Role of IT in Business:-

Information technology (IT) refers to the management and use of information using
computer-based tools. It includes acquiring, processing, storing, and distributing
information. Most commonly it is a term used to refer to business applications of computer
technology, rather than scientific applications. The term is used broadly in business to refer
to anything that ties into the use of computers.

Mostly businesses today create data that can be stored and processed on computers. In
some cases the data must be input to computers using devices such as keyboards and
scanners. In other cases the data might be created electronically and automatically stored
in computers.

Small businesses generally need to purchase software packages, and may need to contract
with IT businesses that provide services such as hosting, marketing web sites and
maintaining networks. However, larger companies can consider having their own IT staffs to
develop software, and otherwise handle IT needs in-house. For instance, businesses
working with the federal government are likely to need to comply with requirements relating
to making information accessible.

The constant upgrade in information technology, along with increasing global competition, is
adding difficulty and hesitation of several orders of scale to the business and trade. One of
the most widely discussed areas in recent business literature is that of new organizational
network structures that hold survival and growth in an environment of growing complexity.

Effective implementation of information technology would decrease liability by reducing the

cost of expected failures and increase flexibility by reducing the cost of adjustment. The
businesses reaction to the environment remains to be the vital determinant for its
effectiveness. The capabilities and flexibilities of computer-communication systems make
them gradually more appropriate to businesses by being able to respond to any specific
information or communication requirement.

Information Technology is having impact on all trade industries and businesses, in service
as well as in manufacturing. It is affecting workers at all levels of organizations, from the
executives to middle management and clerks. Information technology is increasingly
becoming a basic factor of all types of technologies such as craft, engineering, routine, and
non-routine.

The advances in Information Technology would result in remarkable decline in the costs of
synchronization that would lead to new, concentrated business structures. It enables the
business to respond to the new and urgent competitive forces by providing effective
management of interdependence.

In the near future businesses would be facing a lack and a redundancy of information called
information glut. To solve the information-glut companies will need to introduce methods for
selective thinning out of information. Improvements in telecommunications will make it
easier to control business units dispersed over different parts of the world. Advances in
telecommunications, would result in increased distance-communication. Indirect
communication would be preferred for well-structured information for routine,
preprogrammed and decision processes.
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William King is the director of UK Wholesale, UK Wholesalers and Dropshippers Directory.

He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping
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Department of Business Information Technology

The Department of Business Information Technology at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business examines
the relationship between computing and business. Through research and teaching, the Department creates
new knowledge and a deeper understanding of the role of technology in business. The Department also
engages in dialogue on current IT issues in large companies through executive forums and other meetings
with industry partners.

Research

Business Information Technology faculty spearhead research efforts on a wide range of topics at the
intersection of computing and business, often in collaboration with faculty from other departments and
doctoral students. This research addresses the appropriate, innovative, effective design and use of
information technology to serve business needs. Business Information Technology scholars use empirical,
behavioral and computational approaches in different types of problem domains, including business value of
IT and IT strategy to meet business needs, economics of software development, decision support and supply
chain, among others. They draw on the disciplines of computer science, economics, organizational science,
cognitive science and organizational, social and cognitive psychology. The Department also runs a research
speaker series featuring prominent faculty and industry researchers in information systems.

Teaching

If you are going to work in business and try to have an impact on how your company does business—how
well it coordinates with other companies, how efficiently it conducts its business, how well it manages the
knowledge of its employees—then you must understand technology. The Ross School of Business’s
curriculum in Business Information Technology emphasizes skills in three areas: the fundamentals of
business administration; a deep understanding of the role information systems play in business strategy,
management and operations; and technical competence that will enable you to analyze genuine business
problems from an IS perspective, and to design, build and maintain systems that solve them. Different
programs (e.g., BBA, MBA and Ph.D.) emphasize these areas to different degrees. Departmental classes
range from those that introduce the student to the problems of managing complex information resources
demanded by progressive firms to those that build applied skills with today’s computer-based analytical
tools —and everything in between.
Role of software in business
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Impact Of Information Technology In Business Communication

*IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS COMMUNI*CATION 

We are in the midst of a third major revolution in human civilization. First there was the Agricultural
Revolution, then the Industrial Revolution, and now we are in the Information Revolution. Information and
communication technology and a world wide system of information exchange has been building growth for
over a hundred years and physical technology and industry is not slowing down in growth - rather it is
accelerating. 
Information technology (IT) is playing a crucial role in contemporary society. It has transformed the whole
world into a global village with a global economy, which is increasingly dependant on the creative
management and distribution of information. Globalization of world economies has greatly enhanced the
values of information to business organizations and has offered new business opportunities. 
Today, IT provides the communication and analytical power that organizations need for conducting trade
and managing business at global level with much ease. To coordinate their worldwide network of suppliers,
distributors and consumers, organizations have developed global information systems that can track orders,
deliveries, and payments round the clock. This has been possible because of the development of IT in its
present form. 
In the broadest sense, information technology refers to both the hardware and software that are used to
store, retrieve, and manipulate information. At the lowest level you have the servers each with an operating
system. Installed on these servers are things like database and web serving software. The servers are
connected to each other and to users via a network infrastructure. And the users accessing these servers have
their own hardware, operating systems, and software tools. 
Also known as information and communication technology (ICT), IT is defined as the technology required
for information processing. In particular, the use of computer and...

A Seminar on “Business & Information Technologies” to reveal the findings, so far, of the survey of the
international project on this topic was held at IIT Bombay on May 25, 2005.

The “Business & Information Technologies (BIT) study” originated at the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA), to study the impact of new information Technologies on business and Industry
structure; work process inter-organisational relationships, concepts of control and hierarchy and so on. IIT
Bombay partnered in this project, for conducting the Indian part of the study. 

Prof. Uday Karmarkar, LA Times professor of Technology and Strategy and Research Director, Center
for Management in the Information Economy, Anderson School of Management, UCLA, Los Angeles,
spoke on the survey carried out in USA while Prof. Atanu Ghosh, School of Management, IIT Bombay,
revealed the conclusion of the first survey carried out in India.
 
