Essay on Enterprise Systems: Microsoft and Apple

Both Microsoft and Apple companies are among the largest tech companies in the world at present. The competition between these two companies in the technology industry is legendary. Both organizations offer powerful products that appeal to different kinds of clients. However, there is a meaningful disparity in the way these two companies conduct their respective business operations. Microsoft Company uses Customer Relationship Management technique in its service and marketing division so that it can increase the profitability of its sales and most importantly streamline the companys processes. On the other hand, Apple Company uses knowledge management in its operations, since it enables the company to preserve and exploit its knowledge. It also has other advantages such as; speeding up production time, cutting down operational costs, and most importantly it allows effective training of employees.

For a while now, Apple has been using knowledge management technique in nearly all of its operations. Based on Wang (2013) findings, this has helped the organization to ensure effective distribution of knowledge to all sectors of the company. Also, the distribution of knowledge has led to continuous progress in the company and most importantly, it has enhanced teamwork and productivity among the employees of the company. It is also imperative to realize that knowledge management has enabled the Apples employees to learn from testing and experience. This is because this approach gives the employees the platform to generate new ideas, however, sometimes not all ideas are correct therefore through knowledge management technique they can edit their mistakes and build on that ideology or come up with other newer ideas. In general, knowledge management has increased flexibility in this company such that its employees are free to come up with any ideas and most interestingly, the company is willing to support any idea that arises from them. On the other hand, Microsoft is using customer relationship management approach to better its client's experience when purchasing the companys products. Moreover, this technique also helps the Microsofts service, marketing, and sales officials to improve their processes. Customer relationship management has helped the company better the client engagement by providing viable solutions across self-service, field service and assisted service. In fact, Microsoft Company has even gone ahead to develop tools that ensure that there is an effective customer relationship between the clients and the company. These tools are responsible for facilitating communications between the business and the company, analyzing data, enabling responsive customer service and centralizing customer information (Wang, 2013).

According to Gourlay (2014), Enterprise resource planning is one of the newest business technologies which allows companies to use a collection of interlinked applications to automate and manage multiple business operations. This system uses software which integrates all the components of a business operation into a single database. Through this, the system can unify information from different departments, hence improving the flow of data within the organization. Microsoft and Apple are likely to benefit a lot if this system is implemented in their respective processes, this is because this system has a wide variety of advantages. Some of ERP advantages include speeds up the process of decision-making, ensures that there is minimum duplication, facilitates greater traceability and control for the business operations and most importantly it improves internal communication. Due to the availability of a shared database, information is distributed across all the departments in real time, and every department is often updated whenever something happens. Moreover, this system automates repetitive tasks and suppresses contact barriers between the departments hence enhancing internal communications (Gourlay, 2014).

We all know that managing companys processes for production, purchasing, sales as well as production are not a simple job. Therefore most companies especially the huge ones like Apple and Microsoft requires a Supply Chain management to manage these operations. Apple for instance purchases materials and components from multiple suppliers and the transports them to an assembling plant in China. From there the assembled products are then transported directly to the clients who bought them via the Apples online store. Apple also keeps its products in California at a warehouse for further distribution. This company uses a lot of sophisticated technologies from wise technology in managing warehouses to a software called Info supply chain management for optimizing the supply chain from end to end. On the other hand, Microsoft develops its products in various workstations distributed across the country. The company uses a software called Microsoft Dynamics to engage in supply chain activities which include shipping products, delivering services or sales to clients, negotiating with trading partners and suppliers among many more critical tasks.

References

Gourlay, S. (2014). An Activity Centered Framework for Knowledge Management. Rethinking Knowledge Management Information Science and Knowledge Management, 21-63. doi:10.1007/3-540-71011-6_2

Stadtler, H. (2012). Supply Chain Management An Overview. Supply Chain Management and Advanced Planning, 9-35. doi:10.1007/3-540-24814-5_2

Wang, X., Dugan, R., & Sojka, J. (2013). CRM Systems with Social Networking Capabilities: The Value of Incorporating a CRM 2.0 System in Sales/Marketing Education. Marketing Education Review, 23(3), 241-250. doi:10.2753/mer1052-8008230303