Federation University Australia at IIBIT (Sydney) School of IT Sydney Campus

Assignment Cover Page: GROUP WorkCOURSE NUMBER : Group Members

Last Name Given Names Ballarat ID

1. Pinjari Iqbal 30120245

2. Maharjan Ronee 30104707

3. K.C Mahesh 30123827

COURSE NAME: MIT / BIT(BS)

PROGRAM OF STUDY: Emerging technology in business

TUTORIAL DAY AND TIME (if applicable): Thursday 9am-11am

LECTURER: Aarthi TUTOR (if applicable): Aarthi

TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT: REPORT

WORD LENGTH:

DUE DATE: 02-Oct-2014 DATE SUBMITTED: 02-Oct-2014

DECLARATION:

I have kept a copy of this assignment/work so that I can produce it if the original is lost or damaged. I hereby certify that no part of this assignment/work has been copied from any other student’s present or previous, published or unpublished, professional or amateur work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment. I further certify that no part of this assignment/work has been written/produced for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorized by the unit/subject lecturer/tutor concerned.

Iqbal Pinjari /Ronee Maharjan/ Mahesh K.c----------------------------------------------------------------Signature of Student

Note: It is necessary to sign the above declaration. A lecturer/tutor or an examiner reserves the right not to mark this assignment/work if the declaration has not been duly signed.

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ITECH 6 2 1 4

ContentsFederation University Australia at IIBIT (Sydney).................................................................................1

School of IT.............................................................................................................................................1

1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................................3

1.1General Overview of the Industry...........................................................................................................3

1.2General Overview of Each Technology....................................................................................................3

1.2.1 E-Commerce (Ronee Maharjan)......................................................................................................3

1.2.2 Cloud Computing (Iqbal Pinjari).......................................................................................................3

1.2.3 E-Logistics (Mahesh K.C)..................................................................................................................3

1.3 Overview of the Report..........................................................................................................................3

2. Business Justification....................................................................................................................................4

2.1 Impact of Each Technology on Our Industry...........................................................................................4

2.2 An Organisation Within Our Industry.....................................................................................................4

Return On Investment:.............................................................................................................................7

Competitive Advantage............................................................................................................................7

Customer Convenience.............................................................................................................................7

Meet Demand from Suppliers or Customers............................................................................................7

Collaboration Efficiency............................................................................................................................8

Flexibility of work practices......................................................................................................................9

Streamline Operation.............................................................................................................................10

3. Future prospects for the Technology..........................................................................................................11

E Commerce...............................................................................................................................................11

Cloud computing........................................................................................................................................12

E-Logistics...................................................................................................................................................13

4. Benifits to the Community..........................................................................................................................15

5. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................15

Cost Reduction.......................................................................................................................................15

Collaboration Communication................................................................................................................16

References......................................................................................................................................................17

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1. Introduction1.1General Overview of the IndustryRetail Industry is where the sale of goods or services is done in an organised way from a business to the end consumer. The people handling this process are called retailers who organise and integrate a system called supply chain management where they buy raw products in large quantities and convert them into finished products or buy the finished products directly from the manufacturers and then sells smaller quantities to the consumer for a profit. Retailing can be done in a fixed location or it can be done without using any fixed location. Fixed locations refer to stores or markets and the other way retailing can be operated is online. (Michael Levy, 2013)

1.2General Overview of Each TechnologyThe three technologies chosen by our group are:

1.2.1 E-Commerce (Ronee Maharjan)Electronic commerce, commonly known as E-commerce or ecommerce, is trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet. It can be also defined as Commercial transactions involving the exchange of value across organisation or individual boundaries in return for products or services using computer networks. (Kenneth Laudon, 2013)

1.2.2 Cloud Computing (Iqbal Pinjari)It’s one of the foundations of the next generation of computing. Cloud computing is internet-based computing in which large groups of remote servers are networked to allow sharing of data-processing tasks, centralized data storage, and online access to computer services or resources. Clouds can be classified as public, private or hybrid. It’s a world where the network is the platform for all computing. Cloud computing is a great way to think about how we’ll deliver computing services in the Future. Cloud computing providers offer their services according to several fundamental models

Infrastructure as a service (IAAS), Platform as a service (PAAS), Software as a service (SaaS)

(Cary Landis, 2013)

1.2.3 E-Logistics (Mahesh K.C)E-Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet some requirements, of customers or corporations. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, material handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security. The minimization of the use of resources and time are the common motivation in logistics for import and export. (Deryn Graham, 2013)

1.3 Overview of the ReportThis report gives out a detailed information about 3 different technologies chosen by the group, how it affects the retail industry today and how it may impact the industry in the future. The report also gives out information on the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies, addressing the five organisational advantages: Return on Investment, Increase Competitive Advantage, and Provide Customer Convenience, Meet Demand from Suppliers or Customers, and Streamline Operations with regard to how the technology meets these needs within the industry.