Prof. Uday Karmarkar said, “The purpose of the BIT survey was ‘to develop a ‘base-line’ understanding
of the impact of IT on business practices worldwide’. We wanted to know how industries globally have
changed or are changing due to information technology.” He said that currently the research is being
carried out in various countries such as India, Argentina, Chile, France, Italy, Germany, Korea among
others. The survey was carried out among a range of industries such as FMCG, Retail, Telecom, BPO,
Pharma, Media and Entertainment, Finance etc. Speaking about major results of the survey in USA, Prof.
Karmarkar said that Information, Knowledge and Decision processes are being increasingly automated
due to increasing role of IT. Organisation structures are becoming more flat and span of control is
widening. IT has also enabled organisations to go global and expand beyond geographic boundaries.
Although it’s also taking its toll on the employee count. Commenting on changing global economic
scenario, he said that economies around the world are growing at tremendous pace. He further said the
employment market in US is shifting towards service sector from manufacturing sector. Indian economy
too is growing as a service oriented economy and people in service sector are paid more compared to
production.
 
Further he said, “USA is generally perceived as most technologically advanced country, whereas it lags
behind in the implementation aspect. Scandinavian Countries are far better technologically equipped than
US. Even Estonia is a world leader in e-Governance.”
 
Prof. Atanu Ghosh spoke about the findings of the Indian survey. Over 74 organizations participated in
the study. The survey comprised of a varied set of questions covering diverse business practices,
technology adoption, transfer, outsourcing and its impact on the organizational structure. The responses
were categorized into three categories, namely services sector, manufacturing sector and the financial
services sector.
The survey indicated that the Indian business is changing to deliver better value to the customers and
maintain their position in a fiercely competitive scenario. The survey produced some interesting results
with long term implications on the productivity and efficiency of the Indian business sector. Going on
with common terms with US, Indian findings also showed increase in number of employees facing the
screen across all sectors and organisation structure becoming flatter.
 
Further, it showed increase in the need for IT skills in lower levels of the organization. The demand for
executive decision making tools is increasing across all the sectors while Security is becoming a major
concern with all the organizations and the importance of disaster recovery and business continuity is
being realized. Outsourcing seems to be limited to market research in non IT and programming, network
management etc. within IT. Websites are largely being used as platforms to provide information, except
in the financial sector, where transaction processing services are also made available through the website.
Organizations are becomingly increasingly more conscious about monitoring of customer facing
interactions.
 
With increasing technology adoption and deployment, production costs, commercial costs, internal
communication costs and service costs have decreased with technology adoption while technology costs
have increased. Technology has also played a role in strategic areas including the understanding of
customer satisfaction for current products and services, competitor knowledge and customer buying
behavior. Over half the organizations surveyed are increasing production/services bases in other
countries, trade in other countries and distributors/branches around the world. Over a third reported an
increase in the number of countries in the supplier base.  Prof. Ghosh said that the second phase of the
study would resume soon in India with bigger sample size and more detailed study.
 
These presentations were followed by talks from Prof. Bernard Menezes, KReSIT, IIT Bombay on
“Enterprise Application Security”, Mr. V. S. Srirangrajan Asst. VP- Corporate IT, A.V. Birla Group on
“IT deployment at Birla Group: Challenges Faced and Benefits Gained.” The seminar culminated with an
enlightening panel discussion on “IT Deployment by Indian Business Sectors: Road Ahead”. Around 110
delegates had participated in the seminar from the academia as well as industry.

Role of ERP in Organization:-

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the latest high end software solution, Information Technology has
lent to the world of business application. An ERP software solution seeks to streamline and integrate
operations, processes and information flows in an enterprise, to synergize the resources of an
organization namely men, material, money and machine. In other words, ERP systems integrate all data
and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP will use multiple components of
computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the
use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.

Most organizations across the world have realized that in a rapidly changing business environment, it is
impossible to create and maintain a custom designed software package which will cater to all their
requirements and also be up-to-date. Realizing these requirements of organizations, companies have
designed and developed ERP software, which offer an integrated software solution to all the functional
processes in an organization.

Although, in the initial stage ERP originated in the manufacturing environment, now ERP software
solutions typically cover all basic business process/functions of any organization, regardless of the
organization's business or charter. A typical ERP module include: Manufacturing, Supply Chain,
Financials, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resources, Warehouse Management
and Decision Support System. These solutions are often incorrectly quoted as back office solutions
indicating that customers and the general public are not directly involved. This is contrasted with front
office systems like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems that directly deal with customers,
or ebusiness systems such as eCommerce, eGovernment, eTelecom, and eFinance, or Supplier
Relationship Management (SRM) systems. In reality, ERP modules are cross-functional and enterprise
wide software solutions. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production can be
integrated in one system using it. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and Information
Technology, it also includes; accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.

There are many different flavors of ERP that serve businesses' varying procedure types. An ERP solution
has numerous benefits depending on the type of business that it serves; these are business solutions and
industry solutions. The industry solutions are designed for people who are working in specific industries,
like finance, communications, education, healthcare to name a few.

Importance of ERP software for businesses:

ERP softwares business solutions are designed for companies that work in a wide variety of areas. IT
combines a large number of different elements into a single unit. Three of the most important ERP tools
available today are manufacturing, human resources, and finance.

The finance tools allow companies to successfully maintain their financial information like that of the
assets, accounts, budgets and cash. ERP can also assist a company in managing internal as well as
external factors affecting it. A company that uses ERP financial products can save a great deal of money
over the long term, the reason being, the productivity of the organization will be improved. Enterprise
Resource Planning is instrumental in getting rid of time consuming activities as paper management. A
company is able to study their processes, earnings, and performance by merging their operational
information with their financial information. Once this information is connected together, a company can
become more competitive and productive. Synergy is an important part of ERP solutions. The concept of
combining multiple processes into a single whole will allow the company to become successful in the long
term.

In addition to finance and business processes, it is also important to look at materials maintenance.
Enterprise Resource Planning will allow a company to successfully automate the process of buying
materials and maintaining them. There are modules that track the supplies that are purchased and can
also make calculations about how these materials should be distributed. It also becomes possible for a
company to predict the demand of the market based on history, economic statistics, and data from their
employees. They can even decide when a product should be produced, and they can do this based on
the raw material that is available.
 
