Enterprise Systems Issues - Assignment Example

Name Institution Title: Problem Solving Exam Course Code Date Section A QA1 Enterprise Systems support a wide range of applications which are relevant to e-commerce. The ability of the enterprise systems to support business information flow is quite important as it guides the operations of the electronic commerce. In complex organizations, it is important to ensure that the customers can interact freely with the organization. The enterprise system is therefore considered to be the backbone of e-commerce. It enables the customers to freely access the goods and services that are offered by the companies trading in online. The management of e-commerce always involves large volumes of data. It is also important to note that the enterprise systems are designed in a way that they can handle high levels of transactions. This is particularly important in e-commerce as it determines the number of transactions that can be handled within a particular period of time. The security of the data is also guaranteed when carrying out transactions using e-commerce. This is a significant concept that is supported by enterprise systems. It is important for the customers to carry out their transactions with the highest level of security in place to avoid cases of thefts and other forms of inconveniences that may come about. E-commerce is mainly based on the trust that the clients have on the system (Ko, et al, 2005). The enterprise system is also considered the foundation of the information technology. E-commerce concepts are built on the information technology concepts. This provides a vital link for the e-commerce systems. The analysis of data is also an important consideration when carrying out e-commerce transactions. This is an essential idea that is fully supported by enterprise system software. The software has the ability of analyzing large volumes of data, making the process convenient to the customers. Customer relationship management determines the direction that the business may take. An Enterprise system plays a significant role in supporting the customer relationship. It is thus essential to regard enterprise systems as the backbone of the e-commerce due to the role that it plays in the management of the transactions. Through the use of the enterprise systems, it is possible to gather business intelligence information that is useful for the market analysis. It acts as a guide for both the vendors and the customers. It is through the use of enterprise systems that complex e-commerce transactions can be made (Walsh, 2011). QA2 The big R is one of the methods that are used by most of the organization during the business engineering process. However, it is important to note that this method has several risks that may affect the operations of an organization. An organization may end up going through financial loses when implementing the process because the return on investments may not be achieved from the process and hence rendering the whole process inefficient. On the other hand, it is also important to note that the technical risks are associated with the big R re-engineering process and the big bang re-engineering. This is because the process is quite involving and may require a lot of expertise. This may end up increasing the cost of operations for the business and hence its inefficiency. It is also important to note that the process may not yield the desired results and hence presenting a big risk to the organization. This is due to the complex nature of the process and the required expertise. The customer acceptance is also an important consideration when carrying out the process. However, it is important to note that the customer acceptance level may be low and hence rendering the process inefficient. This presents big risk to the organization as it may lead to losses (Volkoff, 2010). The big R re-engineering process may also be faced with legal hitches due to the regulatory restrictions. The restrictions that exist in the market may end up affecting the process and thus reducing its efficiency. It is thus important to understand that the process may end up being affected, leading to other business risks. In the process, business operations are likely to be affected because the re-engineering process changes the normal operations of the organization. The budget of the organization can also be affected by the business re-engineering process due to the fact that the process requires more financial support as most of the concepts have to be changed. The business organization therefore risks loosing a bunch of investments during the implementation of the re-engineering process. The normal operations of the organization may also be affected by the business re-engineering process hence, affecting the expected profits of the organization during the implementation process. The performance of the organization is also linked to the methods used when carrying out the operations. It is thus important to note that the business performance may end up being affected and hence a major risk for the business organization (Berente, 2012). Part 2 QB1 Company X made the decision to incorporate an enterprise system despite some resistance from the vendor. This decision was made based on the evaluation of the company. However, this decision has some impacts on the operations of the company. The success of the enterprise system is also dependant on the implementation. Company X risks loosing a lot due to the decision made. The company may fail to achieve full success due to the resistance from the vendor. The conflicts with the vendor also led to delays in the implementation of the project. This has a potential of affecting the operations of the company. The enterprise system on the other hand may not be fully beneficial to the company due to the delays. It is also evident that the company could have suffered losses during the implementation. The delays lead to an increase in the expenses for the organization. The estimated time for the completion of the project was also increased due to the delays in the implementation. This has a direct impact on the expenses incurred by the organization (Peng, 2011). The two conflicting view points also has the potential of undermining the whole project. This is considering that the company had little experience on such