How Business’s Use ICT Essay

INTRODUCTIONIn this report I give be investigating a partnership and telling you how and why they up cope ICT indoors their company. withal I go forth tell you how development ICT benefits them and jocks them pop around their business smoothly. The company that I get out investigate is the supermarket mega stick in Asda. The repair of the store in which I investigated is Park Royal in capital of the United Kingdom and I went on the 9th and 11th of January 2007. I interviewed Mr Andrew Davies, Customer Relations Manager. scoreAsda Stores Limited was founded by Laura Beth Murray as Associated Diaries and Farm Sores LTD in 1949 however it took often longer to dissolve on the formation of the name. Fin onlyy it was decided to use an abbreviation of ASquith and Dairies in 1965. The company went through a troubled goal in the early 1990s, but was then(prenominal) revived under the lead of Archie Norman, who later became a front bench Conservative MP. He was chairperson o f the company during the period 1996-99. ASDA, which then k right awayledgeed 229 stores, was purchased by Wal-Mart of the United States, on July 26, 1999.Since the intromitoer ASDA has continued to of importtain its headquarters at the then fresh opened ASDA House. ASDA House was one of the first of the naked large(p) office blocks to open as part of the re fixment of the huge body politic s starth of the River Aire from the city centre of Leeds, in the Holbeck district, West Yorkshire. as well, the mission pedagogy for ASDA isGeneral InformationThe international supermarket mega store made its name by moreover being a supermarket, solely based on food. However, Asda has spread out and now they provide service for* CDs* DVDs* computing device Games* Flowers* Furniture* Mobile Phones* Glasses* Flights* Credit badgers* habilitate* Car rental* Contact lenses* Satellite Navigation Systems* MP3 Players* FoodThis shows how loose this supermarket has become and has undergo ne a transitional period and has now became a multi suggest cooperate business. Now, Asda runs it own distribution service which delivers cross courses to its stores which delivers crossings to its stores and to clients who store online. Asda overly has its own clothes designer label c onlyed George which is quite popular. Also, Asda has recently introduced 24/7 surfping which is precise convenient for people who diddle late hours and also convenient at special occasions such as Christmas. size of it (Staff/Customers)Asda employs 150,000 so I believe that Asda performs the community well because it provides so umteen jobs for people within the community. Moreover, Asda supplies a service for over 17 zillion people in one week in the UK alone. Lastly in that respect argon approximately 720 disciplineers who work on the ICT network only.DivisionsAs of January 2006 at that place were 21 Asda super centres, 243 Asda superstores, 37 Asda supermarkets, 5 Asda Living stores , 10 George clothing stores. In addition Asda announced plans to build a minimum of 18 stores across the whole UK and it is expected to create 2000 new jobs. Also, there be twenty four distribution centres and also a Head Office.Aims* To comprehensively be recognised as the best supermarket in the UK and also be known entirely around the world.* To provide jobs and put out high lineament goods to all people no matter what age, sex, religion and skin act upon at affordable bells.NeedsThere atomic number 18 numerous challenges liner Asda and these include* To further their global buying and selling* To create small Asda stores on high streets to provide people with often convenience* To develop their advertisement to sum up their customers* To advertise for healthy eating* To expand their former(a) sections including opticians, clothes, electronics, home appliances and 24/7 shopMoreover, Asda is trying to meet these aims by using ICT as a dominant figure.Purposes for wh ich ICT is utiliseOverview* Asda uses ICT in read to ensure that all shelves ar full in the store. The form of ICT in which they use is hand held terminals, frequently known as HHTs and these work by members of supply typing in barcodes of products and see if they ar in bear. If a product if off the shelves and there is in memory a message earth-closet be sent to re- pipeline it. Also if the product is out of stock, then you scum bag gather in an enact to re-stock that certain product.* Sales potentiometer be recorded by using a device called the electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) along with the prices of the product. This puts Asda at a huge emolument because this Asda knows what product is doing well and what products need further advertisement and promotion to bring up its gross gross revenue.* ICT is used to contact head office in the form of electronic mail for administrative and executive matters such as special offers, income and outcome and staff problems.* Asda cause a website where you move shop online and even purchase products which you nooky buoyt acquire in store and even at a cheaper price.* Asda also offer jobs on their website.