Knowledge Audits For Business Analysis Management: A Case Study Of Creative Solutions

Business Case

Discuss about the Knowledge Audits for Business Analysis Management.

The assignment illustrates a business problem faced by an organization in its business operations. A detailed analysis of the business problem along with the problems faced by the stakeholders of the company is explained in the study. Theoretical frameworks related to the solution of the business problem are mentioned in the study. The organization that is described in the study is Creative Solutions. However, it can be said that the company is lacking on the usage of information technology in their supply chain activities and distribution of the products to the facilities of the customers. Creative Solutions is facing issues in providing details to the customers. Hence, the owner of the company is trying to use different kinds of information technology in their business operations. Apart from that, the study will focus on different topics such as detailed analysis of the problem, stakeholder analysis, business case, business context, business processes that will be implemented in the company to increase the competitiveness of the company in the market. The aim is to increase the customers base.

The case study focuses on the problems faced by Creative Solutions in the field of different management activities such as ordering, stocktaking, and customer service. It is seen that the company is still complete the entire task manually. Use of technology in the business operations is minimum. Hence, it can be said that the owner of the company along with other employees are facing problems in delivering excellent customer service to the customers. In terms of the customers, they are also facing problems if they want to know about the status of their orders and knowledge about the new products (Hörisch et al. 2014). Customers are also not able to collect information about the availability of the items present in the store, as the company is not present in the digital platforms. It is a main drawback to the company. The case study suggests that different management activities such as ordering and stocktaking are handled manually. Therefore, there is a chance of committing mistakes by the employees while keeping the records of accomplishment of the items that are being distributed to the customers. Mistakes are also occurred while providing information to the customers in terms of payment and the status of delivery (Tsai et al. 2013). It is caused due to the lack of use of technology in the business operations. Manually completion of work by humans can cause errors due to memory loss.

Stakeholder Analysis

Hence, it can be said that the company needs an improvement of the current methods of business operations. The need of ICT is important for increasing the profitability of the company and providing excellent service to the customers that will help the company in gaining reputation in the market. It will lead to word of mouth promotion from the existing customers. The marketing activities of the company also need some development while implementing a development in the online platforms (Fooks et al. 2013).

Creative Solutions has a number of stakeholders in their senior management authority. For making any decision related to the change in business model and in implementing new features in the business model, involvement of the stakeholders is necessary. Stakeholders are the persons that are considered as the most experienced person in the company. Creative Solutions has both internal and external stakeholders that are responsible for taking major decisions in the company (Lienert et al. 2013). Stakeholders are responsible for creating strategies for the development of the company. Stakeholders of Creative solutions include the shareholders, customers, CEO, financial advisors, operational head, etc. The stakeholders do not know the different types of problems that the company is facing in many circumstances. It is the reason of creation of the problem. In the case study, it is mentioned that the company is facing problem in the distribution of the products as well as providing the customers an improved level of customer service (Missonier and Loufrani-Fedida 2014). It is essential for the company to inform about the problems faced by all levels of employees in their respective field of operations. The company can be dividing their problems into two categories in order to formulate strategies regarding the problem.

However, it can be said that, the analysis of stakeholders regarding the problems of Creative Solutions will help in formulating strategies that will mitigate the needs of the company in the field of developing business operations. Consent of different stakeholders such as customers and the senior management are important so that the gap between the process of formulation and implementation of strategies can be identified properly. While developing any types of strategy, consent of both junior level and senior level employees are necessary for increasing the effectiveness of the strategy (Martin et al. 2016). In this scenario, Creative Solutions is lagging behind in the field of business operations. The company is not present in the online platforms, which is considered as a major drawback for the competitiveness of the company. The company is also not using any modern technology for its daily operations. Hence, there is a delay of the daily activities. Data will be collected from the stakeholders regarding their views related to the problems of Creative Solutions. They will finally decide the strategies and models used by the company for the implementation of ICT in their business operations. Use of ICT will help the company for improved profitability along with excellent customer service (Harmon 2014).

