Improving the Quality of Business Information [Type the document subtitle] Rhiannon Jones 09/03/2012
Part 5 – D1 Improving the Quality of Business Information
Business use primary and secondary research gathered through their customers to see what they think of the stock for example. The quality of the data is then looked at to see if the research would give reliable, valid and fit for purpose information after it is processed though the MIS system if the research meets this criteria it is then approved and is given to head office and head office enters it in to the database or a MIS using an input device like a manual enterer using a keyboard or an optical reader to scan the research though the computer once the research data is inputted into the system it is used to find and predict trends and patterns in current sales or up-coming sales. The results of the reports generated though the system are then given to the team leaders or supervisors at a given location for example the bosses at Primark’s head office sees there is a trend in how much they are selling of one product they give the information to the store manager and the information then gets acted upon and they get more stock on shop floor and make it noticeable to customers which in the long run will make more sales for Primark this would be a tactical decision made by the store manager. Many businesses and easy fix all apply the same thing when acting upon information to make more sales or meet more targets. The information gathered must be reliable and not biased this would make the quality of the information better for example if ASDA was to ask their customers about the service they received while in store compare to other stores it could be seen as biased because some of their customers may not have been to other supermarkets they should only accept the results from the customers that have been to other supermarkets. The information gathered should be understandable by the user the informational questions need to be read and understood by the customer so it needs to be as clear and informative as possible. Also the researcher needs to be aware of the audience’s capability and what previous knowledge they may or may not have on the specific subject this is so that head office at most businesses can tell and find out what is going wrong with in the their business. ASDA cannot go out asking questions about their services and come back with answers about Tesco’s services this would be a failure of the research. When the results are presented to head office using anything for example PowerPoint presentation to whiteboard or even laid out in a report it must be presented in a formal and clear way if failure to do so could result in a misunderstanding and could lead to the failure of the business. The information from the market research must be relevant, this means that the market research team cannot go out and ask their audience for their opinion on the football when they are from an insurance company this would not help anyone and wouldn’t help improve the company. Having the right level of detail when going out market researching is very important because
the company needs to gather enough information to improve their company but not so much that it becomes very confusing, this is why closed questions are good because you just get a Yes/No answer which can easily be tallied or marked on a graph but if the company allows the audience to write their specific opinions then it could become tiresome and not very clear of how to record it. Also having unclear results can cause problems in the future when it comes to presenting it to the Head Office because if the data is unclear then no one will be able to understand it except the person who made the data in the first instance. So it needs to be clear and readable and understandable for everyone’s use. EasyFix need to gather information that is reliable from customers they will cross check this with what they already know for example if they have points on their licence then their cost of their insurance will go up if the customer say they haven’t got any points, EasyFix can check this by connecting to the DVLA MIS system to gather the information about that customers licence. The information gathered by the insurance company about their licences status needs to be gathered timely to be able to make a decision on the customers insurance cost which is need straight away and not time after. The information about the customer needs to be fit for purpose and relevant for example asking a customer about what they are doing for the weekend is not information need for the purpose of selling insurance it needs to be about the car for motor insurance, about the house for home insurance etc… not about what they are doing at the weekend. Having the right level of details is needed to ensure the company can gain good information out of the data having the right level of details for the purpose that it is required for but no more. The MIS system could generate reports showing how much insurance have been sold by one sale assistant these can be produced daily, weekly and even monthly to see who is selling the most in the company. Other MIS system reports may include staff wages how many hours they work in a day, week and month this can include pay rate, job and employees details. EasyFix could create the MIS system to create a sales report to give information regularly on the sales of the company this will help the management of EasyFix to make decisions on whether they need more staffing how much is required or not in some cases. EasyFix will need to gather information from the MIS system about their branches to see how much insurance they are selling comparing these to last year’s figures which they also get from the MIS system after comparing the figures they will make a strategic decision whether to close all of their branches and just have a website with call centres to answer any queries relating to insurance. Managers at the branches will have to make tactical decision on whether they are going to open earlier or close earlier they would use information from the MIS system to see what time sales go up to so if they didn’t get many sales after 2pm then they may decide to close early to save money on wages. Easyfix use information about holidays booked and how much sales are made it the same period as the holiday to make an operational decision on whether they need to get staff in to cover them or if they will be able to manage without covering them.
EasyFix can gather data about the competition by looking at their promotions on their website or have secret shoppers where they would go into a branch or call the company to see how much and what insurance they sell and how much for. The information they gather from the competition could be use to see if there is a gap in the market and if they could get a new type of insurance out before their competitors and for a better price to stay ahead of them. If the information showed them that they have a weakness they would need to improve this so they could keep up or ahead of the competitors. The information they receive can also help to make decisions which could create more cost effective products, increase or change their target audience, improve their products to match or outdo their rivals. Easyfix would use three different types of information systems a marketing system which is used to record sale performance which could be used to identifying where sales are increasing and how it is being done then apply these to elsewhere in the company. Also in this system it can record the competitor’s activities which could include selling competing product at a cheaper rate or higher in some cases this can also include where they are opening new stores and how these changes may affect the company. Easyfix would also use a financial system which records the financial costs of the company the system is used to help manage regular costs the system will spot trends and unusual patterns which could potentially cause the company to go into administration. Easyfix would use a HR system to record what staff they have and if they have the right skills in the sale department the system can be used to identify staff turnover, their details and experience. Also in the HR system would be professional development used to determine what the organisation needs, staff training, and the skills and experience that Easyfix needs to grow as a company. Analysis that takes place in this section would be that it can identify suitable candidates for promotions and potential training needs for staff.