Beyond Bits and Bytes: Crafting a Strategic Roadmap for Effective IT Management

Introduction

Managing in Information Technology (IT) is necessary, for developing appropriate organisational goals and objectives and creates effective initiatives for achieving the future organisational success. The mangers in the IT department of the organisations play a crucial role in managing the IT department and develop effective staffing policies to handle the operations and organisational activities so that the organisational aims and objectives can be fulfilled well. The study aims at choosing an appropriate company, which has IT department and it would be possible to develop clear understanding about the strategic planning of managing IT in the organisational context (Bibarsov, Khokholova and Okladnikova, 2017). The study also focuses on understanding the strategy planning of the managers and their role in the organisational workplace to have effective staffing tactic so that the IT department can be managed well. The study also provides a scope to develop the strategic planning for managing IT through implementing latest technology, improving creativity, developing suitable organisational culture and working practice, where staffing policies and practice are also effective for the IT managers to handle the organisational operations and achieve future organisational success.

Organisational background

In order to conduct the study, it is effective to choose a retail market from the global retail industry, where there is great innovation and creativity in the recent era globalisation. The retail industry is flourishing across the globe, with high growth and development and the customer’s demand for the retail products is also increasing at a rapid rate over the years. Hereby, it is beneficial to choose the retail firm and conduct the analysis for understanding the IT management process and the tactics of staffing at the organisational workplace. The management team in the retail firms are also playing an important role to run their business operational activities across the globe and achieve future success, where the managers are efficient to handle their operations and secure future sustainable development. In this regard, Sainsbury’s is one of the effective retail firm in the UK, and it is second largest supermarket chain providing the super market retail products, convenience store and forecourt shop. It is a profit maximising firm operating through super market chain in the UK (Sainsbury’s, 2020a).

The company focuses on creating values for the customers by providing quality products at effective price, so that the consumers can make effective purchase decisions in future for their quality products. The company is also efficient to generate £29.007 billion revenue in the last years and it has string employee base with more than 117500 employees. The company serves across the UK and it has strong IT team, where the managers and the engineers focus on improving technical innovation and creativity to run their operations efficiently in the market. The chosen organisation is appropriate to be analysed in this study, where the role of IT managers in staffing as well as the implementation of latest technology in the organisation will be evaluated further which helps to analyse the role of IT in dong the business creatively in future (Sainsbury’s, 2020b).

Recruitment and retention strategy

In the recent era of globalisation, there is high percentage of migrant’s labour, where the employees are coming from different international countries and there is diversify skill set due to diverse workforce in the organisation. Recently, the IT management team and the Human resource managers prefer to have diversified workforce in order to run their organisation creatively (Fernez-Walch, 2017). There is high preference of diversify labour force due to different skill set, working practice and expertise which further provides a scope to the management team to gather different and innovative ideas firm different personnel at the organisational workplace and improve the organisational creativity and innovation. In this regard, the organisation Sainsbury’s focuses in managing different skill set for successful staffing, so that it would be possible to hire the right personnel in the organisation, who can manage the IT operations and contribute positively in achieving the future organisational success. In this regard, the skill sets for IT management are,

Application development

Correct computerised programming skill

Cloud computing

Data base management system (DBMS)

System and enterprise architecture

Project management

System generation and It implementation

Networking and wireless system management

Hardware and software management

Cyber security

Analytics and data management

Financial planning

The above mentioned skill sets are required for the organisation, where the IT management team aims at recruit and selection the skilled workers who have great knowledge in project development, application programming and networking, who can manage the IT operations in Sainsbury’s and improve brand creativity to perform better in the retail market. The major aim of the firm is to maximise their profitability and gain high competitive advantage in the UK retail market and through recruiting the right personnel in the organisation and developing effective staffing policies are beneficial for Sainsbury’s to manage their operations and satisfy all the stakeholders including the customers in long run. In this context, there are different organisational issues, for which it is difficult for the IT management team to retain the experienced staff members and manage them at the organisational workplace. The major issues are lack of motivation and mismanagement at the workplace where the management team fails to fulfil their commitment (Kock and Georg Gemünden, 2016). There are lack of staffing policies, where the managers fail to restructure the monetary and non-monetary rewards for the employees and the IT engineers. It is necessary for the management team to restructure their salary and introduce motivational strategy for successful staffing policies so that it would be possible for Sainsbury’s to retain the experienced staff and manage the diverse workforce in such an era of globalisation. The management team must focus on providing performance related pay and incentives to all the worker for encouraging their creativity and motivate them to perform efficiently so that the organisational aim of establishing the firm in the UK can be achieved soon.

