laudon ch.9

ACHIEVING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND CUSTOMER INTIMACY: ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS

Chapter 9

Eng. Rasha Al Ababseh

Learning Objectives

• How do enterprise systems help businesses achieve operational excellence?

• How do supply chain management systems coordinate planning, production, and logistics with suppliers?

• How do customer relationship management systems help firms achieve customer intimacy?

• What are the challenges posed by enterprise applications?

• How are enterprise applications taking advantage of new technologies?


Enterprise Systems

• Before having an Enterprise systems, your decision making would often be based on manual hardcopy reports, often out of date, and it would be difficult to really understand what is happening in the business as a whole.

• Sales personnel might not be able to tell at the time they place an order whether the ordered items are in inventory,

• and manufacturing could not easily use sales data to plan for new production.



Enterprise applications automate processes that span multiple business functions and organizational levels and may extend outside the organization.

Enterprise Application Architecture

Enterprise Systems

• Enterprise Systems

– Also called “enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems”

– Suite of integrated software modules and a common central database

– Collects data from many divisions of firm for use in nearly all of firm’s internal business activities

– Information entered in one process is immediately available for other processes


Enterprise Systems


Enterprise systems feature a set of integrated software modules and a central database that enables data to be shared by many different business processes and functional areas throughout the enterprise.

HOW ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS WORK

Enterprise Systems

• Enterprise Software – Built around thousands of predefined business processes that reflect

best practices

• Finance/accounting: General ledger, accounts payable, etc.

• Human resources: Personnel administration, payroll, etc.

• Manufacturing/production: Purchasing, shipping, etc.

• Sales/marketing: Order processing, billing, sales planning, etc.

– To implement, firms:

• Select functions of system they wish to use

• Map business processes to software processes

– Use software’s configuration tables for customizing

– A firm would use configuration tables provided by the software manufacturer to tailor a particular aspect of the system to the way it does business

– SAP has more than 3,000 configuration tables for its enterprise software.


Enterprise Systems

• Users could tap into the system and find out where that

particular order was at any minute.

• Management could obtain information at any point in

time about how the business was operating.

• The system could also generate enterprise-wide data for

management analyses of product cost and profitability.


Enterprise Systems

• Business value of enterprise systems

– Increase operational efficiency

– Large companies with many operating units in different locations have used enterprise systems to enforce standard practices and data so that everyone does business the same way worldwide.

– Enable rapid responses to customer requests for information or products

– Include analytical tools to evaluate overall organizational performance


Enterprise Systems

• Enterprise systems provide much valuable information for improving management decision making.

• Corporate headquarters has access to up-to-the-minute data on sales, inventory, and production, and uses this information to create more accurate sales and production forecasts.

• Enterprise systems allow senior management to easily find out at any moment how a particular organizational unit is performing, determine which products are most or least profitable, and calculate costs for the company as a whole.


Enterprise Systems

SAP Business processes integration ERP


Supply Chain Management Systems

• Supply chain: – Network of organizations and processes for:

• Procuring raw materials • Transforming them into products • Distributing the products

• Upstream supply chain: – Firm’s suppliers, suppliers’ suppliers, processes for

managing relationships with them

• Downstream supply chain: – Organizations and processes responsible for delivering

products to customers



This figure illustrates the major entities in Nike’s supply chain and the flow of information upstream and downstream to coordinate the activities involved in buying, making, and moving a product. Shown here is a simplified supply chain, with the upstream portion focusing only on the suppliers for sneakers and sneaker soles.


• Information and supply chain management – Inefficiencies cut into a company’s operating costs

• Can waste up to 25% of operating expenses

– Just-in-time strategy: • Components arrive as they are needed • Finished goods shipped after leaving assembly line • If a manufacturer had perfect information about exactly how

many units of product customers wanted, when they wanted them, and when they could be produced,

– Safety stock • Buffer for lack of flexibility in supply chain

– Bullwhip effect • Information about product demand gets distorted as it

passes from one entity to next across supply chain




THE BULLWHIP EFFECT


Inaccurate information can cause minor fluctuations in demand for a product to be amplified as one moves further back in the supply chain. Minor fluctuations in retail sales for a product can create excess inventory for distributors, manufacturers, and suppliers.

The bullwhip is tamed by:

• reducing uncertainties about demand and supply when all

members of the supply chain have accurate and up-to-date

information.

• If all supply chain members share dynamic information about

inventory levels, schedules, forecasts, and shipments, they

have more precise knowledge about how to adjust their

sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution plans.

