Introduction to Strategic Information Systems

There are some times when there is development of an information system with response to plans which are corporate termed as the strategic systems. The main idea for this, is to come up with an idea that will help the specific company in becoming so competitive and a leader in the market.  The strategic information systems can be able to offer provisions of goods, products and even services which may be less expensive, that can be varied in many ways and that will be focusing on one particular market section, segment or even pioneering the given department (Verner, 2016). Strategic IS are known for the implementation of the strategies of the business as they are known to possess some resources which are applied to information services, and the opportunities in the strategic business with the aim of improving the performance of the computer system of the given company in performing well. Strategic information systems have really evolved from scratch and this has resulted to many times people seeing as if they are motivated initiative plans of any corporation. The technology advancement in the current era has led to rapid growth and development of such systems in many corporations. Information systems have helped in reducing the expenses spent in paying many experts in doing some jobs that can be handled by such systems.

The development of Strategic information systems has increased the performance of many businesses in terms of the goods and services they provide, as they have brought in the concept of good quality, durability and much cost effectiveness to the products and services being offered in the market. There are other cases, where the idea was first from the business people and the information services being operational as they were supplied by the available technological departments who had potentially realized the profitable results. The existing systems and the new systems in the organizations competing in the market have been seen to be supportive of such activities offered by the Strategic Information system for the business. The mechanize applied in the operations are such as the greater efficiency, there is control and thus helping in increasing the business profits (AzadehRezvani, 2017).   

Most of the systems have been seen to support the activities offered by such a business. The reason for their support is because they are easy to use and thus they have more than the enough required and reliable information in the management in the business that will it in running smoothly, and they are mostly applied in the planning of the analysis for the new directions (Bourgeois, 2015). Strategic information systems has played an integral part which is very necessary in the growth of a business that can directly affect the share of the market, the profits and any other aspect of the profits in the market square. Strategic information systems have been known in bringing new products, the new markets, the ways which are new in doing the business (CornellUniversity, 2013). This has directly affected the organization stance in terms of the competition giving the company a great advantage against its competitors.

Evolution of Strategic Information Systems

The critical success factor of any given company can be analyzed by considerations of the impacts as well as the methodologies applied for adjustment (Uk, 2013). Critical Success Factors abbreviated as CSF have been used for System Information System Planning (SISP), in interpreting the objectives clearly, the existing and new tactics and all the major functions terms of the needed info of any company or an institution and their management as well as the pros and cos of the systems in existence of the given Company. The critical factors that bring success in a company has been defined in so many ways with reference to the area of the results, the satisfactory means and the way that will ensure that there is a successful performance in the market in terms of competition within and outside the organization. (UkEssays, 2017)

Critical success factors in Sony Company has existed in a number of levels. They have been represented in few major areas where there are things that need to be done for the business to flourish. Consequently, CSF have been described as an activity area that should receive a continuous and much more the attention that will care for the management. Critical Success Factor approaches are known to have originated from the development of the understanding means of the CEOs information needs. The above approach will be then applied in the overall business and thus expanding the broader plan methodologies (Uk, 2017).

Critical success factors of Sony have been made from the root of so much consultations with a lot of practices that must be achieved with results which are significant with respect to the used property. Critical success factors will have different number of levels for it to exist such as the industry in place and the business unit of the organization or the specific manager. CBs in the levels which are low have are always been derived from the predecessor. The critical Success factor approach has introduced IT in first stages of the process of planning and this has helped in creation of a realistic assessment of information technology contributions to the given company or institution (Vijay, 2010).

In terms of strengths. The Critical success factors CBs analysis has offered provisions of very powerful methods used to focus on the key information requirements for the given organization, the business unit and much more the manager. This has allowed the management in focusing with the resources on the development of the info about the mentioned requirements and specification of the company. Critical success factor of Sony analysis is very easy in performing and thus it can be done with few resources available.

Benefits of Strategic Information Systems

In terms of Weaknesses. The critical success factor although it is a useful and one of the widely used techniques, the analysis of critical success factors alone cannot be enough in carrying out the comprehensive and complex strategic information system planning. It’s not data architecture in definition and offering provisions of the support which are automated and meant for the analysis phase. To be value, the Critical Success Factors analysis can be easy and directed back to the related business objectives unit that are reviewed. People experience have used the technique in general loses in its value which are applied in the third level of the hierarchy.

In April 1^st 1998 Sony Corporation announced the creation of an Information system solution that was Corporate. The new organization was meant for preparing the organization in all the emerging digital age by giving some strengths to MIS (Management Information System). Corporation of Sony has been known to have some corporate changes in their structure for past few years. The divisional company of Sony structure was introduced and initiated in the year 1994 which was later strengthened in the year 1996 (Meyer, 2018). Sony has been recognized as a company that has corporate directors in the board and executive officers which was created in the year 1997.

