Importance of Strategic Information System Answers for Students

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Information System. Answer: Introduction Strategic Information systems are developed for business initiative. They provide competitive advantage to an organization. An organization is made of various components. It is very important that there should be integration, where all departments are linked together. Certainn departments in an organization are not that important and there are certain that are important. One such department, that is important is Accounts department. Accounts department keeps all the records of transactions and all other accounting related operations. Changes in the technology pattern has also affected accounts department. Automation and integration of packages offered requires services and accounting operations by numerous suppliers in the market. Australia has also witnessed this change, presence of providers who provide services and accounting operations to the customers. Organizational Background Online retailing is growing day by day and many organizations in Australia and in other countries who are in this field. They have captured a huge market share and have been satisfying the customers by providing a good quality of services. Woolworths Limited can be taken for example, has retail stores which offers a wide range of products like groceries and many more. Organization structure of Woolworths consists of many levels where the resources are allocated. These are top management, leadership level, operational employees and others. Combination of these resources from different levels is very important for Woolworths to attain its goals (Woolworths 2017). Various aspects of modern organizational structure It is observed that there are several levels in which the resources of Woolworths has been placed. Woolworths can achieve is goals only when all these levels they collaborate. But such integration is currently absent from Woolworths and in order to get an competitive advantage over the other major players in the market Woolworths need have an integration of sysetms and sub-systems within the organization. System Acquisition Method Many system acquisition methods can be applied in Woolworths case. The organization can use custom software and they can also apply the necessary functionalities with the help of commercial software. The best method will be the use and application of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) (Yang and Tamir, 2015). ERP will help organization to cope the various issues related to the organizational structure. The process of sales in Woolworths can be divided in four stages The objectives of business are the inputs of the sales process which results in customer satisfaction as an output. There are other sub activities as well that falls in between. Controlling Problems and Frauds It can be seen in the figure of the flowchart above that there are four stages in the sales process comprising of activities and sub activities in each stage. Consequently problems related to monitoring and controlling occur. Tracking manually and managing these activities is not easy due to operational complexity (Ryan 2016). Therefore, automation of system should be used with tactics for better controlling and monitoring in the process of sales. Due to the various activities, frauds occur and malpractices have been observed in information handling and exchange. It is very important for the organizations to avoid situations of fraud. These kind of fraudulent puts the reputation of the organization at risk and also the put the organization at legal battles. Organizations must and they at most times monitor the fraudulent activities that might occur. Implementation and Development Accounts department being the most important department of an organization, is completely operational on paper based records and manual processes for carrying out accounting operations. Change in technology has also affected the accounts department, which has introduced the application of automated systems. There are automated and integrated packages that offers necessary services and accounting operations are offered by many suppliers in the market. A shift and transformation can be seen in the pattern of customer satisfaction. This shift is because of the technology which has brought changes in this area, to fulfill the customer requirements and satisfy them. Before there were no complaints from the end of customers about the long queues and long waiting hours. But now there are too many complaints regarding the long queues( Bonstra 2013). If there is a downtime in system, the customer satisfaction level and customer involvement will fall down. Likewise, the performance of systems has also changed the customer satisfaction and involvement levels (James, 2016). Size of the Market in modern times Size of the market in modern times has changed a lot from the past. It plays a very important role and affects the strategic information system of various organizations. More than 135,000 employees work in 11,000 firms which provide automated and integrated services (Bankwest, 2015). A growth in revenue and profits are expected at 6%, with such a large market share( Afpbb 2015) Market leaders and their competitive advantages Accounting industry capture a large market share and market size. Based on the demands of the customers there are many providers, they have created a goodwill in the market. Reckon is a market leader in the area of accounting package (Majewsky, Wagner and Farlin 2016) . The distinct characteristics of Reckon is given below. Goodwill in the market It ensures the safety of the money invested It gives the ability that can integrate the systems and subsystems. Application of latest technology for faster processes (Bankwest 2015) MYOB MYOB is an accounting software and has large market size and share. Based on the customer demand, the providers have taken a hold in the market to offer customized automated accounting software package. The features of MYOB is given below Real-time image can be seen with the help of this softwareOne can easily do Point of salesIt is not dependent on the network issues for better results.Follows the set standards and the policiesProvides excellent scalability and supportability ( MYOB 2016) Xero The back-end processing of Xero is very fast which results in very less time consumption in response. Easy execution of processes and reconciliation of tasks The integration with rest of the systems is very easy (Miller, 2016) Saasu The collaboration with rest of the systems is very easy It has a strong customer base The software provides excellent scalability supportability and adaptability One can find many currency as well as language option (Galliers and Reidner 2014). Intuit QuickBooks It is also an accounting software package, a market leader that provides customized accounting services. The distinct features of Intuit QuickBooks are: A reasonable price is charged from the customers for the services providedTill no there has no issues have been detected with the performance of Intuit QuickBooksThe operations related to data and their management is excellentIt provides free payroll servicesIt has a mobile application as wellThere has never been any incidences of security breaches ( Dwedi et al. 2015) Cost of Accounting Software Packages Type of cost Reckon MYOB Xero Saasu Intuit QuickBooks Basic Package $5 is charged with a period that is valid for one month $50 charged with a period that is valid for one moth $9 is charged with a valid period of one month $15 is charged with a valid period of one month $12 is charged with a valid period of one month. Advanced Package It is based on additional services $99 is charged with the valid period of one month $70 is charged with a valid period of one month $180 is charged with a valid period of one month $21 is charged with a valid period of one month Table of Costs Limitations Many issues and challenges are faced by the users in terms of security while the apps are used There are times, when the net costs are not disclosed by the providers to the customers The providers do not provide system manuals and the relevant documents which makes it difficult for the users to use the application After post-delivery, services are not good( Wali, Sadq and Rashid 2016). References Afpbb, (2016) The Australian Accounting Industry. [online] Afpbb.net.au. Available at: https://www.afpbb.net.au/Resources/TheAustralianAccountingIndustry.aspx [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017]. Bankwest, (2015) Accounting Services Industry Report. 1st ed. [ebook] Bankwest. 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