* ASDA use videoconferencing to hold meetings with staff or people from some other businesses who are unable to be where the meeting is supposed(a) to be held. So they will be face to face over long distances and twain rooms will be filled with some(prenominal) video cameras microphones and television monitors or PCs. parts in ASDA* Sales & Marketing This involves the sale or distribution of the goods or service provided by ASDA and announce for sales* Purchasing This involves buying the goods or service required by ASDA* Finance The soften segment operate ons all the business regarding silver, including cash transactions, budget and cash flow.* Operations Carrying out the main business of ASDA* Production This involves designing and producing products from crude materials or semi ent ire products.ICT Peripheral Used in Asdas Sales and Marketing division* Electronic Point of Sale* CCTV* railcar for Self Serving* anatomyal Camera* S slewner* telecommunicate Machine* Online obtain* Hand Held Terminals* Barcode proofreaderSoftwares used by the Sales and Marketing part* Microsoft interchange* Microsoft Excel* Microsoft approaching* keen-witted Sales Order bear upon SystemThe impact of using the ICTElectronic Point of Sale This fag some seasons be referred to as a till or electronic cash register system and this is where transactions happen at Asda and at all other supermarkets and shops. There are legion(predicate) forms of purchase at Asda including cash money, credit card, debit card and even Asda cards where you nooky get special discounts and lastly you backside use vouchers to get money off. It is safe to use credit cards in Asda because all you father to do is swipe your card and enter a 4 digit pin number which only the customer knows. This ha s increased sales because it is much(prenominal) convenient for customers as it allows customers to pay in all forms of possible payments. So, a result of using debit and credit card is that it increases sales because it is user friendly as customer dont feed to break cash money to purchase things in AsdaCCTV Asda uses CCTV cameras in their sales incision by installing the cameras on the shop floor which monitor the shop floor. So by having these cameras it stops people from stealing from Asda as it scares of bandits. Also if people actually steal from Asda then they will or so probably be caught and prosecuted because CCTV will show their faces minimising the chances of further robberies. So accordingly CCTV helps ASDA because it saves them money as less people would consider attempting to rob it.Computers ASDAs sale discussion section uses calculators for several tenablenesss. The roughly obvious reason why ASDA uses computers is to use informationbases to store inf ormation of customers and sales. The main advantage of using Microsoft entrance money for this is that you can stash quieries, relegate and filters. This saves a lot of timeMachine for Self Serving This was introduced in ASDA earlier this year and has been a broad success. Firstly, I will explain what a self serving railroad car is. You place the barcodes of your items on to the barcode reader and the cost of this appears on the masking and you can pay by get ining cash into the cash machine or credit or debit cards into the appropriate machines and change is distributed as fits. This saves a lot of money for ASDA as it does the job of an employee without having to pay their wages. However, initially it be more because the machine is quite expensive and the buying section substantiates this order. It will also take quite long for ASDA to make a wage but it will and it will be an enormous gain. Also, maybe in the future no human workers will be necessary and then there w ill just be self serving machines to serve customers.Digital Camera Digital cameras are used mainly in ASDAs sales plane section for advertising purposes and are related to ASDAs sales discussion section because it helps to increase sales and and then strengthen the sales discussion section. This happens because the advertisement, done online and in-store to make customers aware of special offers such as 3 for the price of 2 or buy one get one free. For physical exercise, cameras are used to take pictures of the product which ASDA are advertising such as clothes or food or drink. So advertisements are used to get customers to buy a certain product in the store and then attract the customer by help them save money but really if ASDA sell as much as they hope by the advertisement then they will most probably make a profit altogether although it will take quite long to do so.Scanner A category of electronic scanner which ASDA uses is digital camera scanners which are based on th e c formerlypt of reprographic cameras. Due to the increasing resolution and new features such as anti-shake, digital cameras become an attractive alternative to regular scanners. While shut outdoor(a) containing disadvantages compared to traditional scanners, digital cameras offer unmatched advantages in speed and portability. This once again isnt really a peripheral used in ASDAs sales plane section but hugely contributes to the sales part because as explained earlier it is used for advertisement which helps to boost the sales parts actual sales because it encourages customers to buy a certain product.Fax Machine Essentially, a telecommunicate machine is a tele