fix doc

IS 440

Mao Gao

Shiliang Liu

Yunpeng Xu

Deliverable 2

· How do they Managing data? Managing information?

With the amount of data and information nowadays, information managing and data managing is critical for a company. Data are facts, without meaning or intent. However, a big amount of data can become information, which means data in context, this could sometimes mean the world to a company. Database is the major element for managing information resources, it is made by a group of interrelated files; File is made up by a group of related records; Record is made up by a group of related fields. With all these interrelated data, a company not only can have the information that they need to operate the business, they can even predict the future of the business with these data.

In Global Trading, the CIO Andy told us that they manage data and information into categories, including: customer information, sales information, transport information, employee information, product information, etc. Andy gave us an example of their information management on how they manage the customer information, and how they use this information during the interview. Andy mentioned that they have 3 categories of customer information. First is their own customer information, which contains the customer information they have collected over the years. Second is the subscribed customer information, which contains the information of customers from websites such as Amazon, Ebay, etc. Third is the customer information that they buy from data company. Andy said that they can utilize these information with advertising accordingly, to target potential customers.

Andy mentioned that currently their database is electronically stored in their own server and cloud storage mainly by using Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access. Traditionally, the data and information were recorded by hand, which was extremely difficult to manage, locate, and storage. With the electronic database system, they are able to quickly search and locate for the file, and categorise them in different groups and categories in seconds, and send out promotion emails to target customers.

· Explain how they use a three level database

The Global Trading operates very similarly to the three-level database model that we covered in class. As the user views information at the first level in a conceptual and external sense and a general idea of the information for their customers and products while in the second level the Global Trading has logical information that is used to connect items and elements within the database. At the third level is the physical storage of the database, which means they physically store their database in the system.

· Explain how they would go through the steps in the Database Analysis Life Cycle

When the Database Analysis Life Cycle was mentioned during the interview, the CIO of the Global Trading Andy agreed that all six steps were followed in similar ways when they are trying to determine what actions to take with new databases. Andy told us that since they are not a huge business company, they do not hire people to write database programs. Instead, they tried to get familiar with all database tools to see which had the best fit for their database and subscribe it, and Andy is the person who decided which tool they are using to store database. Then, they had to design a way to store and implement their database into that tool. After loading all database, they tested it to make sure the tool works well for them and evaluated it. after everything is done, they started using it officially. In addition, Andy told us that they do not really need think about maintenance of the database tool because they do not create the tool. Therefore, whenever there is a technical issue, the company who got subscribed would take care of their product. It would be easier for the Global Trading to focus on operating the tool.

· What type of Support/Help Desk do they have?

The Global Trading has similar support/help desk to other competitors. They have a hot line which is allowed customers to call in. However, since they are not a huge company and they have limited employees, they do not have a customer service department. Instead, everyone works there can pick up the phone, and answer questions for customers. They do not have an online chat for customers to use. However, customers can always send emails to them, and they would reply back every email as soon as possible.

· How do they manage operations? Internal/External measures?

Good IT operation management is important for an organization, not only for the smooth IT operations within the organization, but also create a welcoming user experience for the customers. CIO need to be concerned about operations by putting the proper operations environment in place.

Measuring operation could be divided into two categories: internal measures and external measures. External measures are what customers sees, which includes system and network uptime or downtime, response time, turnaround time, and program failures. External measures directly affect customer’s user experience. Internal measures are what information system people see, which include: percentage of capacity of computer usage, availability of mission-critical systems, resource utilization, job queue length, number of jobs run, number of jobs rerun due to problems, age of applications, and number of unresolved problems.

In Global Trading, Andy told us that because Global Trading is still a small to medium-sized enterprise, it is not necessary for them to develop their own operational systems. Currently, Global trading outsourced their operational systems to large reliable company. For example, they are using Amazon Web Services for storage and database, and they are using websites such as eBay, Amazon to sell their products instead of creating their own website. Andy said that outsourcing these technical operations is more cost effective than hiring technicians and having their own technical department at this stage for the company. This way, they don’t have to deal with program failure, network being hacked and attacked, system maintenance, and so on.

· Relate how they outsource

Global Trading Unlimited, Inc. outsourced the sales to other companies. In physical stores, it finds sales companies to help them sell products, while sales companies can get a percentage of commission. In terms of online sales, they mainly outsourced sales to Amazon, eBay, and Wayfair. It only needs to provide product information for these sites, and these sales sites provide it with sales platforms, server maintenance and operations services. However, it outsources this part of advertising to google and Facebook. For example, when we open a website and use google search, we will see some items ads of your search keywords on the right side of the page. This will better display its branding effect. Same time it will let many users see this company, so they will be potential customers. In terms of transportation, it is also outsourced to FedEx, Because the company's transportation speed is very fast, so that customers can quickly get their purchases, so that customers can have a good service experience.

· What strategies do they use to outsource?

The outsourcing strategy of Global Trading Unlimited Inc. is mainly divided and conquer, short-period contracts, purchase services and selective outsourcing. It does not participate in managing these aspects. In the sale area, Global Trading Unlimited Inc. is only responsible for providing goods, but these sales sites are responsible for selling the goods. At the same time, it needs to pay a fee for these online sales companies. In ads area, it purchases user information from google and Facebook so that they can send posters of their latest products to these customers. At the same time, it will sign short-term cooperation contracts with these companies to ensure the cooperation benefits between them.

· Outsourcing advantages and disadvantages

Outsourcing has many advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are reduced costs, allows more rapid or timely development, frees management to focus on business, and offers improved reliability and stability. It is important for the company to reduce costs because at the same time to reduce costs and think that there are more benefits. Outsourcing to other companies can use the market of these outsourcing companies, which is very advantageous for a company to develop new markets. Outsourcing to other companies to sell products so that companies can focus more on the company's business. A good outsourcing company has high reliability and stability, which is very helpful for the development of its own business. Outsourcing also has many disadvantages, such as increase cost, to comply with outsourcing company rules and cannot reduce the cost of outsourcing. When you hire an outsourcing company, you need to pay a certain fee to them, so your costs will increase. To hire an outsourcing company, you must comply with the regulations of the outsourcing company. You can't violate their regulations, or they can cancel the contract at any time, and you also need to pay some of the liquidated damages. The outsourcing company dictates outsourcing costs. You can't make them spend less on you, so your outsourcing costs cannot be reduced.

· Technologies for developing effective systems

In Global Trading, Andy told us that since they are not a data company, their technical systems are mainly relying on outsourcing. The technologies for developing effective systems for Global Trading as Andy mentioned, could be categorized into two categories: tools and buying information.

Tools are important for the company, it organizes data and information of the company, stores the information, and ensure that when the information is needed, they can trace it right away. Global Trading are using a few Amazon Web Services as mentioned above. In addition, they also have their own server to store backup data and information. This way, when one source is down, they can still operate with the data and information from the backup source.

Information is made up by a big amount of data, Andy told us that they buys customer information from different data companies for marketing purposes, which works significantly well for their online sales department. They uses the customer information to analyse the customer’s need, and advertise toward these target customers on Amazon, Facebook, Google Ad, etc. Although this marketing strategy may cost some money, but the result is very significant.

Andy also told us about how powerful big data and data mining is in e-commerce industry, and he clearly understands that this will be the trend in the future, the more data you own, the more powerful the company.