For managing recruitment and selection as well as developing effective staffing policies, it is necessary for the leader and the management team at Sainsbury’s to develop effective strategic planning for successful staffing and identify the existing issues, so that it would be mitigated further (Nechaev, Ognev and Antipina, 2017). The organisation must focus on recruiting the right people in the organisation, who has knowledge in IT management and have the above mentioned IT skill set. This further helps the organisation to manage the IT applications and the employees can contribute positively for achieving the future organisational success. The management team needs to provide safe and secure workplace, with proper safety measures such as implementing fire extinguisher, emergency exit gate development, CCTV cameras at the workplace which are effective to protect the employees further and motivate them to perform better. The hygienic factors also need to be managed for effective staffing policies, where the IT management team aims at retaining the experienced staff in the workplace. On the other hand, for the monetary rewards, it is necessary to promote the employees as per their performance, increment in salary after certain period of time as per the employees performance as well as designing the incentives for the software designer and application programmers, who are playing crucial role to manage the organisational operational activities through creativity and technological innovation. The leader in this regard plays a significant role in managing the workers in the workplace through effective staffing planning (Behrens, 2016). The leader of Sainsbury’s is communicative and cooperative, where the partnership working practice has been developed at the organisation to support the engineers and IT management team for better performance. The leadership skill is hereby beneficial for the organisation to fulfil its aims and objectives. Hereby, the leadership skill in the IT department are analytical skill, high communication and interactive skill, decision making and problem solving skill, technical knowledge and understanding and cooperation skill which helps the leader to support and direct the workers towards achieving the future success (Kamoto, 2017).

Software strategic planning to meet the organisational aim

The organisational aim of Sainsbury’s is to establish the brand in the market and be the best retailer in terms of value and variety. The company aim at strengthening their customer’s base by serving the customers in long run with high quality products and efficient services. For fulfilling the aims and objectives, it is necessary to oppose proper planning with appropriate software application and hardware installation, so that the organisational operational activities can be conducted efficiently.

Streamlining support functions:

It is necessary for the organisation to streamline the support functions through software implementation and technological creativity. The organisation Sainsbury’s focuses on creating values for the customers and in this regard the firm aims at delivering high quality products and providing continuous support to the customers for resolving their queries and give them assistance for making effective purchase decision. This is effective for the organisation to fulfil their aims and objective by developing the support functions (Bourke and Roper, 2017). It is necessary to design the company website efficiently with different customer portal, where the customers can contact with the organisational sales representative by telephone and develop conversation for getting property assistance. Additionally, it is necessary to develop service request catalogue in the website and live chat option to support the customers which is available 24*7 for the customers. On the other hand, he customer’s self help service is another additional software design where the customers can context with the organisational representative and get proper directions for fulfilling their requirements (Haneda and Ito, 2018). In addition to this, it is necessary for the IT management team in the organisation to develop Smartphone application, where the customers can make effective purchase decision easily and context with the representative of Sainsbury’s for seeking support through live chat or telephonic conversation.

Streamlining operational functions:

Operational activities are mandatory for the organisation to run their business efficiently. In this regard, Sainsbury’s also focuses on the operational activities to improve the efficiency of the firm in predicting and distributing the organisational final products and services. The implementation of product management software through online order tracking, GPS system, is effective for the company to manage their operations. For handling the stock of the products and managing the warehouse of Sainsbury’s it would be beneficial to implement the Enterprise resource Planning (ERP) and executive proper cloud computing system, to store the data and information of the products online (Špacek and Vacík, 2016). This implementation is effective for the organisation to manage their operations and maintain the stock of the products in the organisation. Inventory management software (IMS) is also another effective tool or software through which the company can improve their operational activities and efficiency, where the IT engineer and the staff are experienced enough to handle the software and manage the inventory of the company. On the other hand, automated shipment and product selection is another application, which is also effective of the organisation to manage the warehouse and record the shipment for the benefits of the organisation. This further helps fast movement and distribution of the products of the Sainsbury’s. For example, aACE+ NRG and aACE+ ReadyShipper is effective to control the shipping activities in the organisation. Additionally, with aACE+ WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and Amazon, orders placed online are effective to manage the e-commerce services, where Sainsbury can expand their business activities and manage the operational activities successfully (Brasil, and Eggers, 2019). The online activities further help to manage the product portfolio, handle the availability of the products and distribute it efficiently as per the customer’s demand and this IT activities and software system are also effective for the sales representatives of Sainsbury’s to manage their operations and ensure to serve the customers in a better and unique way.

