Procedures
The procedures will change for Tesco due to the IT developments. This means that customers can use the Clubcards on their Iphones, meaning staff will only have to scan the phone itself. This will be a good impact as it means that customers will be more likely to use their club card as it is in their phone, which will result in them returning to add more points to their cards in order to buy goods at a cheaper price. The heat sensors can also help decide when more staff are needed at a cashier as opposed to the conventional method of having a member of staff monitoring the situation through cameras.
Staff
Staff will need upskilling and training with the new IT systems introduced. This can save Tesco needing to make staff redundant by training them.This will mean Tesco will need to train staff with the new equipment. Based on the complexity of the training and the area of staff required this can be done by
1. Removing all the staff required to learn the new technology and putting them on a course. However if they take all the cashier staff then it will be bad news for the store they work in.
2. Removing only the required staff. For example if the new technology can only be used by managers,they can send the managers from different Tesco stores to a week course where they will learn the neccesary skills and won't have a lot of staff missing from their store.
3. If the technology isn't very complicated then they can send CD's to the employees to learn from home. They may even decide to put up tutorials on suing the new system online which the employees can learn from at home as well.
Tesco will need to keep a balance between their core employees, contractors and outsourced staff.
Core employees - are the employees the store have which are legally hired. It is important to have a good amount of core employees as they cannot walk out on the store as they have signed a contract to work with the Tesco. However removing them becomes an issue as they cannot just be fired. The store must go through all the rules and regulations before they can get rid of them.
Contractors - are employees that are employed by an organisation to work for other organisations. This means that all of Tesco's maintenance work can be done by contractors. The advantage of this is that they can hire them for a small period of time and then won't have to keep them as they return to their organisation. This means Tesco won't have to go through all the procedures and regulations to get rid of them. However contractors can also leave if they do not like the organisation whenever they feel like, and since they are not signed with Tesco, all Tesco can do is look for another contractor.
Outsourced staff - Tesco will have outsourced staff for a number of reasons. One of which is due to the fact that some work would be too time consuming for Tesco to have their staff carry out. For example the payroll for Tesco employees is created by outsourced staff who just make payrolls for organisations. This will save time for Tesco employees as they won't have to sum up the payroll, giving them more time to do other tasks.
Home and remote working
By introducing new technologies Tesco can allow its staff to work from remote areas or from their homes. This can increase productivity as employees don't have to waste time travelling to and from their workplace. However it also means the store has no direct control over them as they cannot physically influence the methods by which staff will work. Another problem is that if they are working on their own and arrive at a problem then they can't ask anyone for support. All they can do is send an email and wait untill they get a reply back.
Regualr restructing of staff
Staff must be kept informed about all the changes that have been made. e.g. new IT systems. This is to ensure staff that their jobs will not be lost as a result of the new system being introduced, but will infact be retrained to use the new system. This means that staff will not have to be made redundant, which will in turn save both Tesco and the employees a lot of time as Tesco will not need to look for new staff and employees will not need to find new jobs, but it will also save Tesco's money as Tesco won't have to pay redundancy fees to their employees.
Integration of Legacy systems
When a system is taken over or when a two companies merge together, there are parts of the old system that can be used alongside the new system. For example Tesco using a printer from 2002 can be an example of a legacy system,but id it is used alongsied a computer system from 2010 then its an example of integrating a legacy system. Legacy systems are essentialy old systems which can be used with new systems, this can be anything from old monitors, printers, moderms or any other piece of hardware or euqipment that is from an older generation and can be amalgamated with equipment or software from a newer generation.
The advantage of having a legacy system is that Tesco can save money on having to buy new hardware if there is hardware already present and working. This means that money can be used else where. Another advantage is that if there is an old piece of hardware which currently works correctly, then Tesco's have no need to buy new hardware, this also means that the staff that use the hardware will be able to easily use it as it will be simpler than most newer models which may require training of staff.
The disadvantage with Legacy systems however is that as they are from an older generation they may not be compatible with the new system. This would mean Tesco would have to buy new equipment in order to ensure all the equipment that they have is compatible, it would also make the legacy systems they have redundant. Also if the eequipment is quite old then it may be prone to easily break down, which would mean maintenance costs would rise in order to keep it running, at which point it woul be more profitable for Tesco to buy new equipment.
Security
Tesco must have a firewall and anti-virus software in order to protect the private data about its customers as part of the Data Protection Act of 1998. Breaching this act will result in Tesco being prosecuted in court. Tesco must make sure that all its software is copyrighted. If Tesco use a pirate copy then they are likely to be prosecuted in court as they are a large company. Also using pirate software has a high chance of letting viruses enter the system, which will breach a number of laws including the Data Protection Act of 1998.
No comments:
Post a Comment