To be a successful company, businesses should continuously improve the quality of their services and products. Quality of decisions is also critical – choices should be based on strong arguments and relevant data. Contemporary information systems provide a large pool of opportunities for businesses to enhance their decisions when choosing what products to sell, how to price those commodities, and how to improve customer relationships. While the experience of staff plays a vital role, it should not be the sole reason for making a certain decision.
The argument of the colleague, who is relying on her previous experience, is sound. However, before any actions are undertaken, the problem should be identified, and everyone must agree that it exists. It is a crucial part of the 4-step problem-solving process. The issue of the company is that the department I work for is receiving complaints about slow customer service. That is the first stage of the process when the response team or individual identifies the problem. It is tempting to consider the scarcity of support personnel to be the sole source of the issue. However, it is critical that all responsible managers agree on this point of view. Deficiency in information systems that process customer data is another potential reason why the support team works slower than needed.
Consider the issue was not with the number of sales representatives, but because the sales representatives had to accept all calls before distributing them to relevant departments, say technical support. It means the idle time of the technical team is higher – they spend more time waiting for work-in-progress (WIP) than dealing with WIP. In this case, the sales team becomes a bottleneck, and the management has to think about removing that impediment. The solution design stage is when responsible employees work on finding a solution. There are three dimensions of business problems – organizational, technology, and people. The most effective solutions are those that affect all aspects simultaneously. For instance, it may not be enough only to upgrade information systems to handle higher loads. Business processes should be adjusted, and employees should receive appropriate training for a solution to be effective.
After brainstorming on potential solutions and supporting them with relevant arguments, the final decision is made. The choice of the best solution depends on the cost, feasibility given the company’s current resources, including employee skills, and the time required to implement the solution. Besides, in large organizations, implementing change is not a trivial task. Therefore, there should be a change management process that encourages employees via rewards or other incentives to integrate new business processes into the current workflow. It may require employee training, a substantial amount of coordination between teams and managers, and time. After changes are made, results should be analyzed to determine whether the implementation requires adjustments.
The Digital era filled with a vast number of computers and other digital devices allows companies to gather incredible amounts of data. Information systems provide businesses with opportunities to maximize the use of this data by giving capabilities for data analysis and other functional benefits. Such systems also provide a means for making decisions that are based on data rather than on guesses or past personal experience.