 
Significance of ERP Implementation
Companies have to clearly know what enterprise resource is planning before thinking of implementing them. The
catch word of ERP implementation is speed. The faster it is implemented the quicker and better are the advantages
and delivery in terms of results. This early process has another hold. The returns are sought at a shorter period. This
deviation from the conventional practice has become the order of the day as far as many companies are concerned.
Formerly Business process reengineering played a vital role with respect to implementation. It is important to know
the components of Enterprise resource planning .Merely defining enterprise resource planning will not help in this.
This naturally paved way to development of gaps between the actual results and the one derived during the process
of foreseeing. 

Corporate Enterprise Outsourcing Companies providing IT services and SEO services likeSEOP have to clearly know
what enterprise resource is planning before thinking of implementing them,Oracle training london.The catch word of
ERP implementation is speed.Bedrock Energy Development, Inc., is a Denver, Colorado based independent oil and
natural gas company specializingin the acquisition and development of domestic oil and natural gas fields.

The faster it is implemented the quicker and better are the advantages and delivery in terms of results. For example,
cheap no teletrack payday loans as well as small business credit cards are issued much faster, with the help of online
credit card application forms and verifying through teleconferencing._This early process has another hold
on liquidation. The returns are sought at a shorter period. This deviation from the conventional practice has become
the order of the day as far as many companies are concerned for legal recruitment._According to Curtis Pope,
business process reengineering played a vital role with respect to implementation. It is important to know the
promotional product of Enterprise resource planning .Merely defining enterprise resource planning will not help in this.
This naturally paved way to development of gaps between the actual results and the one derived during the process
of foreseeing. 
read more

‘ What are the latest trends in ERP?

ERP calls for constant modifications and up gradations. ERP developers are facing tremendous pressure both from
vendors and companies. In this context it becomes important to analyze the erp's trends and modalities.

Some of the relevant issues are as follows:

Need based applications

Organizations had to implement ERP throught their systems irrespective of the fact whether they help in all the
functions or in one particular function. This was proving to be a big hurdle to the firms. In addition this remained as
the main disadvantage or setback of ERP. They had to purchase the whole applications even if it meant that most of
them would be idle except for the core function.

The latest ERP software programs have overcome this menace. They offer need based applications. The firms need
not be worried even if these Software Programs were not available. They were given the liberty to purchase and
install Software Programs pertaining to that particular function. This advantage has helped to increase the scope of
ERP not only among large firms but also small and medium business as well.

Expenditures
ERP was a very costly affair. Thanks to the intrusion of internet and open source applications. This has helped
S.M.E.'S to enter the market of prospective buyers.This has not only widened the horizon of S.M.E.'s but also
increased the usage among large firms.
These large firms were not able to invest huge money in spite of adequate funds. Now that the spending on ERP gets
reduced there are no hesitations to show the green signal for fear of heavy monetary outlay. It is encouraging to
notice the improving IT ERP trends.

Reduction in implementation time

ERP was discouraged by companies because they took such a long time to get installed and set the whole process
into action. Since this resource was spent excessively there were chances for reduction in potential business and
losing man-hours.

The current day ERP applications are less complex to install and train. This has reduced the amount of time spent on
ERP.Companies are thereby assured of spending lesser time for ERP.

Open Source, Web enabled and wireless technologies

These are three important elements that have rejuvenated the functioning of ERP.Open Source ERP has done away
with the hassles of paying license fees not only during installation but also whenever a modification is made. The
company is relieved from depending even for mince matters.

Web enabled ERP helps in making the enterprise operations go online. Any stakeholder or third party can access the
required information very easily and that too by sitting anywhere in the world. This proves to be of great help
especially during emergencies when the details are to be sourced with immediate effect.

Wireless ERP has helped organizations to make use of the communication channels effectively and efficiently. It has
made it possible for many elements to operate in ERP which were otherwise not possible. Wireless ERP is nothing
but sharing enterprise information through devices like internet and other devices making it possible for outsiders to
access the same.

Conclusion

ERP trends reflect positive signals for the ERP vendors and companies availing their service. It is important

to remember the fact that both the vendor and the company will be able to make use of any advantage

(including the modern facilities) only through proper coordination, teamwork and nurturing a cordial

atmosphere. Mere IT ERP trends will not help in this aspect.

What are the added features in ERP II?

ERP has a big challenger from its own community. Its successor ERP II has been talked about much. However there
are also arguments that it is merely an extension of ERP. ERP and ERP II have lot of differences. The popular myth
that ERP ii is the extension of ERP is not true. The comparative features of ERP and ERP II will explain them clearly.

Some of the added features of ERP II are as follows:

Specific coverage to individual elements

Enterprise resource planning did not cater much to the individual elements. On the contrary it was focused more to
macro parameters like departments, process and procedures. Since the micro elements escaped attention there was
no proper remedy for the defects and even if they were implemented they were not highly effective. ERP II has some
comprehensive features that not concentrates on individual elements but synergizes them and makes the functioning
of the concerned wholesome component more meaningful.
Applicable to all industries
The concept of erp enjoyed wide applicability in the manufacturing sector. In addition Retail and distribution segments
were benefited. They were also applicable to all industries and segments; however the benefits were not worth the
investments. Rather they were uncalled for. This is not to say that erp was not suitable to other sectors. Infact ERP
lacked the facilities that were demanded by these sectors. Naturally they were reluctant to accommodate ERP. ERP
II has overcome this drawback and thereby has made it available to all the sectors irrespective of the nature of
business or volume of transactions.

Covers more functions

ERP was designed to ease the conventional functions in an organization. If there were some new core functions they
did not come under the scope of ERP. ERP still helped in facilitating the business process however the outcome was
not to the desired extent. This limitation seemed to be a major handicap of ERP especially with the rapid
transformations in the organizational structure and functions.

ERP II has helped to remove this barrier by including maximum functions under its scope. It has not only facilitated in
bring noncoventional ,core and supportive functions but also the best practices but also the best practices followed in
the industry, other industries and the practices that were solely dedicated to the concerned industry,

Other advantages

Some other advantages of erpII include the manner in which it is employed in an organization and the

facilities provided by the same. ERP is prone to make use of internet facilities. However they are not used to

the maximum. On the contrary ERP makes a minimal use of them. However this is not the case with erp II.

