Apple Merging Technology, Business, and Entertainment
All the four items that is data, information, business information and knowledge are something that defines the insight assets of an organisation. Data is something that is available in the form of raw numbers, rows and columns in a database. On the other hand, data that is useful for the organisation is termed as the information. Business intelligence is the next form of the information where the information gathered is converted into knowledge (I??K, Jones & Sidorova, 2013). Knowledge is something that is gained with the help of business intelligence. This is the reason for which all the above mentioned factors are important for Apple. In context of the iPad, the pricing structures of the Apple accessories can be termed as data, the collection of data under the heading of a same person is information, process used to convert this information of the details in iCloud is Business Intelligence and inheriting of the suitable information is knowledge.
Apple is one of such company that has grown over the years in the field of technology and innovation. The capitalizing of the Apple products in the form of iPhone, iPod and iPad has provided an additional boost to the company. After Apple was pushed to a stage of bankruptcy, the management team of Apple has meticulously used the different forms of information, the various tools of information technology has been utilised by the organisation effectively (Gershon, 2013). The positive side of Apple as an organisation is that it is destined towards servicing the best for the customers for providing a quality customer experience. The feedbacks from the people had made Apple to come up with a standpoint in the field of technology and science. In addition, Apple is only one company that allows people to sell their own ideas under their name.
In fostering with a particular business in the commercial market, an organisation needs to have good terms with the customers by providing a quality service to the customers. The customers are the valuable assets of any organisation. They are key stakeholders who define the profitability and the stability of the organisation in the commercial. Thus, it goes without saying that maintaining a good relationship with the customers is essential for the company. Apple does exactly the same by focussing on the customers. Customer satisfaction is of prime importance to apple for which the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) wing of Apple will allow the organisation to have a competitive advantage over the other competitors in the market (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). The CRM will also be advantageous, as the data entry of the organisation will be automated. It will also have the potential to add revenue to the enterprise.
Vail Ski Resorts Goes High-Tech for High Touch
The Vail Ski Resorts have opted for the implementation of number of the systems for betting the services in providing a premium customer system. The three types of systems that have been adopted by the Vail Ski Resorts include the involvement of the Vail’s season pass, lift line information, RFID lift tickets and key passes, and the SAS Customer Intelligence software. The Vail’s season pass allows the customers to pick up tickets online, link the PEAKS card to the credit card and accumulate the points for future use. The lift line information can be obtained by the skiers with the help of social networking, streaming alerts and the Witter account. The RFID lift tickets and key passes are focussed towards scanning the tickets and the passes for tracking data with radiofrequency (Chandra, Soni & Keshari, 2014). The SAS Customer Intelligence software is focussed in collecting customer information in a single database.
The systems extremely important for the Vail Ski Resorts because these systems help them to critically perform the decision-making objectives that in turn help to provide customer satisfaction. These are achieved with the help of the collection of customer insights. Feedbacks from the customers through these systems allow the resort enterprise to improve the business operations. The season pass provides benefits to the customers through the collection of useful information. The lift line information helps to get a minute-by-minute update about the congestions in the slopes. This betters the process flow. The RFID helps to track the number of lift and the vertical speed ascended each day. The SAS customer intelligence on the other hand helps to predict the habits of the customers through the help of retrieving the stored information in a single database (Cooke & Zubcsek, 2017).
The systems discussed in the precious paragraphs portrays high importance for the Vail Sky Resorts in the critical decision-making. The Vail’ season pass is extremely important in the decision making because it can identify the members of the PEAKS Rewards membership program and can offer the necessary benefits with the accumulation of the redeemable points. The lift lines are efficient enough to figure out the amount of congestion in the slopes with the help of received updates through social networking, streaming alerts and the resort’s own Witter account (Hudson & Thal, 2013). The RFID is beneficial because it helps to track the number of lift and the vertical speed ascended each day. The most important of all the system is the SAS customer intelligence software that is entitled towards predicting the habits of the customers through the help of retrieving the stored information in a single database.
