Integration of Information System within the Organisation’s Operations with particular focus on CRM, Supply Chain, and Knowledge Management:
In order to start its business in UK the Bakers Square will have to take some important decisions regarding the operations of the bakery and restaurant. Some of important aspects in this regard are of supply chain management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and knowledge management. For this purpose, it is important for the management of the company to apply the business process management approach to manage the operations (Rosander, 1992).
Important domains or business functions which are involved in the business of the Bakers Square are as follow:
- Retail operations and management
- Human resource management
- Marketing and Customer Relationship management
- Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
In order to come up with effective and efficient information technology system for the bakery and restaurant, it is important to first analyse and understand the overall business model of Bakers Square. This in turn will allow the management to design the information technology system according to the specific needs and demands of the bakery and restaurant. The business model of the Bakers Square is presented in the figure below:
The management of the bakery and restaurant will have to keep in consideration different operational objectives and targets while entering in the UK market. There should be proper integration between all departments and at the same time between the regional office in UK and headquarter. Along with this the retail outlets and restaurant should also be integrated with the regional office and headquarter in order to make sure that all activities are performed in effective and efficient manner. Lastly, in order to make sure that the same taste, quality, and service is provided to the customers of the UK it is important for the management of bakery and restaurant to establish proper system for knowledge transfer and management. All these objectives can be accomplished with the help of the well planned and well implemented information technology system (Rainer and Cegielski, 2012).
In order to formulate effective and efficient information technology system for the operations management, it will be beneficial for the management of bakery and restaurant to analyse the overall operations of the organisation with the help of the business process management or input process output analysis (Slack, Lewis, and Bates, 2004). With the help of this approach, the business or organisation is considered to be a whole system with different processes which are managed and improved. This approach allows the organisation to identify and explore the value creation processes and thus formulate strategies accordingly (Zairi, 1997). The business process management view of the Bakers Square is presented in the image below:
On the basis of the above image, that shows the important inputs, processes, and output of the bakery, it can be concluded that the information technology system should be formulated with the objective of integrating the main activities and resources of the bakery and restaurant in order to generate the required output. These main activities and resources include the supply chain management, human resource management, knowledge management, and customer relationship management.
In order to create competitive advantage over other bakeries operating in the UK market, the main objectives which have to be accomplished are as follow:
- Providing the customers with the same high quality, taste and service
- Creating good and strong relations with the customers
- Providing the customers with the high quality product on timely basis
In order to accomplish these objectives, the operational objectives which have to be fulfilled are as follow:
- Establishing a strong culture and environment of information sharing in order to manage the transfer of knowledge. This will allow the management of the bakery and restaurant to make sure that the same quality and taste is provided by all retail outlets located in any part of the world.
- Creating and establishing a highly responsive supply chain strategy in order to make sure that the retail outlets and restaurants are provided with the fresh and high quality raw material for the baking and cooking purpose.
- Integrating the data about the customer preferences and needs in order to providing the customers with high quality customer service and overall customer experience.
All these objectives can be accomplished or fulfilled with the help of an Enterprise Resource System (ERP) implemented all across organisation (Rosander, 1992) as shown in the image below:
Implementation and Advantages of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System:
The implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system will beneficial as it focuses on the integration of the main internal business operations and processes of the organisation (Rainer and Cegielski, 2012). The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is based on the integrated of different modules and units with a central database. This database facilitates the process of collecting information and data from different modules and transferring it to different applications and report generations in order to support the overall operations of the organisations.
The addition of information by any one module or unit will result in sharing of information to all authorised business processes and units. The modules of the ERP system can be customised according to the needs and requirements of the organisation (Madapusi and Miles, 2011). Hence, the implementation of the ERP system will facilitate the organisation in the process of improving and enhancing the overall business operations including supply chain management, customer relationship management, and knowledge management.
Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for the Bakers Square:
The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) will be beneficial for the Bakers Square as it will allow the management of the bakery and restaurant to accomplish all objectives and targets. The benefits accrued by the Bakers Square by implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are given in the image below:
Integration of all Business Functions and Operations by ERP:
As explained above the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system will allow the Bakers Square to connect and integrate all business process and operations. This in turn will streamline and align all operations of the bakery and restaurant while expanding into the UK market. Hence, the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system will contributes toward the integration of all business processes and thus improving the overall operations management (Greasley, 2009). The business model of the Bakers Square, after the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has been presented in the image below:
List of References
Greasley, A. (2009). Operations Management. UK: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Laudon, K. & Laudon, J. (2012). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Madapusi, A., Miles, G. (2011). ‘Routines in enterprise application systems.’ Management Research Review, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 75-97
Rainer, R., and Cegielski, C. (2012). Introduction to Information System. UK: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Rosander, K. (1992). ‘The need for parallel operations-planning systems.’ Integrated Manufacturing System, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 75-97
Slack, N., Lewis, M., and Bates, H. (2004). ‘The two worlds of operations management and practice: can they meet, should they meet?’ International Journal of Operations Management and Production Management, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 372-387
Zairi, M. (1997). ‘Business Process Management: a boundary less approach to modern competitiveness’, Business Process Management Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 64-80.
