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Introduction
Information Technology and all its components is, arguably, the best invention of all times. The current generation relies on IT in almost every aspect of life and its use touches all realms of human development. Its use in the business world has led to the success of many businesses around the globe. This is due to its effectiveness and efficiency in helping businesses carry out their activities and the contribution it gives to the reduction of business cost. A decade ago, computers and the internet were not only considered as luxury but the ownership of computers by individuals was very limited. Nowadays, computing and the ownership of computers and internet connection is a necessity and in many countries all over the world, almost every home has a computer with internet connection. Computers have, since time immemorial, been used in businesses to make transactions, information storage and communication easier. They are assets of great essence in the smooth running of businesses and they are widely used for different purposes depending on the nature of the business. Information Technology is not all about computers. Many technological devices have been developed that make work, communication and business operations easier. They have greatly changed life in the contemporary society to the extent that it can be argued that this generation would halt virtually all its activities if it experienced a technological breakdown today. Management Information Systems is one of the subsets of Information Technology and it is of great importance to the support of the operations and management of businesses. It can be defined as a system that aids in the smooth running and management of a business. It helps in monitoring daily operations, keeping the business data, making communication within a business easy, providing a platform for periodical evaluation of business operations, providing precise information to managers to help them in making managerial decisions etc. The functions performed by an MIS can not be exhausted. Small scale businesses have been, for a long time, been viewed as the major evaders of IT in the business community. However, the situation is changed nowadays. Many Small scale businesses have employed the use of IT in their premises and most of them, ranging from hotels, chemists, etc, have Management Information Systems. The small scale businesses that have achieved substantial success can attribute their success to the use of Management Information Systems (MIS). Let us have a look at the contribution of MIS to an independent bookstore ( Management Information Systems , 2009 p. 1).
The business
In this report, we consider the contribution of Information Technology, specifically Management Information Systems to the operations of an independent bookstore. Independent bookstores are very different from the chains of bookstores. They are mainly characterized by warm customer care and a homely atmosphere. In an independent bookstore, one has several choices for enjoying the services offered ranging from the provocative reading environment offered by the bookstore itself to the variety of buying options offered to customers to enable a large number of customers to be able to access the books. The most appealing buying option, obviously the cheaper one, which attracts customers to independent bookstores, is the availability of used books for a less price. There also exist books for trade in and exchanges. Thus for people who are great readers, the book services become cheaper and they are not discouraged by financial limitations. This is because when they buy a book and read it and understand the books content, they can trade in or exchange the book they have read with another book and thus save a considerable amount of money. Customers sit for hours in the bookstore reading through books in the provocative reading environment. Independent stores also provide reading materials for the community e.g. books on American history, cooking, dating and relationships, hunting books, fishing books etc (Kirchberg 2008, p. 1). This enables a large number and a wide range of customers to enjoy their services. It also increases the customer base. Independent bookstores are mostly owned by individuals. Most of these owners start them from their passion for reading. Thus the collections of the books they buy for their own reading accumulate until they decide to start bookstores and help their communities access the books (Cowen, 2006 p. 1). Independent bookstores are started primarily for selling books but they offer a number of other related services. These include preservation and selling of works of art like paintings, pictures etc. They may also offer services like the selling of films and music. Customers go to the bookstores to study, trade in books, buy books, exchange books etc. Most bookstores also offer rental services at a monthly fee. In this service books are rented and returned to the bookstore when they are due. The rentals are composed mainly of hardcover books.
Role of Management Information System
The contribution of Management Information Systems to small business is undoubtedly massive. Without its use, businesses face a lot of challenges. These include: human error and frauds, slowness of operations, excessive physical documentation leading to the need to spend lots of money on the acquisition of physical space, substandard services which may cost business enterprises their customers, greater risk of data loss, poor and uninformed decisions by management, an army of human labor leading to high business cost due to the payment of salaries, etc (OBrien 1999, p. 2).
