Use of IT Systems for Operation in Business
Tesco Supermarket is one of the leading retail sectors in the United Kingdom. The supermarket helps in serving their customers through their retail stores and also through the online market. The Tesco supermarket was founded in the year 1919 by Jack Cohen as a group of market stalls. The supermarket business has expanded over the years and has covered several areas such as clothing, electronics, petrol, software and books. The operations of the supermarket business are the largest in the area, and they are planning to introduce IT systems within their business operations. With the rise in globalization in the retail sector, it has been seen that IT plays a significant role in the activities of the supermarket business. The use of information technology could be helpful in speeding the business processes and would help in delivering several benefits of saving the cost of the company.
The Tesco supermarket should implement IT systems within the different functional areas of their business such as sales, marketing, finance and distribution. A proper information system within the supermarket business chain would be helpful in supporting the operation of the business, storage of the business records, payroll system, preparing and storing the documents and many other functions. The implementation of the information systems within the Tesco supermarket would also contribute to controlling and monitoring the various activities within the business sector. The proper use of IT systems within the Tesco supermarket could be helpful in making appropriate decisions for the benefit of the business within the supermarket (Beynon-Davies 2013).
The introduction of the IT systems within the Tesco supermarket would have a significant impact on the business strategies. These could also help in the management of the finance, sales, distribution and marketing of the daily figure of sales within the supermarket. Tesco supermarket has the potential to implement several strategies and measures within their areas of business.
Use of IT Systems for Operation in Business: The information systems, which could support the Tesco supermarket are known as transaction processing systems (TPSs). These are meant to automate the activities of recurring and hence ensure that the operations are performed accurately and speedily. At the operational level within the Tesco supermarket, Tesco makes use of electronic data interchange (EDI) to manage the daily control of their stocks, cash bills and sales amount per region. The purpose of EDI systems within the supermarket business would also help to reorder their stock of items automatically from their suppliers. They acquire their supplies from over 1200 different kinds of suppliers (Van Der Aalst, La Rosa and Santoro 2016).
Use of IT Systems for the Analysis of Data
The main concerns of the Tesco supermarket at the operational level of business are transaction processing and inventory management. The systems of inventory management can assist the executive managers of Tesco with every aspect of the control of their stock. A new kind of technology, which is known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology would be able to keep an accurate count of the quantities of each product. Other systems confirm that the shelves of the supermarket should be kept stocked.
The speedy checkout systems within the Tesco supermarket along with the self-checkout scanners ensure the efficient processing of transactions. With the implementation of IT systems within the Tesco supermarket, they can keep track of the number of customers in the store at a particular time (Sekaran and Bougie 2016).
Use of IT Systems for the Analysis of Data: Based on the IT systems, which would be installed in the Tesco supermarket business, they would be able to keep track of the purchasing choices of an individual. The IT systems, which are connected at the time of checkout of the items help in deciding and analyses the data collected. They keep track of the sales of the supermarket. The finance of the company is also analyzed with the proper management of the IT systems. The IT systems should be efficient enough to keep a record of all the activities within the supermarket business chain (Tang and Zhang 2013).
Use of IT systems for Decision Making: The managerial levels of the Tesco supermarket deals with the decision making processes and activities of the business. The operations performed in the market are considered to be semi-structured. Repeatable patterns and some established methods also categorise them. The focus of the supermarket business chain is on the tactical making of decisions. The primary objective of the decision making process is to improve the effectiveness of the business of the organization. At the managerial level, the resolution supporting systems would help the managers of the company to monitor, control and assist in the activities of decision making (Power, Sharda and Burstein 2015).
Increase Profitability using DBMS – The used database management systems within the Tesco supermarket would help Tesco to deliver strong margins of profit for the supermarket. The managers at Tesco supermarket make use of essential IT systems to manage, access and to run their business efficiently. The database systems would help in providing the records of the past, present and future stock of materials. With the help of this system, it can keep a record of the monthly statements of the expenses and the profits gained by the organization. Based on the sales figure of the store, they would keep knowing about the sales figure of the store (Rainer et al. 2013).
Use of IT Systems for Decision Making
Improve Productivity using DBMS – A proper database management systems within the Tesco supermarket would keep a hold of the details and quantities of the stock of their products. The database management systems would replace the manual methods of the inventory control, and this would reduce the cost, time and efforts of the supermarket.
In the previous methods, staff used to keep track of the quantities of the store. With the introduction of database management systems, the stock levels would be automatically updated in real time. The improved levels of the stock help in ensuring that there are adequate amounts of products in the supermarket whenever a customer would be purchasing. The increase in the productivity would help in serving customers and also increase the customer satisfaction (Chang 2016).
Improve Efficiency using DBMS – The database systems within the Tesco supermarket would be helpful in controlling the efficiency and profitability of the business performance. The database provides the supermarket business with an updated and accurate, updated idea of the levels of stock to meet the demand of the customers for each product. This would ensure that there are enough stocks and there would be no problem of overstocking of products (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016).
Saving Time/ Resources/ Money using DBMS – With the induction of database systems within Tesco supermarket, it would be helpful in avoiding the time of delivery of products. As the database systems would mostly manage everything within the business, hence the use of human resources would be lessened to a certain level. Therefore the money, which would have been spent on the workforce resource, would be saved to a certain degree. This money would be spent on the maintenance of the hardware and software of the IT systems within the supermarket (Bralia and Frosolini 2014).
Excellent Customer Service using DBMS – Developing a good relationship with their customers is a significant area of focus for the Tesco supermarket business chain. With the help of database systems, customers would not have to wait in long queues at the time of paying their bills. The list of the purchased items by an individual would be stored in their database systems, which would ensure calculation of the prices quickly and thus the customer would receive the number of their bills. This would help in providing faster checkout of the payment systems and therefore develop a good relationship with their customers.
