Information System Assignment: Case Analysis Of Bahri
Question
Task:
Write a detailed information system assignment critically discussing about the management of information system within the organisation of your choice.
Answer
Executive Summary
Business organizations must manage the information system very well to provide an organized and better service to the clients. The information system assignment will help to gain a better idea about the information management system of Bahri which is a very famous transport and logistics company in Saudi Arabia. The organizational profile of the company will also be given here along with the purpose of the company. After knowing the purpose of the company, better suggestions can be given for the improvements in the company. The organizational structure of the company will also be discussed to provide depth knowledge about the information management system of the company. Various strategies are available that help to provide competitive advantages in the market. The best strategy system for Bahri will be discussed here. A detailed discussion of the IT infrastructure of the company will also be provided in this article.
1. Introduction
Management of information systems is very important to make proper decisions in the organization. It also helps to make a better collection, processing analysis of information and organization. Bahri is a very famous transportation and logistics company in Saudi Arabia. The company has managed to make huge revenue in the global market with the help of its excellent information management system. The company wants to improve its IT infrastructure so that the service can also be improved. The main vision of the company will also be discussed here so that proper knowledge about the organizational profile can be gained. Various strategies of the competitive advantage of the company will also be discussed here along with the best strategy for the company. Moreover, the technologies used in the company will also be discussed here to provide a better idea of the IT infrastructure of the company.
2. Organizational profile
Bahri is a very famous transportation and logistics company in Saudi Arabia. The company provides various types of services such as crude oil, oil products, chemical, cargo, and shipping management. The company has managed to lead the global market through its excellent services and products. The company is the largest owner of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). The company owns 88 vessels, 5 dry bulk carriers, and 6 multipurpose vessels. Besides having roses the company also has 35 chemical tankers which have helped it to earn huge revenue in the market (Voronkova et al., 2017). The company wants to create value and share prosperity all over the world. The main objective of the company is to connect economies through excellence in global logistics solutions. If the organizational structure of the company is analysed, it can be found that the functional organizational structure has been used there. The company groups all the marketers together in one department, all the customer service providers in a separate department, and all the salesmen in a different department (Nam et al., 2017). The functional organizational structure of the company helps the company to organize all the business activities effectively.
3. Strategies of competitive advantage
Various strategies can be used to give a competitive advantage to the rivalry companies in the market. Bahri can use the most appropriate strategy to give a competitive advantage to competitors. The strategies that can be used are described below so that the best strategy for Bahri can be chosen –
Cost leadership strategy: Only lower-cost producers can implement a cost leadership strategy for giving a competitive advantage in the market. The more one can be able to reduce the cost of production, the less will be the selling price of the company. Hence, it is very important to reduce the production cost to provide services or products to the customers at an affordable price. If a company can provide high-quality products at a minimum rate, customers will be attracted to the company (Kalabokidis et al., 2016). The company will also be able to survive in the market even in difficult situations.
Focus strategy: When a business organization wants to give a competitive advantage in the market, it must focus on a small segment of the market. Focusing on a small segment will help the company to provide the best products or services (Cheburet & Odhiambo-Otieno, 2016). A narrow target market segment is focused on the company so that it can give full attention to the target market segments and customers. The chances of customer loyalty increase when a company looks for a focus strategy to give a competitive advantage.
Differentiation strategy: Differentiation strategy is for the companies which focus on providing different products to their customers. No customer will buy the products of the company if a similar product is available at lower prices at the market. However, customers can spend high prices if they get high-quality products (Barton et al., 2016). Therefore, the companies must think about innovations and provide unique products to the customers. If a company can differentiate properly, it will surely give high competition to the competitors.
The best strategy for the company: Cost leadership strategy will be the best strategy for Bahri if it wants to give a competitive advantage to its competitors such as Frontline, Sovcomflot, and Torm. All the companies deal with the same services. If Bahri can provide shipping service and crude oil at a lower price., the company will be surely benefited. As the service and products of Bahri are also famous in the global market, the company can gain a huge market share (Voronkova et al.,2017). Cost leadership strategy will also improve the market penetration of the company along with customer satisfaction.
4. Technology involved
Bahri has an excellent IT infrastructure so that entire shipping management can be done effectively. All the business activities including transport and logistics are maintained with the help of this technology system of Bahri (Cheburet & Odhiambo-Otieno, 2016). All the required elements of IT infrastructure such as hardware, software, information security, the network should be maintained very well. The elements of the technology system of Bahri has been discussed below-
Hardware infrastructure: If the hardware infrastructure of the company is analysed, it can be found that the hardware elements used in the system are of high quality. Hardware elements include servers, data centres, routers, switches, and other physical equipment (Rainer, Watson & Prince, 2013). The company has two datacentres that maintain the entire process of data collection and data processing. Both of the datacentres ate situated in Saudi Arabia and both have different responsibilities. One of the datacentres is required to manage the activities of local business and another one is expected to manage the business activities of the global business of the company. A centralized hardware system is used in the company so that all the hardware elements can be processed from a single location.
Software infrastructure: The Company uses separate software for each of the business units such as crude oil, logistics, and chemicals. All the software is designed by experts and can be changed if required. An only a limited number of employees can use the software. Linus is used here as the operating system so that all the required information can be used effectively. The content management system of the company is highly appreciated as a backup of data is available here daily (Pozdniakov et al., 2018). The OS is the system which is responsible for managing system resources and hardware and makes the relation between all the physical resources and software applications.
Telecommunication: The telecommunication infrastructure of the company is also based on the requirements of the company. The fifth-generation mobile network is used by Bahri to make good communication with the outer world. The company is thinking about having its satellite for making improvements in the logistics system but due to lack of infrastructure, the process has not started yet. Submarine cables are also an important part of the telecommunication infrastructure of the company (de Camargo Fiorini & Jabbour, 2017). As the company deals with crude oil and crude oil products, the submarine cable is a must for the company.
Information security: Without proper information security, the IT infrastructure of the company will not be effective. With the advancement of technology, the security concern of cyber attacks is also increasing. Bahri has to deal with several clients all over the world. The threat of cyber-attack cannot be avoided by the company. The only thing that can be done is maintaining proper security. The company has a cloud server so that the information about the company can be kept secure. The backup system of data is also available to retain the lost data (Eroshkin et al., 2017). Recently, the company has also increased its security services to avoid DDoS attacks.
Network infrastructure: Network elements are also an important part of the entire IT infrastructure of the company. It helps the company to make long term relationship with the customers. Wide Area Network (WAN) is used by the company so that the information can be stored from all over the world (Zhang, 2020). It also helps to maintain the transparency of IT-related activities in the organization. Category 5 Ethernet cables are used in the organization to connect the wired networks while the wireless networks use radio signals to connect the nodes of the network.
5. Conclusion
Bahri is a renowned transports and logistics company of Saudi Arabia and it deals with various business units such as crude oil, oil product, logistics services, and chemicals. The company has a very good reputation in the market for its excellent services. As it's a logistics company, it is very important to maintain the efficiency of the management information system of the company. Bahri wants to establish an excellent connection between the economies all over the world. A functional organizational structure has been used here to make business activities more effective and organized. The IT infrastructure of the company is quite good. Telecommunication elements require improvement to make the connection better all over the world. Wide Area network has been used in the company to improve the connectivity with the entire world. The business activities of the company can be improved by making improvements in the technology system of the company.
References
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