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Introduction

The main purpose of the current report is to determine and evaluate an appropriate enterprise system for a small furniture company in Australia named Freedom Furniture. The enterprise system or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) process can be determined as a specific cross-functional information procedure which tends to provide a high quality of organisational integration and coordination associated with the fundamental business process. With the help of an appropriate enterprise system, any administrative information can easily flow across the entire business organisation. Now, by specifically considering the company named Freedom Furniture, it can be noticed that the company has been associated with approximately 5000 employees. The main strengths and weaknesses of the company are depicted with the help of the following SWOT analysis:

Strengths

● Application of economic pricing strategy

● The facility of both offline and online shopping

● Wide range of varieties of furniture

Weaknesses

● Poor customer servicing

● Poor quality of the resource management system

Opportunities

● Business expansion

● More investment in research and development

Threats

● Increasing market competition

● Covid 19 guidelines in Australia

 Table 1: SWOT Analysis

(Source: freedom.com.au, 2020)

Recently a wide range of customers of this company has complained that even after spending many months giving orders of furniture, they still have not received their products. Such complaints have been hampering the brand image of the company and are mainly associated with a flawed enterprise system within the organisational workplace. As stated by Soltani & Navimipour (2016), the data related to the company issues have been collected from several authentic secondary sources such as newspapers in Australia in the year 2020. The main focus of the current report will be given on the overall organisation instead of choosing a particular individual department.

Discussion

Selection of Enterprise System and its implementation strategy

By considering the current issues faced by the company named Freedom Furniture, it can be understood that the company has been suffering from the problems related to customer servicing. Therefore, the enterprise system which can be appropriate in this context is nothing but a proper customer relationship management system. As commented by Rahimi & Kozak (2017), the CRM system is mainly associated with raising organisational productivity by providing effective ways of increasing sales. There are several CRM software available in the market, such as Zoho portal, bitrix and many others. However, concerning this specific company, the software named salesforce sales cloud can appear to be more effective. Before finalising the CRM software, this has to be remembered that there is a concept related to software lifecycle, which is comprised of three parts. As opined by Rahimi & Kozak (2017), they are off-the-shelf, configurable and finally customisable.

Enterprise System implementation strategy

In the above diagram, the actual effect of the distribution process on software implementation has been depicted. In the above chart, it can be noticed that the entire process is divided into three different components.

IT Governance: Proper governance from the team of information technology is required at the time of implementing the new software within the organisational environment.

Security and standards: To improve the security and safety of business organisations, the respective CRM software is associated with Covered Services. This covered service utilises commodities with industrially accepted encryption. As per the views of Ritter & Geersbro (2018), the main objective of this is nothing but protecting the customer’s confidential data as well as communication through data transmission between covered services and customer networking.

Change management: To bring about the new change within the workplace of Freedom Furniture, the Lewin's change management model can be taken into consideration. This model is comprised of the following three phases:

Unfreeze: This is the first phase of this model in which it is the responsibility of the management authority to make the employees understand the importance of bringing about the upcoming changes in the customer relationship management system. [Referred to Appendix 1]

Change: In this phase, it is again the responsibility of the management authority to conduct sufficient training and development programs to train its employees. Through such training and development programs, the employees will be capable of gaining enough knowledge regarding the newly adopted software. As opined by Raab, Ajami & Goddard (2016), all queries regarding the upcoming changes must be answered in this particular phase. In this stage, short-run wins will also be generated for enhancing the employee engagement.

Refreeze: This is the stage of anchoring all kinds of changes into the respective culture. In this stage, all sorts of barriers can also be identified for sustaining the oscillations. The management authority can develop effective ways of sustaining the change. Further training can also be provided in this particular phase. As commented by Xiao et al. (2016), the entire process of implementing the software must be initiated in this specific phase. This has to be remembered in this connection that since it is the initiation phase of the implementation process, several difficulties may. In such a situation, the management authority needs to take the entire responsibility to resolve the issues as early as possible.

Stakeholder management: Frequent meetings will have to be conducted with all levels of stakeholders with the objective of improving the communication level with stakeholders.

