, Ammar & Tarhini, 2015).
Apart from these risk factors, inappropriate selection of vendor and software could also affect the organizational performance in negative manner. Due to inappropriate selection of vendor and software, organization may face certain glitches in its operations. The major glitch which will be faced by the organization will be leakage of information, data stole, unauthorised access by third part and threat to the clients’ confidential information. Thus, implementation of ERP needs to be reviewed appropriately before its adaptation in order to avoid glitches as well as for enhancing organizational performance (Yeh & Xu, 2013).
Appropriate monitoring as well as controlling measures needs to be adopted with relevance to mitigate the impact of risk factors. Risk is necessary for every business because it is the reason for invention and innovation. In order to tackle risk factors in an appropriate manner, organization should adopt appropriate measures in relevance to the risk factors so that the adequate treatment could be done along with enhancing organizational performance (Tasevska, Damij & Damij, 2014).
The best measures through which risk could be tackled is ignorance of risk, acceptance of risk and transfer of risk. These are the best measures through which treatment of risk could be done in an adequate manner. For example, one worker strikes, whole worker union strikes and the third instance is when fire or any unexpected activity occurred at workplace. In the first instance, risk could be ignored because it will not affect organization where in the second instance, risk needs to be accepted as the nature of risk is big and it could organizational performance. In the third instance, risk will be transferred to the third party to pay for the damages. Insurance company will be the third party in case of fire occurred at the workplace in order to mitigate with the risk factors (Zeng & Skibniewski, 2013).
Conclusion
From the aforesaid information, it can be concluded that enterprise resource planning is an effective tool for the organizations to manage its operations in an appropriate manner. This report concludes various crucial aspects of the enterprise resource planning system with regards to the operations of Apple Inc. Business requirements of ERP system, business processes, system requirements and the software and vendor selection has been covered with the objective of matching with the requirements of the ERP system along with enhancing organizational performance. The last part of the report concludes the ways to enhance organizational efficiency along with determining the level of risk factors and the actions taken to match up with the risk factor in order to avoid glitches in organizational operations.
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