In the bookstores business, the contribution of Management Information System is clearly evident. In most bookstores selling hardcover books, there are Management Information Systems put in place. The store owners and staff use the MIS in a number of ways, the chief motivation to their use being the complexity of stock control in this kind of business. Owners and bookstore staff need to know when to re-order more stock of certain books, which books they should remove from the shelves due to lack of demand, sales in a certain period of time and other stock-related details. This kind of information helps the managers in making productive managerial decisions. If stock control was to be done manually, a lot of time will be wasted and the work will be subjected to more errors which could have serious repercussions on the effectiveness of planning in the business. This could, in turn, lead to reduced profits. The system also has a significant contribution to the management of rental services. It keeps track of books that are currently available, books that have been rented, the individuals who currently possess certain rental books, the deadlines of returning books already rented and other information related to the renting of books. It enables the independent bookstore to manage the renting service and thus make sure that no book is lost and that if a book is lost, they know who is responsible for the loss. This ensures that the renting section of the bookstore is profitable and thus it has a major contribution to profit maximization. The system can also be used to keep the physical and contact addresses of the renting customers to ensure that the customers are reachable in the event of the need to retrieve books or multimedia and also make deliveries. The systems may also contain supplier information to guide the managers in planning on which supplier to buy the stock of goods from. This ensures that the managers do not make negligent mistakes in choosing their suppliers. The systems also generate periodic data summarizing the performance of the business for a particular period of time. This helps the management in evaluating performance and deciding which areas of the business need to be emphasized on. It may also contain staff information to help in managing staff shifts, work placement and payments (Dios 2009, p. 3).
A discussion of the contribution of Management Information Systems to the business of bookstores would be incomplete without the mention of online bookstores. Online bookstores are bookstores in which both hardcover and electronic books (PDF) are sold online. Customers in remote locations log on to their computers go to the bookstores website or the website of an online bookselling agent like Amazon and make orders by a mouse click or a touch of a key on the keyboard. This method of selling books is very convenient and has achieved unrivalled popularity. In order to achieve this, a Management Information System is built along with these websites containing relevant databases for data management and a variety of features to make this business a success. This system accepts orders from customers, classifies the orders and presents simplified information to the booksellers for action. It also receives payment information from the buyer which is sent to the seller. The website, which is sometimes, a part of the MIS, provides an instant means of communication between the buyer and the seller and thus any miscommunication is clarified before the transaction takes place fully. Information about the books, both hardcover and that in Permanent Document Format (PDF), is kept in the MIS and managed automatically. The status of items of trade as either available or sold is automatically updated by the system (Whitney 2009, p. 1).The Management Information System could also be used in the management of the other services offered by the independent bookstores. It can be used to manage the stock of music Compact Disks (CDs) or Digital Video disks (DVDs), film disks, drawings, pictures etc. It can also be used to keep track of the sales of these items (Croning 1994, p. 34).
Role of Information Technology
Information technology refers to the use of computing applications to solve communication problems. Information Technology has a major contribution to the success of businesses generally. Small scale businesses have also been significantly changed to the better by IT since the use of IT in small businesses has increased significantly nowadays (Schneider 2009, p. 1). In the case of bookstores, the use of the internet, which is a part of Information technology, is useful in a number of ways. These include: Monitoring of book releases, ease of communication with customers, advertising, etc. Hardcopy booksellers use the internet to search for new book releases and if the books are relevant and appear to have the potential of increasing sales, they make order the books from their suppliers. Information Technology is a superset of Management Information Systems and therefore all the advantages of MIS are realizable due to the presence of Information Technology in the Society. For instance, to build a bookstores system, one needs to be good in several areas of Information Technology such as Database Development, programming, networking etc. On the other hand, online bookstores entirely use the internet in their marketing. They extensively use automated Information Systems to substitute human labor which is characterized by mistakes and errors. Nowadays, people can make book orders virtually everywhere they go by internet enabled mobile phones which are no longer considered to be a luxury. In fact, almost all services offered by a bookstore can be offered online e.g. the renting of books can be done online such that when a customer requests to rent a specific book, the book is sent to them and the system is updated to record the transaction. The online selling of books has significantly helped independent bookstores since they collaborate with online booksellers such as ABE, Amazon, Alibris and Half.com, Bookcellar, ChooseBooks etc who are known internationally and thus the stores get customers from all over the world. This makes the use of the internet as a bookselling resource cheap and thus it saves the independent bookstores a lot of expenditure. This is because these firms have already invested to the online selling of books and other related services offered by bookstores and thus they provide their services to several bookstores. They make their profits by acting as the mediators between independent bookstores and the customers. Another advantage of this kind of online selling of books is that for an independent bookstore to reach a large number of customers on its own, it has to invest heavily in advertising. The online bookselling companies help the independent bookstores with this because they do not need to advertise since the companies do it for them (McFarlane 2009, p. 1). Other independent bookstores with financial capability create their own websites to help them in advertising, online transactions and online communications. The internet has become a must-have for the educated part of the society and thus the convenience brought about by Information Technology to trading specifically the online selling and buying of books is inexplicable (Deitel 2002, p.19). The sale of books has also been simplified by technology through the production of audio books and books in Permanent Document Format (PDF), which are easy to sell online. This has led to the massive expansion of the bookselling industry. Today, most booksellers serve customers all over the world due to the contribution of IT (Allen 2009, p. 1). As in its contribution in the sale of books, Information Technology is very useful in the support and selling of the other additional goods offered together with books. The internet helps bookstore owners to know the current films that the community is eager to watch; even the old films may reach a certain climax of demand due to certain social factors. Thus the internet is very valuable in identifying customer preferences. The internet can also be used to market the bookstore and thus win customers. It can also be used to sell films, music (both audio and video, works of art, pictures etc (Kemibaro 2009, p. 1).