ERP system management

Figure 2: Mendelow’s Matrix

(Source: Influenced by Faroghiani & Mazhab, 2015)

The vertical axes of the above diagram denote the power of the stakeholders, and the horizontal axes depict the interest level of the respective stakeholders. Following strategies can be incorporated to manage the above stakeholders:

  1. Instead of dominating the stakeholders, it is crucial to understand the preference and demands of the stakeholders as well.
  2. Key interest, concerns and expectations of the stakeholders are important to know by the management authority.
  3. As opined by Shafique et al. (2015), in case of the probability of emerging any conflict with the stakeholders, it is crucial to resolve as early as possible with the help of taking proper action. Intending to do so, this is crucial to identify the negotiable as well as the non-negotiable.

Post-implementation maintenance strategy: After implementing the respective software of the customer relationship management system, it is crucial to provide constant supervision by the management authority. As stated by Wang & Kim (2017), following strategies can be followed up in this connection with the motive of leading towards a successful implementation of customer relationship management software not only in the short run but also in the long run as well.

i) Taking continuous advice from the consultant

The management authority of Freedom Furniture needs to take constant help from the expert consultants to supervise whether the system has been running smoothly or not.

ii) Training of quarterly review

 The fundamental way of making sure that the adoption of the respective ERP system is proper is to conduct a quarterly reviewing training program. With the help of this training program, the entire system will remain under continuous supervision. Apart from the employees associated with the system will also be able to stay updated over time. 

iii) Software up gradation

After implementing the respective ERP software, it is also crucial to observe whether that software is updated with the latest available version in the market or not. As per the views of Wang & Kim (2017), in case, the company has not adopted the latest version of the software, then, after a certain time, it may stop to operate completely.

Justifying recommendation

In this connection, this can be said that the recommendation of adopting the software called salesforce sales cloud is quite appropriate in the case of the company called Freedom Furniture in Australia. This is mainly because of the fact that this software has the capability of transferring all kinds of crucial organisational information throughout the entire organisation. As commented by Hassan et al. (2015), one of the greatest justifications behind adopting this software is that it has a huge amount of capability of improving the customer servicing facility of a company. This software has the ability of forecasting with 100 per cent accuracy.

This is also highly capable of boosting the overall productivity of the respective company. As opined by Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera (2015), since the company has been suffering from a huge amount of losses because of loss of a wide range of customer base, it requires such software which can immediately boost up its revenue earnings. Apart from that, recommending this software is suggested as it is highly capable of shortening the overall sales cycle of the respective company. The ample business opportunities of the company will increase gradually over time with the help of this software.

Steps to guide ES implementation

The following steps are required to be maintained at the time of implementing ES:

i) Firstly, it is crucial to plan the overall implementation system. Tracking leads in the lead object in which the user can record the company, name, email and phone and other categories of data for the lead.

ii) Basics of sales cloud is required to be implemented.

iii) Tracking activities

iv) Providing the required amount of training to employees

v) Training users.

Probable issues

 This has to be remembered in this connection that several issues can emerge at the time of the implementation process of respective software of managing customer relationships. As opined by Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera (2015), firstly, since it is a small-sized company and currently has been running from a huge amount of losses, therefore, it can be quite difficult for the management to arrange the required amount of financial investment. Apart from economic issues, the company can face severe challenges in terms of dealing with technological faults. As stated by Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera (2015), since the company does not have a sufficient number of technical experts, it may not be able to deal with technological hazards successfully.

The company may suffer from the issue of time management as well. This is mainly because of the fact that the company will require a huge amount of time for conducting training and development programs. As stated by Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera (2015), the employees may take a longer period to get accustomed to the newly incorporated process. In case the technological faults are not mitigated at a faster pace, then the overall productivity of the company can hamper. Moreover, in that situation, the customer servicing facility of the company may deteriorate as well. 

Conclusion and recommendations

By going through the overall analysis, this can be concluded that with the motive of running a business successfully, it is crucial to adopt appropriate enterprise systems. In this context, this has been noticed that one of the Australian furniture companies named Freedom Furniture has been suffering poor quality of enterprise system. More specifically speaking, the company has an extremely poor quality of customer relationship management system, which has resulted in several crucial complaints coming from the side of the customers. Many customers have not been received their products after waiting for months from this company. Therefore, the current report has suggested a CRM software named salesforce sales cloud, which is expected to resolve the current issues faced by the company. This can also be concluded in this connection that the company needs to adopt Lewin's change management model before proceeding with the required changes within their business organisation. High quality of training and development program is necessary to be conducted by the management authority, so the employees gain sufficient knowledge regarding the respective software.

