Assignment : Information Systems for Managers

Answer 1:

Introduction:

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to destroy the lives across the globe disturbing
economies impacting various industries including aviation, automobile,
pharmaceutical ,hospitality, IT services. E-commerce is dealing with with the challenges
posed by this unforeseen health hazard. Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are the heart
of any economy .In India there are more than 60-70 million SMBs which plays an extremely
crucial role by contributing to a noteworthy portion consumed by spending and it also
boosted retail GDP. Many sectors like hospitality and travel as well as manufacturing
industries have struggled throughout this year, e-commerce has seen a highly successful in
2020. It has since exceptionally huge growth and probably will continue in 2021. Online sales
have increased this year due to closure of brick-and-mortar stores, demolishing online sale
records.

Concept and Application:

In non-retail environment, selling of products directly to consumer is termed

as direct selling. Several intermediaries are eliminated in product distribution, such as the
regional distribution centre and wholesaler in direct selling. Products are shipped from the
manufacturer to the company doing direct sales, from there it reaches distributor and then to
the consumer.

Direct Selling to consumers is referred as business to consumer(B2C), Commerce between

businesses is referred to as business to business(B2B). B2G are direct transactions between
business and government departments, whereas G2C are transactions between government
departments, which is usually referred to as e-governance. Transactions between consumers
to consumer are termed as C2C.

The way business is done in India is been commutated by E-commerce By 2026 ,the Indian
E-commerce market is anticipated to grow to US$ 200 billion from US$ 38.5 billion. Online
retail sales in India is anticipated to grow by 31% which will reach US$ 32.70 billion in
2018, led by Flipkart, Amazon India, and Paytm Mall.

In e-commerce, the business can be managed with limited infrastructure and manpower.
Limited stocks are kept. The buyer can view an assortment of goods on e-commerce websites
as virtual images. These goods may be hoarded with the manufacturers. The business need
not be restricted to the geographical location. The cost of the goods for the seller is less due
to cost savings on sales employees as well rent of the shop.

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The benefit of this new trend is beneficial to buyer too. The buyers can shop at their
convenience any time, as sites are accessible 24×7. Also, the buyer can place order from the
comfort of home without travelling long distances. Due to this lot of time and effort is saved
for the buyers. In online shopping , comparison can be done for the price and quality of the
goods and hence buyer can make an informed decision and have choice of enormous brands.

During the Covid situation, Amazon supported more than 60,000 manufacturer and resellers
of small and medium sized business to export the goods to 12 different marketplaces around
the world. Amazon enabled more than 8 lakh artisans and weavers through their Karigar
program and 2.5 lakh women entrepreneurs through the Saheli program.

Amazon India has announced collaboration with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
in Nov-2020. Customers will be able to book and pay for their LPG cylinders until the
delivery due to this partnership.

Amazon India has opened 'Made in India' toy store, in accordance with the government's
‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision in Nov-2020. The store will allow thousands of manufacturers
and vendors to sell toys driven by the Indian culture, folk tales and toys that advocate creative
thinking and are locally crafted & manufactured.

Amazon India associated with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
(IRCTC) to empower the users to reserve train tickets on Amazon in October-2020.

Amazon India invested over Rs. 700 crores ie, US 95.40 million$ into its payment unit,
Amazon Pay in October-2020.

The Government of India has introduced various initiatives, such as Digital India, Make in
India, Skill India, Start-up India, and Innovation Fund, since 2014. The timely and successful
execution of such programs are likely to support growth of E-commerce in the country.

 
Conclusion:

The E-commerce industry has been directly influencing micro, small & medium enterprises
(MSME) in India on the assumption of several factors i.e. means of financing, training and
technology and has an appreciative domino effect on other industries as well. Indian E-
commerce industry has been on an upward growth direction and is expected to outperform
the US to become the second largest E-commerce market in the world by 2034. Technology
enabled innovations like digital payments, digital advertisements, analytics driven customer
engagement and hyper-local logistics will likely support the growth in the sector. E-
commerce sector’s growth will also improve employment opportunities, revenue from export
will increase, tax collection by ex-chequers will increase, better products and services to
customers will be provided in the long-term. By 2022, Smartphone usage is expected to rise
84% to reach 859 million.

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E-retail market is anticipated to continue its strong growth – In Financial year 2020 ,it
registered a CAGR of over 35% to attain Rs. 1.8 trillion (US 25.75 billion $). Over the next
five years, the Indian e-retail industry is envisaged to exceed ~300-350 million shoppers,
drive the online Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) to US$ 100-120 billion by 2025.