In response to the above changes in the environment which have been brought about by the digitization and network growth, Sony Corporation group has done some diversification in its business by applying the digital broadcasting using satellites, some electronics, entertainment gadgets, finance and lastly is the insurance they take. Sony Corporation has hoped in using the Information Systems solutions for furthering the capabilities of the information’s systems that will be used to enhance the speed and management flexibility in improving the making of the decisions.

The objective of information systems solution in Sony Corporation is increasing the efficiency of the Sony’s management information system in improving the infrastructure and the management information system roles in strategic planning and the increment of business promotions.

The other objective that has been proposed by the committee that advises which consists of the outside people from the company and the information system agencies in operations of Sony globally. Advisory Committee is tasked for counseling the president on the issues of the technology for the plans which are strategic from the Sony Corporation. In addition, the representatives of the information system solutions are always located like each to be of them in the 10 divisions of the corporation in the implementations of the projects that will be contributing to the firm.

Critical Success Factors and SISP

Sony Corporation is one of the manufacturers of videos, audio files, communications and then the information tech for their consumers and the markets in the professional. It is known for music, the pictures and entertainment operations to the computer has made Sony to be one of the comprehensive entertainment companies globally.

The first structure is based on the vertical structure using functions thus it is referred to as the functional Structure. Sony Corporation is one of the leading manufacturers of the entertainment devices such as TVs and Radios (biksuk, 2012).  The structure is based on the following explanations.  

Some of the listed functions are such as purchasing, procurement, finance estimation and engineering much more store keeping.

The second way is by the vertical Structures using the divisions thus it is referred to as the Divisional Structure. The list of divisions consists of the things like the Business Electronics, mobile communications for Sony Eriksson, business games, entertainment and holders group of financial institutions. The other concept is that of the function lists which acts as the product line which consists of the Audio devices, TVs, Video devices and the computers of VAIO. 

Sony Corporation is known for being a public company in Japan which is owned by different shareholders. It is known for trading on both TSE (Tokyo Stock Exchange) and in the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). It is symbolized as SNE from NYSE. In understanding the global environment, development is one of the most vital factor for the humanity in this century. The vision of Sony Corporation has been known in understanding the main objectives such as the continuity, technological innovation and the new initiatives such as

1. Marketing to be the biggest and fast priority in the company
2. All the client views to be considered as important as the view of the company.
3. Focusing on the future and much more doing a lot of investments
4. One being patient after it has done.

The main objectives of Sony Corporation are such as stated here below.

1. There must be a corporate citizenship.
2. Planning of business.
3. Too much research and development
4. Designing of the product.
5. Process of manufacturing and management site.
6. Sales, marketing and distribution.
7. The resource management post used.  

The strategy which are competitive in the company has featured to be hybrid strategy where the cost is low termed as cost leadership, this investment is in a low price but there is differentiation that is aggregated on the base of the product quality, how reliable it is, its flexibility, innovation and much more ways created for its sustainability when all key stakeholders are concerned (Roberts, 2016).

The current business strategy is featured in the sales strategy where the company must acquire and subsequent all the integration which is followed by the structures of MNE SBU. The turnaround strategy if not driven carefully will lead to poor performance in terms of finances but it has been known that their desire is increasing the productivity as well as changing the culture and structure of the organization. The measures required in achieving the above can be used in claiming the dependable competitive advantages at a cost that is very low, very lean and much more in an entrepreneurial enterprise price (Salmela, 2016).

CSF in Sony Corporation

The strategic perspective, is that the problem has extended by improving the processing power of information, thus it has helped improvement of knowledge acquisition and creations and sometimes shared in both internally and what surrounding the organization (Suhaimi, 2018). The pressures caused by the competition has resulted to high quality maintenance of the strategic information system as they are developed centrally and the approach in cooperating the strategic planning information with regards to its incremental. In the overall consideration, the aim of the strategy is to integrate the existing information systems as the internal integration with a very larger chain partners in the order in which the two will support both the leadership cost and the differentiation strategy (Academy, 2018). 

The method was developed by Sony, which has contributed to the combination of the top down and the bottom-up implementations of the planned strategy. The focus of the methodology in the processes of the business has been derived from the organization’s mission of the business. The similar data for the classes must be combined and used in developing the databases. Business system planning final plan gives a description of the general information architecture as well as the set timetable to be used when installing the individual systems. The following are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Strategic information systems for business system planning in Sony Corporation.

The combination of the top-down businesses analysis on the approach with the strategy which is bottom-up and which is applied during the implementation process has been used in representing the integrating approach. In the strategy which is the stop-down, business system planning is very much similar to the critical success factors methods in that it has been used in developing an understanding which is general to the business plans and that will support the information system needs through the joint discussions. Sony Corporation is one of the main suppliers of such methods and is known for its advantage of all the better known top managers in the management.

Business Systems Planning will require a clear commitment in the executive (Senior management) which in turn will require them to have a degree of information Technology that is high with an experience within the concepts business systems planning teams. There is always a problem of the gap between the bottom-up & top down planning of the implementation. Another weakness is that the is no software design methodologies. The main weakness of business system planning is the time considered and the required effort for the implementation to be successful. 

