Answer the question below in an academically rigorous manner, using businessreport style, with claims supported by referring to relevant literature. The assignment will need to be a mix of your own...

Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
IS/IT Applications for Classact ....................................................................................................... 2
E-Commerce ............................................................................................................................... 2
Just in Time ................................................................................................................................. 6
Materials Management System ................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 12
References ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Introduction
The report discussed three IS/IT technologies that would be appropriate for the business
of Classact. The recent business performance of the company has suffered compared to the five
other manufacturers who compete in the build-to-order, high-end furniture market and is of some
concern, particularly in regard to sales and profitability. The industry research have revealed that
Direct competitors are even faster at anticipating changes in customer needs than
Classact and while the build-to-order model gives some protection against this, the business is
losing orders when trends change strongly in terms of any new materials that are required
and new designs. Also, competitors have far better inventory management and manage their
supply chain at greater speed and at less cost than Classact. Production and delivery times at
Classact are twice that of competitors and customers are showing impatience with the situation.
IS/IT Applications for Classact
This part of the report would discuss the applications that Classact needs to introduce in
the organization to move ahead of its competitors. The three applications that Classact needs to
use are e-commerce, JIT and Materials Management System. These are discussed as follows:
E-Commerce
The technology that is supporting this platform constitutes the backbone for industry.
Trust of consumers of this platform is very important and it is estimated that around 40% of
consumers still do not trust the platform despite using it for their purchases. In coming times this
technology will be further dive deep and move from E-Com to M-Com i.e. more and more
purchases will be made through mobile phones as connectivity issues become lesser and lesser
and more trust gets build up among users.
The e-commerce business is characterized by large volumes of transactions, small value
of individual orders, odd place of delivery, speed in internal movement, wider product portfolio,
and a large number of customer spread over a wide geographical area. Manual operations have
no scope in e-commerce logistics operations. The component of logistics, such as order
processing, transportation, inventory management, packaging, and delivery require close
coordination using IT solutions.
Let have few points comparing E-Com1.0 and E-Com2.0 and talking about what changes
have taken place and why have they taken place and to what have these changes led to.
Those making purchases online includes a set of users who are confident of the technology and
trust the platform through which it is being offered. The important thing being that around 80%
of E-commerce consumers trust the site through which they make their purchases.
If the case is involving a niche then this strategy is termed as focus. Hence this strategy
creates a trade off for the firm–either invest in offering higher value or invest in lower cost.
Progress in technological innovations has totally changed the way business is conducted.
Traditionally shopping or buying has been a personalized behaviour of the consumer based on
the relationship developed by the seller. But progress in information and communication
technologies have created new waves and redefined business frontiers.
E-commerce meant dong commercial transactions with the help of electronic media. In short,
E-commerce is the process in which two or more parties doing a transaction business via
computers, with the usage of electronic network. The scope of electronic commerce application
is wide. Along with covering the buying and selling of all goods electronically, it also covers
various processes that are internal to the organization. E-commerce involves usage of network
and communication technology for internal and external activities of the value delivery chain in a
business process. Electronic-commerce has changed the way in which products and services are
bought and sold and have re-defined different relationships between the buyers and the sellers.
The three different types of electronic commerce applications are
1. Business to business (B2B) commerce: This application involves the usage of electronic
commerce in business transactions occurring between the two organizations. The
management areas that are covered are material procurement, manufacturing,
distribution, payments and inventories. The...