Technology in Business: 5 Successful Cases When Companies Succeeded in Digital

Business technology has been rapidly changing the world for years. Market research shows that these are not tech companies only that have found business technology vastly improving their efficiency. 52% of companies worldwide report an increase in worker productivity, 49% better performance, and 46% better customer experience after digital renovation. WALMART: Context: As a leading retail giant, Walmart has a deep sense of market changes and the importance of technology for business. The need to transform the way clients interact with the brand became evident to Walmarts team. Moreover, the company had enough capabilities to invest in digital transformation and upgrade back-office operations. Challenge: Bring innovation, fight competition and digitise the shopping experience. Solution: The challenge of the use of technology in business had two sides. On the one hand, Walmart wanted to renovate the services they deliver to a customer. On the other hand, the team needed to revamp the way they run management, administration, and other in-house processes. In 2018, Walmart invested more than $11 billion in tech renovation. As a part of their business growth strategy, they decided to partner with leading tech companies. These were Google (voice-enabled commerce) and Microsoft (cloud computing). Because of the changing consumer demands, Walmart also decided to strengthen their social media presence. Omnichannel retailing was a strategy for reaching a millennial audience and fully satisfying their needs. As for the back-office innovations, these included the modernization of the supply chain and inventory management. This enabled the company to lower the costs and service prices by optimizing and balancing them in various digital channels. AI-powered data analytics integrated into their supply chain solutions give the company access to data about a customer. Understanding client needs helps them to adjust their marketing effort and make data-driven decisions. Walmart invested in Data Caf, the data storing and management hub that processes data collected from more than 20 000 Walmart stores and more than 200 internal sources. In Data Caf, Walmart data experts visualize, manipulate, and interpret data for faster decision-making and better ROI. The company also integrated artificial intelligence technologies for business as well as blockchain. This improved the traceability of products down the supply chain. This is how the companys digital transformation looked from the tech side: Value: Walmart digitized their supply chain management, CRM, marketing and sales, and other aspects. This enabled the company to reach efficiency and reduce expenses. Faster inventory processing reduces time to market and enables the team to diversify client experiences. Walmart becomes a highly technological company with most of the processes running digitally.

Question 2 (20 Marks) Systems development includes every resource and every step that goes into producing an information system that either solves a problem or helps the organisation take advantage of new opportunities. An information system has a systems development lifecycle (SDLC) which is a sequence of steps or phases it passes through between the time the system is conceived and the time it is phased out. Explain the various phases of the SDLC to the CIO of Walmart.