ISOM - A Rural Tale

Problems analyzed

In this case study, the problem faced by the foreign aid workers is that they are facing villagers from a developing country which means the countrymen is not educated well enough to understand what good technology will bring to them. Changes made by the foreign aid workers might not bring out good response but them but instead a negative response due to their conservative mind that do not accept changes in their life.

Furthermore, communication will be a problem as based on the case study, there is no people from the home country to help the foreign aid workers to communicate with them. With language and style as a barrier, they might face difficulties to deliver the good message to them.

After identifying the problem faced by the villagers, the foregin aid workers should do some survey or questionaire on what they wanted for improvement and is the pipe the best suited solution for them and will they accept it for it will not distrupt their daily routines.

Due to the insufficient knowledge in rural villagers, videos on the advantage of the pipe may bring should be demonstrated to the villagers so that they can learn to adapt and accept because it can help to improve their quality of live.

After the implementation of the system, there is nobody to educate them how to operate the pipes. Due to their lack of knowledge and exposure in technology, it will hinder them from utilizing it to its full potential.

Recommendations

The recommendations that I will provide is to response to the problems that lead to the failure of the implementation imposed. The first recommendation that I will provide will be having a representative that has good rapport with the villagers assisting the foregin aid workers so that they will have good flow of communications and understand each other better. Rural villagers might not seen foreign people in their land before and will feel hostile to their presence.

Foreign aid workers should hand out some questionaires to really identify the problem faced by the villagers and not by assumptions made.

Foreign aid workers should also educate them on what advantage the pipes will bring into their lives. They also can tell the villagers that it will ease their lives and to increase productivity of the village.

After implementation, the workers should educate the villagers on how to use the the pipes. People do not know how to use something that’s really new in their presence until taught.

ISOM - WalMart Inventory

An inventory control system is a process for managing and locating objects or materials(wikipedia, 2011). With all the Just-In-Time talk and knowledge regarding better management and understanding of inventory. With its up-to-date inventory management system, walmart is able to develop an integrated system which EDI placed orders directly when stocks reached a certain level. In order to manage this, Wal-Mart utilize Oracle database where it meets Wal-Mart's needs and develop new technology which is being compatible with the radio frequency identification RFID to increase inventory efficiency(wal-mart database, 2011)

Wal-Mart was able to reduce unproductive inventory by allowing stores to manage their own stocks, reducing pack sizes across many product categories, and timely price markdowns

The order management and store replenishment of goods were entirely executed with the help of computers through the Point-of-Sales (POS) system

It also reduces turn around time in processing orders.

http://www.inventorymanagementreview.org/2006/04/walmart_increas.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventory_control_system
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/9517882/Wal-Mart-Database

ISOM - Websites Review

Websites	Pros	Cons
Groupsmore.com	· Friendly interface (able to navigate easily) · Integrated with facebook and twitter for easy sharing · Have their own blog for easy updating their news to users · Google map available for easy of the merchant place	· No videos to show users more about the place or product advertising
Jackcow.com	· Friendly interface (able to navigate easily) · Integrated with facebook and twitter for easy sharing	· Does not have google map for user to find merchant location · No videos to show
Milkadeal.com	· Terms and conditions are placed clearly · Google map is available	· Not so user friendly · Unable to navigate and find more deals
Superdeals.my	· Google map is available · Easy navigation · Integrated with facebook and twitter for easy sharing	· Not much deals displayed · No videos for more explanation

Ranking

1.Groupsmore.com

2.Jackcow.com

3.Superdeals.my

4.Milkadeal.com

Summary

These websites provide benefits for user to find rock bottom deals available in their city to purchase. It gives business a chance to advertise their products to attract customers as well as gain popularity. I would perfer groupsmore.com compared to others because it provides a user friendly interface. New users are able to navigate around their website easily because labels are displayed properly and easy to understand. With facebook as the current dominating social network, groupsmore.com has integrated with them for easy sharing and gathering crowds as well as spreading the website as well as advertised merchants. This is a good strategy to attract youngsters as they are willing to spend their money for stuff that has interest as well as good deals to them. When the company is able to control the youngster market they are able to gain profit easily. When browsing through groupsmore.com there is no difficulty in it because it is user friendly and we are able to connect to facebook for sharing of the items that interest them. I would recommend videos to be uploaded regarding the products being advertised to enable customers view more and know more about the product upclose and in a “live” perspective.