ERP II has been able to draw maximum benefits from internet. Its contemporaries Wireless ERP and WEB

enabled ERP have helped in making this possible in addition to the special features of ERP.

The operation of ERP is more focused within the organization. It has a far reaching impact on external

factors. On the contrary ERP II includes both internal and external factors. It remains internal even in the

connection part. In the meanwhile every other area is given due importance when it comes to ERP II.

ROLE OF CRM :-
Your customer relationship management (CRM) system contains gold: information that can help your sales
and marketing department spot underserved markets, reward your best customers, fine-tune advertising
campaigns, and predict new opportunities. Without advice from IT, though, your marketing department is
like an explorer without a compass, certain of where it wants to go but without the tools to get there. And
without guidance from sales and marketing, your IT department is like a prospector without a map,
surrounded by terabytes of data with no idea where to dig for treasure.
Information enters your CRM system every day. You can't use all of it. These guidelines will help business
and IT work together to determine what's meaningful.
Top of page

1. Know the question before you look for answers

CRM data-mining projects should start with a joint planning session. First, the marketing department tells IT
its objective—for example, to promote a new product to existing customers. Next, IT helps marketing shape
the objective into a clear, specific question (such as, "Which of our current customers are most likely to buy
this new product?"). IT and marketing can determine what types of data are most relevant, based on past
customer behavior. Finally, IT pulls that data from the CRM system for analysis and creates a report with
simple, straightforward answers.
If IT does not understand the marketing objectives and the analysis focuses on the wrong data or
overwhelms the business side with extraneous information, you'll waste time and money. Regular meetings
through the project will keep IT and marketing aligned as the strategy evolves.
Top of page

2. Choose a cost-effective way to turn information into action

Many midsize businesses choose Web-hosted analytic solutions to report on CRM data, because they are
often inexpensive and don't consume precious IT resources. However, hosted service providers might not
provide real-time data or offer reports that are customized to your company's needs.
For companies that use Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Microsoft now offers a set of templates,
documentation, and source code to build real-time reporting tools such as dashboards as well as reporting
and predictive analysis tools. Available for free download at the CodePlex Web site, the Microsoft Dynamics
CRM Analytics Foundation makes CRM data available via the familiar Microsoft Office system interface, says
Christian Pedersen, senior director for Microsoft CRM.
The new tools are designed to integrate the CRM solution with Microsoft SQL Server, avoiding the time and
expense of a systems integrator, Pedersen explains. They also make CRM data mining less intimidating to
end users. The software reports into Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets, displays the results in Microsoft
Office Outlook, and places automatically updated key performance indicators (KPIs) on a Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server page, so reports are easy to understand and share.
Top of page

3. Use the right kind of data, not just a lot of it

An auto dealer can easily purchase a list of people who have recently visited Web sites advertising cars for
sale and compare it to the dealership's list of past customers. That might reveal which customers are ready
to buy again. However, that data alone doesn't suggest whether the customers are looking to buy the same
brand of car or whether they'll return to the same dealer. In other words, the kind of data worth mining
depends on your specific business needs.
One critical step is to quantify common customer behaviors. For example, the auto dealer could rank post-
purchase customer contacts on a five-point scale: one point for buyers who never returned to the
dealership, five for those who have their cars serviced there regularly. He could then assume that customers
with high scores who also look at online car listings are more likely to return to the dealership to buy
another car.
Unfortunately, IT will sometimes discover that the CRM system does not contain the type of data needed to
draw the desired conclusions—either because it's in other systems or because the company has not collected
it.
At that point, experts advise that you create a master customer record in Microsoft SQL Server to integrate
data collected in multiple systems. Next, use the CRM Analytics Foundation to populate the record from your
CRM database as well as financial, order management, Web analytics, and other systems.
Going forward, IT and business must collaborate to identify all the necessary information and the points
during the business process where employees should collect it. Business managers must create processes to
ensure that employees consistently capture the appropriate data. As Laurie McCabe, vice president of small
and midsize business insights and solutions at global consulting firm AMI-Partners, concludes: "The more
people who use your CRM system effectively in different ways, the more data you have with which to create
marketing campaigns."

KEY CONCPET:-

Business roles are roles that contain business content from CRM applications. Business roles are controlled by

different elements that define which work centers, direct link groups, logical links, and central search objects are

available for further customization on the business role level. Defining a business role determines what content is
visible to a user assigned to a specific role based on his given authorizations. Users log into their CRM system and

use predefined roles to access the applications assigned to the role.

Like many businesses, the success of your sales department is a crucial element to the overall
success of your business. Sales are the ultimate goal for your company. No matter how great a
product or service you may have, without an organized and effectively operating sales department
reaching out to prospects, managing existing client accounts, and tracking trends in your market,
your business will not grow.If you are looking for such objectives, Pegasys puts an end to all your
problems.We are partnered with ZOHO which is one of the leading providers of on-demand CRM
Software Worldwide.Thanks. CRM Sales

Best-in-class customer service management and support helps you to not only reduce costs and
improve customer retention, but with the right processes, it can be a vital tool for upselling and
driving more revenue. NetSuite CRM+ customer service management gives you a cloud computing
solution that's integrated with all other NetSuite functions, helping you improve customer
satisfaction, attract new customers and lower service costs.

Only NetSuite CRM+ gives everyone that interfaces with the customer—sales, support, service and
fulfillment—access to complete, key customer data in real time. NetSuite's 360-degree view of your
customers gives your service and support reps better visibility into customer issues and empowers
them upsell and cross-sell to drive more business. In addition, NetSuite's call center capabilities
help you assign, track and escalate cases to serve customers more quickly and efficiently.
Delivered "through the cloud" to any Web browser, NetSuite CRM+ ensures anytime, anywhere
access to customer service information, making it ideal for remote call centers and workers.

