Their Use of ICT
They use ICT extensively within the sales department. They use ICT for their website, which is designed to sell their products to customers and give them more information about the product.
The hardware used
They make extensive use of modern computer hardware. They use a graphics tablet to draw some of the images they need for the adverts. They use a colour inkjet printer to out their adverts and check them to make sure they are ok before they send the copy over the publisher. They send to the publisher by means of email so they need a computer that is connected to the internet. The website is run from a web server within the office and this is also connected to the internet.
They types of software used
To produce their marketing campaigns they use a word processor, which is Microsoft Word. They also use desktop publishing software, Microsoft Publisher. A lot of their adverts designed using a graphics package called Photoshop. They design their web pages using Dreamweaver.
Advantages of ICT in their Job
They are many advantages of using ICT in the sales department. It makes it easier for them to produce their adverts and it also makes it easier for them to type letters. Since hand writing le tters for them would take a long time.
Disadvantages of ICT in their Job
The ICT that they use is quite complex, so they need to make sure that the people using it are trained to do so. Also using the graphics tablet is quite difficult to use and requires lots of talent.
An example of their system
This particular example revolves around sending out a mail shot to all the schools in the country, telling them about their product and inviting them to their seminar.
There are 3 mains inputs
- 1 person will draft a letter by hand that later another person can type
- A person will design a leaflet on paper and then transfer it into Photoshop and then create it on the computer
- Finding the database for all the names and addresses for all the schools
There are 3 main processes
- Creating the letter
- Creating the flyer
- Merging the data from the databases with the letter
The stored data consists of the names and addresses from their database.
The output is the letter that has been mail merged with the addresses and the flyer.
How they communicate with other Departments
They are a small company so they don’t to communicate officially between each other often. They use their computers to send and receive files that they have finished i.e. when a person has finished a document they will send it to another person, so they can print the document.
How they communicate with external company’s
Externally they communicate with the publishers via email so that they can send a copy of the leaflet via an attachment. They communicate with customers via email and telephone.
Improvements that could be made to their ICT use
They could improve by making the database they have more detailed. So they could produce store detail of who has purchased their products, what they have purchased and when they have purchased it. This means that they would be able to filter out the mails, because they would know what schools use their products.