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2. Business Justification

2.1 Impact of Each Technology on Our Industry Cloud computing is the result of evolution and adoption of existing technologies and paradigms. The goal of cloud computing is to allow users to take benefit from all of these technologies, without the need for deep knowledge about or expertise with each one of them. The cloud aims to cut costs, and help the users focus on their core business instead of being impeded by IT obstacles. Cloud computing is a kind of grid computing; it has evolved by addressing the QOS (quality of service) and reliability problems. Cloud computing provides the tools and technologies to build data/compute intensive parallel applications with much more affordable prices compared to traditional parallel computing technique

E-Commerce has helped the organisation reach out more consumers in the market and expanding the retail industry sales and services. Organisations are willing to spend on technologies that help them to expand their market to tap more consumers. In order to reach this consumers, retail industry needs this technologies like E-Commerce, Cloud computing, E-Logistics, ERP systems etc. This has changed the way retail industry works and has changed the way the organisation functions, with changed departments in the organisation like e-logistics, accounting, technical supports etc. (Deryn Graham, 2013)

The staffing in the organisation are expected to be more technical savvy and are expected to work with latest technological advances in the retail industry. For an efficient turnaround of E-Commerce in retail industry, they need to adapt to technologies like cloud computing for since they will be dealing with immense amount of data and transactions. Cloud computing helps retail industry to make efficient usage of the E-Commerce platform for better organising data and work, since they both go hand in hand. Cloud computing and e-logistics has helped the small scale industries to go on large scale with fewer expenses than it is required the traditional way.

For an investment to be really relevant and really meaningful, it should benefit all stakeholders. Ecommerce, Cloud Computing, E-logistics are the cheapest tools for an organisation to run/expand their business as it is accessible to all the users around the world and reach the consumers globally. Basically the investment for Ecommerce is very minimal. (Robin Lewis, 2014)

2.2 An Organisation within Our IndustryNew Mart Is a retail company that provides products like electronics, music, movies, bedding, household hardware, furniture, sporting goods, clothing, toys, jewellery, office supplies, health and beauty products, home decor, and a limited selection of food items. Initially it started with only one store in the city of NSW and later opened its store in many other suburbs in NSW. The future scope for the company is to grow its centres throughout Australia and develop an online shopping site available for customers to meet the customer demands in today’s society where everything is online.

New Mart imports goods and products from different vendors and suppliers from different parts of the world. New-Mart imports its products from China, Indonesia and Bangladesh, Korea, USA and few stock from State of Victoria.

The immense growth of Company in terms of sales, diversification of products and increased consumer needs in the market has resulted in some issues that should be smartly dealt before it becomes a tumour that cannot be removed. The challenges the company faces with growth are, dealing with more number of transactions, more physical storage space required and it is difficult to keep a watch on the inventory

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available and inventory required for future prospects of the next day depending on the sales today which in turn results in chaotic placement of orders from the vendors.

When the company was operating the traditional way, they had a warehouse to store the inventory they have and they move the required inventory to the mall once in a week. The Mall manager would pull up the sales report to look at the sales and available inventories of product in the mall every Tuesday and would forward the required items list to the warehouse manager. The ware house manager would look and the report and would move the required inventory to the mall from warehouse by Wednesday. And depending on the available space in the warehouse to store the products, warehouse manager would order for products from vendors and suppliers with the permission of sales manager.

This traditional method was working when the company operated in two or three stores. But now since the company is operating in 13 different stores across NSW region, it is difficult for the store sales managers and warehouse manager to communicate right since the inventory sales keep fluctuating every day. Before the inventory was supplied once a week every Wednesday from warehouse but now its supplied twice or more per week. The sales are high sometimes on few days like a payday like Thursday, on weekends, when it’s a long weekend. Sometimes the inventory supplied to the mall would not sold out within a weeks’ time and sometimes the inventory would finish in couple of days. For the company to survive and grow more in numbers they need to understand the sales trends, customer needs and may enable an online shopping feature to their company in order to reach out more customers.

