Description

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

In this ever-growing, modern society, humans are dependent on the concept of the supply chain to gain their produced goods and services. For example, the smartphone that we all own is made possible because the company that produced the smartphone has contracted a supplier to provide raw materials to the smartphone company to manufacture. This process is known as the supply chain. To put it simply, the supply chain is a network of relationships between the business itself and the supplier that supplies the raw materials to the business to manufacture and produce goods or services. To utilize the supply chain of a business most efficiently, businesses can increase their profits, productivity, reduce supply issues and provide better-optimized pricing for their products. This is known as Supply Chain Management. Many major businesses adopt this business practice to increase their profitability of the products and manage their supply chain most efficiently. Today, we will be using Apple Inc and its supply chain management as a case study to explore the effectiveness of Apple’s supply chain management practice to show that with the right business supply chain strategies can become very successful for future businesses. To understand why Apple has very successful supply chain management, it begins with the handling of their inventory.

In conclusion, Apple’s supply chain management is regarded as top-notch by many experts and it is clearly demonstrated by the little details that Apple pays attention to such as competitive pricing and inventory management. This all contributes the supply chain management as Apple successfully manages the supply chain between its suppliers and the manufacturing of the products to efficiently produce a product that is sold on the respective market relatively quickly generating faster rates of sale.

References:

Australian Institution of Company Directors. (2015). A case study of Apple’s supply chain.
Retrieved from A case study of Apple’s supply chain (companydirectors.com.au)

Apple’s Supply Chain: The 9 Major Companies (investopedia.com)

Look at Apple’s Supply Chain Management | Dynamic Inventory

Task 2: Business Process Improvement & Lean Operations

Topic: Vehicle Insurance Business Practices

The business process of claiming car insurance after an accident can be quite tedious and frustrating as you have to sit through hour-long phone calls and are unable to do anything as your car could be inoperable. Current car insurance business processes are based on the trust relationship between the insurer and the policyholder. There will be many assumptions towards this business process scenario as car insurance is a very wide topic that has many scenarios and each scenario has a different business process. In our analysis, we will be only focusing on one particular but common scenario – The assumption is that the policyholder has appeared to collide with an animal on the road. The vehicle has taken a substantial amount of damage from the impact and needs to be repaired but is still drivable. The policyholder has comprehensive insurance and covers the collision with the animal. Therefore, the policyholder decides to file for an insurance claim. The policyholder chooses a local mechanic that does not appear on the insurance’s companies list.

This business process is also further portrayed on a process flowchart diagram to document the processes of filing an insurance claim after colliding with an animal on the page below.

Analysis
The current business process appears to be quite tedious with evidence of inefficient business processes. On average, an insurance claim on a vehicle would take up to ten business days then taking the vehicle for repair would take an average of five working days for the assumed scenario established at the beginning of this report

Revised Business Process Model

Implementation of the lean operation in this business process model provides a minimalistic approach. We can improve the communication between the policyholder and the insurance company to effectively change the method of filing an insurance claim. In minor accidents like the given scenario, it is sometimes not necessary to speak over the phone to the insurance company unless in exceptional circumstances. It is better to adopt a mobile application that allows the policyholder to file an insurance claim over the app and upload the necessary photos and videos for the insurance company to review. Since the app will have instructions on how to file an insurance claim, it should be a relatively easy and simple process that satisfies the lean operation and its minimalistic approach.

With the proposed changes to the business model, the revised process of claiming insurance would begin by using your mobile device and opening the insurance application. On the application, there will be steps on how to file an insurance claim, the user will enter their policy number and personal details, followed by a description of what happened in the accident, and be asked to provide photos or videos in relation to the accident. Once it is submitted, the insurance company will review the insurance application and decide to either accept or decline. In the event where the policyholder is declined, they will be notified by email link to their policy number and a text will be sent. Should the application procedure, the insurance company request the policyholder to provide the mechanic details over the mobile application then the policyholder can bring their vehicle to the mechanic. The insurance will get in touch with the mechanic by phone letting them know that they will be paying for the invoice. The mechanic will inspect and provide an invoice to the insurance company and the insurance company will pay for the invoice. Then the policyholder will collect their vehicle.

This revised business process is also further portrayed on a process flowchart diagram to document the processes of filing an insurance claim after colliding with an animal on the page below.

Business Process Performance Analysis
In the two provided process flowcharts for the current and revised business processes model, we can see that there are clearly some significant differences between the two. The current business process model has a lot more entities on the flowchart, therefore, complicating the process. As in the revised business process model, the back and forth communication between the policyholder, insurance company, and the mechanic has been removed and it evidently shows the uncomplicated nature of this business model.

Role of Information Technology (IT) / Business Information Systems (BIS) in revised business process
The role of IT and BIS is clearly presented in the revised business process. By switching from a phone call format to lodge an insurance application to filling the application on a mobile device shows the advancement of technology where human labour is no longer necessary in such operations and can be replaced by software. In addition, the role of BIS enhances the business process by eliminating unnecessary processes that hinder the business process and causing unnecessary delays to the insurance application. By adopting lean management and lean operation, the inefficiencies of the business process were eliminated and created a simple but yet effective business process. The roles of both IT and BIS interconnect in this revised business process to create a more viable, efficient, and minimalistic business process (Jonas et al,2014). Therefore, this revised business process approach in comparison to the current approach adopts and employs more elements of IT and BIS modelling.

References:

Long Does it Take to Fix a Car? – Bundoora Motor Panels

Lean Insurance Management Programs Implemenation – Len Siz Sigma Belgium (leansixsigmabelgium.com)
Jonas, Montilva., & Judith, Barrios,. & Isabel, Besembel,. & William, Montilva. (2014). A Business Process Model for IT Management Based on Enterprise Architecture. Retrieved from A Business Process Model for IT Management Based on Enterprise Architecture (scielo.edu.uy)

Task 3: Emerging trends in Business Information Systems

Reference:
Ralph, M., Stair, & George, W., Reynolds. (1992). Principles of Information Systems, Chapter 1&2, 9th Edition
Jim, Collins. (2001). Good to Great, HarperCollins Edition: Page. 300