Benefits
 Track customer satisfaction in real time in order to address problems immediately and
enable better customer retention
 Provide support teams anytime, anywhere access to customer information—ideal for remote
support employees
 Link sales, service and fulfillment organizations to drive more revenue

 Accelerate case resolution times by providing support reps with complete customer visibility

 Increase response accuracy and reduce response times with an integrated knowledge base

 Use case escalation rules to ensure that your most valued customers always receive the
proper levels of support
 Stay on top of your support team's performance with real-time case data delivered directly
to your NetSuite dashboard.

Key Features
 Case Management
o Cut costs and improve workflow by automating the business processes associated
with customer support case assignment, management and escalation
o Route cases intelligently, enabling fast, efficient prioritization
 o Respond to customer cases across a variety of mediums, including e-mail, phone
and fax
o Log and analyze e-mail communications in order to better serve current and future
customers
o Route and track support cases according to product, issue, case type, partner or
customer, giving customers a specialist in each area to address their concerns
o Enable online case creation and self-service case updates.

o Knowledge Base Software

o Build an effective online knowledge base to help customers get the answers they
need, when they need them
o Give customers and partners 24/7 access to customer service at a much lower cost
than staffing your phone lines around the clock
o Organize and publish information into different types and levels of topics and
solutions
o Give service reps access to a complete knowledge base, enabling them to respond
faster to customer issues and reducing the learning curve when bringing on new reps.

o Customer Portal
o Give customers real-time access to such data as order status, order status tracking
and return authorizations
o Drive more return visits and greater customer loyalty

o Give customers the ability to enter trouble tickets online 

o Customize content to create a true one-to-one marketing platform, letting you

publish information to specific prospects, customers or entire groups.

o Time Tracking
o Automate and streamline the time tracking process, consolidating it quickly for
reporting and billing
o Keep accurate customer records by managing time within your CRM system rather
than in separate systems
o Get complete visibility into how your service and support teams are apportioning
their time
o Track time more accurately and use real-time metrics to improve time
management practices.

Role of supply chain management decisions in effective

inventory control
upply Chain (SC), which involves the configuration, coordination, and
improvement of sequentially related set of operations in establishments,
integrates technology and human resource capacity for optimal management of
operations to reduce inventory requirements and provide support to enterprises in
pursuance of a competitive advantage in the marketplace. A coordinated SC
integrates procurement, production, and distribution and links together suppliers,
manufacturers, distributors, customers and carriers in a network system that
allows for effective planning, information exchange, transaction execution, and
performance reporting. This paper addresses the structures of supply chain
management (SCM) and the activities involved in SCM decisions that help promote
profound improvement in efficiency and effectiveness in business operations. In
broader context, the paper examines the types of activities involved in SCM
decisions; the dynamics of the traditional SCM, the complementarities of
technology in achieving effective management of operations through enablers of
electronic data interchange (EDI) and quick response (QR) disciplines to
implement Just-in-Time (JIT) management techniques; and integrated SC and
inventory control as it relates to capacity imbalances and transaction costs.

1. INTRODUCTION

Supply chain management involves the movement of products, services, and information between and within
businesses, the creation of value, and support of enterprises in the pursuance of a competitive advantage in the
market place (Kilty, 2000). It involves the cooperation and coordination of activities of all parties for the production
and distribution of products to the final consumer with mechanism in place to optimize inventories across the entire
supply chain (Haan, et al., 2003; Viswanathan and Piplani, 2001). With effective management of products to create
added value and competition among firms move from national to regional and to a global level, new strategies are
being adopted by a number of manufacturers and retailers, particularly, in the manufacturing industries to gain a
competitive advantage in world markets (Kincade, Casill, and Williamson, 1983). Pressures from low-cost and the
new global competitive environment require companies to be more productive, react faster to market changes, and
maintain smaller inventories. These developments in the operation of businesses entail significant changes in the
traditional ways of manufacturing system (Park, 1994).

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses the role of Information technology (IT) in supply chain management. It
also highlights the contribution of IT in helping to restructure the entire distribution set up
to achieve higher service levels and lower inventory and lower supply chain costs. The broad
strategic directions which need to be supported by the IT strategy are increasing of
frequency of receipts/dispatch, holding materials further up the supply chain and crashing
the various lead times. Critical IT contributions and implementations are discussed.
Fundamental changes have occurred in today's economy. These changes alter the
relationship we have with our customers, our suppliers, our business partners and our
colleagues. It also describes how IT developments have presented companies with
unprecedented opportunities to gain competitive advantage. So IT investment is the pre-
requisite thing for each firm in order to sustain in the market.

INTRODUCTION:
Supply chain management (SCM) is concerned with the flow of products and information
between supply chain members' organizations. Recent development in technologies enables
the organization to avail information easily in their premises. These technologies are helpful
to coordinates the activities to manage the supply chain. The cost of information is
decreased due to the increasing rate of technologies. In the integrated supply chain model
(Fig.1) bi-directional arrow reflect the accommodation of reverse materials and information
feedback flows. Manager needs to understand that information technology is more than just
computers. Except computer data recognition equipment, communication technologies,
factory automation and other hardware and services are included.

                                               Integrated supply chain model

Bi-directional arrow reflects the accommodation of reverse materials and information

feedback flows.

Managers need to understand that information technology is more than just computers.
Except computer, data recognition equipment, communication technologies, factory
automation and other hardware and services are included.

The importance of information in an integrated supply chain management

environment:

Prior to 1980s the information flow between functional areas with in an organization and
between supply chain member organizations were paper based. The paper based
transaction and communication is slow. During this period, information was often over
looked as a critical competitive resource because its value to supply chain members was not
clearly understood. IT infrastructure capabilities provides a competitive positioning of
business initiatives like cycle time reduction, implementation, implementing redesigned
cross-functional processes. Several well know firms involved in supply chain relationship
through information technology. Three factors have strongly impacted this change in the
importance of information. First, satisfying in fact pleasing customer has become something
of a corporate obsession. Serving the customer in the best, most efficient and effective
manner has become critical. Second information is a crucial factor in the managers' abilities
to reduce inventory and human resource requirement to a competitive level. Information
flows plays a crucial role in strategic planning.

