Implementation of E-Business Systems: A Case Study of Baderman Island

The strategy of Baderman Island Enterprise requires constant updating. With the changing conditions of market and industry it is important for the organization to keep its strategy in tact with the changing environment. An out dated strategy cannot fulfil the needs of today’s global environment (O’Brien, 2005). In order to go through the updating process the Baderman Island Enterprise should carry on an audit to analyze which aspect requires improvement.

It also specifies what strategy is necessary to support the business operations, the information people use currently and the gaps in these functions and the business goals. Most managers fail to analyze the current situation of their business and lack a sense of intuition and forecasting. Often it is also a draw back that the strategy of some organizations neglects the change in the functions of some important departments. It is important for a strategy to serve all the needs of departments, which require change.

Through a strategy audit it becomes easier to find out which departments and operation require to be revolutionized or updating. By assessing the knowledge possessed by Baderman Island Enterprise about its competitors and market environment the mangers can effectively take decisions in order to find the most feasible way for their businesses to maximize profits and improve market share. It is also important to calculate the extent to which change needs to be introduced to the organization.

Although the identification of the problem is a big issue but the finding a solution making sense with business world is the main purpose of change in the Baderman Island Enterprise. In case of Baderman Island Enterprise it is important to have the knowledge of how to present the product/service in effective manner in order to reach the customer in an effective manner. With the changing business needs the new marketing techniques such as product differentiation, branding and advertising are also gaining immense importance.

The successful product positioning and promotion is only possible if all the required information in this lieu is gathered and used in the right direction. In order to fulfill modern information needs, new information technologies have also been evolved. The information regarding the buyer preferences and behavior plays an important part in helping the Baderman Island Enterprise management to take important decisions regarding the product such as pricing, promotion, competition etc. It is important for the company to establish a system in order to acquire a large amount of information for the marketing managers.

“Competitive companies study their managers’ information needs and design marketing information systems (MIS) to meets these needs. A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision markers. To carry out their analysis, planning, implementation, and control responsibilities marketing managers need information about developments in the marketing environment.

The role of the MIS is to assess the manager’s information needs, develop the needed information, and distribute that information in a timely fashion, the information is developed through internal company records, marketing intelligence activities, marketing research, and marketing decision support analysis. ” (Kotler, 2000) In the case of Baderman Island Enterprise the MIS can play an important role in successfully marketing the new products and services which the company is planning to launch. An effective MIS will also help in enhancing the exposure level of the company from local market to national market.

It is important for the company to design the MIS system in an effective manner. In most of the cases the companies lack information sophistication. Some of them collect a large amount of information but the data is not stored in a proper way to be handled easily. Without an effective marketing information system it will become impossible for the Baderman Island Enterprise to reach to the desired customer. The MIS will help the company in understanding the customer’s perception, taste, needs and desires regarding the new product.

Without the proper MIS the investment in the production and innovation will not be of any use. “The MIS represent a cross between what managers think they need, what managers really need, and what is economically feasible. ” (Kotler, 2000) The MIS will provide support to the management in the areas of reduction of price risks, planning for an effective and cheap marketing strategy with technology assessment and development, particularly in evolving and popularizing entertainment and recreational activities offered by the company.

An effective Management information system can help in the company in motivating other intermediaries to pass along important intelligence. Through the components of MIS the Company will able to collect information regarding order-to-payment cycle and sales reporting system. The managers will be able to get the information about the developments in the marketing environment. The MIS will also assist the managers in collecting, analyzing and reporting data relevant to the market situation. The decision support system will help the managers to take important marketing decisions by interpreting the gathered information.

(O’ Brien, 2006). Hence MIS is the most important instrument without which the Company cannot market its product successfully in market. As per the requirements of the Baderman Island Enterprise SAP Enterprise System: The SAP ERP 2005 application and Duet software drives future growth. The SAP ERP 2005 provides clear vision, superior product functionality and support for midsize companies. Adopting SAP solutions based on the SAP NetWeaver will automate all of its business processes, including financial and human capital administration, compliance reporting and real estate management (SAP, 2007)

Northwind Enterprise Solution: Maestro suite includes PMS, Sales & Catering, Club/Spa Management, Corporate Reservations Office, GDS Connectivity, and ResEze (Internet Reservations). The Maestro PMS system from NORTHWIND has three main characteristics: “It is an enterprise system, not a legacy system, with an open database that allows us to data mine for marketing information; it refreshes the numbers real-time as new reservations are entered; and it is user-friendly. ” (Northwind Enterprise Solution, 2003) PROS Hotel Revenue Optimization System: PROS next generation system provides revenue lift of 6-12%.

It automatically separates yield-able from price sensitive demand and automatically controls each system at the property, campus, or market level. It is Centrally installed with remote access through web-enabled browser. Built with high performance, highly scalable architecture on thin client platform. The system allows forecasting at any level of detail Dynamic bid prices offer real-time adjustment to environment. It upgrades logic and an overbooking routine maximizes revenue and provides independent forecasts of demand for each product, including length of stay (PROS Hotel Revenue Optimization System)

SAP NetWeaver is the most recommended technology in the above mentioned technologies as it will automate all of Baderman Island Enterprise’s business processes, including financial and human capital administration, compliance reporting and real estate management and will match the strategy of the Company. With the choice of most suitable technology it is also important for the company to undertake some important measures in order to effectively implement the chosen technology. Chilcott (2001) presented a 7-Step Development Process in order to effectively under take an IS project: 1. Identify and List Stakeholders:

The identification and listing of stakeholders is very important and the initial step in an Is project. The list of the stakeholders should include all the people who have the power to effect the system. The second category of stakeholders includes the people whose position and power will be affected by the project. The third and most important category is the users of the project. It is important to recognize the actual stakeholders of the project. The representatives of these stakeholders should be included in all the discussions related to the project in order to sketch the clear vision and necessities of project.

After the identification process it is important to determine the problem statement. The entire stakeholder should reach an agreement on the definition of problem in order to design a project to fit the problem size for all the stakeholders. 2. Identify and List Actors The perceptions of the stakeholders regarding the project must be analyzed or in other words it should be found that what all the stakeholders want from the project. The stakeholders can be divided into different groups according to their expectations regarding the project. The use and expectation of the stakeholders will help in designing the project in right way.

It is seen in case of different projects that the developers and the involved stakeholders do not know about what they exactly want from the project. The development of an internal model regarding the perceptions of developers and stakeholders regarding the project will help all the people involved to expect, create, build and effectively use and support the system. 3. Identify and List Use Cases Use cases are the core of the whole process. The use cases present the complete functionality of the system. A use case in defined as an interaction between the user and the system.

The use cases of the different stakeholders differ according to their expectations. They are effective and meaningful tools to manage and organize the project. The use case collection in undertaken according to three steps: 1. To discover the use case while discussing with the stakeholders this step involves a general overview of two to three sentences of the use case. 2. At the second stage an analysis of the user case is undertaken according to the business rules and the system relationship components. 3. The next step is the decision making about the implementation of the user case. All the scheduling and development steps are designed.