Face to Face selling will be limited even after the pandemic is over.

Answer 2:
Introduction:

E-Governance is termed as the use e-commerce and e-business technologies for

providing government services, transactions, integration of previously existing services,
exchange of information through information portals.

The whole administrative process is made convenient, efficient, transparent, fully

accountable, and responsible. India being a fast-growing economy to emerge as a world
leader, it is a must to implement e-governance in corporate as well as Government sector.

Some of effective successful application of E-Governance projects are e-

Mitra project(Rajasthan), e-Seva project(Andhra Pradesh), CET(Common Entrance Test)

Concept and Application:

E-governance is the application of information technology to the government
processes to make it S (smart) M ( Moral) A(accountable) R (Responsive ) T(Transparent)
Governance. Main pillars of e-governance are Process, People, Technology & Resources.
Types of Synergy in E-Governance:
G2G (Government to Government): The transaction of information and services that
occurs within the perimeter of the government is known as G2G. It can be horizontal, i.e.
among various government entities and vertical would mean interaction between state,
national and local government entities or it can be within different levels of the entity.
G2C (Government to Citizen): The interaction between the government and public is
G2C interaction. Here an interface is set up between government and citizens, which
empowers citizens to get access to wide variety of public services. In this type of
interaction ,citizen are given the essential rights to share their views and grievances on
government policies. They also have right to information.
G2B (Government to Business): In this interaction business class people can interact
with the government. Its ambition is to exclude red-tapism, saving time, cost and provides
transparency in the business environment during interaction with government.
G2E (Government to Employees): The government of any country is the biggest
employer and it must deal with many employees. ICT helps in making the interaction
between government and employees fast and efficient, due to which their level of
satisfaction is raised high. Employees are provided perquisites and add-on benefits.

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Benefits of E-governance :
 Cost Effective
 Speed, Efficient and convenient.
 Minimum use of hardcopy, which also is better for environment.
 Increase in interest of Citizens
 Easily accessible.
 Building strong and effective information chain
 To bridge gap between India and other developed countries.
 Reduction in delays, Red-tape and corruption.

Details of G2C initiative conducted by Ahmedabad municipal corporation :

 The Ahmedabad slum electrification project ( Ref:// The Ahmedabad slum electrification
project (Gujarat, India) (gnesd.org))
AMC started electrification of five slums in 2001 and scaled upto 710 slums in a span
of 7 years with a population of 5 million and an area of 190sq.km.
 Zero Waste Ahmedabad ( Ref:// Zero Waste Ahmedabad Road Map_01-5.pdf
(ceaa360.com))
Till 2031 : AMC has planned to implement policies and strategies, and to raise
awareness amongst private, business, industrial, scientific and research communities
in Ahmedabad. It is focussed to work together towards a resource efficient and zero
waste society

Apart from the above specific achievements from AMC, in several other states of India
following several G2C initiatives have benefitted the citizens.
 In 2007 :Connected Villages through Wireless services.
 E-Suvidha: Provides services like Birth certificate, marriage certificate and
information related to agriculture.
 National Tax information system project.
 For a Child: Birth Certificate, Health care
 For a student : school admission, e-learning, Examination results.
 For youth: Employment services, Vehicle registration, driver’s license, Passport/Visa.
 For Family: Agriculture, Land record, Property Registration, marriage certificates,
Taxes, utility services, municipality services.
 For Senior Citizens: Pension, Insurance, Health Care, Death Certificate.

Limitations and challenges of e-governance:

 Budget
 Poor IT Literacy
 High setup cost and technical difficulties
 Lack of electricity in rural areas
 Corruption

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  Cybercrime/Leakage of personal information
 Lack of integrated services
 Population
 Lack of communication between different departments.
 Different languages

