Rebecca Balok 1. Most technological systems have been faced with flaws or criticisms before it may be accepted in the general public. Perform exploratory research to identify two to three main criticisms organizations or people have made about SAP CRM. Although SAP CRM can be beneficially, it also has a few criticisms. One of the largest disadvantage would be the complex pricing of an SAP system. SAP maintenance models have been controversial with the customer base. Periodically changing license program make the required tracking of license metrics difficult. This leads me to the other disadvantage, the recurring upgrades. Fork Lift upgrades and new releases often cost more than the SAP system itself. The upgrade projects are so complex that customers often avoid them, which comes at a price in the long term. The last criticism would be the high exit barriers. Switching ERP systems is difficult and costly, and once SAP CRM is integrated in a company, it s very difficult to change your ERP solution. 2. Compare your findings to issues presented on the web about ORACLE and Microsoft Dynamics (two to three each). You may compare and contrast as well as include your thoughts about the on demand applications. ORACLE and Microsoft Dynamics also carry similar disadvantages and criticisms. For ORACLE, price is the biggest controversy. ORACLE is actually the most expensive ERP software available. Licensing fees can actually make ORACLE ten times more expensive as most ERP systems. Another common criticism is the difficulty of the program. ORACLE is said to be more difficult and complex to learn compared to its competitors (SAP and Microsoft Dynamics). This makes finding qualified ORACLE administrator's difficult and costly. Microsoft Dynamics also shows a lot of the same disadvantages. Unlike SAP and ORACLE (who can easily integrate cross platforms), Microsoft Dynamics is very limited when it comes to cross platform support. Other operating systems, databases and browsers aren t highly supported by this system, thus making integration across the company difficult unless Microsoft is the leading software provider. Also, Microsoft Dynamics is criticised in having a limited amount of modules. Both ORACLE and SAP carry many various modules to help with every aspect of a company. They far exceed Microsoft Dynamics functionality. Some important modules are provided by outside companies and third parties but, like stated earlier, Microsoft Dynamics has a hard time integrating. In the end, this can cause Microsoft Dynamics software to be costly as well. After doing research on criticisms, I also got insight into the advantages. These systems all carry very similar advantages for users and businesses. The main criticism between the three would be cost. Initial installation and integration into the company is expensive but costs will be recurring for each ERP software. If anything, I would most likely use SAP because it offers the
same benefits as ORACLE and Microsoft Dynamics, but has cheaper integration than ORACLE and more modules than Microsoft Dynamics. 3. Conduct Research about Big Data. What have you found as the description of Big Data? What are the primary issues? Big data is a popular term used to describing the growth of and availability of data. Data volume, velocity, and variety is constantly growing. Data is streaming at unpredictable speeds and is available in all types of formats. Data comes from multiple sources and escalating demand requires new approaches, tools and practices. Although Big Data has been dubbed a new economic asset, it had many associated problems. Big data involves the aggregation, tracking and analysis of large amounts of data which can be considered dangerous to privacy. People provide the internet with an excessive amount of private information. Big data is capable of tracking behaviors, preferences and even movements. Businesses gain access to this Big Data to help with targeting and advertising to potential customers. Another primary issue is the lack of Big Data analysts. There are not enough data engineers and computer scientists to cope with large amount of data that is rapidly accumulating. The power of Big Data is susceptible to abuse. Privacy and security is hard to assure when there aren t enough people with control over such extreme data usage. 4. What is the value of data analytics to companies? Give an example. How should they prepare for all this data? Companies have made extensive investments into business intelligence and analytics to better know their customers. With expanding data, customer value can easily be delivered if businesses are able to utilize this growing information. Data analytics allow companies to use this data to give insight into what would give greater value to their customers. Under research by Forbes, it is said that extensive use of these data analytics make a company more likely to outperform their competitors.
In order to prepare for all this Data companies need to either higher or train employees who have the skill set to put these analytics to use. Having a solid customer analytics foundation leads to better decision making and higher financial performance. Company culture should aso be strengthened in that customer data is essential to create value. Yet, having skilled analytics professionals isn t enough. Senior management also has to use customer analytics to drive strategy. Appreciation, integration, and utilization is key to helping a business prepare for the future of Big Data. 5. How does the SAP Web Channel Experience Management solutions address big data? How does it embrace and cultivate empowered customers? SAP Web Channel Experience Management solutions allows the user to use big data to gain insight into trends. These trends can be used to predict customer demand and appeal to potentials. SAP WCEM provides processes and functions for e commerce, e marketing, and e service. Empowered customers have the freedom to build their own web application. They get easy access to online self services and get innovative user interface. This allows greater support online, ongoing relationship management, and customization of experiences.
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