Technology ‘s recent development has created several chances for organisations to better their public presentation and achieve their ends. Organizations have been seeking to understand how engineering will add value to their operations and how they can use it to their advantage. This essay focuses on the importance of engineering, every bit good as on challenges faced in pull offing engineering and, most significantly, in alining it with concern scheme and taking the organisation to concern success.
Introduction
In recent decennaries, germinating engineering has played a important function to concern success and in fact, sometimes, even in concern endurance ; it has been necessary for organisations to integrate engineering, in order to last in an ever-changing environment and to increase their fight ( Pan et Al, 2008 ) . Harmonizing to Sauer and Wilcocks ( 2003 ) , engineering is the most of import influence in the development of the organisation of the hereafter. But why is engineering of import and what actions do the organisations have to take in order to better their public presentation and to accomplish their ends?
IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS
In a planetary market where information flows quickly, it is strategically important to pull off engineering that is able to transform merchandises and services, operations and procedures, companies and even competition ( Porter and Millar, 2001 ) .
As Floyd ( 1997 ) argues, engineering is of import for two grounds ; foremost, it is of import to the success of every concern activity, as a company is non able to cover with competition without usage of engineering. Second, it is technology-driven invention that can take an organisation to long-run growing. In footings of concern activities, organisations can profit from engineering by distinguishing their merchandises and services, cut downing their operating costs, taking advantage of new chances and back uping alteration processes. As for engineering assisted invention, it seems that those organisations that do put in engineering and go advanced increase their market portions, fiscal figures and overall fight.
Having identified the importance of engineering, directors should take actions of pull offing engineering and adding value to their organisations. In this sense, modern-day organisations, and particularly big corporations, invest immense capitals on the execution of engineering over the last decennaries, for illustration CRM and ERP systems. Information engineering in most concern countries facilitates the control of corporate activities, improves operations and helps in deriving the competitory advantage ( Lollar et Al, 2010 ) .
In industries, engineering is a cardinal constituent in order to run into market demands and clients ‘ outlooks. In general, apart from accomplishing their ends, all the organisations need to concentrate on their clients ‘ demands. Leading companies in the market take enterprises by utilizing engineering to better their operations, for illustration selling and gross revenues, as traditional attacks to these maps seem to be uneffective. As an illustration, the increasing power of the Internet ( including societal networking ) has forced many companies to alter their schemes with the purpose of turning this power to their advantage ( Bernoff and Lee, 2008 ) .
CHALLENGES IN MANAGING TECHNOLOGY
Implementing engineering in a complex concern environment is disputing and requires a figure of direction tools and procedures in order to integrate alterations that will happen ( Phaal et al, 2005 ) . Introducing a new engineering should be combined with a strategic program which involves a figure of factors and challenges, as Haywood ( 1990 ) suggests ; foremost, top direction committedness to the technological programs is important. Second, the designation of appropriate engineering and the choice of its beginning are two further challenged for organisations. Furthermore, people within the company should be able to take advantage of new engineering and go engaged with the purpose of increasing value. Organizations should be organized and structured in a manner that allows technological alteration and promotion. Last but non least, companies should be able to profit from this alteration in order to go more competitory and achieve their short and long-run ends.
The most important of the facets mentioned supra is that engineering enterprises should aline with the overall concern scheme ; organisations should utilize engineering harmonizing to concern jussive moods alternatively of proficient standards ( Bensaou and Earl, 1998 ) . There are multiple challenges in selecting and using the most appropriate engineering that will better operational public presentation and utilize resources, people and their cognition more expeditiously. As Bensaou and Earl remark, there are several illustrations of organisations that either discovered that their engineering did non back up their concern schemes or selected complex technological solutions, alternatively of simple 1s that could be more effectual.
To reason, it is necessary to take all the facets of engineering into history, so as to implement it in ways that will add value to the concern. Directors who are responsible for engineering should take enterprises and do the right picks, which reflect the organisation ‘s scheme and can take to concern success.
ZARA CASE STUDY: LESS IS MORE
Zara is one of the largest international manner companies and portion of one of the universe ‘s largest distribution groups, Inditex. Zara ‘s attack to engineering is based on the rule of low IT investing that can present maximal value to the company. Despite being an information-intensive concern with dynamic planetary operations and 1000000s of clients, there is unusually small information engineering ( MacAfee, 2004 ) . Zara focuses on the human factor alternatively of engineering, leting people to do all the determinations ; there are no CRM systems, no programming package and no ERP platforms involved in their operations ; there are no intranets or on-line connexions among shops, production units, distribution centres and the central office ; computing machines are used in a limited and standardised mode. Despite all these facts, Zara has achieved better public presentation and higher net incomes than its rivals, thanks to its targeted engineering scheme and alliance of the limited enforced engineering with the company ‘s flexible concern program.
Decision
Technology is one of the most important factors for concern success. However, it is non the lone factor ; it should be an enabler for the organisations strategic program. As a consequence, there is a demand to happen a balance between engineering and concern scheme, with the purpose of turn toing the organisations demands and accomplishing concern ends.
