Kudler's Information Technology Solution

Kudler Information Technology solution is an analysis of low cost solutions for the business challenges faced by Kudler through the effective use of information technology.

Kudler’s Current Issues

Kudler’s fine foods is in the process of developing a system to track customer purchase behavior to meet the goals of customer satisfaction. Kudler is using Quick Books to manage their HR and have no central file area for records of the employees and also time sheets are filled out manually. Kudler’s does not have central purchasing system managers are responsible for procuring the items depending on the need and promotes its business through newspapers. Kudler uses Point-of-sale system to record accounting data and accounting is done manually. Kudler’s major concern is excess amount of inventory that potentially costs money and there is no central inventory system that can be used by managers. Kudler uses historical data to forecast future sales. Finally, Kudler’s Fine Foods has no Legal Department in place. It uses tax Attorney as its legal counsel and most of the slip and fall cases are settled out of court to keep company’s expenses to a minimum (Apollo Group Inc, 2007).

Kudler’s Comprehensive IT Solution

Sales and Marketing: Businesses like Kudler should stop wasting money on marketing and should start getting business building results through the use of a systematic and predictable marketing approach. Sugar CRM software helps in creating marketing foundation and build on it to generate consistent leads to grow business and achieve business objectives. It is possible to develop a customer facing web application efficiently to deliver services to customers and suppiers and Customer self service and Customer satisfaction surveys and Partner Relationship Management also can be implemented through its portal. It discusses tactics for nurture marketing, referral marketing, installed base leverage and how to use the web and social media to amplify you the message. The software pricing is $360 to $600 per user per year (SugarCRM Inc, 2004).

Operations and Logistics: Kudler should integrate RFID into their business model as it an excellent business tool that helps in managing supply chain better by automating what used to be done manually. By adopting RFID, Kudler can replace manual process of tracking supplies in warehouses, gives a clear picture of item availability, updates inventory in hours that usually takes days, and receive purchase orders instead of manually entering the information and reduce labor cost by reducing the workforce needed for tracking and inventory management and reduce human errors. Customer will have the access to many items through their web services and know the availability of the any item as web is connected to real time store. With the reduction of labor costs and error free environment, Kudler can attract more customers by offering better prices for an item. RFID tags can cost as little as 50 cents or as much as $50 depending on the type of the tag, the application, and the volume of the order (AIM Organization, 2010).

Human Resources: EPICOR’s human resources management system is a comprehensive solution to streamline Kudler’s HR process. It’s functions include recruiting and training, payroll, attendance management and has an option of employee self service, which can empower employees and managers by providing information and access to their personal records and their payroll details and to view, update and modify the information anytime and can generate reports with just a click of a mouse and most important fill time sheets online. Payroll handles the process of employee paychecks and provides required reporting. With all the information, tracking applicants information is easy as it reduces manual workload, relieves paperwork headaches, and reduces employee management costs. The software average total cost per user is $9,644 (Epicor Software Corporation).

Legal Departments: To better understand business risks, Kudler should become familiar with compliance database tools such as Lexis Nexis. It is an affordable solution for all the common legal issues as it provides users with tools for electronic discovery, evidence management, case analysis, court docket tracking, e-filing, witness identification and most important legal document preparation that is much less expensive than hiring an attorney. The process is simple and stress free and helps in preventing fraud, to stay in compliance with the law, identify risks, protects assets and finally saves time and money and at the same time keeps the legal expense to a minimum. The price for an article is $4 to $9 or user can subscribe to weekly or monthly access to the database at a price range of $30 to $250 respectively (LexisNexis, 2010).

Conclusion

The IT solutions discussed above will help Kudler’s streamline operations across the entire business from human resources management, financials to purchasing and supply chain, and marketing, and sales. Customized IT network ensures all employees have access to the data they need, build a secure IT environment that will meet Kudler’s specific regulatory requirements, implement the best IT solutions to meet Kudler’s current and future IT needs that result in a high quality system that exceeds customer expectations and works efficiently in the current infrastructure.

References

Apollo Group, Inc. (2007). Kudler’s Fine Foods. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler/Internet/KudlerPort.htm

SugarCRM, 2004. Retrieved from: http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/taxonomy/term/743

Epicor Software corporation. Retrieved from: http://www.epicor.com/Company/PressRoom/Documents/Aberdeen%20ERP%20TCO%20Midsize_July%202007.pdf

AIM Organization, 2010, Retrieved November 18, 2010 from: http://www.rfid.org/

LexisNexis (2010). About Us. LexisNexis, a Division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved November 18, 2010 from: http://web.lexis.com/xchange/ccsubs/cc_prods.asp