• Supply chain management systems provide the kind of

information that helps members of the supply chain make

better purchasing and scheduling decisions.



• Supply chain management software

– Supply chain planning systems, enables the firm to:

• Model existing supply chain

• Generate Demand planning: how much product a business needs to make to satisfy all of its customers’ demands

• Optimize sourcing, manufacturing plans

• Establish inventory levels

• Identifying transportation modes

– Supply chain execution systems

• manage the flow of products through distribution centers and warehouses to ensure that products are delivered to the right locations in the most efficient manner.

• track the physical status of goods, the management of materials, warehouse and transportation operations



• Global supply chain issues

– Global supply chains typically span greater geographic distances and time differences

– More complex pricing issues (local taxes, transportation, etc.)

– Foreign government regulations

• Internet helps companies manage many aspects of global supply chains

– Sourcing, transportation, communications, international finance



• Supply chain management systems

– Push-based model (build-to-stock) • Schedules based on best guesses of demand

– Pull-based model (demand-driven) • Customer orders trigger events in supply chain

– Sequential supply chains • Information and materials flow sequentially from

company to company

– Concurrent supply chains • Information flows in many directions simultaneously

among members of a supply chain network- enabled by Internet and Internet technology.




THE BULLWHIP EFFECT

The difference between push- and pull-based models is summarized by the slogan, “Make what we sell, not sell what we make.”


• Business value of SCM systems

– Match supply to demand

– Reduce inventory levels

– Improve delivery service

– Speed product time to market

– Use assets more effectively

– Reduced supply chain costs lead to increased profitability

– Increased sales, More precise control of the supply chain enhances the firm’s ability to have the right product available for customer purchases at the right time.



Customer Relationship Management Systems

• Knowing the customer

– In large businesses, too many customers and too many ways customers interact with firm

– you’d want to make sure you knew each of your customers well, as if you were running a small town store. And you’d want to make your good customers feel special.

• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems

– Capture and integrate customer data from all over the organization

– Consolidate and analyze customer data

– Distribute customer information to various systems and customer touch points across enterprise

– Provide single enterprise view of customers




CRM systems examine customers from a multifaceted perspective. These systems use a set of integrated applications to address all aspects of the customer relationship, including customer service, sales, and marketing.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

Good CRM systems provide data and analytical tools for answering questions such as:

• What is the value of a particular customer to the firm over his or her lifetime?

• Who are our most loyal customers? • Who are our most profitable customers? • What do these profitable customers want to buy?

• Firms use the answers to these questions: • to acquire new customers, • provide better service and support to existing customers, • customize their offerings more precisely to customer

preferences, • and provide ongoing value to retain profitable customers.



• CRM software

• CRM packages range from niche tools (perform limited functions, such as personalizing Web sites for specific customers) to large-scale enterprise applications.

– More comprehensive CRM have modules for: • Partner relationship management (PRM)

– to enhance collaboration between a company and its selling partners.

– If a company does not sell directly to customers but rather works through distributors or retailers, PRM helps these channels sell to customers directly.

– Integrating lead generation, pricing, promotions, order configurations, and availability.

– Tools to assess partners’ performances



• Employee relationship management (ERM)

– deals with employee issues that are closely related to CRM, such as employee performance management, performance-based compensation, and employee training.



• CRM packages typically include tools for:

– Sales force automation (SFA)

• A module in CRM systems help sales staff increase their productivity by focusing sales efforts on the most profitable customers

• E.g. sales prospect and contact information, order processing, and order tracking.

– Customer service

• provide information and tools to increase the efficiency of call centers, help desks, and customer support staff.

• E.g. assigning and managing customer service requests; Web-based self-service capabilities



• Improved access to consistent and accurate customer information helps call centers:

– handle more calls per day and decrease the duration of each call.

– achieve greater productivity,

– reduced transaction time, and higher quality of service at lower cost.

– Marketing

• CRM systems support direct-marketing campaigns by:

– providing capabilities for capturing prospect and customer data, scheduling and tracking direct-marketing mailings or e-mail,

• tools for analyzing marketing and customer data, identifying profitable and unprofitable customers, designing products and services to satisfy specific customer needs and interests, and identifying opportunities for cross-selling.




Customer relationship management software provides a single point for users to manage and evaluate marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including e-mail, direct mail, telephone, the Web, and wireless messages.