The above report has also evaluated the fact that even after implementing the planned CRM software, certain strategies are required to be implemented during the phase of post-implementation of software. For example, a quarterly reviewing training program is needed to be conducted. The management authority needs to take constant advises from expert consultants with the motive of avoiding any unforeseen circumstances. This can be recommended in this connection that the company needs to arrange the required amount of funding before proceeding with this implementation process as well.

Reference List

Faroghiani, S., & Mazhab, A. (2015). Effect of customer relationship management (CRM) on performance of small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using structural equations model (SEM). International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences5(2), 42-52.Retrieved from< https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Effect-of-Customer-Relationship-Management-%28CRM%29-on-Mozaheb-Alamolhodaei/a3939f020bc03bc63709e1dc274df84286387331?p2df >

Fidel, P., Schlesinger, W., & Cervera, A. (2015). Collaborating to innovate: Effects on customer knowledge management and performance. Journal of business research68(7), 1426-1428.Retrieved from< http://tarjomefa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/7396-English-TarjomeFa.pdf>

freedom.com.au (2020). Freedom Furniture.Retrieved on 11th October,2020 from

Hassan, R. S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M. N., & Zafar, F. (2015). Effect of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction. Procedia economics and finance23(12), 563-567.Retrieved from< https://core.ac.uk/reader/82039630 >

Raab, G., Ajami, R. A., & Goddard, G. J. (2016). Customer relationship management: A global perspective. CRC Press.

Rahimi, R., & Kozak, M. (2017). Impact of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction: The case of a budget hotel chain. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing34(1), 40-51.Retrieved from< https://wlv.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/2436/620916/Rahimi_R_&_Kozak_M_Impact_of_Customer_Relationship_Management_2016.pdf?sequence=9 >

Ritter, T., & Geersbro, J. (2018). Multidexterity in customer relationship management: Managerial implications and a research agenda. Industrial Marketing Management69, 74-79.Retrieved from< https://kowsarblog.ir/media/blogs/blogalirezasaki2321/quick-uploads/750.pdf >

Shafique, M. N., Ahmad, N., Abbas, H., & Hussain, A. (2015). The impact of customer relationship management capabilities on organizational performance; moderating role of competition intensity. Nigerian Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review62(2154), 1-20.Retrieved from< https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/56578065/Bin-Nashwan___Hassan_2017_JARBM.pdf?1526444448=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DImpact_of_customer_relationship_manageme.pdf&Expires=1605887689&Signature=U68ki7i8nfHfkFRn4nDnW2tFVTTtIKdAhNjH0-RwFdvKL94gEulPoagYNpWofJ1bLJcTAcJ45F3gGmrAy7ZqzNcebyGSR2HmP7N7o4Wn0ef8LfMBQuakrWhqs50ORwiHaLrxVSNGWAcgp~NBqJ74Wb9vXjCfHBQsD1g~ONLAbAU4Z2iTSTOQULoLfZB1M4vtCXBN-3gPViypXAw2uJ7ScYGYESMJHw7PEO9Hp5vHXAM1oLZvGdzIGlX0fEa4TmzdyVlcz55vJJXrUf0RQvQlQrHPEftpkDZlEwJGLJsw1MwEFaAKiHe9z1v4lKHFcMW3WKwx~VGt21ZgL4f2Z6BTMQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA >

Soltani, Z., & Navimipour, N. J. (2016). Customer relationship management mechanisms: A systematic review of the state of the art literature and recommendations for future research. Computers in Human Behavior61, 667-688.Retrieved from< http://modir3-3.ir/article-english/ISI/isi1-9785.pdf >

Wang, Z., & Kim, H. G. (2017). Can social media marketing improve customer relationship capabilities and firm performance? Dynamic capability perspective. Journal of Interactive Marketing39, 15-26.Retrieved from< http://www.simaara.com/uploads/doc.pdf >

Xiao, J., Jiang, X., He, C., & Teng, G. (2016). Churn prediction in customer relationship management via GMDH-based multiple classifiers ensemble. IEEE Intelligent Systems31(2), 37-44.Retrieved from< https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295084105_Churn_Prediction_in_Customer_Relationship_Management_via_GMDH-Based_Multiple_Classifiers_Ensemble >

Appendices

Appendix 1: Lewin’s Change Management Model

Lewin Change Management Model

(Source: https://online.visual-paradigm.com/knowledge/business-design/understand-lewins-change-management-model/)

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