Introduction
The coordination of supply chains is essential for big corporations that provide goods for their customers. Large volumes of products that need to be supplied frequently require logistic planning. To satisfy consumers’ needs in the most efficient and timely manner, companies utilize information management systems (IMS) that help find the most efficient ways of achieving coordinated cooperation between the different departments. Amazon.com is one of the world’s largest online retailers that operate across the globe and serve millions of people. Apart from its operations within the realm of e-commerce, Amazon performs in the spheres of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. This direction allows the company to obtain a significant advantage in comparison with its competitors. According to Al Imran (2014), Amazon utilizes its information technologies to facilitate its supply chain coordination. Amazon Web Service (AWS) and Simple Storage Service (SS) are the main information systems, within which the company operates its databases (Al Imran, 2014). The IMS allows for effective coordination of all processes inside the company for a better consumer experience.
Recommendations for Competitive Advantage Improvement
The speed of information processing is key in delivering goods for the customers on time. For an e-commerce business like Amazon.com, the ability to deliver orders to consumers in the shortest period is the stepping stone of competitive advantage. On its official website, the company claims that it prioritizes continuous innovations for the improvement of supplies and customer experience (Amazon, 2020). Therefore, it is important to intensify the efforts aimed at research of the current problems with supply information processing and resolve them using the technological resources Amazon has.
The Contribution of IMS into the Coordination of Supply Chain Partners
The variety of services and goods provided by Amazon.com implies the necessity to partner with numerous suppliers in various parts of the world. To maintain its high level of order processing daily across the globe, Amazon partners with “Excellon for business-to-business integration system” (Al Imran, 2014, p. 3). Importantly, the ordering process from the company’s website is automated, which allows the processing of the delivery information in a timelier manner. The company utilizes a complex and highly effective enterprise resource management database that provides an opportunity for fast order delivery and coordination of the suppliers for a given order (Al Imran, 2014). The database runs all necessary data to facilitate the efficiency of order delivery depending on the distribution of suppliers, warehouses, and customers’ delivery destinations. In such a manner, the IMS significantly contributes to the automation of information processing and allows for eliminating business mistakes, as well as improving customer experience.
The Contribution of IMS into the Monitoring of Orders and Inventory Levels
With the help of the IMS, Amazon.com can facilitate the process of monitoring the orders depending on customers’ activity. Since the information systems utilized by the e-commerce organization collect and analyzes data about consumers’ activity, Amazon provides customized delivery and recommendation services (Demir, 2017). To monitor the status of orders, the data is analyzed and communicated between the departments to ensure fast and accurate delivery. Customers may purchase items from Amazon’s online shop and store their purchasing information for further use. Also, they can postpone the purchase by saving the information to the company database. All these processes, as well as the company’s monitoring operations, are run by the “Infomediary model of Management information systems” (Demir, 2017, p. 13). Thus, the availability of information contributes to effective order monitoring and better service for customers.
Similarly, IMS helps to manage inventory levels and distribute goods across the warehouses wherever necessary. A broad system of logistic decision-making systems is utilized to provide multiple shipping options for buyers (Demir, 2017). Once placed and attributed with a shipping method, an order is forwarded to the information processing system for integration with the logistics and delivery departments of Amazon.com. This information provided by the customer is “used by the logistics department of Amazon to ensure that the customer receives the products within the stipulated lead time” (Demir, 2017, p. 14). This highly technological process is conducted using internet technologies, “web service, middleware, groupware, and most importantly, networking” (Demir, 2017, p. 14). Indeed, networking is key to effective coordination of supply chains and inventory management. It allows for fast and efficient exchange of valuable information for better achievement of business goals.
Analysis of the Importance of Managing Information
When analyzing the IMS of Amazon.com, the high importance of information management has been identified. Since the company operates under the influence of the competitive e-commerce business environment and occupies a leading place, it must utilize up-to-date, useful technology to run all the steps of business operations. They include consumer search history and personal information, order placing, shipping method, delivery date, and time. Two aspects of Amazon’s business enforce its intensified utilization of IMS. Firstly, the company sells a wide range of goods, which requires a partnership with multiple suppliers. Secondly, Amazon partially specializes in computer technologies and data storage, which amplifies its competitive advantage in effective information management. Thus, IMS is the core of the successful business performance of a large e-commerce corporation like Amazon.com.
References
Amazon. (2020). Committed to a sustainable future.
Al Imran, M. A. (2014). A study on Amazon: Information systems, business strategies and e-CRM. Web.
Demir, A. (2017). Management information system: Case study of Amazon.com. Journal of Research in Business and Management, 4(11), 11-17.