Data and strategic insights:

Data management and analysis is playing an important role in developing proper business strategy to run the firm efficiently in the market. In the recent era of globalisation, the companies try to develop appropriate strategic planning so that it would be possible to gain high competitive advantage. In this regard, Sainsbury’s also focuses on managing their data for better strategic planning. Sainsbury’s needs to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in order to enhance the internal and external communication, where the staff members and the management team can gather roe information from the industry as well as improve the internal communication with other staff members in order to enhance their participation and performance in the workplace. In addition to this, it is necessary to have strong cloud computing system to manage the data including the products and services as well as customer’s data in order to manage them (Vacík and Špaček, 2017). On the other hand, the database related to the financial performance, asset and liabilities, revenue and profit generation are also effective for managing the financial data and develops effective strategic planning of the brand. aACE+ DayBack provides a multitude of tools for managing the organisational schedule and maintains the operational activities on time. Easy-to-read charts, graphs, and tables with aACE+ Tableau are also effective to manage the database and improve the data management system in the workplace. The IT engineers need to implement the tools for managing their big data and develop effective strategic planning for reallocation of organisational resources, creating innovative technology for running the organisation efficiently and gaining high competitive advantage in the retail industry of the UK.

Securing internal and external interface:

The company needs to develop the internal and external interface, in order to manage the organisational operations so that the organisation Sainsbury’s can expand their business and run the operational activities more creatively (Paredes et al., 2018). The WAN and LAN system are effective in the organisation, where the Sainsbury’s is successful to develop their internal interface to manage the workers and improve cooperation in order to enhance their performance. Additionally, the software and hardware tools, string computerised database management system and other tools are effective for the organisation to run their operational activities properly by managing the data.

Strategic planning and monitoring

The above mentioned strategic plan for IT installation and implementation of the software and hardware are effective for Sainsbury’s to improve the technological innovation of the company and run their operational activities successfully. The key stakeholders engaged with the IT project planning are the employees, staff members, engineers and software developer as well as the IT management team and experts and leader, who pay important role in implementing the IT strategic planning to make the project successful. The leader needs to reallocate the organisational resources and invest adequate capital resources for successful implementation of the project (Špacek and Vacík, 2016). The leader and the management team need to invest appropriate capital for the software and hardware system, keep aside the capital for the salary and compensation of the employees, staff and software developer who are efficient to handle the project and make the organisational strategy successful. There are other administrative expenses, which are also necessary for managing the software and hardware system development. The major risks, associated with the IT management project are lack of management, poor communication, non-cooperation, lack of IT planning, and lack of financial resource and absence of experienced staff in the workplace. It is the responsibility of the organisational leader, board members and the project management team to monitor the project progress and develop proper tactics to mitigate the above mentioned risk. It is important to develop proper portal of managing employee’s performance, where the progress in the project and the contribution and performance of the employees are monitored on a daily basis. In addition to this, the management team needs to implement CCTV cameras and develop project management tool to monitor the progress of IT installation and execution of the project management strategy so that the organisation Sainsbury’s can achieve future success by fulfilling its strategic aims and objectives.

IT management plan and ITIL

IT management plan needs to be executed properly, where Sainsbury’s must focus on roll out by implementing the previous planning through cost analysis and arranging fund. This is effective for reducing the risk of the IT project management plan and it further provides a scope to the organisation to implement and execute the project efficiently with proper implementation of the software and hardware system. On the other hand, ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library is effective for Sainsbury’s to develop proper planning, delivery the project and maintenance for project progression, so that the aims of the organisational strategic planning can be fulfilled. The stages of ITIL are service strategy, service design, transition, operations and service improvement (Paredes et al., 2018). The company Sainsbury’s needs to arrange the fund and predict total cost for successful funding so that the organisation can implement the software and hardware system in the workplace. As well as it helps to improve the external and internal interface which are effective to design the whole process, where the IT engineers and the support engineers try to collaborate and design the software and programming for better management of the organisational system.

Conclusion

The organisation Sainsbury’s is efficient financially stable to develop proper IT project for digitalising the business operations and managing the activities in the market. the IT infrastructural development with proper internal and external interface, Wan and LAN as well as the software applications such as aACE+ DayBack, aACE+ WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, as well as aACE+ NRG and aACE+ ReadyShipper are effective for the organisation to ensure proper project management and implementation in the workplace. This is effective for the company Sainsbury’s to run the operational activities more innovatively and improve the efficiency of the firm to achieve future sustainable development. Hereby, IT development project is beneficial for the organisation to improve the performance and enhance creativity to digitalise the business activities of Sainsbury’s so that the organisation can expand their business and run their operations efficiently and within effective time.

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