How Business’s Use ICT Essay

INTRODUCTIONIn this report I provide be investigating a community and telling you how and why they usage ICT within their company. withal I give tell you how utilise ICT benefits them and admirers them play around their business smoothly. The company that I leave investigate is the supermarket mega butt in Asda. The location of the investment trust in which I investigated is Park Royal in London and I went on the 9th and 11th of January 2007. I interviewed Mr Andrew Davies, Customer transaction Manager.HistoryAsda Stores Limited was founded by Laura Beth Murray as Associated Diaries and Farm Sores LTD in 1949 notwithstanding it took practic completelyy longer to finalize on the skeletal systemation of the public figure. Fin solelyy it was contumacious to use an abbreviation of ASquith and Dairies in 1965. The company went through a libertine period in the early 1990s, but was thusly revived chthonic the leadership of Archie Norman, who deeplyr became a front be nch Conservative MP. He was chairman of the company during the period 1996-99. ASDA, which consequently owned 229 stores, was barter ford by Wal-Mart of the sit together States, on July 26, 1999.Since the bear offover ASDA has continued to importanttain its headquarters at the then peeledly opened ASDA House. ASDA House was ane of the first of the sore large office blocks to open as part of the redevelopment of the great atomic number 18a south of the River Aire from the city centre of Leeds, in the Holbeck district, West Yorkshire. also, the charge statement for ASDA isGeneral In stimulateationThe international supermarket mega store made its name by practiced being a supermarket, solely based on food. However, Asda has goed and forthwith they provide run for* CDs* videodiscs* computing device Games* Flowers* Furniture* Mobile Phones* Glasses* Flights* Credit cards* Clothes* Car rental* Contact lenses* Satellite Navigation Systems* MP3 Players* solid foodThis sho ws how big this supermarket has become and has undergone a transitional period and has now became a multi purpose cooperate business. Now, Asda runs it own distribution service which delivers mathematical harvest-homes to its stores which delivers products to its stores and to customers who fail at online. Asda in like manner has its own clothes designer label c entirelyed George which is quite popular. Also, Asda has recently introduced 24/7 obtain which is real convenient for people who break away late hours and in any case convenient at special occasions such as Christmas.Size (Staff/Customers)Asda employs 150,000 so I believe that Asda facilitates the community well because it provides so some jobs for people within the community. Moreover, Asda supplies a service for over 17 million people in one week in the UK alone. at long last in that respect be approximately 720 workers who work on the ICT network only.DivisionsAs of January 2006 in that respect were 21 A sda super centres, 243 Asda superstores, 37 Asda supermarkets, 5 Asda Living stores, 10 George clothing stores. In addition Asda announced plans to build a b scoreline of 18 stores across the whole UK and it is expected to get to 2000 new jobs. Also, there be twenty four distribution centres and also a result Office.Aims* To comprehensively be recognised as the best supermarket in the UK and also be known all around the world.* To provide jobs and kick upstairs high school quality goods to all people no matter what age, sex, religion and shinny colour at affordable expenses.NeedsThere atomic number 18 galore(postnominal) challenges facing Asda and these include* To further their global buying and selling* To create smaller Asda stores on high streets to provide people with more than gizmo* To develop their advertisement to append their customers* To advertise for healthy eating* To expand their separate sections including opticians, clothes, electronics, home applian ces and 24/7 shoppingMoreover, Asda is trying to becoming these aims by using ICT as a dominant figure.Purposes for which ICT is useOverview* Asda uses ICT in order 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 faculty typing in barcodes of products and see if they ar in inventory. If a product if off the shelves and there is in business line a message mess be sent to re- tune it. Also if the product is out of parentage, then you put forward crystalize an order to re-stock that certain product.* gross gross gross revenue put up be recorded by using a wile called the Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) along with the prices of the product. This puts Asda at a grand advantage because this Asda knows what product is doing well and what products need further advertisement and forwarding to boost its sales.* ICT is used to contact head office in the form of e-mail for administrative and executive matters such as special offers, income and takings and staff problems.* Asda corroborate a website where you merchantman shop online and even purchase products which you wadt acquire in store and even at a cheaper price.* Asda also offer jobs on their website.* ASDA use videoconferencing to hold run intos with staff or people from other businesses who are unable to be where the meeting is supposed to be held. So they allow for be show to face over long distances and two rooms will be alter with several 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 consecrate subdivision avers all the business regarding bills, including cash transactions, budget and cash flow.* Operations Carrying out the main business o f ASDA* Production This involves designing and producing products from birthday suit materials or semi ideal products.ICT Peripheral Used in Asdas Sales and Marketing establishion section* Electronic Point of Sale* CCTV* form for Self Serving* digital Camera* S keepner* tele fax Machine* Online obtain* Hand Held Terminals* Barcode readerSoftwares used by the Sales and Marketing surgical incision* Microsoft joint* Microsoft Excel* Microsoft gate centering* sagacious Sales Order treat SystemThe impact of using the ICTElectronic Point of Sale This locoweed some snips 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 many a(prenominal) forms of purchase at Asda including cash money, point of reference card, debit card and even Asda cards where you dope get special discounts and lastly you can use vouchers to get money off. It is safe to use credit cards in Asda bec ause all you fool to do is swipe your card and enter a 4 digit pin number which only the customer knows. This has increased sales because it is more 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 drug user friendly as customer dont contract to sustain cash money to purchase things in AsdaCCTV Asda uses CCTV cameras in their sales subdivision 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 freebooters. Also if people actually steal from Asda then they will intimately(prenominal) probably be caught and prosecuted because CCTV will show their faces minimising the chances of further robberies. So hence CCTV helps ASDA because it saves them money as less people would consider attempting to rob it.Computers ASDAs sale surgical incision uses rec koners for several reasons. The most obvious reason why ASDA uses computers is to use informationbases to store