discourse applied science used to transfer copies of documents to other people or other businesses to question things or to advertise. In the case of ASDAs sales department, they use fax machines to contact customers for special offers or to sell a lot of their stock. Also, when their stock is approaching the end o f their season ASDA want to offload this stock and can sell them to other companies by telling them of the offer by faxing them.Online Shopping Online Shopping is the process in which customers can shop without having to go to the shop in person. Customers use the meshwork and pay by Credit, Visa or Debit cards and the goods they purchase are delivered by ASDA to the address of the customer. Online shopping is beneficiary to ASDAs sales department because it increases sales as more people shop online as it is very convenient for customers. Also, there are many people who are disabled and can non strike to ASDA for some reason online shopping allows them to get their shopping without having to travel to the store itself and this makes more money for ASDA because they are gaining more customers than usual with online shopping.Hand Held Terminals These wound devices are extremely useful in ASDA and help them because they are very time efficient. This is because ASDA workers can typ e in the barcode of some products and then the machine tells you how many of the products are in stock. This saves time for the ASDA sales department because it takes them seconds to decide whether an order ask to be placed for more stock of the product to meet customer needs quickly and efficiently. This in turn benefits ASDAs sales departments because ASDA customers can rely and can trust ASDA to provide a good service for them.Barcode Reader A barcode reader is used in ASDAs sales department to scan the barcode on the surface of products in the checkout to determine the price of the product and then the computer adds all the prices of the products together and calculates a total for the customer. The barcode reader is useful to ASDAs sales departments because it is quick and time efficient and the customers spend minimal time in the checkout queue.The impact of using the SoftwareMicrosoft Word The ASDA sales department uses Microsoft Word to produce documents, for cause and if necessary send e-mails, memos, agendas and mail connect to benefit the department and to save time. ASDA also uses Microsoft Word to compile a pecuniary report which needs to be produced every financial year. This financial report is produced by the companies accountants and makes sure that the annual incomes and expenses are all better and so therefore the net profit is also. Companies only use Microsoft Word to make sure that the report looks original and has no mistakes.Microsoft Excel This software is vital to ASDA as you can use it to produce graphs and tables based on the pays of ASDA. For example, you can produce a graph on the increase of income over the past five years. This is important to ASDA as it literally gives them a picture of how there pays are going. Also, ASDA can produce charts on what products of theirs are selling well and which are not and so therefore which need to be advertised and priced lower if necessary to increase sales. discerning Sales Order Processing System This computerized system handles sales, buy, stock find out and accounts. Every time ASDA receives a order the details such as what product has been ordered, the quantity and the invoice number of the order. This system will mechanically check if there are enough of the of the required items in stock to fill the order. Then the invoice is printed out and the quantity in stock is automatically adjusted to show how many of individually item is left. Also this system allows ASDA to keep track of who its customers and suppliers, how much customers owe, hoe much the customer owes to its suppliers and so on.ASDAs Finance divisionThe finance department compiles eagerness for budgets of new, ongoing and future projects, appropriation of accounts, re-appropriations and savings. The finance department also needs to stay in control of expenditure and not let in spiral out of control. Moreover, ASDAs finance department has to administrate taxes, for example sale tax, ente rtainment tax or luxury tax amongst many others. Also, the department has to deal with the following pieces of business* Payroll* Forecast* figure* Suppliers payment* Credit controlICT Peripheral Used in ASDAs Finance Department* Computers* Fax Machine* Scanners* Debit and Credit Card Machine (ATM)* Digital TelephoneSoftwares Used by ASDAs Finance Department* Microsoft Word* Microsoft Access* Microsoft Excel* Sage Accounting PackageThe impact of using the ICTComputers ASDAs finance department use computers for numerous reasons and without it simply couldnt operate without it. The first reason why computers are used by the finance department is the internet and this enables them to communicate free, quick and at large(p) in the form of e-mail. The finance department uses e-mail to contact accountants, other departments and also customers. Also ASDA uses the internet zeal to omen future sales and managers need to plan carefully the circumspection that the business will take in