In the modern era of technological business it has become essential for the firms to take use of information system in various operations. Since it has become essential for the organisations to manage their information that is collected in their daily operations hence use of advanced technologies can be highly beneficial. It is crucial for the firm to adopt new hardware and software that helps in storage and manipulation of data (Chiang, Lin & Chen, 2011). These information can be utilised by the firm in their decision making process. Apple and Amazon are the two bigger firms that are using MIS so as to manage their information obtained from their daily operations. They both are market leaders in the areas of their operations. They utilise it for making their future decisions. This report highlights the ways in which both these company takes use of MIS for managing their internal operations and decision making.

Comparison and contrasting MIS of two firms

Apple and its MIS

Apple Inc. was incorporated in the year 1976. It is one of the biggest firms that deal in the business of developing technological devices, software and other online services. This company has been known for its new product development which was totally based on the demand of the market (Demir, 2018). There are several purposes for which company utilises its management information system. There are several units of Apple in various parts of the world hence it became necessary for the company to take use of a centralised system that is capable of managing information in a proper way. Apple takes use of their management system so as to organise, select and manipulate data as per the requirement. This is done so as to generate information as required for making any particular kind of decisions. It is essential for bringing control over the operations of the firm which helps them in maintaining their growth opportunities.

• Every layer of organisation is compelled to store their details in this this centralised system. Company has its own cloud software that it takes use for storing large bulk of data. Apart from this MIS is used for strategic information planning that helps company in achieving their goals and objectives in a better way.
• It is also helpful in governing the processes inside the firm. For example it is used for performance system where all the information regarding the performance of the staffs is stored easily.
• Use of intranet has facilitated company in making it more centralised where the data cannot be taken by unauthorised individual (Deng & Chi, 2012).
• Company takes use of transaction management system that helps them to keep record of all the data related to the transaction between different customers and Apple.
• Apple takes use of many this management system to take necessary decision that is real time. For example if there is any kind of failure in their online applications than the data related to the problem is stored in the IS and it can be utilised for the future use.
• Apple does regular market research through various kinds of interaction with their consumers and the data collected with this process needs to be stored in a proper way. This helps company in developing their products and services in a better way which is neccesary for having competitive edge over their rivals.

Amazon and its MIS

On the other hand Amazon is one of the largest electronic e commerce and cloud computing company. There are several big data that is obtained through the daily operations of the firm. This company also has its branch all around the world and hence it is essential for them to manage information in a centralised system so that they can use it for their future strategies.

• In comparison to Apple this company also has a MIS system as Amazon is more in the digital business and hence online data generation is larger. In this company also there are larger numbers of operations that are going on and data related to these needs to be stored appropriately so that it can be extracted at the time when it is needed.
• Their MIS is utilised for maintaining the records of transactions, feedbacks that is received on various orders and queries related to the products and services of the company. This information are analysed and future decisions are made accordingly. It helps them in upgrading their service quality as well as sorting out the products that are performing well.
• Management information system helps them in making plans that will ensure more customer satisfaction as they are known for their interest based marketing strategy where they segment their consumers on the basis of what they have liked or which product they have bought in past (Education Index, 2018). MIS helps consumers of the company in getting appropriate results as per their requirement from the bulk of Big Data.
• It also takes use of MIS for consumer to consumer interactions where they keep a record of what kind of interaction they had with their clients so that they can resolve those. It helps them in retaining consumers. For example they provide details regarding the status of delivery of ordered products to the consumers.

Both these organisations takes use of MIS for making strategies that will help them in having competitive edge over the others which is highly necessary for survival in the cut throat competition that is present in global business (Hedström, Kolkowska, Karlsson & Allen, 2011).

Consequences of using information system in business

Along with the several benefits that are mentioned in the above section of the report, there are several demerits and consequences also. These can be highly dangerous for the business of both these firms and may result in huge amount of losses (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). Some of the consequences in this regards is as follows:

• Threat of privacy: There are larger amount of data that is available with the firm and it is essential for the firm to safeguard this data as failing to do this may lead to long term failure in the competitive environment in which both the companies are operational (Laudon & Laudon, 2016). If information regarding the strategic plan of the company gets in the wrong hand then it is possible that company has to face many kinds of failures.
• Loss of data: Due to any kind of abnormalities of device failure there can be chances that data can get lost (Peppard & Ward, 2016). Since there are some crucial information and their loss can let strategic loss to the company. This is dangerous for the firm in the longer run. For avoiding such cases these companies need to store data in multiple places or data warehouses.
• Unauthorised access: There can be the chances that any illegal person gets the access of data that is crucial for the company. This can lead to long term loss of data or there can be injection of virus that may lead to corrupting the whole system which can be unbearable loss to the firm (Petter, DeLone & McLean, 2013).
• Cyber-attack: These data base of these companies are highly under threat of mass cyber-attack that aims to disrupt the business of these firms. This is generally done by black hat hackers or by some other mischievous people in cyber world (Porter and Millar, 2018).

Conclusion

From the above based report it can be concluded that in the modern times it has become essential for the firms to take use of technology for managing their data. Bigger firms such as Apple and Amazon have their own MIS which helps them in storing, manipulating and processing of data. This helps them in making decision that helps them in gaining competitive advantage over other competitors. There are many kinds of merits of MIS that helps firm in making their business process easier. Apart from this there are several threats that are posed to using this kind of technology as these are highly prone to cyber-attacks which can be highly dangerous for the firm.

Referenmces

Chiang, D. M. H., Lin, C. P., & Chen, M. C. (2011). The adaptive approach for storage assignment by mining data of warehouse management system for distribution centres. Enterprise Information Systems, 5(2), 219-234.

Demir, A., 2018. [Online]. Available at: https://www.questjournals.org/jrbm/papers/vol4-issue11/B4111117.pdf .[Accessed on: 17^th January 2018].

Deng, X., & Chi, L. (2012). Understanding postadoptive behaviors in information systems use: A longitudinal analysis of system use problems in the business intelligence context. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(3), 291-326.

Education Index, 2018. [Online]. Available at: https://www.educationindex.com/essay/Apple-Inc-Management-Information-System-Project-FKCGRKSJNY.[Accessed on: 17^th January 2018].

Hedström, K., Kolkowska, E., Karlsson, F., & Allen, J. P. (2011). Value conflicts for information security management. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 20(4), 373-384.

Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2011). Essentials of management information systems. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information system. Pearson Education India.

Peppard, J., & Ward, J. (2016). The strategic management of information systems: Building a digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.

Petter, S., DeLone, W., & McLean, E. R. (2013). Information systems success: The quest for the independent variables. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(4), 7-62.

Porter. M. E. and Millar. V. E., 2018. [Online]. Available at: https: https://hbr.org/1985/07/how-information-gives-you-competitive-advantage.[Accessed on: 17^th January 2018].