Unit 3 Business Information Systems

Although fewer people work on the online shopping service, Sainsbury's have made a tremendous amount of sales on the online shopping service and have made their customers very happy.

Competitive.

Sainsbury's is competitive because they have the same products as other similar companies. Sainsbury's reduces the price of those products and maintains the quality of the product as the other similar companies do not. That is why Sainsbury's are more competitive.

Productivity.

Sainsbury's has its own brand milk which the company makes bottles for the milk and fill the bottles up with fresh milk.

Sainsbury's did employ staff to do that in which the staff did not improve the productivity for the company. So Sainsbury's used IT to program machines to make bottles for the milk and to fill the bottles up with fresh milk. The machines are very fast and effective at doing this than the staff was able to do this; the machines make a tremendous amount of bottles in a very short time, so now Sainsbury's are more productive.

Supporting decision-making.

Sainsbury's has an employee who records all the information of products from last year such as the price and the quality and the number of sales of the product. The employee holds all that information on a database. The sales manager then checks all the information from last year for a particular product and makes a decision to reduce the price of the product with the same quality for this year.

Communication.

Sainsbury's uses email to communicate with customers such as any questions and feedback from customers and also any enquiries to deal with.

The company also uses email to communicate with staff, to send documents as attachments which is very quick and effective.

Some of Sainsbury's staff uses a web cam and instant messaging software to communicate with colleagues to discuss important issues if they were unable to meet face to face direct.

Company Image.

Sainsbury's has a website where customers can read about the company as well as shop online. The website also allows customers to ask questions about the company.

The company has a very good sales record because of their low prices and good quality products. In return customers are very happy and continue to shop at Sainsbury's.

Here I will explain how Sainsbury's would have to change if they did not use IT.

Sainsbury's uses tills to serve their customers at their stores. IT is used to function the tills.

If Sainsbury's did not use IT to function their tills they would have to use paper and pen to write down all details of the products which is bought by customers in which would take a lot of time as the staff members would have to calculate the total of the products themselves and in return would make many customers waiting to be served frustrated and angry in which the companies image would ruin.

Sainsbury's has an online shopping facility on their website where customers can buy products at the touch of a button.

If Sainsbury's did not use IT then they would not be able to have an online shopping facility, in which the company loses an incredible amount of sales as many customers nowadays prefer to shop online than to go direct to the store.

Sainsbury's uses IT to program machines to make products.

If the company did not use IT then they would have to give this duty to their staff in return may take longer, encase a member of staff is unwell and does not come to work then the other staff members would suffer as they are one person short and making those products would take an awful long time in which the whole company suffers.

Now I shall describe how Nike uses IT.

Nike has a website where they have an online shopping service where customers can buy all goods by Nike such as trainers, tracksuits and joggers. Many other sport shops such as all sports sell Nike products in their store and on their site.

Nike uses IT to communicate such as by using a web cam, headphone and a microphone to talk and see other employees of the company in a different country.

Nike uses IT to make graphics in most of their advertisements on the television and the internet. They do this to advertise their products to the public.

Nike uses IT to make their products such as trainers and hooded tops by using IT to program machines to make the tops and the trainers. It is very fast and efficient by using the machines.

Nike uses IT to make magazines of their products.

By doing so Nike uses publishing software which is done by using IT. Nike uses the software's tools to place the pictures and the information of their products onto the magazine which helps Nike to advertise their products worldwide to the public.

I shall now describe why Nike needs IT.

Nike needs IT to stay in business as IT is very essential for the company's uses.

For example Nike has an online shopping service where many customers would buy products from around the world in which Nike gains the number of sales.

I shall firstly look at Efficiency.

Nike is very efficient as it uses raw materials for their clothes and makes full use of the material. Nike buys raw materials to make their clothes and none of the material is wasted. In return of this work, Nike has made a lot of good quality clothes in which they sell to customers who are very pleased with Nike's products.

Productivity.

Nike has many people working for it. At Nike offices where financial work is done for the company also any questions, enquires and suggestions are dealt with.

If the staff members who are working at the office deal with all those tasks in different departments for example someone to deal with suggestions and enquires and someone to deal with questions and somebody to deal with the financial work for the company then the work can be done very quickly and effectively in which the company has increased their productivity of services.

Competitive.

Nike is exceptionally competitive as it has reasonable prices compared to many other sport brands. Nike maintains good quality and decreases the prices of their products.

This is why Nike is a competitive company.

Decision-making.

Nike has a sales leader who looks at the number of sales of an item in the past and then decides to improve the quality of a product and lower the price slightly.

Communication.

Nike communicates with employees from around the world who work for Nike.

They use Fax machines to send handwritten documents and hand drawn drawings of products to each other. It is effective and faster than by using normal mail.

Company image.

Nike has a good image to the public because they produce and sell good quality products at low prices. Nike has also a website where they answer all the questions asked by their customers via email or telephone. Nike sell all kinds of fashion wear such as trainers, hooded tops, joggers, t-shirts and caps. Because of the variety and different types of clothes, customers are very happy of the clothes and products Nike sell.

I will now explain how Nike would have to change if it did not use IT.

Nike uses IT to communicate with employees such as by using a web cam.

If Nike did not use IT then they would instead would have to communicate by hand written letters in which can lead to spelling errors and takes longer than by using email in IT. Also if you wanted to send the hand written letter to somebody in a different country then it would take much longer by post normally a few days compared to IT by using email which takes literally seconds to send.

Nike has its own website. If Nike did not use IT then they would not have a website which looks quiet unprofessional for a multi-national company.

Nike would have to advertise all their products and clothes on paper maybe hand written and drawn which is unprofessional. Also Nike has an online shopping service which if the company did not use IT they would not be able to give that service to their customers, which would result in the number of sales dropping low. Also many customers would move onto another company to shop online if Nike did not use IT.

Nike uses IT to program machines to make clothes and trainers. If Nike did not use IT then it could lead to the company not having many items in stock and would have to make the clothes and trainers manually by employing staff to make the clothes and trainers which in return would take a considerable amount of time which the company would have to suffer.

Unit 3 2nd Assignment.