Role of Information Technology in Kentucky Fried Chicken Essay

Role of Information Technology in Kentucky Fried Chicken - Essay Example Information system helps to change or restructure the business and also quickens the response time to changes in the environment. There are various features of information system that can help a firm gain competitive advantage. For example the decision support system helps firms to align their information system with the business strategies. Then there is the Enterprise resource planning solutions that link the business process with the firm’s objective of optimizing the enterprise resources. Also there is the database system that having â€Å"data mining† capabilities which makes the best use of information for production, innovation and marketing (Hemmatfar, Salehi & Bayat, 2010, p. 158-160). For the purpose of this report let me first describe about the Fast food industry. It is one of the largest growing industries. The industry is characterized by the foods which are prepared and served quickly. Typically, the foods of this industry are sold in retail food outlets or in a packaged form. The major market players of this industry are Kentucky fried chicken, McDonalds, Pizza hut, Dominos, Arby’s, Subway, Fingers and Del Taco among various other players. Franchise operation acts as the most crucial element of this industry. The noticeable foodstuffs includes pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, French fries, fried chicken, ice creams and also foods like noodles, fried rice and soups among the others. Presently information technology is widely used in fast food industry. The market share of KFC and its competitors are as follows:- Figure 1 (Source: pugetsoundoff, n.d.). Information technology plays an essential role in the unprecedented growth of fast food industry. In this sector the functions of Information technology is significant as it helps in research and development process, marketing process and also in the financial segment. Information systems help organisations in the fast food industry to not only deliver products and services at low c osts but also deliver differentiated products and services. Organisations are using information system to create niche markets for themselves and at the same time focus on developing new and innovative products. The current applications being used in fast food industry include the following:- Point of sale system – It manages the total selling process of an outlet. This is also responsible for the formation and printing of the receipt. A typical retail food outlet POS includes a computer, receipt printer, bar-code scanner, customer display and a cash drawer. Apart from these basic requirements the system sometimes also consists of debit & credit card reader. The next application includes these cash registers are coupled with the computerized system which automatically prepares accounting reports and facilitates reordering of inventories. It also helps in tracking the internal orders and sales. The other application which is very much in use is the Customer Relationship Manage ment System. Customer relationship management (CRM) is all about managing and increasing customer relationships that can help the company to drive the costs down and increase the viability of products and services. (Anderson & Kerr, 2001, p.1-11). Data about customers like