Analyzing Toys "R" Us Case.

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Report: Analyzing Toys R Us Case        Date: December 4, 2001

Information Management Coursework:

Analyzing Toys “R” Us Case

Executive Summary

Toys “R” Us began in 1948 as a business dedicated to fulfilling the needs of children. Those needs included toys, clothing, furniture, accessories and more. Today Toys “R” Us is an $11 billion international chain with 1,450 stores nationwide. Not only does Toys “R” Us have physical locations, they also have a very strong Internet presence. To operate a business this size requires an immense staff with each individual bringing their knowledge and experiences to the company. With such a large number of stores and a diverse group of employees, the ability to communicate is essential.

Toys “R” Us recognized that as a company they could improve their communication processes. To make improvements would require identifying needs and solutions. Part of the solution would mean evaluating their technology and knowledge management practices. It also meant taking a hard look at the inefficiencies of the company’s current communication practices. Any solution, also meant making sure the employees felt comfortable using it.

The coursework task will look at the value of the Toys “R” Us solution including the following topics:

  1. Analysis of Toys “R” Us Case Study
  2. Case Study Investigation
  3. Contrasting the solutions
  4. Individual Reflections

1. Analysis of Toys “R” Us Case Study

Staying ahead of the competition is critical to any retail business. With Toys “R” Us it is key due to the large number of competitors that they have. To stay on top of the competition, they wanted to make sure that communication was flowing smoothly. Poor communication could lead to the repetition of the same tasks, resending of memos and e-mails, loss of marketing opportunities and unorganized meetings. All result in a loss of time and money.

The company headquarters requires that all stores execute business initiatives. In 1998, over 600 initiatives were carried out in the chain. Without a global communication solution, it becomes extremely difficult to stay on top of these initiatives. Toys “R” Us was not without technology solutions. They were using e-mail extensively to communicate. However, with several e-mails floating around on the same issue, not everyone was current on the latest initiatives. In addition, employees new to the issues were confused and had no way of reading previous messages.

Another communication problem creating large expenses was training. IT staff spent large amounts of time traveling to individual sites to train employees. When a process or application was updated, it meant traveling all over again to retrain. If someone were not able to attend a training, they would have to rely on someone who did attend. For employees with busy schedules, it became difficult to fit in multiple trainings.

Toys “R” Us decided to use a Microsoft® solution to enhance their communication practices. The solution combines Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft NetMeeting®. The IT department decided to use a total Microsoft solution to avoid integration issues. Supporting an integrated system is also much less complicated and the IT department does not have to stay current on more than one platform or application suite. By providing a standardized set of applications, the employees felt very comfortable using the solution. As a result, the IT department has less training to perform and receives more acceptance from the employees.

The biggest communication advantage came through public folders. These folders are shared company wide. Now when an initiative is under discussion, all communications are filed under the appropriate folder. Employees can very quickly pick up the current message thread and contribute to the discussion. As a result, initiatives are not lost and excellent ideas are acted on much quicker.

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NetMeeting takes care of the training issues through its conferencing options. Toys “R” Us uses this option to remotely train their employees. Now employees can sign up for classes that fit their schedules and IT professionals no longer spend long hours traveling for training purposes. Class sizes are smaller and employees have a better opportunity to work one-on-one with their trainer.

The IT department also uses the public folder system to track support issues. In addition, they keep track of hardware each executive uses and the costs to support it. With their system, they are able to ...

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