Increase Profitability using DBMS
Effective Marketing using DBMS – With the help of database systems within the Tesco supermarket, there is a high possibility of effectiveness in the marketing sector. The data would be collected and stored in the database systems. The data collected, which would be analysed, could be used to determine a series of purposes. Based on the parsing of the data, the knowledge within the database would be helpful in shaping the strategy of the business of the organisation (Coronel and Morris 2016).
2.1 Features of Transaction Processing System (TPS), Knowledge-based Management System (KBS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems:
The main features of the TPS, KBS and CRM systems within the Tesco supermarket are described as:
- The TPS within the Tesco supermarket helps in the processing of different kinds of information for all the business transactions. This system involves the collection of the information about the products of the store, modification of the product related information and the recovery of the operations of the data. The TPS systems ensure reliability, performance and consistency.
- The KBS systems help in the generating various business related information in the Tesco supermarket. The system would assist in increasing the staff performance, client satisfaction and quality of the service.
- The CRM systems within the Tesco supermarket would help in developing better relationships with their customers. The IT systems within the supermarket would assist in gaining proper feedback from the customers. This would help them in deciding the areas in which they are lacking, and thus they would improve their business productivity (Khodakarami and Chan 2014).
2.2 Different Methods of Data Processing related to Tesco Supermarket
There are different methods of data processing within the Tesco supermarket. The data is captured within the business systems. With the implementation of the IT systems within the supermarket, different methods have been developed to process the data. The single click is an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool, which is implemented within the Tesco supermarket. The OCR technology helps in capturing consistent machine processed data. Bar Code Recognition method of data processing is also a valuable tool, which is used for trading of the stocks within the Tesco supermarket. The barcodes would be a proof of the delivery notes, gift cards and many other products.
2.3 Ensuring data security and data transfer security in Tesco supermarket using IT system
The concept of data security deals with ensuring that the data would not be subjected to unauthorized alteration. The safety of the data in the Tesco supermarket is highly essential. This would be highly useful as the data of the customers have to highly confidential. Customers rely on the supermarket IT systems for their privacy of the data. Hence the Tesco supermarket would have to ensure the proper security of the data of the customers. Any leak of the private information of the customer’s data would prove fatal to the reputation of the supermarket.
2.4 Ensuring data protection in Tesco Supermarket using IT system
Tesco supermarket should keep the security systems at their priority as with the introduction of the IT systems. They ensure the protection of the data with a wide variety of tools and techniques. The IT systems within the Tesco supermarkets provide email alerts, anti-phishing strategy, monitoring of the accounts. Cloud based security experts are also being hired to provide better security systems for the business-related transactions within the IT systems of the Tesco supermarket.
2.5 Ways to ensure accurate data collection and validation in Tesco Supermarket
With the introduction of database systems and IT systems within the Tesco supermarket, the methods to collect the data have been improved gradually. The IT systems validate the data obtained from the different products, which are purchased by the customers. This ensures that the products are provided to the customers in a hassle-free manner.
The Advantages are described as follows:
- With the help of DBMS, the store chain could diagnose and create advantages based on cost and differentiation.
- The DBMS could help in keeping a track record of the list of the items that are arriving at the store, their prices, the stock of those products that are put in the trays and many others (Ross 2016).
- The DBMS could also increase the efficiency of the business. All the data on the purchases of the products of the store chain would be recorded whenever a customer purchases the products. With the help of this, the store would also keep a record whether a particular product is available at the store at that specific point in time.
- The DBMS in the store chain would keep a real time check of the products, which are held on display at the store. They would help in tracking the products as when the product is purchased by a customer, the stock of that particular product, the expiry date of the product and various other kinds of information of other products (Laudon and Laudon 2016).
The Disadvantages are described as follows:
- The IT systems though would keep track of each product could prove to be fatal at times when the systems are subjugated to security risks.
- If the DBMS systems fail, there would be a massive problem of keeping a proper track of the products.
- The track of the purchased items from the store chain would also be affected, and thus this would affect the profitability of the store chain.
- If the DBMS fails for a prolonged period, then this would profoundly affect the business of the store chain. They would not be able to track the activities of the store chain (Musa, Gunasekaran and Yusuf 2014).
There are various suggestions and recommendations, which should be considered by the business workplace to cover a range of problems:
- Storing and Managing a Large Volume of Data – The data of the different customers, product related details and the records of the sales of the business are the significant areas of concern for the business workplace. There should be proper scheduling of the items, which are in stock. Web-based management systems such as online tracking of each product should be taken into consideration (Sagiroglu and Sinanc 2013).
- Communication and Sharing of Information – There are different kinds of information, which are related to the details of the customers, the products in a particular store chain and the aspects of the sales of the store within a specific period. These details should be shared with the top managerial levels. Based on the shared information, they would decide about taking proper steps to increase the sales of the organization.
- Security and Information Protection – This is one of the critical aspect related to a store chain. The details of various products of the store and also the customer details is a significant area of concern for the business. They would not take any risk of letting their data to leak from within the organization. Hence, maintenance of high level of security such as proper IT security experts and anti-virus software for the organization is a significant prospect.
- The Gain of a Competitive Edge over other stores – Based on the data collected by the business within the store chain, the managerial levels would be able to take necessary steps to implement various strategic moves for the betterment of the industry of the store chain. They would try to provide better promotional offers to their customers, which might be helpful in attracting the customers to their store. The top-level managers within the store chain should also consider the different products of the store. New and innovative products with better offers would be attracting customers to purchase them. This would be a significant step in gaining a competitive edge as compared to the other store chain (Christopher 2016).
References
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Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.
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