Discuss about the Strategic Information System for Case Study of Kinokuniya Bookstore Australia.
Strategic information system is one of the key systems or sections in the business which is extremely important in the day to day operations of a business. Without information system operations will definitely face significant difficulties to operate the day to day activities in the business. Most of the organisations in the contemporary business environment have strong strategic information system integrated in the operations which helps them to mitigate any organisational issue or challenge which might be internal or external. The role of strategic information system is of paramount importance which could be understood only with the effective research and analysis. The use of accounting software package has become a common tool for many organisations all across the world. In the contemporary business environment of Australia the use of accounting software package has become imperative given its role in handling the overall finance and relevant information effectively (Galliers and Leidner, 2014). The present report is important as it discusses about the organisational structure and the key issues related to operation. This study will also discuss the possible system acquisition method which helps in handling the accounting practice in the organisation. Overall the present study will discuss the process of adoption of the accounting software and the challenges and issues related to it. Kinokuniya is bookstore chain and is one of the best bookstores available in Sydney. It is a Japanese brand which has been able to operate its business effectively in Sydney and some other places in Australia. Given the steady emergence of this bookstore chain it will serve as an effective reference to complete the study.
Kinokuniya is a leading small and medium scale bookstore chain operating in Sydney. The root of the organisation is mainly in Japan and it has started its business in Australia recently. The organisation has served almost all the book lovers in Sydney which clearly shows the amount of interest books still create. The Japanese bookstore chain believes in discussing art and culture. The bookstore is unique in nature as it has huge stock of books and one could find a rare collection here which is not possible in any other bookstore. The organisation is presently operating in Sydney with the focus on expanding its business operations in the other parts of Australia and the planning is under process (Willcocks, 2013). The organisation has been able to generate significant amount of revenue in the last few years which has encouraged the organisation to expand its business in the other markets. The current organisational structure of the organisation is simple yet suitable for the organisation. Kinokuniya’s current organisational structure is a flat structure which helps the organisation to make decisions easily and effectively. The flat organisational structure helps the organisation to make effective improvements in its operational styles as there is no work of the mid level management in this kind of structure. The advantage of this structure is that it helps the upper management to directly communicate with the lower level employees and in the case of Kinokuniya it becomes extremely important as it is essential to get the feedback of the book lovers coming in the store to improve the overall service system of the company (Baltzan, 2012).
The flat organisational structure of the organisation is advantageous but it also leads to certain operational problems. It could be said that the main operational problem which could emerge in a flat organisational structure is lose of hold over the employees as under one manager there are number of employees working and this breaks the communication with some of the employees. It is important for the employees to understand their roles and responsibilities in the organisation and for that it is important to communicate effectively all along the operational line. In the present case the main operational problem that the organisation Kinokuniya has faced is wrong coordination in different departments. The finance department of the organisation is responsible to record and calculate all the financial aspects of the business and due to miscommunication and poor coordination there has not been proper and effective information gathering which would help to keep records as well as plan the overall financial budget for the organisation. In a flat structure it is at times tough to control employees effectively (Cassidy, 2016). Hence in this scenario it is important that the organisation puts in place a strong system which would help to ensure that financial errors and decision making are done effectively in the business. The flat organisational structure in Kinokuniya the bookstore chain could lead to significant understanding issues as lesser layers of management could make employees pompous and casual in their work which wouldn’t help to make effective business decisions as well as lead to poor customer relationship which would definitely affect the overall business turnover the organisation. Hence it could be said that the quality of performance could be bad with flat structure operating within the organisation. In this case the organisation has faced this problem as most of the consumers trying to take help from the employees have failed due to the ignorance of the employees working in the organisation (Morecroft, 2015). It has been seen that the organisation has effective training and development program in place but the employees have become highly casual which has led to poor performance of the employees. The organisation has also not been able to make expansion decisions properly as complex decision making is not effective with the help of flat organisational structure.
The most suitable system acquisition method in this case for Kinokuniya would be to go for an ERP solution. There are number of key operational issue in the organisation and hence for this reason Enterprise Resource Planning is effective for the organisation. The ERP will be an effective system which would help the organisation to make sure all the procedures and resources in the organisation are perfectly managed. With ERP Kinokuniya will be able to manage its financial decisions, employee performance effectively keep records and communicate with the employees successfully (Bradford, 2015). ERP will be effective for the organisation as it will help to reduce cost for the company and manage the entire operation effectively. The ERP system is able to effectively automate the system and manage the business effectively. The Enterprise Resource Planning is an extremely effective software system for the organisation for this bookstore as it will help to keep records and information in a proper way and it will also help in financial decision making which would definitely help to reduce cost and develop a stronger financial budget for the organisation (Azevedo, Romão and Rebelo, 2012).
