Supply Chain Management Case Analysis: Information Technology

Introduction

Amazon is a renowned e-commerce giant with a large consumer base and clientele. Amazon uses customized information systems in its business processes to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the efficiency of collecting, storing, and analyzing personal information from customers. This paper aims to evaluate Amazon’s information management systems and how they affect its business process analysis via data collecting and management in its value chain.

Amazon’s Information Management System

One of Amazon’s most important success factors has been the implementation of modern information systems. Integration of information technology into business process analysis has been essential in decentralizing decision-making processes and boosting the efficiency of key business processes. The Simple Storage Service, which is linked to Amazon’s integrated database, and the Amazon Web Service, which facilitates access to the E-commerce platform, are the two components of Amazon’s information management software (Hewage et al., 2018). To improve transaction processing efficiency, customers can register user accounts and personalize their profiles on the web service. Amazon Web Service is a collection of technologies and services that work together to optimize data management and business process delivery. The technology is built to function with any internet-connected device, allowing customers, vendors, and Amazon employees to communicate successfully.

Transportation and Warehousing Network

The company has effectively connected numerous components of its information system with its database and customer relationship management system to increase business process analysis. This is accomplished by decentralizing decision-making processes, which results in more transparency of information. This has allowed the company to employ business intelligence analytics to gain a better understanding of the market and to inform the formulation of improvement plans so that the systems can handle more orders in less time. Amazon’s information management system produces a virtual version of the physical marketplace to better understand fluctuations in demand and supply. Merging communication structures with the information system enable business process automation and faster resolution of client inquiries (Aćimović et al., 2020). Additionally, order processing and delivery technologies are integrated with the ordering process to facilitate real-time response of client questions and maintain seamless business operations.

When a customer uses the web service to place an order, the information system makes a request to the data warehouse, which returns details of the product to the customer’s console. When a consumer is happy with a product and adds it to their cart, the online payment system takes them to a payment form where they may enter their address and make an electronic payment (Delfanti, 2021). A transaction notification and product details are sent to the customer through email or text message. The payment information are automatically recorded by the transaction system and sent to the supply chain network, which prepares the order for dispatch. The customer is notified that the product has indeed been dispatched by mail or SMS by the supply chain system.

Unique Features of Amazon’s Information Management System

One of the most important advantages of an integrated data approach is that it provides for the decentralization of decision-making processes, which reduces managerial inefficiencies, especially in large organizations. Individual subsystems of the Amazon information system are controlled as autonomous decision-making functions for varied resolution of client enquiries and order processing. As each component runs autonomously, the key business operations flow smoothly. The Amazon information dataset is collected from important business activities and saves it in the right manner in a central database for analytics in decision-making processes (Aćimović et al., 2020). Amazon executives demand quick access to accurate data on the company’s marketing, economic, inventory, and staff performance. This data is critical for identifying weak areas, strengths, and opportunities in order to influence strategic decision-making and enhance corporate operations. The information management system facilitates access to information by automating the collecting, classification, and centralized storage of data so that it may be retrieved and analyzed quickly.

To make data interpretation easier, the Amazon information management system’s architecture includes specialized data analytics algorithms. This is critical in assisting managers in comprehending how their decisions affect crucial business processes. Essentially, raw data from client profiles, purchasing, delivery, and payment procedures is compiled into specially prepared reports to make identifying trends and patterns easier (Hewage et al., 2018). This allows decision-makers to organize action at different management levels and to comprehend how crucial decisions affect the evolution of business processes.

Amazon’s Supply Chain Partners

The Amazon payment processing system is an important part of the Company Information System, allowing customers to make secure and quick purchases. This information management solution is incredibly trustworthy and simple thanks to features like 1-click purchasing and secure, encrypted credit card payment. The Amazon management systems are also combined with unique functions such as the intelligence recommendation system, which uses data mining to analyze a customer’s previous search queries to create recommendations for related items (Delfanti, 2021). This makes the whole thing more engaging, which leads to higher consumer satisfaction. This supply chain management system, which is coupled with the payment system and the online service, processes information on customer orders.

The Enterprise Resource Management system, which operates on the Oracle database systems, receives all data collected through the online interface. This technology automates the purchasing process and ensures that orders are scheduled and delivered accurately. Another important component of the Amazon management system that has helped considerably to the company’s success over the years is the Customer Relationship Management system. It uses sophisticated sorting algorithms to collect customer data such as credit card details, transactional data, and order records, which is then stored in the client base. It encrypts sensitive payment card information and sends order processing information to the delivery mechanism for fulfillment.

Information Management System and Customer Satisfaction

Due to enhanced business process analysis, Amazon has indeed been able to attract more customers despite rising competition from other e-commerce companies. Through a customer relations management approach for attracting and retaining customers, the information management is computerized to analyze the client’s personality and interests and offer recommendations on their preferred items. Customers benefit from the automation of processes and advanced communication arrangements. Amazon’s information systems’ scale, efficiency, and security have dramatically increased communication with its employees and users. Customers benefit from a rich user experience with the platform because they may get real-time solutions to numerous concerns. Customers that are satisfied share the word about the website, attracting more visitors.

Amazon was founded specifically for the purpose of selling a book to its customers. Due to rising demand, the service expanded to also include movies, computer games, music, electrical equipment, apparel, and a variety of other things. Through greater competitive advantage, this technique has been crucial in drawing and maintaining more customers to Amazon. The corporation can sell more things in a shorter period of time by selling for low prices, resulting in greater long-term profit.

Importance of Information Management System

Multiple teams can collaborate on a common task to make a sequence of actionable choices to improve a business process using the information system. The decision-making processes in this example primarily include client-server interactions via voice, camera, and groupware channels. Amazon information is important for central decision support, in addition to facilitating information access and interpretation. Through its application in the context of organized and unstructured decision-making processes, the information system also serves as a decision-support system. Through interactive decision help, the decision support system builds appropriate models and theories for the examination of underlying facts. Amazon’s information systems’ capacity to scale, run efficiently, and maintain security has enabled people to communicate between Amazon employees and clients (Arnett et al., 2018). Customers can receive immediate solutions using this method, resulting in a fantastic user experience. Updated software and technology are used to generate data that the company uses to make judgments about its global presence. Amazon uses a program that connects all of its foreign stores, suppliers, and consumers and provides them with a consistent management system.

Conclusion

The company’s information management system (MIS) enables it to transform data into information in order to make better decisions. Amazon’s web-based implementation of an interconnected system is successful if the information system is correctly operated and the technical and application architecture is maintained. Information systems aids in a company’s competitiveness. It generates reports and determines what is and is not working. These reports provide owners with the information required to make management and enhance their workers’ and company’s performance. The intranet facilitates access to information by automating the collecting, classifying, and centralized storing of data so that it may be retrieved and analyzed quickly.

References

Aćimović, S., Mijušković, V., & Milošević, N. (2020). Logistics aspects of goods home delivery: the case of Amazon company. Marketing, 51(1), 3-11.

Arnett, J., Goldfinch, B., & Chinta, R. (2018). Multi-dimensional nature of innovation at Amazon. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 15(1), 1-13.

Delfanti, A. (2021). Machinic dispossession and augmented despotism: Digital work in an Amazon warehouse. New Media & Society, 23(1), 39-55.

Hewage, T. N., Halgamuge, M. N., Syed, A., & Ekici, G. (2018). Big Data Techniques of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter. J. Commun., 13(2), 94-100.

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