Hardware and software configuration
In developing the Management Information System, hardware and software are items of primary concern. They work hand-in-hand and it is practically impossible for one to work without the other. The combination of hardware and software used in a system should be carefully planned to ensure that they are pragmatically compatible, that both are friendly to the staff that will be using them; in this case the technical staff and the supportive staff respectively and also ensure that their sources are reliable enough. Thus hardware should be free from frequent breakdowns and it should be compatible with software (Cinlarses & Tanrikulu 2006, p. 3). In most bookstores independent bookstores selling hardcover books, standalone systems or systems in a simple network are used. In this report, we shall dwell on the simple independent stores that use this kind of systems.
Hardware
Hardware choice decisions are mainly dictated by finances, software requirements and the kind of operations that are to be carried out in a business. For instance, if heavy software has been purchased, the hardware to be bought has to have high memory and processing specifications or otherwise the software will not be able to run well in the hardware. Additionally, if the system has some online modules, the hardware requirements have to include networking hardware. In the case of independent bookstores, the main hardware requirements are for standalone systems used mainly for inventory management, management of customers and management of sales. For these kinds of systems, computer systems with sufficient memory and processing specifications will do. For example, a computer system with one Gigabyte (1 GB) of RAM, 80GB of HDD space and a 3GHz processor will be able to run most off-the-shelf software e.g. the BBS (Basil Bookstore Software) without hiccups. In larger bookstores where there are several rooms comprising the store, there will be need for a simple computer network. These kind of stores also have online modules in their software especially modules that help them stay in touch with their customers in terms of orders and book renting and modules for online booksellers like Amazon for example, BBS has a module for ABE and Amazon. In these kinds of stores there will also be a need for internet provision. The hardware that will be required in this case comprise: a router, network cables, a network adapter, Ethernet, hubs and switches and USB. These work together to form a simple network for file sharing within the bookstore that help administrators in their work. The network also makes electronic communication easy which is a plus in this kind of business. They also help in building a connection to the internet that can be used by the bookstore in the numerous ways discussed (Tanebaum 2003, p. 10).