Walmart
Both of the IS and IT can be used effectively towards the betterment of the services offered by Walmart. The IT systems have been used effectively by Walmart for quite a period of time. It has used the IT effectively in the fields of inventory, administration, customers and suppliers management. Technology has always been hand in hand with the business processes of Walmart with the use of computerized accounting system as the first technological investment (Yue, Rao & Ingram, 2013). It also developed Point of Sale (PoS) system that is capable of identifying the sold units, creation of sales receipt and storing of information for future analysis and the reordering purposes. Walmart also invested in RFID tags for meeting the purpose of the inventory distribution management (Wild, 2017). The IS and the IT systems at Walmart are focussed towards reducing the transactional and the operational costs.
In order to foster in the global market, the CIO of Walmart had to go through a lot of challenges. These challenges were prominent due to the fact that the areas of continuous development and technological innovation were still in the stages of inception. In the initial stages, Walmart suffered a lack in the customer involvement, for which it had to work a lot in the upcoming years. In the 1980’s Walmart was trailing to K-Mart but later it was able to recover from the position with the effective usage of technology and innovation (Joseph & Kuby, 2013). Walmart also faced criticism from several sources regarding the use of eco-friendly substances. The most important challenge of the lot is the involvement of the customers because providing the best customer service and value for money had helped Walmart in the involvement of customers for the growth.
To foster in the commercial market it is very essential for a business to get the assistance of the Information Technology. With the help of Information Technology a business gets the opportunity to conquer the greatest area in the market due to the fact that IT opens a doorway of opportunities for the business sectors to have a competitive advantage with the outside world. Walmart is one of such big businesses that got the continuous support from the Information Technology. IT has enabled Walmart to reduce both the transactional and the operational costs along with maintaining a stable relationship with the suppliers (Eason, 2014). In addition, IT has also helped them to offer products at a nominal cost that in turn helped them to acquire a competitive advantage over the others. IT has been a boon in the growth and profitability of Walmart.
Insight Assets: Data, Information, Business Intelligence and Knowledge
The Information Systems play a vibrant role in the uplifting the structure of any business in the commercial market. Right from its inception, the business organisation have been able to taste the fruits of their success with the reliability of the Information Systems. Not only in the areas of operation but also in providing strategic excellence, Information Systems for the enterprises have always been praiseworthy. The Information Systems also allow the business organisations to develop a competitive advantage over the rival organisations by keeping a close track on the companies’ activities (Stair & Reynolds, 2013). In addition to all this, the Information Systems pave doorway of success for the business organisations by providing them a suitable opportunity for the continuous development. IS assists the organisations by figuring the possible way outs for the profitability.
Supply Chain Management or the SCM can be defined as the drift of services and the resources along with the involvement of the processes that are aimed at transforming the raw materials into the finished products (Christopher, 2016). It is focussed towards intelligently using the resources of the business to make the best out of it in maximizing the customer value and gaining a competitive advantage over other businesses in the same genre. SCM will be very much beneficial for the company of Zappos because it will enable the company to use the resources effectively thereby turning the raw materials into the finished products and store them as inventory. In addition, it will help to value the customers and will also help to have a competitive advantage over the other enterprises in the market.
Customer Relationship Management or CRM is one of the parts of management that deals with the practices, technologies and the strategies that are useful for the business organisations in managing and analysing the customer insights and interactions (Choudhury & Harrigan, 2014). CRM has a goal for improving the relationship with the customers thereby inculcating the percentage of the customer retention. This enables the organisation to develop a growth in the percentage of sales. Zappos with the implementation of CRM will be extremely benefitted because it will help the company to improve the relationship with the loyal customers thereby attracting new customers. The retention of the customers of Zappos will be facilitated with the implementation of CRM. This would in turn drive the percentage of sales within a particular period of time.
