Report on business information system

Singapore Airlines Limited is located in Singapore. It was founded in 1947 as Malayan Airways and was later relaunched in 1972 as Singapore Airlines. The airline has got its hubs in Singapore Changi Airport.
Singapore Airlines Limited, just like any other company, has adopted Information Technology to enhance its rapid growth. The process of adopting technology started by automating the processes and creating systems out of them. The systems help introduce change into the running of business activities, developing an economic comprehension of how much information systems can impact several aspects and key aspects of an organization.

Supply chain Management

The supply chain management is the management of a network of intertwined or interconnected businesses whose objective is to provide goods and services as required by the customer. The supply chain involves the movement and storage of raw materials, throughout the work in progress to the point of finished goods. The supply chain management has been made easier by the use of information systems.

Other reasons why Singapore Airlines chose to have connections to the internet is that the internet makes accessibility on either side much easier and faster. Customers can access the airline easily and fast. The very way, in case the need arises, the airline can also access and communicate with its customers easily. This also helps the airline win favour and loyalty from its clients. With the tough economic times, a cheaper means of conducting business would be preferred by any company. The internet offers one of the cheapest means to conduct business. This is because it reduces the costs of having to set retail premises such as offices and it makes it possible to make use of existing computer equipments, at a very minimal extra charge (Syed & Craig, 2010, p. 200). Finally, being connected to the internet provides a medium for conducting effective and thorough researches, in a short time.

Using the internet has got its benefits. Most of these benefits are related to marketing and faster communication. The benefits include cheap communication because of the easy and fast access to global information systems, easy and cheap transmission of documents, easy fast and cheap communication with international customers as well as suppliers (Syed & Craig, 2010, p. 201). More to that, the internet provides infrastructure to establish electronic data interchange. This kind of infrastructure goes a long way to enhance the way customers and staff of Singapore Airlines interacts. Besides these, the internet helps cover a large area when advertising and this is done at very low costs. In other words, the internet cuts down advertisement costs while covering a vast area.

The internet has very many positive effects to businesses, Singapore Airlines only being one of them. This is because the internet is based on both academic principles as well as scientific principles. The characteristic of being based on academic principles gives the internet an element of being free from exorbitant charges. People have the freedom to express themselves and access services without being charged anything. This follows the fact that it was the government that provided the initial funding to get the internet started. However, control of the internet was left to the professional groups that consisted of academic people. This kind of freedom has changed over time since charges were attached to the internet, when the government withdrew its control. As expected, this was received with a lot of resistance but those responsible had no option, but to commercialize it.

The internet is viewed as being a very technical and so business people have to seek assistance or hire technology experts to deal with it. Having technology experts or personnel who have skills in the company is considered very wise.

After understanding the basic concepts concerning the internet, the next essential element to understand is the Information Systems. Information Systems can be defined as the professional discipline that seeks to integrate the field of business and the field of computer science. This is an area of study that has been necessitated by the rapid growth of technology and the new innovations. The need to also meet the growing requirements in the field of business have made necessary the need to have a bridge between the two crucial fields; business and computer science. Information systems typically look at the various business models and check how they can relate to algorithmic processes in computer science.

A basic information system includes people, procedures, data, as well as software and hardware. All these are integrated to have single object that can be used in the collection of data and analyze it to digital information. A computer based information system is a network of software and hardware that people; or rather institutions such as the Singapore Airlines use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data. This is the process otherwise referred to as computing. With these functions in mind, a Computer Information System was created. Of computer The CIS is an element of the Computer Science field that helps in the study of computers, algorithmic processes, as well as the principles, software and hardware designs, how they are applied and what impacts they have on the society as a whole.

There are various types of information systems. The most basic of them was a four-levelled hierarchy that placed the Transaction processing systems at the bottom, the Management information systems came next. Third in level was the Decision support systems and the top was the Executive information systems. The model is still used to a basis of the new technologies and categories that have since come up (Jiang, 2003). Some of these systems include the Data warehousing, Enterprise systems, Global information system, Office automation, Expert systems, Geographic information system, to list but a few. All these systems are very important in the day to day running of business activities at the Singapore Airlines.

For the information systems to be well effective and useful to the company, special care is taken when developing the systems. Information systems can be developed using various methodologies and processes. However, the most technical and preferable of these is the System Development Lifecycle (Laura, Niels & Kristian, 2008, p. 223).

