This plan of new technicians will be modified and strengthened by new
professionals as the need arises. 4.) The corporate strategy from Toy World did
not support its future IT agenda. The Toy World Corporate Strategy was: 1.)
Increase sales per store 2.) Increase the number of stores to expand leverage
from overhead and support expenses 3.) Convert more sales dollars to profit
“Information systems applications were explicitly identified in support of the
latter issue only.” This clearly does not mesh well with the future of IT. Toy
World’s IT budget decreased, while more stores were to be created? Increasing
the number of selling points should means more funds needed at the IT level to
support the growing need for communication and support the volatile expansion of
store volume and customer base. However, the AT&T sponsored Information
Technology Management was a great plan that can only lead to a higher competency
level in any corporation’s IT division. Similarly, the role of the external
consultant should be to guide the MIS department at Toy World with solutions to
problems and methods of IT that have been proven to work. The consultant should
strategize the MIS plan, which Rothstein and O’Mara did, specifically the
Opportunity/Impact plans. The planning and integration of ITM into Toy World
would be an asset to the company’s revenue and profit. “Vendor Ticketing” and
the “Electronic Shopping Aid” are methods that consultants should come up with,
especially when they are tailored to the exact needs of that particular IT
division. 5.) Using the aforementioned team of programmers and analysts, the new
POS system will be implemented in specific stages over time. This will increase
the efficiency of the system for the short term because of user friendliness and
to keep the learning curve from getting too steep.
Key items would be implemented right away, with other descriptive data fields
available down the road. By designing the new POS system around a SKU and UPC
code structure, communication speed will increase and costs will stay low.
Large, unwanted packets of data can be avoided since all information can be
coded into the SKU number for that item. This 7 to 10 digit number can contain
up to 4 or 5 descriptive qualities about that particular toy, including store
positioning data, color, shape, and toy genre. Market data can be included in a
second descriptive value associated with the object. Using an object oriented
programming environment such as J++ or C++, the TOY class, (example), can store
many different values that directly correlate with the actual objects respective
physical genre. Would information about the store collected by the store stay
there? Other stores can benefit greatly from its collected market and buying
trend data. Should the central business offices be the only ones to see market
data, or should individual store managers have access to this data each day? The
answer is, both. The individual store managers should be able to see the
information in order to rearrange the store daily due to new market data
collected from the previous day or week. Trends would be highlighted or marked
on the data sheet by the POS allowing the individual store managers to correctly
assess all possible situations. But, many trends and good ideas will only come
from a collective source of all store data, analyzed by the “central office”
team. Market data such as price, mean quantity per day that is sold, and Boolean
values such as credit card or check usage, would be collected by the computer.
Perhaps the best way to store and organize the information would be an ORACLE
database, where operations can be performed easily on the collected data.
Database queries can be coded in SQL or ORACLE for speed of searching and
computing data. Part II 1.) Privacy in the Business Environment Increased Safety
– By increasing information technology, safety will also be increased. By
knowing information about any given individual, criminals would be almost
nonexistent. The amount of rape, murder, and theft would decrease yearly after
new security technology, such as better alarm systems and a faster moving,
sophisticated response team is implemented. Advanced surveillance technology can
prevent problems before they start. Increased Product Pertinence – With advances
in IT, companies will no longer sell to the consumers, they will tailor products
to the individual consumer. By advanced analysis of electronic buying data from
goods bought online, companies can produce more desirable and more useful
products. As time progresses, this can also bring on an sense of individuality.
The product is sold to the individual, not the public. Customized Advertisement
– Along the same lines as the product betterment, advertisements in any media,
whether on TV or on the computer screen, will be displayed accordance to your
recorded market data and preferences. Although web companies such as
Alladvantage are already doing this, it can be taken to a new level with market
POS data on goods that a given household purchases. Practical Reasons for the
“Big Brother” System When corruption strikes at the heart of the US government,
the media eventually finds out about it. In turn, the American people view the
corruption and lies on TV or in the newspaper. Most law-abiding, tax paying,
citizens feel disgusted and let down by political corruption.
The same government officials that Americans elect to office are cheating,
lying and sometimes stealing from the public. Who wouldn’t want a government
that is almost corruption free? By using technology and decreasing personal
privacy, everything important can be caught on camera or recorded. The men and
women, who are elected by the public, are expected to be “public” leaders.
Criminal activity is also an issue pertaining to security and the decrease in
privacy. A major issue in the US today is the terrorist threat, heightened by
the bombing of the federal building in Kansas City, and the World Trade Center
disaster. More information on each citizen, in accordance with advanced
immigration technology, can prevent the problems before they arise. If certain
governments unite and devise a highly involved database of individual records,
immigrants with sketchy records can be denied at the door of the country. I
believe the people whose lives were affected by past incidents would sacrifice
an amount of privacy for this high level of protection. Health care can be
applied immediately to the small boy who was stung by the bee that he was
allergic to if the information is available. If medical records and files could
be accessed immediately, and by everyone, emergencies could be solved with ease.
The system could include not only the records, but also previous methods and
solutions to past ailments. Learn from the past, and in turn, computers can save
the boy’s life. Through the web, information is passed faster than the speed of
light. Information can be transferred instantaneously over a high-speed line.