ISOM - 1st report on individual assignment

Part 1:

The organization I will be talking will be Speedy Videos. Currently established in Malaysia. Speedy will be the largest home-entertainment provider in Malaysia defeating all their competitors with 60 stores nationwide. It initially started as a brick and mortar company when the internet was not widely used by people of the country. Then they developed a website of their own for their customers to view their products as well as purchasing them online. With the website, they are able to obtain a different set of customers which means expanding their customer scope.

The area in the organization that I will be focusing will be the IT department.

The system which I will be focusing in the organization will be the company website. Through observation and comparison with other websites which is has similar customer to reach out to, I found that Speedy Video's website has a lot to improve in order to attract more customers and make it more interesting and informative.

Part 2:

The possible task that will be carried out in completing this assignment will be improving the website as well as figuring the appropriate contents which are suitable for the home country of it. The time taken will be 10 weeks.

I will conduct the research through observation, email interview, internet as well as any source that is available for my reach.

ISOM - Old Economy Digital Economy

The widespread applications of ICT by firms and their employees across many sectors of the economy, creating new ways of working and of shopping, will speed up transactions of all kinds and eliminate pockets of inefficiency throughout the economic system is the advantage of the digital economy. While the old economy requires the handling of cash physically which might cause mistakes paying or giving the change back to the buyer which causes lost to the company.

http://www.businesstoday.com.mt/2001/0131/focus.html

One of the benefits of the digital economy is that consumers are often able to obtain products at lower prices than their hard copy counterparts. For example, an electronic version of a new novel may be 25-50% less expensive than purchasing a hard copy version. In like manner, music lovers may purchase the latest releases from their favorite artists for less than the cost of purchasing a CD in a local physical music store, or even buying the hard copy CD online and having it delivered by post. Some sites participating in this digital economy setting even allow consumers to purchase individual tracks by their favorite artists. While the old economy requires the buyer to present himself infront of the store in order to purchase the product needed, which is causing trouble for people who has a tight schedule limiting them to go shopping. It also requires the buyer to pay more due to the amount of parties the product has went through.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-digital-economy.htm

The organization I would like to discuss on will be Apple Store. The organization is using the internet to conduct virtual business with netizens while having a physical store for customers that would like to view the product on hand. Through apple store, buying of products and getting support from the staff is available such as services to Apple products. Thus giving business opportunities back to Apple itself without leaking their business to other hands, increasing sales and hasten business process and getting the deal done quickly. The challenge for digital economy is securing the transactions being made. This arise due to the skills of hackers that can easily get account information and exploit them. Some people worries that this will harm their security and will result in lost if something bad happens.

http://store.apple.com/us

ISOM - Research on IS

Information Systems ( IS ) is the set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate, store and disseminate data and information to respective parties that require that information. It is also to provide a feedback mechanism to meet an objective to serve the purpose of the IS developed. The main purpose of an IS is to provide an up-to-date, complete and accurate information which is required by organizations to survive and compete in this world which can help to deal with tough decision making choices. IS also provides user interface for interactions between the machine and user to provide a more accurate result. Some IS are developed to provide better service as well as better process until the final result.

Example of IS

Executive support decision

Management information systems

Decision support systems

Knowledge management systems

Transaction processing systems

Office automation systems

citation

http://tutor2u.net/business/ict/intro_information_system_types.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_system

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110223192110AAE2Zn4