The Personal and Portable Touch
Question 1
CRM is a system that stores customer data that helps the company representatives serve them better. Different CRM aplications include Clarify (used by FedEx), Zoho CRM, and Hubspot CRM among others.
Question 2
CRM retrieves shipping history and preferences. By knowing their preferences, the company reps can serve the customers better. The reps will not spend much time and telephone charges in calls trying to ask the customers questions. Besides, the previous information helps the reps to interact with them with knowledge. Thus, shipping destinations, for instance, ensure that new shipments will be sent in the right destination with no misdeliveries. Finally, problems are solved faster because the information is there.
Question 3
One of the metrics that can be used in measuring information system performance is customer satisfaction. The business should assess whether the customers are generally happy after implementing a system. Is it solving their problems quickly? Second, the system’s evaluation can be done through the cost spent/saved. Is it saving costs? For instance, CRM at Fed Ex is cost-saving because less call charges are spent.
Question 4
The challenges of implementing mobile technologies include unsafe devices, unsafe apps, and a variety of devices. Mobile apps are targeted by malware which steals their personal information to be used to access different sites. Mobile users also download unsafe apps which also perform the same. With a variety of devices that have different operating systems, it becomes hard to control them. As for savings, they are more than web-based systems because more people can use mobile devices due to their mobility and ease of use.
Question 5
As a FedEx executive, I would include a mobile-based app to pay for the packages.
Article 2: Blooming with Technology
Question 1
Point-of-Sales systems are effective because they are fast and error-free in making business transactions. The information can be tracked manually but it is not effective because it is tedious and time-consuming, and can attract errors. The information can be used to identify purchase patterns to understand the products which are mainly purchased to stock more. In addition, it tracks the stock to help the business restock before the products are out, perfect in inventory management.
Question 2
Small owners avoid information systems because they are expensive and require special expertise. With their low profitability, they fail to find the need for a proprietary system that would cost them money.
Question 3
Other systems discussed include the HR system which tracks employee schedule and labor expenses. Ideally, the POS system can be integrated with HR and purchase systems to track labor as well as the products that have been purchased and added in the stock. Purchasing is the only way that inventory is topped up.