Software
There are several options for the choice of software to be used in a given system. The specific choice made depends on the following: the nature of work the software is supposed to perform, the size of the target business or institution, the financial welfare of the institution, company or individual needing the software etc. Two major software choices exist: custom software and off-the-shelf software. To choose between the two kinds of software is usually a dilemma for most people since each of them has several advantages and disadvantages associated with it and each of them tends to have the weaknesses and lack the strengths of the other despite some occurrences of common advantages and disadvantages. In a case where the bookstore owners choose to use off-the-shelf software, they are faced with yet another choice to make. There are a number of off-the-shelf software for every specialty. In the case of bookstores, software off-the-shelf available include: the Basil Bookstore Software (BBS), Anthology, BookHound 7ce software, BookAccents. These softwares can run in a number of platforms. For example, BBS can run in Mac OS, Windows XP and Windows Vista ( BookHound 7ce , 2008, p. 2). For the bookstores that make the decision to have their own website while using custom or off-the-shelf software for management, the website is not readily available for purchase and has to be developed locally. This can be done using the WAMP or LAMP platforms. For instance, a website for a small independent store could comprise of a MySQL database for data related to online sales, books and mailing list. It may be built to include a signup to allow customers to sign up for the stores mailing list (John 2008, p. 1). It is also necessary to include advertisements in the website in order to cut down the cost of advertising. As stated earlier, there is also the option of using custom software. Custom software is developed specifically for the business in question. Such systems are developed considering the current operations of the business and the operations that will result from expanding the business. The chief advantage of custom software is that it is developed it suit the needs of one customer and thus it excludes unnecessary functionality (Braun 2007, p. 1). In the case of an independent bookstore, a programming/ systems development company will be hired to develop a computer system that suits the operations of the bookstore. There are several programming languages that can be used in the development of these custom softwares. These include JAVA programming language, Python, C++, Perl, Erlang, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP etc. The programming languages have different strengths and weaknesses and each of them is most suitable in a number of conditions. The choice of the programming languages depends mainly on the system specifications or system requirements and is normally the decision of the programmer (Atwood 2006, p. 1). In this case of custom software, a properly integrated system with friendly user interfaces should be developed. It should include a computer program that helps in solving all the issues stated earlier that are associated with the operations and the management of a bookstore. For instance, the program should help in stock management, showing action warranting stock levels when they are reached, it should be able to help the management in making decisions by generating performance reports and holding crucial information e.g. supplier information etc, it should also make the communication between the customers and the store easy. To achieve all this, the system should be built with a strong database and online components. The database should be built with components that support each operation in the business. For example, it should have components for inventory management, staff management, supplier information, etc. The online components should be built so that the store is able to serve their customers remotely. Thus it should be built such that it has online software for making orders for both book purchases and book renting. It should also contain a facility for sending emails, chatting and video conferencing between the store staff and the customer. There will also be a need for networking software e.g. network monitoring software for increasing the reliability of networks an example is the PRTG network monitor (Blanchard & Fabrycky 2006, p 17).
Conclusion
The contribution of Information Technology in small scale businesses is indubitable. Due to their size, small scale businesses have limited capital and thus the help they are accorded by Information Technology in evading unnecessary costs is very valuable. For instance, advertisement costs can be cut down through the development of a website for the business which is unbelievably cheap nowadays. Human labor is also reduced by automation and thus salaries are cut down and profit maximization is realized. Small scale businesses are thus making continuous profits as a result of the use of IT. Whenever the contribution of IT to businesses is considered, Management Information Systems is the first aspect of IT that comes into mind. Its contribution to the success of both small scale and large scale business can not be adequately described. The Management Information Systems used in bookstores are primarily related to the success realized by these businesses. They increase the efficiency accuracy and accuracy of work due to automation and provide storage of data that provides evidence of transactions and enable fast data retrieval. They increase the efficiency of communication and provide wonderful managerial support. Independent bookstore owners should be very careful in making Information Technology choices because the IT choice one makes may form the thin line between success and failure. For instance, in choosing the content of their websites well, a business may save a lot of money in advertising, in choosing the off-the-shelf software to use in their transactions well, a company may save a lot of money which could be spent in changing systems in case they choose a mediocre system and decide to change the system later. A good choice of a system will also result in perfect execution of transactions and customer satisfaction which are primarily related to the success of a business. They may also need to choose the online customer care to be accorded to customers and also the extent in which they are to use IT in their business. Consider a situation in which the current technology used in businesses became suddenly non-existent. It is clear that the business world can not function normally without technology; specifically MIS. If we lost our technology today, business will be definitely grounded and the world would take decades or, possibly, centuries to recover from the impact of that imaginary technological breakdown. Small business enterprises that do not have a MIS and which have a large number of complex operations should be challenged to make use of the technology that we have today. Therefore, every business with complex operations producing large volumes of data should have a MIS.
Glossary
IT- Information Technology
MIS-Management Information System
BBS- Basil Bookstore Software
HDD- Hard disk
GB- Gigabyte
GHz- Gigahertz
CDs- Compact Disks
DVDs- Digital Video Disks
PDF- Permanent Document Format
USB- Universal Serial Bus
OS- Operating System
WAMP- Windows, Apache, MySQL , PHP.
LAMP- Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP
PHP- Hypertext Preprocessor
MySQL- My Standard Query Language
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