IT in an Apple organization - Essay Example

?INTRODUCTION OF APPLE INC Apple Inc is a profit oriented organization and belongs to the electronics industry. It is huge corporation and it has about 72,800 employees throughout the world and it is a US registered company and it is operating all over the US (Forbes). It has got a great market share in the global market and it is operating in Asia pacific, Japan, Europe and US market. Apple Inc is maintaining a huge clientele in many different countries of the world and it is growing successfully in the international market by continuously increasing its market share with outstanding market growth (Kane and Rohwedder). STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF APPLE INC In order to make sure that the IS strategy of the organization is effective and efficient it can assessed on the basis of the IS strategy triangle. The IS strategy triangle links the IS strategy of the organization with the business strategy and organizational strategy as shown in the image below: (Datri and Sacca, 560) The wide and spread organization structure of Apple Inc with its global expansion and containing different inventions in the, electronics industry all these approaches required a strong information system which enables the availability of the right information to the right personnel at the most beneficial time, to make sure that the decisions that are taken in the business by them are appropriate and defended with authentic information or not. Apple is leading in the market with a business strategy of continuous innovation in its all products. The continuous innovations in the features of the products with providing the user a simple and streamed line experience in using the product is the main focus of the Apple’s business strategy that differentiate Apple Inc from its competitors and it has the main competitive advantage for Apple. The reflection of the business strategy is appeared in all other strategies of the company. The IS strategy of Apple Inc is the continuous adaptation of new technology to manage its huge network of information system. The innovations in the product are a leading capability for Apple throughout its successful journey. The main focus of the managers or leaders of the Apple Inc is on the continuous innovation by adapting the latest technology and implement the latest strategic techniques to achieve the targets. The organization culture of Apple allows the employees to think in free space environment to develop the creativity in their work because they have the business vision of bringing continuous innovations in the products. The same business strategy of innovation is applied to the internal communication process of the organization by Apple Inc and it gives an excellent collaboration among all the departments of the organization. The company continuously focused on virtualization. Apple believes that virtualization is the main factor of getting the competitive advantage on the huge rivals in the global market. Apple’s intranet or internal information system provides the needed platform to the employee that enables all the employees to access the required information from the comfort of their desktop. The company has developed a strong extranet network as well to link with all its suppliers and distributers. The virtual network with the suppliers and distributors led the company to reduce its supply chain cost through a strong virtual network. This has boost up its value chain in the information domain. The information from the retail outlets is communicated to the client service department which already has access to other information about the suppliers and the production information. Hence, there exists a huge amount of information to allow the business to offer services at the click of the mouse. In this way Apple has been able to integrate the IS strategy with the business and organizational strategies and support the overall goals and objectives of the organization. GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT: The corporate governance at Apple has gained certain relaxation as Tim Cook took charge and so does in the information technology department. Extensive centralization with intense secrecy from Job’s time has now offered some breathing space to employees with taking some steps towards true corporate governance. To cite an example of failure of MobileMe in former CEO’s era resulted in instant changing of its team in-charge while failure of Siri didn’t not result in Cook losing his mind (Arthur; Reisinger). Tim Cook’s has directed entire organization to business monarchy from its earlier state of Feudalism. Such practices are observable across the entire domains of organization such as in a meeting with investors Tim Cook silently followed Chief operating officer; hence, providing level playing field to finance monarch (Lashinky). Based on the IT strategic matrix the position of Apple is on the high end of strategic mode (Nolan and McFarlan, 3). Success of Apple is highly dependent on its IT structures as Apple is taken as synonym to technology driver as it has always remained ahead of competitors. Moreover, dependency and loss of response already had huge impact on Apple as position of Apple as leading smart phone is now given to Nokia (Reisinger). Mediated direction of Tim Cook in contrast to Jobs has also resulted in Apple not having any gee-whiz products to launch in recent time; however, it is also matter of fact that analysts consider it to be premature to give Apple secondary position (Reed). Further, IT infrastructure, policy and control still holds dominant position in driving Apple to develop products that lead to success. The infrastructure of Apple is highly aligned with the objective of the company. The fact remains that currently Apple does not revolves around the Job’s aggressive innovation, instead company has increased focused on strengthening functional divisions. This will inculcate increased growth in Apple’s innovation capability that currently appears to have been smoothened (Reed). ASSESSMENT OF IT ISSUES AND CHALLENGES 1- Problem with fingerprint recognition chips in iPhone 5S: The amount of shipment of iPhone 5S might have reduced due to the problem facing with fingerprint recognition chips. So the new plan has been developed to produce the fingerprint recognition chips to overcome this sensitive issue in the side of technology (Peel). Recommendation: A year ago Apple Inc has purchased AuthenTec to create their own advanced fingerprint technology to improve or enhance its smart phones and for making it more secured. By its own production setup of fingerprint technology Apple can resolve its issue regarding the fingerprint recognition chips. 2- MACBook Air users are having issues with Wi-Fi connectivity: The users of MACBook are having the issue regarding the WI-FI connectivity. The users claimed that some times it takes long time to connect, some times the network connection dropped automatically etc. these kind of issues are facing by the users (Slivka). Recommendation: Apple Inc should collect back the defected pieces to analyze the problem in the technology. After analyzing the issue appropriately Apple should replace the defected machines with new machines to retain its customer loyalty with the brand. Apple should structure a high speed WI-FI technology in its MACBook to resolve the problem. REFLECTION ABOUT THE PROJECT This project has allowed me to understand the different aspects and factors associated with the formulation of effective and efficient Information System strategy. The strategic assessment part has been more helpful in understanding the linkage of IS strategy with the organizational and business strategy. It has enabled me to understand the fact that IS strategy cannot be successfully implemented in isolation and it should be associated with the corporate level and business level strategies of the organization. This is the major lesson that I will apply while formulating the development strategy for the content management platform in my organization and will make sure that all associated people are integrated and involved in the whole process. Works Cited Arthur, Charles. Life inside Apple: fortune article reveals anger, management and top 100 club. 9 May. 2011. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/09/inside-apple-fortune-steve-jobs-business-management Datri, Alessandro, and Domenico Sacca. Information systems: people, organizations, institutions, and technologies. London: Springer, 2010. Forbes. Apple. May. 2013. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://www.forbes.com/companies/apple/# Kane, Yukari, and Cecilie Rohwedder. Apple strives for global markets. 8 Jun. 2010. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294530119152528.html Lashinky, Adam. How Tim Cook is changing Apple. 24 May. 2012. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/24/apple-tim-cook-ceo/ Nolan, Richard, and Warren McFarlan. Information technology and the board of directors. Harvard Business Review. Oct. 2005. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/material/1300173412Information%20Technology%20and%20the%20Board%20of%20Directors..pdf Peel, Anna. Apple Inc. iPhone 5s having fingerprint sensor issues. 16 Jul. 2013. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/07/apple-inc-aapl-iphone-5s-fingerprint-sensor-issues/ Reed, Brad. What’s driving Apple anxiety: there have been no gee-whiz products in the cook era. 7 May. 2013. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://bgr.com/2013/05/07/apple-innovation-criticism-ubs/ Reisinger, Don. Tim Cook is making Apple friendlier, more bureaucratic: report. 25 May. 2012. Online. 21 Jul. 2013http://www.cnet.com.au/tim-cook-is-making-apple-friendlier-more-bureaucratic-report-339338598.htm Slivka, Eric. Apple testing software update to address 2013 MacBook air Wi-Fi issues. 29 Jun. 2013. Online. 21 Jul. 2013. http://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/29/apple-testing-software-update-to-address-2013-macbook-air-wi-fi-issues/ Read More