Non Core Business Processes And Functions example essay topic

To any industry, the challenge is clear: you must deliver unparalleled service and value to your customers. In industry, continuous change has become the norm and the challenge to management is to create a flexible and dynamic e-Business infrastructure that promises to accelerate speed-to-market, satisfy customers' demands, and deliver profitable growth. Comparison of an Industry The evolution of e-Business has changed the way that companies in every industry must operate to achieve profitable growth. Over the past two decades, the dynamic industries have been forced to make dramatic changes to their business processes and strategy to cope with high growth, cost pressures, and changing customer demands. In the U.S. alone, the transportation industry is estimated to be a $600 billion venture. The competitive market is highly fragmented and, despite trends toward consolidation, one fact remains unchanged: competition will intensify and most companies will be forced to manage business with a new level of detail.

They will have to examine emerging channels, identify customers' changing demands, and leverage new technology at a speed that outpaces the competition. The search for new ways to grow profitably, differentiate service offerings, and exceed customer expectations has led many leading companies in the transportation and third party logistics spaces to embrace new and innovative technologies and solutions. Supporting these efforts, companies have initiated IT systems projects that have ranged from simple point solutions aimed at very specific areas and service offerings, to full-scale replacement of existing systems and the implementation of leading solutions, including solutions that transform existing service offerings into hosted environments. (I am making reference to SABRE system used by the transport industry, particularly airlines.) It is necessary to have the power and intelligence to analyze and optimize business processes using new techniques and functionality that are the result of combining advanced supplier relationship, management and supply chain optimization software and solutions with the power of pricing and revenue optimization. With these powerful tools, businesses can exceed the expectations of their clients by helping them leverage their services to define the optimal balance between cost-of-goods sold, cost-of-service, and profitability. E-Commerce can be defined as electronic market transactions and all aspects related to conducting those transactions.

In the transportation industry as well as in non-service oriented industries, those transactions range from marketing, purchasing, planning, human resources, advertising, and even legal registration of copyrights and have in the last few years increased the agility and efficiency of transactions. This has been reported in most industries and in spite of the billions of business-to-business, customer-to-customer, and business-to-customer transactions each day, there are reports that contradict the benefits of e-Business. Globalization of Markets Companies are competing in a truly global marketplace. In contrast to the past where just a handful of multi-national corporations and some daring entrepreneurs offered their products and services globally.

Today, corporations are outsourcing production, importing components, assembling in different locations, shipping knock-down kits, and developing new sales channels globally. The internet and its offer of universal and instant connectivity has accelerated the fusion of global sales and supply channels. At the same time it has fundamentally changed the customers' expectations about the visibility of information and the services that the companies need to offer. Global companies need the ability to plan and execute their logistics and activities across all modes of transport, and they require the ability to track and trace both the location and the progress of vital shipments. Managing customs and compliance regimes globally has also become more efficient, as corporations continue to expand on a global basis, so does the complexity of their activities, they need to understand the different customs regulations, import / export requirements, tariffs, and currency valuation.

E-business has aided the industry in this respect as although globalization offers new markets, it can also shrink profits, affect growth potential, and heighten the risks of a misstep. As industry faces these new business dynamics, it must have the tools in place to accurately assess their impact on business. Shortened product life cycles The rate of change in industries such as automotive, retail, manufacturing, textile, plastics, paint, chemical, communications and high technology has increased significantly. The industry must keep pace with the evolution of business or they run the risk becoming obsolete. Competition is driving shorter product life cycles and requiring faster speed to the market; as new technologies and products are introduced, the manufacturer must be sure that his plants have a sufficient supply of critical materials, however, at the same time everybody is tightening inventory levels to avoid obsolescence and improve return on invested capital, even across critical materials, making this challenge significant. To effectively manage critical business functions, management must maintain control and be able to act using the tools that e-Business provides for monitoring, alerting, and executing decisions.

Outsourcing of non-core business processes It is now a trend in the industry that every business should concentrate in their business of expertise. Retailers are being told to focus on merchandising, manufacturers to focus on assembly, and consumer electronics companies to focus on innovation. While many companies have developed competencies in many fields, they are quickly learning that many cost and business process efficiencies can come from outsourcing these non-core functions to a third party provider. The challenge is that this outsourcing comes with an expectation that the service provider will learn the intricacies of their business and, in turn, create significant business value.

The growing role of eCommerce in third party logistics is the ability to track and trace via the internet. Today, technology is transforming the customer - provider relationship, and the way in which customers buy and providers sell. In this environment, e-Business readiness is a prerequisite for success and managing that global network via the internet is an imperative necessity. In the transportation industry, providers face serious business issues, including globalization, managing diverse customs and compliance regimes, and coping with shortened product life cycles.

There is a clear need to outsource non-core business processes and functions, and harnessing the power of eCommerce. The fact is that these same challenges offer significant business opportunities. The general idea in most industries seems to be that e-Business is a vehicle of growth when managed well. The results of the studies made by the Electric and Gas Industries in the United States seem to have come out with a different set of results for their industry..