ye ars to come. However, forecasting can be a difficult job and so doing this job is aid by the internet and information from it. erstwhile a sales forecast is made, a budget can be drawn up for the new project. This will show what the costs are and how much profit the company can expect to make if they charge a particular price. This is what the finance department is all to the highest degree forecasting and budgeting.Fax Machine This is essentially much like the use of e-mail as it is a communication decice. However it is actually a telecommunication device and is used by the finance department to contact other departments, stock holders and also suppliers to make orders for items and products. Fax machines are useful for ASDAs finance department because there are some important documents that cannot be sent by e-mail. An example of such documents are contracts, supplier payments and also forecasts and budgetsScanners The finance department uses scanners to insert photographs or other types of images such as graphs and tables into a document. An example of a sort of document which scanners will be used for is a forcast. The finance department will scan graphs of predicted sales into the forecast to show what will have to be done to achieve the aim of the project. Also old sale trends will be inserted into the document. Now the forcast is done the finance department will produce a budget where yet again, a scanner will be used to insert some images into the document. An example of this could be a table where the company can expect to make a certain amount of money if they charge a particular price for an item.Debit and Credit Card Machine (ATM) These pieces of ICT are used in the finance department so that ASDA can pay suppliers and also pay their creditors (who they owe mony to) and basically clear their debts. ASDA also use these machines to pay people, including their employes and suppliers. So these machines are very useful to the finance department bec ause it allows them to go about their business quickly and very efficently.Digital Telephone Although digital visits are being used less and less frequently due to the revoultionary intricacy of the use of e-mail and less so the fax machine. However, telephones are lighten renowned as the quickest way to communicate because with e-mail it is not certain that a person will be on their computer or checking their e-mails when one arrives. Also, e-mails dont make a haphazardness when one is received, and plainly telephones ring so it is still the quickest way to communicate. The finance department will use a digital telephone to talk to the same people as fax machines and e-mail suppliers, other departments and also even customers.The Impact of Using the SoftwareMicrosoft Word The finance department of ASDA uses this software to produce the yearly financial report which takes away the profit the company has made from the expenditure to create the net profit of the year. ASDA uses M icrosoft Word for this task as it makes the document look more professional ad the spell check tool allows ASDAs finance department to save a lot of time. Also, the finance department uses Misrosoft Word to compile pay slips for their employees. Pay silps are essential as they show how much the worker ahs made and how much tax has been taken away from the worker. Once again the reason why Microsoft Word is used for this task is to make it look more professional and also save ime because the finance department probably have a template of a pay silp and just have to alter it to match the correct information for each worker.Microsoft Access The finance department use this software to create databases for many reasons. unity is to keep track of their creditors and keep records of wheather they have paid them back or how much they still have to pay back. Also, databases are used by the finance department to keep records of each financial report of the year and see if the net profit of t he company is increasing or get worse. Moreover, Access is mainly used because of the advantages it possess. These are being able to filter, sort and make quieries which saves time.Microsoft Excel ASDAs finance department uses Excel to produce graphs and tables for several purposes. One of these purposes is to use graphs to accompany forecasts and budgets. They are used in budgets to show how much money is to be spent on each project. More importantly it is in forcasts to validate their prediction by producing graphs of introductory trends to show why they think the company will go in the direction they think.Sage Accounting Package This is special software used by businesses such as ASDA and especially their finance department. It is specially ready to help the finance business do what they do.ASDAs Purchasing DepartmentThe main functions of the purchasing department is to buy raw materials, semi completed products and fully finished products. Each department works hand in han d with the other ones, for example the purchasing department gets it money from finance, buys the products for toil and then it goes on to the sales department. Another one of the main functions of the purchasing department is to order new stock and also to also take a stock count to make sure that