Customer Satisfaction and CRM in Apple
As per the recent market trends it has become very important for the organisations to invest on the implementation of the management information systems. Some of the basic management information systems include the involvement of the Supply Chain Management or the SCM, the Customer Relationship Management or the CRM and the Enterprise Resource Planning or the ERP. For a connected corporation, Zappos would need to implement on these information systems because it would be beneficial for the organisation in reaching the business objectives with ease. The SCM would help Zappos in effectively utilising the resources of the company. The CRM on the hand would help the company to establish a stable relationship with the customers. Lastly, with the assistance of ERP, Zappos would be able to predict the patterns of sales procedure and take necessary measures (Ahmad, & Cuenca, 2013).
The company of Zappos was sold to Amazon.com for a price of $880 million. This transfer of properties made the employees of Zappos to share a revenue of $40 million in stock and cash while the management team of Zappos remained unmoved. The sale to Amazon would allow Zappos to utilise the classic warehouse and the supply chain of Amazon (Morgan, 2016). This would help in increasing the revenues of the company. On the other hand, this might have an impact on the loyal customer of Zappos. The sale to Amazon might affect the well-known Zappos culture where the customers would no longer be able to avail the premium customer experience that they used to be served with before the handover of the assets took place. Moreover, the relationship with the customers might be disrupted.
With the handover of the properties to Amazon, the company of Zappos has got the opportunity to use the classic warehouse and the supply chain of Amazon. These two acquisitions might prove to be the greatest factors of success in increasing the percentage of sales and the satisfaction of the customers thereby catapulting the revenue of the company (Warrick, Milliman & Ferguson, 2016). The classic warehouse would enable Zappos to get hold of the maximum inventory that Zappos did not have previously due to the small size of the company. The supply chain on the other hand would enable Zappos to use the resources effectively so there is notable dip in the waste reduction. This would also help in the pertaining to a specific cost benefit structure.
References
Ahmad, M. M., & Cuenca, R. P. (2013). Critical success factors for ERP implementation in SMEs. Robotics and computer-integrated manufacturing, 29(3), 104-111.
Chandra, P., Soni, P., & Keshari, R. K. (2014). RFID-based ticketing for public transport system: Perspective megacity. International Journal of Advance Research in Computer Science and Management Studies, 2(5).
Choudhury, M. M., & Harrigan, P. (2014). CRM to social CRM: the integration of new technologies into customer relationship management. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 22(2), 149-176.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Cooke, A. D., & Zubcsek, P. P. (2017). The connected consumer: Connected devices and the evolution of customer intelligence. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 164-178.
Eason, K. D. (2014). Information technology and organisational change. CRC Press.
Gershon, R. A. (2013). Digital media innovation and the Apple iPad: Three perspectives on the future of computer tablets and news delivery. Journal of Media Business Studies, 10(1), 41-61.
Hudson, S., & Thal, K. (2013). The impact of social media on the consumer decision process: Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2), 156-160.
I??K, Ö., Jones, M. C., & Sidorova, A. (2013). Business intelligence success: The roles of BI capabilities and decision environments. Information & Management, 50(1), 13-23.
Joseph, L., & Kuby, M. (2013). Regionalism in US retailing. Applied Geography, 37, 150-159.
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information system. Pearson Education India.
Morgan, R. (2016). Banking’s’ Amazon Moment’. American Bankers Association. ABA Banking Journal, 108(6), 20.
Stair, R., & Reynolds, G. (2013). Principles of information systems. Cengage Learning.
Warrick, D. D., Milliman, J. F., & Ferguson, J. M. (2016). Lessons learned from Zappos on what it takes to build high performance cultures. Organ Dyn.
Wild, T. (2017). Best practice in inventory management. Routledge.
Yue, L. Q., Rao, H., & Ingram, P. (2013). Information spillovers from protests against corporations: A tale of Walmart and Target. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(4), 669-701.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