Supply chain organizational dynamics:

All enterprises participating in supply chain management initiatives accept a specific role to
perform. They also share the joint belief that they and all other supply chain participants will
be better off because of this collaborative effort. Power with in the supply chain is a central
issue. There has been a general shift of power from manufacturers to retailers over the last
two decade. Retailers sit in a very important position in term of information access for the
supply chain. Retailers have risen to the position of prominence through technologies.

The Wal-Mart & P&G experiences demonstrate how information sharing can be utilized for
mutual advantage. Through sound information technologies Wal-Mart shares point of sale
information from its many retail outlet directly with P&G and other major suppliers.

The development of Inter organizational information system for the supply chain has three
distinct advantages like cost reduction, productivity, improvement and product/market
strategies.

Barrett and Konsynsik have identified five basic levels of participation of individual firms
with in the interorganizational system. 

1. Remote Input/Output mode: In this case the member participates from a remote
location with in the application system supported by one or more higher-level participants.

2. Application processing node: In this case a member develops and shares a single
application such as an inventory query or order processing system.

3. Multi participant exchange node : In this case the member develops and shares a
network interlinking itself and any number of lower level participants with whom it has an
established business relationship.

4. Network control node: In this case the member develops and shares a network with
diverse application that may be used by many different types of lower level participants.

5. Integrating network node: In this case the member literally becomes a data
communications/data processing utility that integrates any number of lower level
participants and applications in real times.

Four fundamental mistakes made when determining information requirements are as

follows:

1. Viewing system as functional instead of cross-functional.

2. Interviewing managers individually instead of jointly.
3. Not allowing for trial and error in detail design process.
4. Asking the wrong question during the interview

Information and Technology: Application of SCM:

In the development and maintenance of Supply chain's information systems both software
and hardware must be addressed. Hardware includes computer's input/output devices and
storage media. Software includes the entire system and application programme used for
processing transactions management control, decision-making and strategic planning.
Recent development in Supply chain management software is:

1. Base Rate, Carrier select & match pay (version 2.0) developed by Distribution Sciences
Inc. which is useful for computing freight costs, compares transportation mode rates,
analyze cost and service effectiveness of carrier. 

2. A new software programme developed by Ross systems Inc. called Supply Chain planning
which is used for demand forecasting, replenishment & manufacturing tools for accurate
planning and scheduling of activities.

3. P&G distributing company and Saber decision Technologies resulted in a software system
called Transportation Network optimization for streamlining the bidding and award process.

4. Logitility planning solution was recently introduced to provide a programme capable

managing the entire supply chain.

Electronic Commerce:

It is the term used to describe the wide range of tools and techniques utilized to conduct
business in a paperless environment. Electronic commerce therefore includes electronic data
interchange, e-mail, electronic fund transfers, electronic publishing, image processing,
electronic bulletin boards, shared databases and magnetic/optical data capture. Companies
are able to automate the process of moving documents electronically between suppliers and
customers.

Electronic Data Interchange:

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) refers to computer-to-computer exchange of business

documents in a standard format. EDI describe both the capability and practice of
communicating information between two organizations electronically instead of traditional
form of mail, courier, & fax. The benefits of EDI are:

1. Quick process to information.

2. Better customer service.
3. Reduced paper work.
4. Increased productivity.
5. Improved tracing and expediting.
6. Cost efficiency.
7. Competitive advantage.
8. Improved billing.

Though the use of EDI supply chain partners can overcome the distortions and exaggeration
in supply and demand information by improving technologies to facilitate real time sharing
of actual demand and supply information.

Bar coding and Scanner:

Bar code scanners are most visible in the check out counter of super market.  This code
specifies name of product and its manufacturer. Other applications are tracking the moving
items such as components in PC assembly operations, automobiles in assembly plants.

Data warehouse:

Data warehouse is a consolidated database maintained separately from an organization's

production system database. Many organizations have multiple databases. A data
warehouse is organized around informational subjects rather than specific business
processes. Data held in data warehouses are time dependent, historical data may also be
aggregated.

Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) tools:

Many companies now view ERP system (eg. Baan, SAP, People soft, etc.) as the core of
their IT infrastructure. ERP system have become enterprise wide transaction processing
tools which capture the data and reduce the manual activities and task associated with
processing financial, inventory and customer order information. ERP system achieve a high
level of integration by utilizing a single data model, developing a common understanding of
what the shared data represents and establishing a set of rules for accessing data.

Conclusion:

World is shrinking day by day with advancement of technology. Customers' expectations are
also increasing and companies are prone to more and more uncertain environment.
Companies will find that their conventional supply chain integration will have to be
expanded beyond their peripheries. The strategic and technological innovations in supply
chain will impact on how organizations buy and sell in the future. However clear vision,
strong planning and technical insight into the Internet's capabilities would be necessary to
ensure that companies maximize the Internet's potential for better supply chain
management and ultimately improved competitiveness. Internet technology, World Wide
Web, electronic commerce etc. will change the way a company is required to do business.
These companies must realize that they must harness the power of technology to
collaborate with their business partners. That means using a new breed of SCM application,
the Internet and other networking links to observe past performance and historical trends to
determine how much product should be made as well as the best and cost effective method
for warehousing it or shipping it to retailer.

E-COMMERCE:-

Commerce includes two words trading and aids to trade. Trading means buying and
selling goods, service, and aid to trade means the ways by which trading has done. The
main purpose of business concern is to earn profit. To make profit it is necessary to
buying and selling. Buying and selling is an integral part of commerce.
Commerce includes two words trading and aids to trade. Trading means buying and selling goods,
service, and aid to trade means the ways by which trading has done. The main purpose of business
concern is to earn profit. To make profit it is necessary to buying and selling. Buying and selling is an
integral part of commerce. Thus, business and commerce cannot separate from each other. For business,
it is very necessary to include commencing the goods and services.
Commerce is an important word, which has related to business. Now the concept of E-Commerce
has come which is very popular. E- Commerce is an important word, which is connecting to
business. That concern to sell or buy goods and services in large scale to explore business, for
the transferring of goods and services from one place to another and receiving payment for all
this, this has done on net which provide business concern a wider market than manual market, E-
Commerce brings a new revaluation in the business world

Read more: http://bizcovering.com/e-commerce/e-commerce-role-in-bussiness/#ixzz127sJlivg

t provides global market to all the business concern which helpful for them to sell or buy the goods and
services to large number of people. It helps them to make more and more profit. Because profit is the key
of any type of commercial business, for becoming commercial it is necessary to do selling and buying of
goods and services. Commerce or E-Commerce and business are two spheres of a coin, which could not
separate. Without commencing of goods and services none business can achieve his target to earn profit.