This methodology, the System Development Lifecycle, has a more technical and engineering approach and hence, it provides the guarantee of having a reliable system. It is a chronological procedure that makes possible the creation of a system by follows distinct steps or stages. The stages are Problem recognition and specification. Once the problems have been recognized, the next step is to gather all the information one can concerning the listed problems. The information gathered is used to create a list of requirement specifications for the new system. Once the requirements are at hand, a system design is created. The system design kick starts the actual system construction. After the construction of the system, what follows is to implement the system and conduct regular checks to test the functionability of the system, otherwise referred to as the review and maintenance stage.

An information system can be developed within the organization or can be outsourced. Outsourcing can be taking particular elements from elsewhere or just borrowing all elements that make up the system. A good example of this is the geographical distribution of the development team, such as in the Offshoring, Global Information System. Examples of Spatial Information Systems are the Disaster information systems, and the Land information systems. It is advisable to have computer based information systems, since they technologically implemented and can therefore be used to record, store, and disseminate linguistic expressions.

Information systems have many impacts on businesses. One is that the systems make it possible to create dynamic web sites. A dynamic website can be used by anybody, regardless of whether they have the technological knowledge. This is because dynamic websites have intuitive web interfaces that are very simple to use, making interactions much easier and fun. The other positive impact of information systems is the Electronic Document Exchange solutions. This is all about the exchange of business documents among business, just at the click of a button. This is done through the connect services that have all the authentication measures as well as security standards met. This service saves on time and chances of fraud are reduced. When it comes to the e-Procurement sector, the Information systems impact is that there are cost reductions for the whole process and the Supply Chain is automated. An automated supply chain reduces the chances of losses, overcharges, or making unnecessary orders. Information systems also help airlines in Singapore deal with short term accounting problems such as costing which may arise in their supply chain (Ismail & King, 2007, p. 1). The sector of e-Tourism and on-line reservation services, which is the centre of all activities in the Singapore Airlines, has got its share of solutions which are credited to the information systems. The systems provide an avenue for e-business, making it possible for tourist to check all they need to on the internet. It is also possible for the staff at Singapore Airlines to attend to problems and challenges as soon as they arise, because they are able to spot them immediately. This makes it possible to automate all the internal processes and the major result of these is increase of sales. In the case of Singapore Airlines, the number of people booking flights with them increases, since they are reliable and are able to market themselves far and wide.

Information systems also provide for the development of corporate Intranet and Extranet Portals. These are technologies that enhance integration projects among disparate systems. Finally, another Information Systems Impact is the provision of consulting Services concerning the identification and authentication of business opportunities through technical and economic oriented analysis.

Recommendations and conclusions

The SIA lays a lot of emphasis on the use of IT and is hence trying to adopt the use of new IT innovations such as electronic ticketing, ticketless travel, selling of tickets via the internet, as well as automated check ins. Besides these, there is the use of advanced yield management software that makes it possible to adopt new business management style and practises.

The use of these advanced technologies has made the services much more reliable and efficient, enhancing the satisfaction of the clients. Travelling has hence become a fun filled experience because of the reduced complications when trying to book for one or buy a ticket. In addition to the improved provision of services, the technologies have made it possible to provide the efficient services without human interruptions. On the other hand, these automated processes have reduced the need of human personnel, reducing employment opportunities.

In conclusion, the Singapore Airlines has been able to do extremely well despite the small market in Singapore. This good performance is accredited to the well managed Information systems of the Airline. Again, the fact that the airline is doing so well in such a small market is shows that the size of a market has no influence on the competitiveness (Lim & Partridge, 1998, p. 203). What matters most is the quality of services and goods provided. A business should invest in new innovations, better technologies and equipment that will help enhance on the quality of what is provided. More to that, a company should use strategic management, just like the management of the Singapore Airlines have done; concentrating more on CSFs. This is what has led to the success of the airline.

References

Syed A. & Craig, S. (2010) ” Towards a systemic model on information systems’ adoption
using critical systems thinking”. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 12
(3), 196 – 209
Laura M., Niels R. F. & Kristian P., (2008) ” Sustainable information systems: a knowledge
perspective”. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 10 ( 3), 218 – 231
Ismail, A. & King, M. (2007). “ Factors influencing the alignment of accounting information
systems in Malaysia.” Bnet. Retrieved from
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Lim, V. & Partridge, T. (1998). “ Managing Information Systems in Singapore Airlines.”
International Journal of Information Management, 18 (3), 195-203
Jiang, H. (2003). Airline e-Business System. Retrieved from
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