Plainview Energy Technology Upgrade

Plainview Energy Technology Upgrade

The following proposal identifies technology upgrade requirements for Plainview Energy. Systematically this proposal will identify existing business practices and systems currently in use at Plainview Energy, recommend technological solutions that will address business needs not currently being met. Additionally this proposal provides an analysis of how the changes will improve business performance and productivity as well as providing an implementation timeline to management.

Existing Business Practices and Systems

Plainview Energy has offices in four different states with manufacturing sites in three different locations across the country that makes reactors. Each unit requires a small, company-approved staff to provide ongoing maintenance and security on site. Transfers of large quantities of information between facilities are inadequate. Communication among facilities is limited to telephone lines and e-mail. Communications security is of utmost importance because the company works with sensitive data. Because Plainview employees conduct software programming in-house, security, and communication becomes increasingly important.

Identification of Needs

Existing infrastructure does not meet the business needs for communication indicating infrastructure upgrade requirements. The new infrastructure must support secure transfer of large files and low latency network performance to support near real-time access to business processes and resources. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application will be beneficial to supporting future business needs and processes. Manufacturing can be improved with Supply Chain Management (SCM) applications. Implementation of a commercial Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform will accommodate a standard that allows outside contractors, vendors, and customers to collaborate easily compared to the use of the existing proprietary software.

Benefits of SCM, CRM, and ERP

Providing an integrated SCM, CRM, and ERP, system provides one consistent business solution. An integrated system is recommended because the advantages outnumber the disadvantages. A company must weigh the advantages to implementing SCM, CRM, and ERP effectively to increase efficiency. The proper implementation of SCM, CRM, and ERP will yield positive results for business organizations.

Companies may purchase modules from different SCM, CRM, and ERP vendors, and must then integrate the different modules. Companies find that integrated systems have many built-in products and provide solutions to existing business needs. When business organization implement SCM, CRM, and ERP systems, a competitive advantage is gained over competitors allowing smaller companies to grow into a major force in the energy production business.

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

A SCM system automates the way a company manages business processes improving ways to find raw components to make a service or product to deliver to end users or customers. The company's supply chain management strategy is to automate as much of the paperwork processes as possible. The Sales team and the remote office managers will initiate vendor and manufacturing orders associated with a project. Each CAD drawing of a project will contain a file list of supplies and need dates to complete the project. Once the customer is committed to the project, the salesperson or associated manager will accept the project and the file list will populate the various purchase orders and e-mail them to the vendors and turbine manufacturer. Each project will operate on just in time delivery basis.

CRM

A CRM system is critical to an organization's success and is the key competitive strategy to remain focused on customer needs. CRM uses IT to create a cross-functional enterprise system and integrates customer centered approaches. Benefits of CRM are

* Identify and Target the Best Customers

* Customization and Personalization of Products and Services

* Track Customer Contacts

Last (2008), "Operational customer relationship management supports the traditional processing for day-to-day front-office operations or systems that deal directly with customers (CRM). Last (2008), "The analytical customer relationship management supports the back-office operations and strategic analysis and includes all systems that do not deal with the customers (CRM). Last (2008), "Retention of loyal customer and developing a healthy relationship with the potential clients is always a challenge for the organization (CRM). CRM applications can be used to support all of the customer centric processes within an organization in any size and level including marketing sales, and customer support.

Customer Resources

1. Company Website (Information, Support)

2. Questionnaires (Customer, concerns, ideas, and needs)

3. Data Mining

ERP

An ERP system reduces costs and saves valuable time that would have otherwise been wasted in procedural processes and other delays. ERP provides a uniform platform ensuring there is no discrepancy in the processed information eliminating the need for multiple departmental software applications. ERP is suitable for global operations encompassing domestic jargons, diverse accounting standards, currency conversions, and multilingual facilities lending way to the verse "Think Local. Act Global." Benefits of ERP are

* Quality and Efficiency

* Anywhere, Anytime Access

* Enhances Productivity and Customer Satisfaction

* Decreased Costs and Inefficiencies

* Reduces Paperwork

* Decision Support

* Control Data

* Facilitate Contacts

* Enterprise Agility

Disadvantages

* High implementation cost

* Integration limitation alongside legacy systems

* Increased training cost

ERP acts as a bridge between SCM and CRM solutions as it controls and manages processes at every level and phase of product creation