Objectives of Information Systems Solution in Sony Corporation

Strategic Systems planning is a system which is sometimes referred to as the ProPlanner. The strategic system planning is similar to business systems planning (BSP). The architecture of the data is derived from the models of the business functions which combines the information requirements schedules either in entities in the generic data or even the subject databases. The strategic information system for the enterprise will be derived from the given or drawn architecture and thus also showing all the implementation schedules. The derived architectures will be used in the Strategic information system and the implementation schedule will be scheduled and identified in the process.

The method of information engineering was introduced and developed in 1982 by James Martin and it provided building techniques for a given enterprise, data available, and models in the process. Models are used for the combination of knowledge that is very comprehensive and that is based on the creation and maintenance of the strategic information systems to form.

Value chain concept is examined well when one considers to the Michael Porter Models. Michael Porter states that each company is collection of activities that must perform the design, do productions, marketing, delivering and supporting its products. These activities can be represented using the porter’s model. Michael Porter has explained that IT is the major activity known for value chain support since all the information that has values will use systems.  

May are times companies find themselves using many types of MIS (Billis, 2017). In some cases there are some smaller companies that may use DBs in storing their information. There are some organizations which have integrated their MIS with their current systems. The features that will be available in the new Sony Corporation Software are such as the following.

1. Scalability

The new information system software will be built in the manner that it will allow extensibility and expansion in future. The growth and development of the company’s network will depend entirely on how the system information system has been incorporated in to the system.

The new information system will help in making the environment easy and much easier to integrate as it has features which can be integrated easily depending on the area they serve in particular. The flexibility will be determined by how easy it will be when integrating with other systems if they happen to be combined and work together

1. Database management

This is the feature that is used in making storing all the data used and which can also be used by users in retrieving of such information. The type of the Database system chosen will help to determine the way the information management system will respond to queries given.

Structure of Sony Corporation

. The type of the DBs that one choose helps in determining how the IMS will responds to all the queries or requests information.

In the day to day lives technology has advanced in to a level whereby all the current features and manmade things can be done every day and people get to view and access them everyday. Technology has advanced with reference to the specific disciplines. When advancing to the next level of technology one has to be able to understand what is happening in all the current and existing systems. When one understands how the two work then it becomes easy to integrate with them thus improving the connectivity and the relevancy of the system.

This type of advanced technology is used in differentiating the demand types and how to time the way goods are supplied. Material Resource Planning is applied in controlling the delivery on time of the available components and the raw materials that are required in the final product production. Some of the systems and functions that are applied are such as the inventory control, bill materials processing, scheduling of elements among others. The following are some of the relevance of MRP.

1. Reduction of the cost of the inventory
2. Purchasing becoming so effective in determining the actual raw materials
3. Production planning has improved
4. Production has been reduced in making the competitive good in terms of prices.

In MRP the users are not able to get feedbacks from their buyers. MRPII is used as an extension of Material resource planning where the strategies that are used in in processes such as to order, distribute and account to all what is needed, track the inventory and quality and much more forecasting on the demands and balancing the demand. The relevance of MRPII are such as the following.

1. Greatness in controlling the inventory
2. Increment in the area of productivity
3. Purchasing cost has been reduced and the stress is very minimal and thus reducing the expenses.
4. Delivering on time has helped in improving the computer satisfactions and their reputations.

Electronic Data Interchange is the app that is used for exchanging documents from one  computer to another computer which is format that uses the electronic format and happens between the businesses partners. Electronic data Interchange has replaced the use pf Electronic Mails, Fax and the postal mail. (Erinio, 2017). 

The following are some of the relevance of the application of EDI as advanced technology (Irhunie, 2017).

1. Services that are used by the end users has improved greatly
2. There is increment of the productivity
3. Minimizations of errors
4. Cutting of cost
5. Automation of many operations
6. Slashing of the delivery time
7. Optimization of the financial ratio
8. There is integration of businesses and the partners of the trade.c

Conclusion

Many information based companies should always have a plan that has an integration which will involves all the lifecycle stages that need to be implemented in bringing about the skills, productivity and the quality. Integration is always similar to the nature with which integration of a product lifecycle will affect the enterprise. The current methods may tend in supporting the plan as the island may have separation from information resources wealth. A new approach that is required to tap the resources that are captured and thus used in characterizing the company by allowing the information systems integration. This must be done in planning the development stages and the support of the adaptive and the shortened cycle. The approach has been known to be a very small step to a task that is great in developing the framework and the theory of strategic and the IS plans. The reason to as why we need such framework was initiated by the implementations problems of the Strategic Information Systems Planning methods and also because of what the above methods lacked.

Global Presence of Sony Corporation

The success of the information system strategy in overall will depend on the data admin strategies depending on the some various critical success factors. When one understand the critical success factors then this will help the DBA (database administration) in developing the corporate of the strategy of the data administration. However, no matter the complexity of the success factor is that it must be on the basis of the notion that for the successful development and implementation of the data administration strategy that can be tightly integrated with the overall IS planning organization activities.  

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