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Challenges faced by New Mart

Dealing in high number of risky transactions Inefficient usage of physical storage in warehouse Unable to understand customer needs Communication gap between different departments Misplaced orders from vendors Unable to gauge sales trends Unable to meet customer demands

The solution for all this issues would be “Stream Lining of Operations”. This streamlining can be achieved by having a one common communication system established with one common database that would be available for sales manager at the mall, warehouse manager at the warehouse and for the vendor or supplier for efficient approach to the inventory requirement and manage transactions involved. For streamlining we need to adapt to the latest technologies like cloud computing, e logistics and establish an ERP system which is helpful to manage the supply chain with the help of a better communication system. This report contains information about how all the processes can be combined and unified in to one single system which would be beneficial for the company profits by increasing the sales, by efficient usage of space, and by decreasing the unrequired inventory orders that may give out loss for the company. (Robin Lewis, 2014)

This communication can be improved by establishing one common data sharing common cloud that helps every member of the network to look at the current data and take decisions responsibly that flourishes profits for the organisation.

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Return on Investment:For an investment to be really relevant and really meaningful, it should benefit all stakeholders. The investment for the New Mart to accommodate this technologies of E-Commerce Website, Cloud Computing Network and E-Logistics program is expected to cost $400,000 over the next five years and deliver an additional $550,000 in increased profits during the same time. Its ROI would be calculated as

ROI = Gains – Investment Cost = 550,000 – 400,000 = 37.50% Investment Cost 400,000Competitive AdvantageFirst thing is the choice. Whereas the surviving physical store at the corner of the street hardly offers 300 products, New Mart has got more than 1500 products available online. Traditional physical retail store of New Mart had about 400-600 products. Moreover cloud computing will help the organisation efficiently manage the data for better outcomes and E-Logistics would help the company stand out for better ability to deliver products on/ahead of time.

Customer ConvenienceOpen 24x7x365. This is most important given the fact that consumers have less free time (considering the busy contemporary world). Physical Store/Businesses, despite extended opening hours cannot compete with e-trailers.

Meet Demand from Suppliers or CustomersE-Logistics is a dynamic set of communication computing and collaborative technologies that transform key logistical process to be customer centric by sharing data, Knowledge and information with Supply Chain Partners. Ultimate objective of E-Logistics is to deliver right products in right quantity at the right place and time to the right customer. The e-retailer has fewer expenses than the physical store. E-shopping is more likely to negotiate its purchase price and get discounts from suppliers in order to give discounts to consumers. This advantage is important since it strongly impacts the purchasing power of consumers. (Arshdeep Bahga, 2013)

Advantages of E-logistics:

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E-logistics

Wireless updates

Track and trace

Transportation

Documentation

Capacity and load matching Real time decision

Shipper/receiver/connection

Customer pre-clearance

Performance monitoring

Paperless documentation

Security assurance

Collaboration EfficiencyCollaboration in a cloud environment gives the business the ability to communicate and share more easily outside of the traditional methods. If you are working on a project across different locations, you could use cloud computing to give employees, contractors and third parties access to the same files. You could also choose a cloud computing model that makes it easy for you to share your records with your advisers. (Michael Levy, 2013)

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Manufacturer

Courier

Warehousing

RetailerBanks

Salesman

Customs

Supplier

Distributor

E-logistics

Internal application system

Performance report Email/notifications Order tracking

Flexibility of work practicesCloud computing allows employees to be more flexible in their work practices. For example, you have the ability to access data from home, on holiday, or via the commute to and from work (providing you have an internet connection). If you need access to your data while you are off-site, you can connect to your virtual office, quickly and easily.

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Streamline OperationThe whole process of ordering the products from vendors, storing them at the ware house to shipping to the mall/consumer home can stream lined with the common unified cloud data storing. ECRM, Sales associate, accountings dept., warehouse mange, suppliers, vendors and all other departments share the common cloud and common data for collaborative communication. (Chopra, 2012)

With the help of Cloud, the data can be retrieved anytime anywhere easily and analysed. Reports like current sales, expected sales can be forecasted gauging the sales trends. Which will help for better planned ordering table (WMS) to the vendors and suppliers. It will also help to establish better CRM and SRM relation with Customers and suppliers through data sharing.

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3. Future prospects for the Technology

E CommerceThe future of Ecommerce: A custom-tailored experience that can remember your preferences, gauge your level of interest in a certain item, and make dynamic adjustments to the price and options -- all in order to make the sale, rather than miss an opportunity. By implementing advances in dynamic programming, combined with thoughtful design, Ecommerce of the future will resemble a catalogue less and less, and feel more and more like an in-store experience (Kenneth Laudon, 2013)

User-specific promotions are just one example of how the new, dynamic Ecommerce experience will change the way we shop online. Retailers understand that a smaller profit is better than no profit, and that volume can make up for smaller margins. This is something that has been practiced by brick-and-mortar merchants for centuries, but has been largely absent from Ecommerce. We are more likely to make a purchase when we feel like we are getting a deal. The ability to adjust pricing and make deals on the spot -- without the need for human oversight, can transform what would have been an impersonal online shopping experience into a rewarding and enticing opportunity.

