Enterprise Resource Planning System
Name
Institution Affiliated
Enterprise Resource Planning System
Information Silos
Information silos refer to information management systems that cannot communicate freely with other systems that deal with information management, leaving the information sequestered inside each system. Communication in information management systems is always vertical. Hence it makes it impossible for the information systems to work with other systems that are unrelated to it. An information silo comes about when an organization or business does not see the need or benefits of sharing information within the different branches or departments that exist. These organizations think that access to information is not of any use to the people in other systems.
The Problem of Information Silos for Organizations
Information silos generally cause a lot of issues and problems for organizations that do not effectively share information across the different departments and divisions of the organization. Information silos create the duplication of the effort and work of employees. This duplication is because there is no communication. Hence the different employees do not know what the others are up to at the various locations. Information silos result in a lack of synergy between the employees, and as a result, the organization misses out on many opportunities. The lack of access to the information within an organization results in employees not collaborating to get work done, and the company misses out on highly beneficial opportunities.
Organizations and The Cloud
Many organizations opted to make the transition from the use of hardware to cloud computing, as it offers many benefits to the organizations. According to Armbrust et al. (2010), moving to cloud computing will no longer require substantial investments in hardware and experts to operate the hardware. Cloud computing offers flexibility, which will allow organizations to increase or decrease their cloud capacity, depending on the demand. It also increases collaboration within the workforce as the employees can access and edit information and documents on the cloud with each other. Cloud computing also gives organizations a competitive edge regardless of whether the organization is a big corporation or a small enterprise.
Information Problem at Colony Nursery
Cloud computing has a lot of benefits for the Colony Nursery company, and by using a cloud-based host for data, the company can effectively solve the information silo problem. The company will only have to pay for the storage that they use as the cloud-based host offers a cheaper solution. The information that the company stores on the cloud are readily available for the divisions of the company and any person can easily access it to track customer purchases for the award system.
Competitive Advantage at Colony Nursery and Landscaping
ERP systems are crucial in giving businesses a competitive edge (Elgohary, 2019). In conjunction with the award system, the ERP systems work together to provide Colony with Nursery a competitive advantage in its field. This competitive advantage is because the ERP system enhances the regular routines of an organization like record keeping. The workers in the different stores can access customer records on the go and update them whenever a customer purchases an item at any of the stores. It becomes more comfortable for the employees to keep track of the points hat each customer receives, and subsequently award them.
Implementation of the ERP
The implementation of the ERP and business process reengineering go together. By reengineering business processes, an organization effectively optimizes them for the execution of the ERP system. By reengineering its business processes, Colony Nursing identifies the appropriate software modifications that will facilitate information sharing between the marketing department and the Human Resource department. For the effective employment of the award system, the system requires an understanding of which ERP system can facilitate communication.
Reference
Armbrust, M., Fox, A., Griffith, R., Joseph, A. D., Katz, R., Konwinski, A., … & Zaharia, M. (2010). A view of cloud computing. Communications of the ACM, 53(4), 50-58.
Elgohary, E. (2019). The Role of ERP Capabilities in Achieving Competitive Advantage: An Empirical Study on Dakahlia Governorate Companies, Egypt. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 85(4), e12085.