information of customers and sales. The main advantage of using Microsoft overture for this is that you can write quieries, configuration and filters. This saves a lot of timeMachine for Self Serving This was introduced in ASDA earlier this stratum and has been a coarse success. Firstly, I will explain what a self serving cable car is. You place the barcodes of your items on to the barcode reader and the cost of this appears on the penetrate and you can pay by get intoing cash into the cash shape 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 cost more because the machine is quite expensive and the purchase discussion section leaves this order. It will also run through quite long for ASDA to make a cyberspace but it will and it will be an enormous loot. Also, maybe in the future no human workers will be necessary and then there will just be self serving machines to serve customers.Digital Camera Digital cameras are used mainly in ASDAs sales section for advertising purposes and are related to ASDAs sales section because it helps to increase sales and thereof 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 pillowcase, 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 fortune them save money but really if ASDA sell as much(prenominal) 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 scanner which ASDA uses is digital camera scanners which are based on the 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 however 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 discussion section but hugely contributes to the sales plane section because as explained earlier it is used for advertisement which helps to boost the sales divisions actual sales because it encourages customers to buy a certain product.Fax Machine Essentially, a fax machine is a tele communion engineering science used to transfer copies of documents to other people or other businesses to discuss things or to advertise. In the case of ASDAs sales department, they use fax machines t o contact customers for special offers or to sell a lot of their stock. Also, when their stock is approaching the end of 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 lucre 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 not snuff it 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 modishness dev ices are extremely useful in ASDA and help them because they are very time efficient. This is because ASDA workers can type 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 postulate 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 i mpact of using the SoftwareMicrosoft Word The ASDA sales department uses Microsoft Word to produce documents, for guinea pig and if necessary send e-mails, memos, agendas and mail desegregate to benefit the department and to save time. ASDA also uses Microsoft Word to compile a fiscal 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 recompense and so therefore the net profit is also. Companies only use Microsoft Word to make sure that the report looks professional and has no mistakes.Microsoft Excel This software program is vital to ASDA as you can use it to produce graphs and tables based on the finances of ASDA. For display case, 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 finances 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. quick of scent Sales Order Processing System This computerized system handles sales, acquire, stock verify 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 to each one 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 discussion sectionThe finance department compiles expression for budgets of new, ongoing and future projects, appropriation of accounts, re-appropriations and savings. The finance depart ment 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, entertainment 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 pecker 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 swooning in the form of e-mail. The finance department uses e-mail to contact accountants, other d epartments and also customers. Also ASDA uses the internet rapidness to cypher future sales and managers need to plan carefully the direction that the business will take in years to come. However, forecasting can be a difficult job and so doing this job is aided by the internet and information from it. at once 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 more or less 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 prior 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 basic ally 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 because it allows them to go about their business quickly and very efficently.Digital Telephone Although digital telephonys are being used less and less frequently due to the revoultionary working out of the use of e-mail and less so the fax machine. However, telephones are remedy 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 hoo-ha when one is received, and manifestly 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 outdoor(a) the profit the company has made from the expenditure to create the net profit of the year. ASDA uses Microsoft 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. champion is to keep track of their creditors and keep records of wheather they have paid the m 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 the company is increasing or getting 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 preceding(prenominal) 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 hustling to help the finance business do wha t they do.ASDAs Purchasing DepartmentThe main functions of the purchasing department is to buy raw materials, semi complete products and fully ideal products. Each department works hand in hand with the other ones, for example the purchasing department gets it money from finance, buys the products for ware 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 m ake 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 garner 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 end product 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 construct (CAD)* Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM))The impact of using the ICTRobots These sophisticated pieces of ICT come in all contrasting shapes and sizes yet all have the same components which are1. Sensors Capture information from the environment.2. A Microprocessor Processes the information3. Actuators uncover 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 parlous 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, campaign 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, however, 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 f or many of their products. This piece of software lets users create 3-D models with features like volume, heaviness and centre of gravity. The image can be rotated and viewed from any angle. The advantages 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 instantaneously into a program that controls the manufacturing of products. The advantages of using this software for ASDAs produ ction department are that this system is very versatile and flexible. For example individual items can be manufactured to a customers exact specification. stopping pointIn conclusion, all departments use ICT and softwares 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.