projects. The conflict with the vendor has the potential of increasing the risks associated with the enterprise systems. This has a negative impact on the organization as well as its performance. The implementation of the enterprise system will thus be affected. The efficiency of the enterprise system will also be interrupted as it may take a longer period of time before the full benefits are realized. It is also imperative to note that the conflict with the vendor may affect the working relationship and hence poor implementation. Consultations between the vendor and the company may also be affected by the conflict. This will prevent the company from achieving full success that the project is supposed to realize. On the other hand it is also important to note that the budget of the company will be affected by the conflict and hence increasing the cost of implementing the project. It is thus evident that the conflict in terms of opinion between the vendor and the company may impact negatively on the implementation of the enterprise system (Dreiling, 2008). QB2 The implementation of the project was delayed due to various reasons which could have been avoided by the company. Although the company had never been involved in such a large IT project, some of the reasons for the delays could have been avoided. Adequate preparation for the project could have been done by the company for the purpose of establishing the requirements of the project. According to Alvarez (2008), the preparations are important in terms of planning on the methods of dealing with the expected challenges. This could have enabled the company to deal with the problems that it faced. On the other hand, the company should have conducted a proper training with regards to the project. The training of the staff members is important in terms of preparing them for the project. This is also vital in terms of taking care of the challenges that led to the delay of the project. The company needed to ensure that all the team members are aware of the concepts of the project. This is for the purpose of avoiding the inconsistency within the team. The inconsistency in terms of ideas is one of the main problems that led to the delay of the project. The team members should have been clearly informed about the requirements of the project for the purposes of preparing them to handle the challenges. The background of the team members should have been put into consideration during the selection process because it plays an important role in influencing the decision making process. Members from the same background should have been selected to carry out the project. This could have avoided the decision making problems that led to the delay of the project. Hiring of a consultant could have assisted the company in terms of project management procedures due to the technicalities involves when carrying out such a task. The company had very little experience in terms of handling the project in question. The opinion of the experts could have assisted the company in terms of dealing with the challenges involved (Lenard, 2010). The different opinions of the team members were also essential in identifying the right decisions and resources required for a speedy implementation of the project. This could have avoided the time wastage that the company experienced during the implementation of the project. It is also important to note that the efforts of the team members are important for the purpose of implementing a project. The unexpected changes may hinder the operations of the project. The concepts of information technology are quite flexible and it may undermine the project (Sedera, 2010). This is one of the challenges that led to the delay of the project. However the company needed to have put into consideration the relevant concepts of information technology. Alternative plans had to be thought of in advance for the purposes of dealing with the changes in technology concepts. Expert opinions should have been sought by the company for the purposes ensuring that the technical team is provided with the necessary specifications and resources. The decision making style of the company needed to be changed for the purpose of eliminating time wastage. The need for consultation was also essential to ensure that the time taken to make crucial decisions concerning the project is significantly minimized. On the other hand, the company was supposed to consider the ideas of the vendor instead of dismissing it. The ideas of the vendor could have simplified the implementation process as the concepts are within their knowledge. However, it is also important to note that a careful planning of the project plays a greater role towards the implementation of projects. This factor was not given adequate consideration leading to problems that faced the company. For any project to succeed, prior preparation is paramount because the resultant outcome solely depends on the kind of planning put in place by the stakeholders. Bibliography Alvarez, R, 2008, Examining technology, structure and identity during an Enterprise System implementation, Information Systems Journal, 18(2), 203-224. Dreiling, A 2008, From conceptual process models to running systems: A holistic approach for the configuration of enterprise system processes, Decision Support Systems, 45(2), 189-207. Ko, D, et al. 2005, Antecedents of knowledge transfer from consultants to clients in enterprise system implementations, Mis Quarterly, 59-85. Walsh, G 2011, Enterprise system investments for competitive advantage: An empirical study of Swiss SMEs. European Management Review, 7(3), 180-189. Volkoff, O 2010, Understanding organization-enterprise system fit: a path to theorizing the information technology artifact, MIS Quarterly, 34(4), 731. Berente, N 2012, Are Enterprise System Related Misfits Always a Bad Thing? In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 4652-4661). IEEE. Peng, Z., et al. 2011, Social Capital and User Acceptance of Enterprise System: Mediating Role of Local Management Commitment. Lenard, M 2010, HCS Road An Enterprise System for Integrated HCS Data Management and Analysis, Journal of biomolecular screening, 15(7), 882-891. Sedera, D 2010, Knowledge management competence for enterprise system success, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19(4), 296-306. Read More