Integrated Marketing Communications System - Swinburne University Case Study Essay.

Usage of Technology in Organizations

Discuss about the Integrated Marketing Communications System.

Information systems play a critical role in the operation of businesses. The main aim of this paper is to explore information on the usage of the information systems by the organizations. The principal objective is composed of other goals which include establishing the main IT related problems that organizations face. This is achieved through a focus on one of education sector players, Swinburne University and exploring one of the information technology challenges that it faces in its business. Further, the other objective is to explore the usage of e-commerce and m-commerce, how they can be integrated, the benefits and the associated challenges. The paper covers all these aspects of the objectives.

Swinburne University is one of the major education sector players in Australia. The university was established in the year 1908 and has since grown and established many other branches at different places in the world. The main branch of this institution is at the Hawthorn Campus (Raciti, 2010). The university has branches in the Melbourne, Sarawak, and Malaysia among many other places in the world. The university has the student population of about 24000 whom it offers them a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and also the doctoral course programs. The institution offers both online and offline courses (Hyde, 2015).

Swinburne University is one of the organizations that have made attempts to embrace technology in their operation. However, just like other business enterprises, the institution faces particular challenges that are related to IT. One of these challenges that Swinburne University faces is the problem of optimizing the technology usage both in teaching and learning within the academic leadership (Ciobanu, Cristea, Dobre and Pop, 2014). The University finds it difficult to choose the right technology for use in its teaching and learning activities. Besides, the institution faces the challenges of establishing the rightful technology levels to be used (Gao, 2007).

As a way for Swinburne to curb this challenge of the technology type and level to use by the university, there are various strategies that the institution should adopt for effective use of technology. Firstly, the University should take an approach of researching before adopting a given technology (Cronin, 2014). The research should be undertaken on the potential customers before releasing any technology for teaching and learning. This will reveal the most appropriate technology type to embrace and its respective level of usage that seems best. Also, the tutors should be taken through constant training in cases of change in technology used. Besides, there is a need for the university to embrace the online learning support staff who will be available to help users at any point of time. Thus, this will help the institution to overcome the challenge (Oti, 2013).

Currently, E-Commerce and M-Commerce are the prevailing technological trends that businesses are adopting for their operations. With these technologies, people can buy goods or get services from wherever they are used with the use of the internet. E-Commerce entails all the activities that are undertaken in the process of buying and selling the goods or the services using internet technology (Trebilcock, 2011). On the other hand, M-Commerce refers to the use of mobile and other handheld devices to carry out the process of buying and selling the goods and services. M-Commerce has grown so fast in the market due to the ubiquity of the mobile devices in the world. Swinburne University can employ the two technologies to deliver the best services to its customers (Xu, Hong and Li, 2011).

Challenges Faced by Swinburne University

E-Commerce and M-Commerce bring many benefits to the organizations that adopt it. When Swinburne University adopts E-Commerce, the organization is an increase in productivity, reach and satisfy many customers in the business. The technology will help the university to reach various segments of customers in the world such as those want to learn any at their convenience without fixed schedule and are from different geographical locations. This will improve the marketing strategies of the University and will in turn attract more customers to the University (Bai, 2011). Also, E-Commerce and M-Commerce will help the institution to cut down the operational costs. The technology removes the necessity of the physical structures and items required for physical teaching by the University (Mulhern, 2009).

The process of integrating E-Commerce and M-Commerce is a critical move towards success. Swinburne can incorporate its activities into the technology by first getting the rightful technology for use. This includes acquiring the online learning system and also having the proper mobile technology in place. This could be an android app, IOS app or any other that is used in the market. The institution can opt them through various ways such as outsourcing or hire the developers to do the job. Swinburne should increase the number of courses that can be accessed for payment and learning through the use of this technology. This will improve the profitability of the organization (Nag, Hambrick and Chen, 2007).

Supply chain refers to all activities that are undertaken by an organization in the process of delivering the goods or services to the final user. Various steps are involved in the course of achieving an efficient supply chain in every business organization. The supply chain management of the E-Commerce business imitates the traditional chain in the process of delivering the goods and services to the customer (Patterson, 2008). However, there are some differences that new chain depicts. Unlike the traditional chain which has distributors and retailers, the new chain with-Commerce lacks this. Also, in E-Commerce what matters is the number of customers who can buy online but the physical market size. This among other factors brings out the differences in the chain.

There are various subprocess functions of the supply chain management in E-Commerce. The chain has some activities involved in the successful service sales to the customers. The E-Commerce systems should have a process to display the information on courses that the institution offers (Graham, Manikas, and Folinan, 2013). The customers from different places can now have access to this and transact with the school. This entails enrolling for the various courses offered by the university. Payment is made online through the various options provided. The tutor is then assigned to the given student customer to teach them. This is the last step of delivering the service in the chain through E-Commerce by the Swinburne University.

E-Commerce s associated with various aspects that bring about security risks and treats in E-Commerce. Usually, a security risk is a situation that causes the information to be maliciously altered or destroyed. In some cases, the risk causes the information to go unintended target receiver in the system. The treats cause harm in the E-Commerce system. Some of the causes of the risks and threats include viruses, Trojans, worms, cracking, rootkits among many others. Both the risks and the treats cause many effects which include loss of privacy, the integrity, and the data misuse. Also, it can lead to system unavailability, the service denial of service.

Every organization that has adopted E-Commerce must embrace the risk mitigation strategies too. Some of the ways to mitigate the risks and treats in E-Commerce include the performance of risk assessment to determine the potential risks in the company and thus be prepared to handle them. Also, there is need to develop a security policy. This defines the guidelines of the business process that are likely to help the organization reduce the potential risks. Another strategy is the adoption of the implementation plan. This is critical and helps an organization realize and have the plan to curb the possible risks. Besides, risks and threats can be mitigated through the performance of a security audit which unveils valuable information in implementing the E-Commerce systems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, technology is critical for every business organization. However, companies face challenges are related to technology. Thus, there is need to have strategies to overcome the IT related challenges. Also, businesses are adopting E-Commerce and M-Commerce systems. They provide a platform for companies to carry out their transactions with customers by the use of the internet. These technologies have altered the traditional supply chain in various ways. Also, the technologies are associated with risks and treats. Therefore, businesses need to adopt strategies to mitigate them.

References

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