Case Study 4

Virginia Shipman

Information System

Case Study 4

April 19, 2015

Chapter 7

Discussion Questions

2. The increasing complexity of conducting business in today’s environment dictates that management be presented with a comprehensive picture of the company as a whole. Additionally, these cross-functional, integrated, systems put in evidence the interrelations between different functional areas and the effect they have on the organization.

Functional-silo systems, while very effective in helping managers manage their specific area do not provide these capabilities. Integrated systems allow modern organizations to stay flexible to changes in their environment and react promptly across the board. It could be argued that functional integration within the organization is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to stay competitive in the marketplace.

9. e-business applications may take on many forms. For example data conferencing, digital information services, distance learning, facsimile, intranets, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, voice mail systems etc. It may also take on the form of applications dealing with procurement, marketing, manufacturing, financial, logistics, human resources, supplier and vendor integration applications and a multitude of other applications. What is important is that a small company can use e-business applications to survive and succeed in challenging economic times by allowing it to carry out many functions more effectively. As well, as large corporations restructure and go back to concentrating on their core business there are a number of opportunities for small businesses to provide services to the larger companies.

Case Study 2

1. By researching the financial snapshots of how Nationwide was doing at any given time. To do this they over hauled the systems that were used to keep track of the financials. Before it had been where each entity had their own system. By bringing everything into one system that everyone used it...