HOW CRM SYSTEMS SUPPORT MARKETING



The major CRM software products support business processes in sales, service, and marketing, integrating customer information from many different sources. Included are support for both the operational and analytical aspects of CRM.

CRM SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES



This process map shows how a best practice for promoting customer loyalty through customer service would be modeled by customer relationship management software. The CRM software helps firms identify high-value customers for preferential treatment.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY MANAGEMENT PROCESS MAP


• Operational CRM:

– Customer-facing applications

• E.g. sales force automation, call center and customer service support, and marketing automation

• Analytical CRM:

– Analyze customer data output from operational CRM applications to provide information for improving business performance.

– Based on data warehouses populated by operational CRM systems and customer touch points

• Such data are analyzed to identify buying patterns, to create segments for targeted marketing, and to pinpoint profitable and unprofitable customers

• Customer lifetime value (CLTV): the relationship between the revenue produced by a specific customer, the expenses incurred in acquiring and servicing that customer, and the expected life of the relationship between the customer and the company.




Analytical CRM uses a customer data warehouse and tools to analyze customer data collected from the firm’s customer touch points and from other sources.

ANALYTICAL CRM DATA WAREHOUSE


• Business value of CRM

– Increased customer satisfaction

– Reduced direct-marketing costs

– More effective marketing

– Lower costs for customer acquisition/retention

– Increased sales revenue

– Reduce churn rate • Number of customers who stop using or purchasing

products or services from a company. • Indicator of growth or decline of firm’s customer base



Enterprise Applications: New Opportunities and Challenges

Challenges:

• Enterprise applications involve complex pieces of software that are very expensive to purchase and implement.

– It might take a large Fortune 500 company several years to complete a large-scale implementation of an enterprise system or a system for SCM or CRM

– The total cost for an average large system implementation based on SAP or Oracle software, including software, database tools, consulting fees, training, and perhaps hardware costs, runs over $12 million.

– additional customization work add to implementation delays and costs.

• Technological changes, hardware infrastructure

• Business process changes, fundamental changes in the way the business operates


Challenges:

• Organizational changes

– Employees must accept new job functions and responsibilities.

– They must learn how to perform a new set of work activities and understand how the information they enter into the system can affect other parts of the company

• Switching costs, your firm becomes dependent on the vendor to upgrade its product and maintain your installation

• Supply chain management systems require multiple organizations to share information and business processes.

Enterprise software vendors are addressing these problems by offering:

– pared-down versions of their software and “fast-start” programs for small and medium-sized businesses.

– best-practice guidelines for larger companies.

Companies adopting enterprise applications can also save time and money by keeping customizations to a minimum.



Next-generation enterprise applications:

• Today, enterprise application vendors are delivering more value by becoming more flexible, Web-enabled, and capable of integration with other systems.

• Enterprise suites (SAP Business Suite, Oracle e-Business Suite)

• Software to enable CRM, SCM, and enterprise systems work together and with suppliers and client systems

• Utilize Web services, SOA

– Open source & on-demand solutions

• The major enterprise application vendors also offer portions of their products that work on mobile handhelds.

• Software as a service (SaaS) and cloud-based versions of enterprise systems

– SAP now offers cloud-based versions of its software solutions



• Social CRM and Business Intelligence

• CRM software vendors are enhancing their products to take advantage of social networking technologies.

– These social enhancements help firms identify new ideas more rapidly, improve team productivity, and deepen interactions with customers.

• Dell Computer deployed the Salesforce IdeaExchange “wisdom of crowds” technology to encourage its customers to suggest and vote on new concepts and feature changes in Dell products.



• Employees who interact with customers via social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are often able to provide customer service functions much faster and at lower cost than by using telephone conversations or e-mail.

• Customers who are active social media users increasingly want—and expect— businesses to respond to their questions and complaints through this channel.



• Social CRM tools enable a business to connect customer conversations and relationships from social networking sites to CRM processes.

• The leading CRM vendors now offer such tools to link data from social networks into their CRM software.

– Salesforce.com and Oracle CRM products are incorporating technology to monitor, track, and analyze social media activity in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and other sites.

• Business Intelligence in Enterprise Applications Enterprise application vendors have added business intelligence features to help managers obtain more meaningful information from the massive amounts of data generated by these systems. Included are tools for flexible reporting, ad hoc analysis, interactive dashboards, what-if scenario analysis, and data visualization

• They are also offering complementary stand-alone analytics products, such as SAP Business Objects