Conclusion:
Inspite of various challenges, India has several awarded winning e-governance project
and that has helped India to minimize corruption, provided efficient and effective quality
services to its citizens
Some of the major projects are:
E-governance project in urban area:
 Transportation:- Services provided by e-governance in this area are Issuance
of Timetable of buses, Provision of booking facility for Interstate transport,
Transportation Improvement Program, Regional Transport plans, Congestion
Management Process, Transportation Demand Management.
Project in Agriculture field:
 Comprehensive Modernization of Land Records (CMLR):- This project is
started by the government of Andhra Pradesh. It integrates various functions
of property registration, mutations and updating of field survey maps
E-governance in Health
 Online Vaccination Appointment for International Traveller:-Citizen centric
application for the purpose of vaccination of the persons proceeding abroad
and issuance of International Health Certificate
The Digital India program will bring digital revolution not only with the country but also
globally. Its timely and efficient implementation will open various new opportunities for the
citizen.
Answer 3 a:
Introduction:
Pune, India
In India, Pune is the ninth most populous city .In Pune’s smart city initiatives consists
of rebuilding the lighting. “Digital Experience Centre” provided the public with a glance of
planning required to upgrade the infrastructure. Pune has opened free and paid Wi-Fi in
selected areas. A Smart City Operations Centre put together data from various departments
in the city and provides a extensive overview of functions within the city at any demanded
interval. The city has launched a fleet of electric buses which has helped to enhance air
quality. Pune also has used various digital models for improving the traffic situation in the

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city. Pune being one of the IT hub, even Google has showed interest by providing Wi-Fi
hotspots in the city to support Pune’s smart city initiative.

Concept and Application:

The following characteristics of Smart City has influenced my thought process.

1. Smart energy:

Residential as well commercial buildings are using less energy and are efficient as far as
energy conservation is concerned. With the use of smart streetlights by using LED Lights and
intelligent networks they have saved lot of energy and turned into profitable transactions.
Smart meters are installed in the building to monitor the energy consumption. SCADA
system is also installed for the entire water network of entire city. This helps to save energy
as well as water requirements are also monitored and prevents loss of water. Energy audit is
conducted of all electrical equipment so that less efficient machineries can be replaced by
highly efficient electrical equipment and if needed network is upgraded. This helps in disaster
recovery and improves the response time for field operation. In streetlight network smart
streetlight controllers on every streetlight pole is installed which allows each pole to be
monitored centrally from Command Control Centre and it can be monitored on mobile
phones through mobile app. These streetlights are monitored through LoRa ( Long range)
technology of TATA

2. Smart transport

Smart transport controlled the traffic and facilitates easier transportation of goods and
people using various technologies. It also supports in reduction of accidents, reduction of
pollution and promote healthier lifestyle. - BI tools builds report from operation data which
enables stakeholders to take decisions for better operational efficiency. For tracking purpose,
GPS based location tracking devices mounted on the vehicle as essential source of data. Fare
collection mechanism is automated and technology within the transport ecosystem. Accurate
and timely transit information is provided for the passengers. Designing and modifying
transit routes are done using Scheduling/dispatch software.

3. Smart Infrastructure
Large volumes of data can be analysed and based on results ; better infrastructure can
be planned. IoT , Big data and several technologies can be used to integrate the needs of
intelligent infrastructure. Leh being a tourist destination of India, it is essential to have
intelligent infrastructure. Many administrative changes can be done with the help of data.

Conclusion:
Smart Cities provides better service to the entire population by networking with
various smart devices through internet. If Leh is converted into smart city then It would
enable Integrated Operations , help in making informed decision as well as Real time Data
Analysis can be done which would in turn help to be more Proactive than Reactive.

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Answer 3 b:
Introduction:

Ref:// New Technologies in Smart Cities - Innovation & Technology Blog (e-zigurat.com)

Concept and Application:

 IoT in Smart Cities
Various devices such as lights, sensors, meters are connected to collect the data and
analyse the data. These analysis helps to improve public utilities, services, and
infrastructure. I.e. IoT can be used for real time communication for knowing the status on
traffic, enhance recycling of waste and water.
 Cloud technologies
While developing a smart city, it is essential to have scalability, security and storage
as well as data processing capabilities for various users and enterprises. Cloud is used
accommodate PC, server files, web pages, meta-data.
 5G
– 5G technology will sanction the interconnection of more than 50 billion connected
objects (IoT)

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 – The data transmission speed will reach 10 Gigabits per second, that is 100 to 1000
times faster than that of 4G.
– According to EU data, the 5G technology will achieve an energy saving of 90% on
current consumption.
– The implantation of 5G will necessitate the installation of tens of thousands of small
cells that will replace big cell phone towers and will contribute to a denser and more
connected network.

Conclusion:

Framework of a smart city involves support of the base technology of

infrastructure and Transmission technologies. Its not possible to make a shift towards
smart city without the infrastructure of technology. Main stakeholders such as
government , companies, logistics agents play an important part in the absorbing the
technology and making the change. Data collection , Storage and analysis are also the
main attention point for the smart cities. Various technologies help in recycling,
improving energy efficiency, controlling traffic and in turn the tourism opportunities will
be enhanced.