2 Information Systems in the Enterprise - Main Web

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TABLE 2-2 Examples of Sales and Marketing Information Systems System Description Organizational Level Order processing Enter, process, and track orders Operational Market analysis Identify customers and markets using data on demographics, markets, consumer behavior, and trends Knowledge Pricing analysis Determine prices for products and services Management Sales trend forecasting Prepare 5-year sales forecasts Strategic meet their needs, and advertising and promoting these products and services. Sales is concerned with contacting customers, selling the products and services, taking orders, and following up on sales. Sales and marketing information systems support these activities. Table 2-2 shows that information systems are used in sales and marketing in a number of ways. At the strategic level, sales and marketing systems monitor trends affecting new products and sales opportunities, support planning for new products and services, and monitor the performance of competitors. At the management level, sales and marketing systems support market research, advertising and promotional campaigns, and pricing decisions. They analyze sales performance and the performance of the sales staff. Knowledge-level sales and marketing systems support marketing analysis workstations. At the operational level, sales and marketing systems assist in locating and contacting prospective customers, tracking sales, processing orders, and providing customer service support. Review Figure 2-6. It shows the output of a typical sales information system at the management level. The system consolidates data about each item sold (such as the product code, product description, and price) for further management analysis. Company managers examine these sales data to monitor sales activity and buying trends. The Window on Management describes some typical sales and marketing systems that might be found in a small business. Manufacturing and Production Systems The manufacturing and production function is responsible for actually producing the firm’s goods and services. Manufacturing and production systems deal with the planning, development, and maintenance of production facilities; the establishment of production goals; the acquisition, storage, and availability of production materials; and the scheduling of equipment, facilities, materials, and labor required to fashion finished products. Manufacturing and production information systems support these activities. Table 2-3 shows some typical manufacturing and production information systems arranged by organizational level. Strategic-level manufacturing systems deal with the firm’s TABLE 2-3 Chapter 2 ❙ INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN THE ENTERPRISE 13 Examples of Manufacturing and Production Information Systems System Description Organizational Level Machine control Control the actions of machines and equipment Operational Computer-aided design (CAD) Design new products using the computer Knowledge Production planning Decide when and how many products should be produced Management Facilities location Decide where to locate new production facilities Strategic sales and marketing information systems Systems that help the firm identify customers for the firm’s products or services, develop products and services to meet customer’s needs, promote products and services, sell the products and services, and provide ongoing customer support. manufacturing and production information systems Systems that deal with the planning, development, and production of products and services and with controlling the flow of production.
14 Part I ❙ ORGANIZATIONS, MANAGEMENT, AND THE NETWORKED ENTERPRISE How Southstream Seafoods Lands the Big Customers According to Mark Soderstrom, president of Southstream Seafoods, anyone can sell fish. He believes that his company does it better than anyone else, thanks to powerful customer contact and sales information systems. Southstream Seafoods is based in Warwick, Rhode Island, and is an importer and wholesaler of frozen seafood that sells primarily to food-service distributors and restaurant chains. The company has been in business for more than 10 years and has 20 employees. To stay ahead of competitors in a tough business, Southstream installed a customer relationship management (CRM) system with software from Sage Inc. The system keeps track of Southstream’s customers, phone calls, and sales transactions and helps management measure the efficiency and productivity of the sales force. Selling fish is challenging for both wholesalers and retailers because fish prices constantly go up and down, with factors such as weather or availability affecting the business within a few days. Soderstrom turned this problem into an opportunity to serve his customers better than competitors by broadcasting information about changing market prices to customers so they can make better business decisions. Southstream configured the contact management portion of the system so that with a click of a button, sales staff could send out information only to specified customers. The customer records in the system include check boxes indicating which types of fish they purchase. The check boxes enable Southstream to locate only those customers, for instance, who purchase Alaskan cod. Southstream can then send a fax about changes in Alaskan cod prices only to those customers who actually use the product. Southstream uses the system to fax market information to about half of its 1,000 customers each week. management Sources: Angela R. Garber, “Hook, Line, and Sinker,” Small Business Computing, New caption to come The average Southstream sales representative handles between 75 and 125 active accounts.When making each call, the salesperson enters sales information, including quantity, price, and shipping information into the system. The salesperson can also use the system to set callback dates and reminder alarms. The system records the duration of each call and makes all of the information available to a manager or Southstream’s shipping department. If the shipping department gets a call indicating that a customer’s fish hasn’t arrived on time, the shipping department can enter the customer’s name and immediately see what that customer has just purchased and when delivery is expected. Soderstrom can generate reports from the system to analyze the efficiency of his sales staff and find ways of better servicing customer accounts. The system can show him exactly what each salesperson has done, showing all of his or her phone calls, sales, and the results of phone calls. Using this information, Soderstrom might find that one sales representative is spending too much time on a customer with a historically low volume of purchases and recommend that the salesperson allocate more time to a customer with more purchasing potential. Using only 10 sales representatives and 2 people in the shipping department, Southstream sells and ships about one million pounds of fish each week.Without the system, the company would need a staff twice as big to do the job. To Think About: What kinds of systems for sales and marketing are described here? How do these systems support the sales function? What organizational levels are supported by these systems? February 2000; and www.southstream.com.
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