Business Context

In the above section of the study, the problems faced by the company are identified while describing the process of analysis of the stakeholders related to the problem. In this situation, the identified problem is focused on the implementation of technologies in the systems of business operations of the supply chain management of the company. For formulation of strategies, the responsible person should emphasize on the process, customers, external environment, suppliers, customers, etc. However, in the field of stocktaking a chain should be followed such as recording order, taking order, and arranging delivery. It should be done by using technologies regarding the process of supply chain management (Tsai et al. 2013). Apart from that, in this section, another model can be used such as Porter’s Value Chain Analysis is incorporated in the business model for the implementation of new strategies. The Primary activities of the model include inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing & sales and services. The support activities of the value chain analysis of model include firm infrastructure, human resource management, procurement and technology department (Fr?czkiewicz-Wronka and Wronka-Po?piech 2014).

This model is perfect in this business context because Creative Solutions is facing issues in the logistics and distribution department including customer services. The areas of the inbound logistics, operations and outbound logistics require implementation of technologies that enhance the capabilities of the employees in terms of the improved customer service (Koc and Bozdag 2017). The secondary activities or the support activities has equal importance on the development of technology, human resource management along with the firm infrastructure. The stakeholders of the company incorporate the different activities of the ICT implementation. It includes the development of the process of supply chain management and the excellent customer service (Porter and Heppelmann 2015).

In terms of business process of Creative Solutions, business process model will be implemented along with other technologies of information communication and technology. The Business analysis process model constantly emphasizes on the mission, objective, strategy and tactics (MOST) of the organization i.e. Creative Solutions. The model consists of five steps such as Investigate situation, considering perspectives, analyse needs, evaluate options, and defining the requirements. The model will be described in the following in the perspective of Creative Solutions (Fr?czkiewicz-Wronka and Wronka-Po?piech 2014).

Investigate situation- In this situation, the aspect of OSCAR is being considered. OSCAR includes objectives scope, constraints, authority and resources. Objectives scope includes business objectives of Creative Solutions and constraints include policy and budgetary constraints. Authority and resources include human resources present in the company (Fleischmann et al. 2014).

Business Process

Considering Perspectives- This aspect includes identification of the stakeholders along with their analysis. Stakeholders of the company will put emphasis on the hidden conflicts, agendas and various inconsistencies and priorities. Usually they approach to problems and issues from a position that is informed. Thus, strategies are formed with the implementation of new technologies (Mozas-Moral et al. 2016).

Analysing needs- Gap Analysis is considered in this aspect. Gap analysis in this context will determine the areas of development of the business operations of Creative Solutions along with the areas of development. The business model will help in analysing the gap in the current process of business operations. After that, the stakeholders and other responsible persons will do the needs for identification of the change (Madan et al. 2016).

Evaluating options- After identification of the areas of possible improvements while using the gap analysis, new business options are to be evaluated. Evaluation of the options can be dependent on acceptability, financial and technical feasibility, while putting emphasis on the IT systems and management structure. It will definitely change the business process (Hayes 2013).

Defining requirements- It leads the process of documentation and collection of documents related to the detailed requirements that are required for the changes in the business operations. This aspect includes utilization of different techniques of modelling through the process of job design that analysing and eliciting different requirements, documenting, managing and validating the required documents (Fleischmann et al. 2014).

Conclusion

The essay discusses about different aspects of the problems regarding business operations of Creative Solutions in the different types of activities of the business. Manual procedures of conducting the business operations lead to the errors. However, the stakeholder analysis is conducted regarding the issues faced in the operation department of stocktaking, distributions and delivery of the items. It is seen that the lack of use of ICT leads to decrease the productivity of the company. It results in decreased competitiveness with the other companies in the market. However, suggestions are provided regarding the usage of technologies of ICT in proper areas especially in the areas of customer service and supply chain management in the company. Apart from that, different models and theoretical frameworks are proposed in the study. If Creative Solutions will implement the suggested technologies and the proposed theoretical frameworks properly, then it can improve its current problems faced in the business operations. In the business process and business context, theoretical frameworks are used in the context of the identified problems in Creative Solutions.

References

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Harmon, P., 2014. Business process change. Morgan Kaufmann.

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