Read more: http://bizcovering.com/e-commerce/e-commerce-role-in-bussiness/#ixzz127sSYBdy

Commerce and E-Commerce provides true and fair record of all the transactions of business, without
commerce or E-Commerce the records of business transaction cannot maintain, commerce or E-
Commerce saves the money of business providing systematic records of business transactions, it
provides accuracy, speedy and cheaply way to do business. Thus, in end we can say business is
incomplete without commerce or E-Commerce.

Read more: http://bizcovering.com/e-commerce/e-commerce-role-in-bussiness/#ixzz127sXCRvX

The Definition of E-Commerce

So what does e-commerce mean anyway? E-commerce is the pre-eminent buzzword of the
online business revolution. It captures the excitement and focus of this fast emerging market.
But it is more than a slogan or glib party line. At its core it embodies a concept for doing
business online.

Electronic commerce is the paperless exchange of business information using

electronic data interchange (EDI), e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, fax transmissions,
and electronic funds transfer. It refers to Internet shopping, online stock and bond
transactions, the downloading and selling of “soft merchandise” (software, documents,
graphics, music, etc.), and business-to-business transactions.

The concept of e-commerce is all about using the Internet to do business better and
faster. It is about giving customers controlled access to your computer systems and
letting people serve themselves. It is about committing your company to a serious online
effort and integrating your Web site with the heart of your business. If you do that, you
will see results!

The Internet’s role in business can be compared to that of the telephone. It is a way for
people to communicate with each other. It is also a way for a consumer to communicate
with a company’s computer systems without human intervention. In fact, the Internet is
a communication medium like the many others we use in business every day.

Think of the ways you communicate with people in business. The best way is face to
face. Body language, tone of voice, and facial expressions all help you understand what
the other person is trying to say. When you cannot meet face to face, you may use any
of a number of different means to communicate: a telephone, a fax machine, Federal
Express, the U.S. Postal Service, or maybe even a messenger service. These are all
ways to deliver or receive information, authorization, even shipments of goods and
merchandise.

The Internet is a reasonable alternative to all of those means of communication. Any

place and any way that your business communicates with its customers, you should
think about how you could have done it online. That is the power of e-commerce.

Can’t meet face to face? Send an e-mail with an attached photograph. When it comes
time to pay for merchandise, use a secured server to pay by credit card, or even digital
cash! The opportunities and situations in which online business is possible are limitless.

Components of an Internet Business

Every era of business yields new strategies and new ways of doing business. With the
advent of radio and television came the first mass-market advertising. Now, the Internet
has so radically changed business that the rules for corporate strategy that held for the
last 50 years (since the dawn of television) have begun to crumble.

There are some literal elements of commerce that are necessary for any transactions to
take place, which are as true for regular bricks-and-mortar commerce as they are for e-
commerce. First, whether you are doing business online or in the real world, you have
to have a product to sell or a service to offer. Then, you must have a place from which
to do business. In the traditional world of commerce this can be a physical store or, in a
more figurative sense, a catalog or phone number. In the world of e-commerce the
place from which you do business is your Web site.

Most businesses already exist in the bricks-and-mortar world of commerce. Adding a

Web site is a means to enhance their business. For Internet startups, the Web site is
the only place that they do business.

In both regular commerce and e-commerce you need to find a way to attract customers
to your place of business. This is embodied by your marketing strategy, and everything
from advertising to word of mouth fits into this category.

In order to do business, you also need a way to take orders and process payment. In a
retail store there are no orders. Customers simply find the products they want, get in a
line at the register, and pay the cashier. In e-commerce, orders have to be placed and
items shipped. Orders are usually handled through interactive, online forms. Money is
another issue easily handled in traditional commerce. Customers in a retail store pay by
check, cash, or credit or debit cards. Online customers cannot pay by cash or check,
only through electronic means. Also, there are issues of security that surround online
payment that do not come into play in the traditional bricks-and-mortar world. E-
commerce transactions have to take place through secure electronic connections and
special merchant accounts for accepting payment.

Once payment is collected, delivery of the product must take place. Fulfillment in
traditional stores is as easy as putting the item in a bag and handing it over to the
customer. Fulfillment in the world of e-commerce is more difficult, requiring shipping and
transportation similar to catalog and mail order businesses. For businesses that
integrate e-commerce into their existing business plan, fulfillment is as easy as hiring an
extra employee to ship online orders. In Internet startup businesses, fulfillment must
often be outsourced to a facility that can handle order processing and shipping in a
more timely and professional manner.

his Data Warehousing site aims to help people get a good high-level understanding of what it takes to
implement a successful data warehouse project. A lot of the information is from my personal experience
as a business intelligence professional, both as a client and as a vendor.

This site is divided into five main areas.

- Tools: The selection of business intelligence tools and the selection of the data warehousing team.
Tools covered are:
  Database, Hardware
 ETL (Extraction, Transformation, and Loading)
 OLAP
 Reporting
 Metadata

Is Data Warehousing Essential to Business Intelligence?

Over the last few issues of this newsletter, I have been writing about the impact of Enterprise 2.0 approaches on
business intelligence (BI). I intended this time to write about how business intelligence and data warehousing can
exploit the growing amount of business content generated by Enterprise 2.0 collaborative and social networking
technologies. I decided, however, that before I could do this, I first needed to review the role of data warehousing in
BI projects; because as companies move toward using new BI approaches (operational BI, for example), this role is
changing.

The title of this article is deliberately provocative. My objective is to encourage business intelligence professionals to
consider the role of data warehousing in new BI projects. In the past, data warehousing has been the cornerstone for
such projects; but I believe that in many situations, this is no longer true.