the order is complete. They will need to order things needed for the smooth running of the office, such as stationary and computer equipment, and services such as insurance or hotel rooms if staff have to travel. A clerk in the purchasing department will enter the details of a purchase order and send it to the supplier. They in turn will receive the goods or services and an invoice will be passed on to the Finance Department. The finance department has to take responsibility of stock control and make sure that everything is in order.The purchasing department uses the three main softwares to help them to run their business* Microsoft Word The purchasing department uses this to write garn er to suppliers to contact them regarding their stock. They also use this software to save time by mail merging and creating memos.* Microsoft Excel This is used to create graphs, charts and spreadsheets based on suppliers and the products which the purchasing department has bought.* Microsoft Access This is used for simple reasons, keeping data of suppliers into databases. Also the sort, filter and quires tools are very useful as it saves time when you are looking for a particular person or product.ASDAs Production DepartmentThe whole purpose of ASDAs labor department is to produce the products for ASDAs sales department from three states raw material, semi finished products and finished products which just need to be packaged. However, ASDAs production department has many methods in achieving this which I will now tell you about.ICT Peripheral Used in ASDAs Production Department* Robots* ComputersICT Peripheral Used in ASDAs Finance Department* Computer Aided physical body (CAD) * Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM))The impact of using the ICTRobots These advanced pieces of ICT come in all unlike shapes and sizes yet all have the same components which are1. Sensors Capture information from the environment.2. A Microprocessor Processes the information3. Actuators incur movement or alter the environment in some way, for example by turning an electronic switch on or off.Robots are used because they can work in environments which are too dangerous for humans to work in. Such environments where ASDA use robots are radioactive environments or deep underwater. Moreover robots can perform horrid and dull tasks, cover heavy objects and also reach long distances. Further advantages of ASDA using robots are that the quality of work is always consistent unlike humans who can have lapses in concentration and therefore make mistakes. Robots can work twenty-four seven and even work harder than humans. Lastly, ASDA do not have to pay their robots basic weekly wages, how ever, robots are expensive to buy and to install.Computers Computers are used for several reasons in ASDAs production department such as computer control. Here computers are used to control hundreds of processes both in industry and elsewhere. All of the robots and other devices have computer chips which control their operation. In ASDAs production department, computers are used to schedule production processes so that machinery is maximally utilized. Also, at ASDA, some workers are paid by piece-work which means that the computer calculates how much work a employee has done and how many products produced. It is then inserted into the system.The impact of using the softwareComputer Aided Design (CAD) These systems allow ASDAs production department to create designs on screen for many of their products. This piece of software lets users create 3-D models with features like volume, system of weights and centre of gravity. The image can be rotated and viewed from any angle. The advant ages of using this piece of software are that images can be scaled and resized without distortion. Also the drawings are device-independent e.g. a drawing can be transferred to a different screen of a different resolution, yet with no distortion. The files which are created by the software are generally smaller than for equivalently sized bitmapped images. Lastly, some of the drawings can be made with an immaculate scale of accuracy.Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) As we know ASDA produce some of their products from raw materials and this piece of software allows them to do so. This software works when the design is completed the specifications are input directly into a program that controls the manufacturing of products. The advantages of using this software for ASDAs production department are that this system is very versatile and flexible. For example individual items can be manufactured to a customers exact specification. destructionIn conclusion, all departments use ICT and s oftwares to help them get about their business and without it couldnt simply operate. Also, I have learnt that all the departments go hand in hand. For example, the finance department gives the purchasing department money and then the purchasing department buys raw materials, semi finished and finished goods and gives it to the production department who makes the products and then gives it to the sales department who obviously sell it for profit. So ICT is essential in all the departments to allow for the easy running of ASDA efficiently and quickly.