Retail e-commerce sales in the U.S. jumped to $36.6 billion in the first quarter of 2010, an estimated 14 percent growth over the same period in 2009. Research firm e-marketer projects that after two years of subpar growth, U.S. retail e-commerce sales will climb 12.7 percent this year, reaching $152 billion. It’s constantly growing at a rapid speed. With this information it is not difficult to guess how it would be in the next few years where only the retailers who are embracing e-tailing will survive and a strict competition can be expected among the e-tailing. (Michael Levy, 2013)

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Cloud computingCloud computing is seen by many as the next wave of information technology for individuals, companies and governments. The abundant supply of information technology capabilities at a low cost offers many enticing opportunities. In addition to reducing operational costs, cloud technologies have become the basis for radical business innovation and new business models, and for significant improvements in the effectiveness of anyone using information technology – which, these days, increasingly means most of the world. (Cary Landis, 2013)

Cloud computing will become even more prominent in the coming years with rapid & continued growth of major global cloud data centres. Right now we are in the early days of cloud computing, with many organisations taking their first, tentative steps. But in coming few years cloud is going to be a major — and permanent — part of the enterprise computing infrastructure. Few years from now we are likely to see low-power processors crunching many workloads in the cloud, housed in highly automated datacentres and supporting massively federated, scalable software architecture.

It is another Technology which is booming unlike any other technology. With most new software being built for cloud from the outset, it is predicted that by 2016 over a quarter of all applications (around 48 million) will be available on the cloud. According to Gartner, the cloud is here, and it is accelerating globally. Based on their forecast for 2011-2017, Gartner expects adoption to hit $250 billion by 2017. 50 percent of enterprises is expected to have hybrid clouds by 2017. As we see more and more companies adopt cloud, we see CIOs crafting well-thought-out strategies that include cloud. However, pure cloud implementations are the exception and not the rule. (Gartner, 2013)

We're around a year away from low-power ARM chips coming to market with a 64-bit capability, and once that happens uptake should accelerate, as enterprise software will be developed for the RISC chips, allowing companies to use the power-thrifty processors in their datacentres, and thereby cut their electricity bills by an order of magnitude. By 2020 it's likely that low-power chips will be everywhere. (Gartner, 2013)

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E-LogisticsThe days of decision making based on pure instinct are over. Supply Chain Managers (SCM’s) and e-logistics are now able to access virtually limitless amounts of information with tracking becoming a reality in nearly all aspects of the supply chain. If it moves it can be tracked, from ecommerce orders with detailed real time reporting on stock levels to tracking forklifts & freight movements. (Deryn Graham, 2013)

The entire supply chain process can be tracked & reported on with new technologies such as ERP systems, RFID’s, GPS tracking, Zone Control, Geo Fencing, demand signal repositories and smart meters which can all be a part of e logistics.

Security, Privacy and Trust:

In developing countries who are willing to develop an e-commerce infrastructure must address the issues of digital security, privacy and trust. It is found that many countries have no provisions for ensuring the legally valid of electronic transaction.it happens due to the lack of policies for the protection, privacy and use of personal data. Which is expected to change in the future. (Robin Lewis, 2014)

Localization/ Globalizations:

Through the help of e logistics, the shipment of a product from a capital city of a foreign country to a small rural town in other country is possible. This is making the world a global village. There are few e commerce website who have logistics available throughout the world and deliver products to many countries. This is expected to grow in the coming years.

Global Trade Management:

E-business must follow with the variety of complex regulations of global trade. Customs requires all the imports to be coded and categorized, and codes must be harmonized from country to country. There used to be screening regulations while passing to other countries due to national security, health and environment issues. International trade also involves complex processes for financing, risk management and financial settlement. In addition different countries and locality have different licensing requirement and charge different duties. (Deryn Graham, 2013)

E Logistics going Global

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We collectively as a team fell that all this technologies are being used at their full extent in retail industry but there is always scope for improvement since upgrading modifications are integral part of a pioneered version. Hence better upgraded version of same technologies can be expected in the future which will take retail industry to newer heights. And also all the three technologies discussed are crucial and emerging technologies where one technology cannot be said is above the other. All the technologies go hand for the best outcome out of the collaboration. (Robin Lewis, 2014)

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4. Benefits to the Community

A cloud is called a "public cloud" when the services are rendered over a network that is open for public use. Public cloud services may be free or offered on a pay-per-usage model. Community can benefit from cloud computing in certain ways. The biggest advantage of cloud computing is the ability to access, modify and save files from any number of devices in any location. Normally, if something has been saved on a personal computer, you can only access the file from that particular computer. This is rather restrictive. Cloud computing opens this up, allowing you to access your files from any phone, tablet, laptop or computer – as long as there’s an Internet connection, you can use any of these devices to access and work on your files and data. Consider email providers like Hotmail, AOL, Gmail, and Outlook: these are all a form of cloud computing. You don’t store your email on your computer; you access it from your computer by connecting to the Internet and logging in to your account in the ether.

