Don's Lumber Company on the Hudson River feature a large selection of materials for flooring, decks, moldings, windows, siding, and roofing. The prices of lumber and other building materials are constantly changing. When a customer asks about the price on pre-finished wood flooring, sales representatives consult a manual price sheet and then call the supplier for the most recent price. The supplier in turn uses a manual price sheet, which has been updated each day. Often, the supplier must call back Don's sales reps because the company does not have the newest pricing information immediately on hand.

1.    Assess the business impact of this situation.

2.    Describe how this process could be improved with information technology.

3.    Identify the decisions that would have to be made to implement a solution.

3-4 sentences for each question.

 

Answer:

1. Assess the business impact of this situation

Don's Lumber Company is operating the business less efficiently. They have to call the supplier for price and get response some time later. The supplier manages the price list daily but the approach is inefficient. In this view, the work is prone to error. The time of customer, Lumber Company and supplier is spent on low business revenue generating tasks. There is need to develop efficient technology or improvement.

2. Describe how this process could be improved with information technology

The company could improve its operation by following technology capable of synchronizing price information. They would rather follow online mechanism to regulate the price. If the information kept is accessible from customers and Lumber Company, then the time of both customers and Lumber company staff is saved. The customer can themselves see the price online rather than visiting Lumber company, or wait for response from the supplier. With digital information, they would enjoy the technology that keeps history and analyzes changes in price. The initial investment seems high, but on the long term it becomes cheaper and efficient.

3. Identify the decisions that would have to be made to implement a solution

Don's Lumber and supplier can make an understanding on what will be the efficient way to conduct the task creatively. The business can get realize greater revenue if the customers are happy. Furthermore, the implementation of technical solution does not mean cost necessity; there are many freeware solutions for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Nonetheless, there arises a question of customer support of the freeware providers, thus, requiring customized application. Another alternative is using cloud based service or internal reporting system. Here, an effective strategy is needed for staff training.