A Historical Perspective

Essentially, there are three main types of IT processing involved in running the business: business transaction
processing, business intelligence processing and business collaboration processing. Business transaction
applications run day-to-day business operations, while BI applications analyze those operations with the objective of
optimizing and improving them. Collaboration systems enable business users to share information and expertise
about business operations.

Prior to the introduction of the concept of business intelligence, most companies analyzed their business operations
using decision support applications that queried and reported directly on data stored in business transaction
databases. There were several problems with this approach. The five key ones are: 1) the data was not usually in a
suitable form for reporting, 2) the data often had quality issues, 3) decision support processing degraded business
transaction performance, 4) data was often dispersed across many different systems, and 5) there was a general lack
of historical information.

Data warehousing was introduced to help solve these data and performance issues. While there is no question that
data warehousing helped improve business decision making, it is important to realize, nevertheless, that it was
introduced primarily to solve design issues in business transaction systems, and also for performance reasons.

The emergence of business intelligence and business performance management (BPM) applications and tools further
enhanced business decision making by giving business users simpler interfaces, improved data analysis features,
and the ability to compare actual and planned performance. Although business intelligence and business
performance management applications typically process data in a data warehouse, this is only because of the five
issues outlined earlier concerning direct access to business transaction data. If these issues could be resolved, then
there would be no need for a data warehouse.

Traditional Business Intelligence

Traditionally, business intelligence has been used for many years for strategic and tactical decision making. This type
of processing involves intensive analytical processing of historical and summarized data managed in an enterprise
data warehouse. Data performance issues caused by centralizing data in an enterprise data warehouse have led to
the creation of data marts, which solve performance problems by spreading the BI processing across multiple data
stores.

The problem with data marts is that organizations often build them directly from business transaction databases,
rather than the enterprise data warehouse. This is because it is often quicker and easier to build a data mart than to
incorporate additional data into the enterprise data warehouse and then build the data mart from the data warehouse.
Another problem is that many organizations have more than one “enterprise” data warehouse. Multiple disconnected
data warehouses and data marts leads to data consistency issues, which data warehousing was supposed to solve in
the first place.  

There are many articles written about the problems of building dozens of independent data marts directly from
operational data, and I will not discuss these problems here. It is worth pointing out, however, that a data mart solves
most of the same issues addressed by an enterprise data warehouse with the exception that decisions sourced from
multiple data marts may be inconsistent in the same way that decisions based on multiple business transaction
databases can be inconsistent. This multisource issue could be mitigated by first integrating the business transaction
data, for example, into an operational data store or master data store. The issue of historical data would have to be
addressed, but this is solvable.

Historical Data and Current Data

The distinction between current data and historical data should be easy to define, but it is not. Data in a business
transaction data store is usually current, while data in a data warehouse is usually considered to be historical. The
issue here is, “What is meant bycurrent and historical?” Let’s look at an example.

If I have multiple telephone accounts with a telephone company, then (in simplistic terms) the company will have a
record showing my customer data, and a record for each of my accounts listing the telephone number, account
balance, billing data and so forth. When I make a telephone call, send a text message or access the Internet, I create
a call data record (CDR) that can be collected with other CDRs to analyze customer calling patterns, detect fraud,
etc.

At any given moment in time, the customer and account records will show the latest information about my current
status. This can be considered to be current data. As this data is updated with new address and account data, the old
data may be captured into a data warehouse for analysis purposes. The capturing process may be done at particular
moments in a time (a snapshot), or continuously, depending on how the data will be analyzed. Regardless, the data
in the data warehouse is historical.

The CDR data is a different situation. In general, once I make a phone call, the CDR for that call never changes.
When a telephone company captures the CDR into a data store for analysis, is the data current or historical data?
The answer is it is current data because even though the data ages over time, it is always the current version of the
data. What name do we give the CDR data store? I suspect most people would call it a data mart. Is this the correct
term? Does it really matter what we call it, other than the fact some people have the need to give things labels?
Regardless, we most probably don’t want to keep the CDR data in an enterprise data warehouse. It is useful,
however, to keep a historical record of the CDR analysis results because this shows trends and patterns over time.

If the CDR information is used to detect fraud, then the quicker the analysis can be done, the faster fraud can be
detected. The business intelligence application can process the data in-flight as it flows through the system, or can
analyze it in a persistent data store that is updated continuously with the CDR data. Data mining of past CDR records
can help set up the business rules for doing this detection. This fraud detection application is a good example of an
operational BI application.

Operational Business Intelligence

There are a growing number of operational business applications similar to those described previously for CDR
analysis. The business benefit of these applications is that they can help companies become more agile by analyzing
data during intra-day operations. The ultimate example of this type of processing is algorithmic trading, which
employs complex event processing (CEP) and stream analytics to optimize trading operations. The response time of
these analyses are a fraction of a second. In this type of processing, it is not feasible, or even necessary, to store the
huge volumes of data involved in a data warehouse. The results of BI processing, however, may be kept for future
use.

The model for many operational business intelligence applications is capture data, analyze data, persist results (i.e.,
they analyze data before persisting it). This is different from the traditional BI model of capture data, persist data,
analyze data, persist results. BI applications that analyze Web traffic and business activity on commercial websites to
 track buying trends, optimize prices, and so forth is another example of operational BI. Although these applications
analyze data in-flight, they may also use historical data in a data warehouse to assist in the analysis.              

Why is this discussion important? The main reason is at present, business intelligence is synonymous with data
warehousing. This thinking is wrong and needs to be changed. Data warehousing is a component of business
intelligence, but business intelligence may employ data in other data stores. In some cases, a BI application may not
even use data managed in a data warehouse. The tight connection between business intelligence and data
warehousing is causing terms such as virtual data warehousing and virtual BI to be used to describe other types of BI
processing. These terms are unnecessary and just confuse everybody.

Another issue is that people have forgotten that data warehousing was created to overcome deficiencies in business
transaction systems. Many of these issues are now solvable. My concern is that data warehousing has become a
system in its own right and that companies are now extending the data warehouse into other application areas such
as master data management and content management. This is completely the wrong direction and must be argued
against.

The bottom line is that data warehousing is still an important component of business intelligence, but it is no longer
the foundation on which all BI projects have to be built.

 Colin White