Anybody can get a cloud account opened where you have limited space data storage which is fair enough space for an individual for personal use. You can also use cloud computing to share your files and collaborate with other people because the files are in one central location that anyone can access at any time from any location in the world. This offers much greater flexibility and accessibility, allowing the small business owner to work remotely and access any file he requires whilst on the go, thus increasing productivity, time-management, and competitiveness.

Small scale industries can also take the step to go global or at least expand their business with the help of latest offerings in the field of technology.

5. ConclusionIt can be said that E commerce, cloud computing and e logistics are emerging technologies in business which are changing the way business is done. The benefits of this technologies outweigh few of the drawbacks it has. Although these technologies are pretty cheap, Initial investment is a considerable amount. The return on investment is really high provided that it is planned well. All these technologies come together for a better customer experience by streamlining of operations.

The solution for all this issues would be “Stream Lining of Operations”. This streamlining can be achieved by having a one common communication system established with one common database that would be available for sales manager at the mall, warehouse manager at the warehouse and for the vendor or supplier for efficient approach to the inventory requirement and manage transactions involved. For streamlining we need to adapt to the latest technologies like cloud computing, e logistics and establish a ERP system which is helpful to manage the supply chain with the help of a better communication system. This report contains information about how all the processes can be combined and unified in to one single system which would be beneficial for the company profits by increasing the sales, by efficient usage of space, and by decreasing the unrequired inventory orders that may give out loss for the company (Arshdeep Bahga, 2013)

Cost ReductionFor an investment to be really relevant and really meaningful, it should benefit all stakeholders. Ecommerce is the cheapest way to business as it is accessible to all the users around the world. Basically the investment for Ecommerce is very minimal.

Moving to cloud computing will reduce the cost of managing and maintaining the IT systems. Rather than purchasing expensive systems and equipment for the business which can reduce the costs by using the

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resources of cloud computing service provider. It would reduce the operating costs because: Maintain easy access to the information with minimal upfront spending (Pay as you go).

Collaboration CommunicationCollaboration in a cloud environment gives the business the ability to communicate and share more easily outside of the traditional methods. If you are working on a project across different locations, you could use cloud computing to give employees, contractors and third parties access to the same files. You could also choose a cloud computing model that makes it easy for you to share your records with your advisers.

Hence we can conclude that these emerging technologies are cheaper to use, which yield good profits in the future. These technologies help in streamlining of operation by establishing efficient collaborative (Sanjay Mohapatra, 2013)common system among the departments of an organisation. This will help the organisation by

saving money and time by removing paper transactions and speeding up response times reducing errors in the information passed along the supply-chain by avoiding re-keying data improving satisfaction of customers or suppliers with delivery of information in ‘real time’ Integration of dispatch and distribution data with product development data at each node of the

supply-chain, resulting in real cost savings. Better dealings in high number of risky transactions Efficient usage of physical storage in warehouse Ability to understand customer needs increases Communication gap between different departments eradicated Misplaced orders from vendors minimised Ability to gauge sales trends increases Ability to meet customer demands increases

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ReferencesArshdeep Bahga, V. M. (2013). Cloud Computing: A Hands-On Approach . CreateSpace Independent

Publishing Platform.

Cary Landis, D. B. (2013). Cloud Computing Made Easy: An Easy to Understand Reference About Cloud Computing. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Chopra, S. (2012). Supply Chain Management (5th Edition) . Prentice Hall.

Deryn Graham, I. M. (2013). E-Logistics and E-Supply Chain Management: Applications for Evolving Business. IGI Global.

Gartner. (2013). IT Glossary - Cloud Computing. Retrieved from GARTNER: http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/cloud-computing/

Kenneth Laudon, C. G. (2013). E-Commerce 2014 (10th Edition). Prentice Hall.

Michael Levy, B. W. (2013). Retailing Management . McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Robin Lewis, M. D. (2014). The New Rules of Retail: Competing in the World's Toughest Marketplace . Palgrave Macmillan Trade.

Sanjay Mohapatra, L. L. (2013). Cloud Computing and ROI: A New Framework for IT Strategy . Springer.

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