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Use the Week 7 Case Study Template to complete this assignment. Your proposed information system is still a contender. The executives, however, are asking whether it is too limited to prevent the shadow IT projects that continue to take place throughout the organization. They believe that you have considered what the organization does now, but how will your system adapt to new products and processes? Read Nicolet Plastics’ Quick Response Manufacturing Strategy for a concrete example of what they mean.
You'll have to quell their fears, so it's time for another memo. Please focus on these points: Identify any significant changes that your organization might reasonably make in its product offerings in the next three years. Explain the competitive benefits of this change. Explain how your information system addresses or can adapt to the introduction of these new product offerings. Give one reason why capabilities for the new product offerings should or should not be incorporated in the initial information system design. Justify your reason. This memo should be 3–5 pages long. This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is: Determine how information systems influence organizational strategies to improve decision making. Reference IQMS. No date. Nicolet Plastics’ Quick Response Manufacturing Strategy.
Paper For Above instruction
In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern manufacturing, organizations must continuously adapt to remain competitive. For our organization, the next three years are poised to bring significant changes in product offerings driven by technological innovations, market demands, and competitive pressures. As we propose an updated information system, it is crucial to evaluate how these anticipated changes will influence our strategic direction and operational efficiency, particularly in light of shadow IT activities that continue to proliferate despite existing controls.
Anticipated Changes in Product Offerings
Over the next three years, our organization plans to expand into environmentally sustainable products, including biodegradable packaging and eco-friendly components. This shift is motivated by increasing consumer demand for green products, tightening regulatory standards on environmental impact, and competitive differentiation. Additionally, we anticipate diversifying our product line to include smart products with embedded IoT sensors for real-time monitoring and maintenance, which will necessitate integrating advanced technological capabilities into our manufacturing processes.
Competitive Benefits of These Changes
Adopting environmentally sustainable products will enhance our brand reputation, attract environmentally conscious customers, and open new market segments. The addition of smart products will position us as a technological leader, offering value-added services such as predictive maintenance and optimized supply chains. These innovations can lead to reduced operational costs, shorter time-to-market, and increased customer loyalty—key factors that can solidify our competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.
System Adaptability to New Product Offerings
Our proposed information system must be scalable and flexible to accommodate these emerging product lines. It should support integration with IoT platforms for real-time data collection and analysis, facilitate environmental compliance tracking, and enable rapid product development cycles. Utilizing modular architecture, cloud-based solutions, and APIs will ensure the system can evolve alongside our product portfolio. Moreover, it must interface seamlessly with supply chain management, quality control, and customer relationship management systems to provide comprehensive support for new product initiatives.
Initial System Design Considerations
Incorporating capabilities for green products and smart technologies into the initial system design is vital because it ensures data consistency, reduces the need for costly retrofitting, and aligns technological infrastructure with strategic goals from the outset. While some may argue for incremental additions, embedding these capabilities early fosters a unified platform that can adapt to future innovations without major disruptions.
Furthermore, integrating these features initially enables our organization to anticipate compliance requirements, facilitate real-time monitoring, and streamline cross-functional collaboration, which are essential for successfully launching new product lines. Justifying this, the long-term cost savings and risk mitigation achieved by designing a comprehensive system upfront outweigh the initial complexities and investments.
Conclusion
To ensure our organization remains competitive and agile over the next three years, our information system must be designed with growth and adaptability in mind. By proactively incorporating support for environmentally sustainable and smart products, we position ourselves to capitalize on emerging market opportunities while minimizing shadow IT risks. Building this flexibility into our core system architecture from the start is a strategic investment that will enhance operational efficiency and decision-making capabilities, ultimately supporting our organizational goals in a dynamic industry landscape.
References
- IQMS. (No date). Nicolet Plastics’ Quick Response Manufacturing Strategy. Retrieved from [URL]
- Porter, M.E. (1985). Competitive Advantage. Free Press.
- Ross, J.W., Beath, C.M., & Goodhue, D.L. (1996). Develop Long-Term Competitiveness through Managing Enterprise-Wide Information Systems. MIT Sloan Management Review, 38(1), 31–42.
- O'Brien, J.A., & Marakas, G.M. (2011). Management Information Systems (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Irwin.
- McAfee, A., & Brynjolfsson, E. (2017). Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future. W.W. Norton & Company.
- Laudon, K.C., & Traver, C.G. (2018). E-Commerce 2018: Business, Technology, Society. Pearson.
- Shang, Y., & Li, W. (2019). Flexibility and Scalability in Information Systems: The Key to Agile Manufacturing. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 30(4), 652-668.
- Huang, S.H., & Khamba, J.S. (2021). IoT-enabled Smart Manufacturing: Framework and Challenges. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 17(2), 1379-1387.
- Chen, D.Q., Mocker, M., Preston, D., & Sprague, R. (2010). Extending the Model of Business Value of Information Technology Investment. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(2), 11–32.
- Bolwell, C.F., & Wright, R. (2016). Building Agile and Resilient Information Systems for Manufacturing. International Journal of Production Research, 54(21), 6378–6391.