Every organisation has a specific sales process through which it sells that generates revenue. The sales procedure flowchart is given below:
Fig 1: Sales Procedure Flowchart
As per the above flowchart followed by the organisation Kinokuniya it could be said that there is a huge role of the business manager in this case in the sales process. the user orders a book in the bookstore or may be online which directly reaches the business and he or she checks the order form and issues it to the warehouse where the storekeeper checks the inventory and it goes to the stockouot and from there to the delivery sheet where the entire information is recorded from the side of the storekeeper and then it reaches the user. Apparently it might look lengthy but it is a simple process and is easy to reach to the consumers if the employees operate effectively (Bernus, Mertins and Scmidt, 2013).
ERP is normally secured system but server frauds are very common nowadays and hence if the main server on which the software is based is hacked or breached then there is a possibility of network breach and data theft. Hence it could be said that the common issue with ERP is its vulnerability to outer programs like malwares and spywares which are used to breach the safety and security of the ERP software through its main server (Davenport, 2013).
The development and adoption of the accounting system software package is important. The adoption of accounting software package has become very important in the business as it helps to keep all the possible financial records or information and helps to manage the finance effectively. The accounting software packages are largely internet based and hence provide online support which helps the organisation to get online support whenever possible. The development of accounting software packages are being done for a long time now and its adoption in Australia could be considered as extensive. The adoption of accounting software helps in easing the pressure of financial works and also makes it systematic which reduces hassles and financial errors in the business (Hall, 2012).
The current market size of accounting software packages is huge at the present moment. The accounting software is used almost all across the world with emerging and developed economies using the accounting software extensively in business and other organisations to have proper information on finance and to make suitable decisions. In the last few years the market size has grown by around 85% which is a significant rise in the market share (Beynon-Davies, 2013).
There are number of companies in the world providing accounting software packages but SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, MYOB, XERO, Oracle E-Business Suit, Intuit have emerged as winners in the market. These organisations have been able to gain significant market share and sustainable competitive advantage only because of their excellent customer response and technical support and great customised service to the client which other organisations have not been able to do. These organisations have been able to reduce and minimise the arduous task of managing finance and have made it easy which is definitely a great point about them (Romney and Steinbart, 2012).
There are number of gaps or challenges in handling accounting software packages for the consumers. One of the biggest challenges is handling the highly mechanical software systems. For most of the consumers it becomes tough to understand the procedure of handling these softwares and this stands to be one the challenges. On the other hand services of Oracle and SAP are very expensive and this is a definite gap which the companies can work upon. Lack of accuracy and features create problems at times for the business consumers to handle accounting software effectively (Christauskas and Miseviciene, 2012). The key suggestions which could be given to these organisations will be to develop their service system and they should become more customers centric and understand the needs and wants of the consumers. They should also think about making the service cost effective and mechanically easy. More user friendly interface is a must for accounting softwares to be embraced more by consumers and hence this should also be looked at seriously (Kirchmer, 2012).
Conclusion
The present report has tried to discuss the key aspects of information system used at workplaces. The importance of accounting software has increased in the recent years and hence it is important to understand the key challenges and gaps to use to accounting software which the present report has tried to reveal. It has also discussed the flowchart through which Kinokuniya bookstore gets its sales and has finally recommended suggestions to the accounting software developing organisations to provide better services to consumers.
References
Azevedo, P.S., Romão, M. and Rebelo, E., 2012. Advantages, limitations and solutions in the use of ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning)–A case study in the hospitality industry. Procedia Technology, 5, pp.264-272.
Baltzan, P., 2012. Business driven technology. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Bernus, P., Mertins, K. and Schmidt, G.J. eds., 2013. Handbook on architectures of information systems. Springer Science & Business Media.
Beynon-Davies, P., 2013. Business information systems. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O.A., Pavlou, P.A. and Venkatraman, N.V., 2013. Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights.
Bradford, M., 2015. Modern ERP: select, implement, and use today’s advanced business systems. Lulu. com.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Christauskas, C. and Miseviciene, R., 2012. Cloud–computing based accounting for small to medium sized business. Engineering Economics, 23(1), pp.14-21.
Davenport, T.H., 2013. Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press.
Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Hall, J.A., 2012. Accounting information systems. Cengage Learning.
Kirchmer, M., 2012. Business process oriented implementation of standard software: how to achieve competitive advantage efficiently and effectively. Springer Science & Business Media.
Morecroft, J.D., 2015. Strategic modelling and business dynamics: a feedback systems approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Rainer, R.K., Cegielski, C.G., Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, I. and Sanchez-Rodriguez, C., 2013. Introduction to information systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Romney, M.B. and Steinbart, P.J., 2012. Accounting information systems. Boston: Pearson.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems investments. Springer.
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