Importance of Information Technology For Effective Supply Chain Management
Importance of Information Technology For Effective Supply Chain Management
ABSTRACT
In order to survive and beat the enterprise–wide sharing has many benefits likes
competition in today’s competitive world, one has automation of procedures, availability of high
to manage the future. Managing the future quality information for better decision-making and
means managing information. In order to deliver faster response times.
quality information to the decision-maker at the
right time and in order to automate the process II. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND
of data collection, collation and refinement, SUPPLY CHAIN
organizations have to make Information The supply chain management (SCM) is concerned
Technology an ally, harness its full potential and with the flow of products and information between
use it in the best possible way. IT is beneficial for the supply chain members that encompasses all of
cooperation and integration within the those organizations such as suppliers, producers,
stakeholders of the supply chain. service providers and customers. These
organizations linked together to acquire, purchase,
Keywords – Coordination, Cooperation, convert/manufacture, assemble, and distribute goods
Integration, Information Technology, SCM and services, from suppliers to the ultimate and
users.
I. INTRODUCTION Today, information and technology must be
Information technology is revolutionizing the way, conceived of broadly to encompass the information
in which we live and work. It is changing all aspects that businesses create and use as well as a wide
of our life style. The digital revolution has given spectrum of increasingly convergent and linked
mankind the ability to treat information with technologies that process the information with the
mathematical precision, to transmit it with high emergence of the personal computer, optical fiber
accuracy and to manipulate it. These capabilities are networks, the explosion of the Internet and the
bringing into being, a whole world within and World Wide Web. The cost and availability of
around the physical world. The amount of information resources allow easy linkages and
calculation power that is available to mankind is eliminate information-related time delays in any
increasing at an exceptional rate and Computers and supply chain network. This means that organizations
communication is becoming integral parts. are moving toward a concept known as Electronic
At the organizational level, IT should assist Commerce, where transactions are completed via a
in specifying the objectives and strategies of the variety of electronic media, including electronic data
organization. IT should also aid in developing and interchange (EDI), electronic funds transfer (EFT),
supporting, and procedures to achieve them. At the bar codes, fax, automated voice mail, CD-ROM
departmental level, IT must ensure a smooth flow of catalogs, and a variety of others. The old “paper”
information across departments, and should guide type transactions are becoming increasingly
organization to adopt the most viable business obsolete. Leading-edge organizations no longer
practices. At this level, IT ensures seamless flow of require paper purchase requisitions; purchase orders,
information across the different departments and invoices, receiving forms, and manual accounts
develops and maintains an enterprise – wide payable “matching” process. All required
database. This database will eliminate the need information is recorded electronically, and
of the isolated data islands that existed and in each associated transactions are performed with the
department and make the organization’s data minimum amount of human intervention. Recent
accessible across the departmental boundaries. This developments in database structures allowed part
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International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER)
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International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER)
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International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER)
information in supply chains can be interpreted Validity: Information is valid when its
similarly. In contrast to the customer orientation truth can be verified and it satisfies
of entire supply chains, all supply chain members appropriate standards related to the other
who rely on information are addressees, and dimensions.
therefore customers of information. Therefore,
quality of information must be defined according V. CONCLUSION
to how the information is perceived and used by It is confirmed that the importance of IT and
each supply chain member separately. Sometimes quality of information are complementary to each
it has been presented ten dimensions of other because manual filtering might disappear.
information quality that characterize the overall Although automated information processing
quality of information: prevents manual mistakes, it also makes the
process less transparent and therefore, wrong
Relevance: The information addressee’s information or information of low value might be
needs define the relevance of generated if the information input is already of
information. This does not mean that bad quality and not properly checked. A
irrelevant information is of poor quality distinction can be generated between the volume of
but in the wrong context, it might be information and the richness of information
irrelevant. exchange. The sharing of information in systematic
Accuracy: Information should reflect the language involves more action and commitments
underlying reality. Problems may arise support to enhance the quality of any organization
when information becomes too accurate which is beneficial in the light of supply chain
for its purpose and lead to an information network.
overload.
Timeliness: In contrast, information can REFERENCE
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