VIT Challenges at Vermont Teddy Bear Company

Transcription

1 Introduction Vermont teddy Bear was founded in 1981 by John Sorinto who sold handmade teddy bears out of a cart. After figuring out that teddy bears were deeply ingrained into the American culture, he decided making quality teddy bears (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). Massive growth was witnessed in its first fifteen years of business. While the Bear-Gram approach did work magic, the company had a share of its own leadership woes. As time went by the leadership so the need to embrace retail sales. In the wake of the twenty first century, the company had to embrace technology in order to remain relevant in a highly competitive market economy. As of 2009, the vice president was hired to help reorganize the information platform that would stall following an upsurge of orders to do with pajamas, custom teddy bears, flowers as well as other gifts placed through the phone and the internet. The information system presented monumental challenges to the wellbeing of the company. Application bugs that were determined during valentine would be debugged by members his technical team before another event such as mothers day, fathers day or even Christmas day. The vice president was therefore at cross-roads in terms of which projects would be executed first. The vice president was torn between the need to manage the selection of new enterprise application that would surrogate the company s accounting systems that handle the order-entry, sales as well as inventory control. 15% OFF: Discount Code:- "aka15" This replacement would however, come at a hefty cost. It would be cost-effective for the company to procure supply-chain application to advance functional competencies, allowing raw 1 / 5

2 materials and processed products to be proficiently procured than bother its technical team in developing new systems from scratch (Thomas, Wheelen and Hunger, 2006). The company would grapple with all this IT related systems, and lacked the priority on which system would come first. This lack of a well scheduled plan would serve as the company s undoing. This paper goes ahead to evaluated some of the IT challenges that the company faces. Organizational and IT challenges at Vermont Teddy Bear Companies that heavily rely on IT system are successful; because this is strategically significant as operations require a control procedure that guarantees orderly process for system changes, designing and testing; certification and implementing in a new surrounding. An appropriate IT structure describes system configuration, servers and main enterprise apps and data dissemination particularly those apps that entail transactions affecting financial records. However, at VTB the information technology architecture is incomplete while the change control is insignificant. This is due to the fact that the organization has not put in place proper information technology procedures and a number of apps have not been designed to meet multiple requirements as the information system of VTB has inadequate resources to assist. In addition, these apps are interlinked through middleware to the company s main apps which are managed by the information technology organization while others are independent. This creates a dysfunction when it comes to linking the company s resources for purposes of proficiency. Even though, the organization required a complete, current catalog of computer hardware, important information is understood by one employee while nobody else understands it (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). Whereas information is the fuel that drives organizations, what is evident at VTB impedes the flow of information across various structures of the organisation. The IT vice president organized information system personnel to provide all the hidden information. Although, the results produced both positive and negative views, main transaction system was robust enough for fulfilling operational requirements for VBT. Pros and Cons of Current IT-business The company has good password practices as well as recovery systems. As such, when the network fails, installed redundancy allows the order system to operate so that orders do not get lost. Moreover, through hosting electronic commerce app at collection centers, the company is able to get more spots on the national internet. Rather than purchasing a distinct Enterprise Resource planning with separate components are adequate though not optimal, VTB acquired 2 / 5

3 detached packages which provides services closer to maximum functionality and are interlinked by a middleware. For instance, Circle Commerce installed in the UniVerse database is used for management and fulfillment of orders. 15% OFF: Discount Code:- "aka15" A software Bob Stetzel IT vice president is unfamiliar with; he has extensive understanding with relational software including oracle, Informix among others. In managing inventory the company uses IndusriOS and Plantinum for handling accounting related applications; and other stores use FusionRetail. Whereas a number of these packages are up to date, some are behind schedule (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). The middle was is another challenge facing VTB. It is not only utilized in the translation data among disparate apps, but has huge deal of business sense majority of which is not documented. This is greatly hindering the company from working on several things that support conventional as well as modern e-commerce procedures. Moreover, users continue requesting for IT improvements majority of which the company cannot provide. Even though, VTB is a small firm, it has a number of systems which are managed ineffectively; an aspect that is affecting the company s financial stability. Alignment Proposed Initiatives to improve the IT business The organisation would spent a considerable amount of its time troubleshooting, as aspect that would eat so much on their time that would be used for developing or rolling out other applications. In reality, this approach would help the company to understand which type of applications required a comprehensive codification. The IT department would then develop a detailed list architectural blueprint document that describes the network configuration, servers and core enterprise applications, as well as data flows across such application that had an impact on fiscal statements and any manner of financial transactions (Thomas, Wheelen and Hunger, 2006). 3 / 5

4 Alignment Rationale to Implement IT business The alignment to implement IT business for VBT is of great importance. For instance, implementing the current information technology system as a strategic move to upgrade and standardize systems in support of an upcoming business approach. The aspect of getting rid of the complex middleware and mismatched apps by investing in good ERP software would be ideal; however, this would attract hefty expenses. Nevertheless, Implementation of ERP does continuously materialize and therefore shocking process for workers. Implementing a family-centered approach that deliver pajamas at the door steps for the entire family, which during peak seasons such as Christmas, valentine and Mothers day would work best. This will be done through the use of appropriate data integration and enhanced analytical devices that help in coordinating promotion activities and projection (Gogan & Lewis, 2011). However, implementing extending the strategy for that long is rather challenging. Furthermore, it is complex to sell pajamas and flowers particularly when they bought for women recuperating from childbirth to surgical procedure. Owing to the fact that Calyx Flowers is distinct from other stores, it will require much integration to conduct such a technique. Alignment Initiatives IT Suggestions to Increase Customer Focus and Market Share Some of the alignment IT suggestions to increase customer focus and market share for VTB include effectively integrating data and enhanced analytical devices to ease coordination of promotion, projection and production across brands to execute a family-centered approach. Customer relationship management (CRM) software is another proposition. This software is important particularly when clients purchase brands across various mediums. In addition, CRM will help VTB to know its clients as well as order histories. Conclusions As of 2011, the company was still hoping against hopes when it comes to compiling the existing IT system. In reality, this obstructed the company from moving forward with a robust plan to target customer and control a wider market share. This would also impede the company s proposal to enhance an enterprise resource plan that would underpin a growing business representation (Gogan & Lewis, 2011). However, at the core of the company s ICT related woes lies a leadership that has repeatedly failed to make bold decisions that would see the execution of a robust information infrastructure, an aspect that leaves Vermont Teddy Bear Company marred in cycle of technological challenges. 4 / 5

5 References Gogan, J. L., & Lewis, M. O. (2011) Peak experiences and strategic IT alignment at Vermont Teddy Bear Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases, 1(2), Thomas L. Wheelen and J. David Hunger. (2006). Strategic Management and Business Policy 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Wheelen, T., & Hunger, J. (2004). Strategic management and business policy. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. 5 / 5