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Role of MIS in Business Management

Despite the vast improvements in information technology, computers (on which modern IT is based) cannot as yet take over business management. However, business information systems have transformed the effectiveness, power and efficiency of management.

In an earlier article on business management software, we looked at surface aspects of how modern management information systems help businesses. We saw how computers sped up and improved the quality of operations. We also mentioned the existence of broad categories of business software – office suites, functional software such as accounting and inventory, and industry software such as retail management software. In this article, we seek to look more analytically at the role of information management systems.

Decision Support, Problem Analysis and Overall Control

Business managers often need to make decisions that can affect the business’ fortunes one way or other. For example, a company with sales outlets or distributors spread over a wide geographic area might want to optimize the logistical operations of delivering merchandise to the outlets. The best solution might be affected by numerous factors such as demand patterns, availability of merchandise, distances involved and the option of using external carriers (who can find two way loads and might prove a lesser cost option over long distances) instead of own vehicles.

While it might be possible to use complex mathematical formulas by hand to compute the best solution, computers transform the whole process into a routine task of feeding certain information as input and obtaining suggestions for best solutions as output. The task can typically be done in a few minutes (instead of hours or even days) and it becomes possible to examine several alternatives before deciding upon one that seems most realistic.

Identifying problems and analyzing the factors that cause them also has been transformed by modern computer information systems. In a typical MIS environment, standard reports are generated in a routine manner comparing actual performance against original estimates. The software that generates the report can be instructed to highlight exceptions, i.e. significant variations between original estimates and actual performance. Managers will thus become aware of problem areas in the daily course of their work simply by looking at the reports they receive, without having to do detailed data collection and computations themselves.

Identifying the factors responsible for the problem can also be routinized to some extent by using such tools as variance analysis. Variance analysis is an element of standard costing system that splits deviations from estimates (or standards) into causative factors such as increase in price of materials used, excessive usage of materials, unexpected machine downtimes, etc. With such a detailed report, managers can delve deeper into the problem factor, such as why there was excessive usage of materials.

Control is also exercised through variance analysis. Budgets are prepared for all business operations by concerned managers working in a coordinated fashion. For example, estimated sales volumes will determine the levels of production; production levels will determine raw material purchases; and so on. With good information system management, it then becomes possible to generate timely reports comparing actual sales, production, raw material deliveries, etc against estimated levels.

The reports will help managers to keep a watch on things and take corrective action quickly. For example, the production manager will become aware of falling sales (or rising sales) of particular products and can prepare to make adjustments in production schedules, and purchasing and inventory managers will become quickly aware of any mounting inventories of unused materials. MIS thus enhances the quality of communication all around and can significantly improve the effectiveness of operations control.

Effective MIS Involves Humans and Computers Working together

The major aspect to note is that MIS provides only the information; it is the responsibility of concerned managers to act on the information. It is the synergy between efficient, accurate and speedy equipment and humans with commonsense, intelligence and judgment that really gives power to MIS.

The Changing Role of Media Planners and Media Buyers

Media planners and media buyers don’t just focus on radio, television, magazines, billboards or newspapers anymore. In fact, with a few exceptions, magazines and newspapers are becoming obsolete. There’s a host of new options available to advertisers, and professional media planners and buyers must stay on the cutting edge of an ever-changing media landscape. Expertise and business connections can be leveraged to not only stay abreast of technology, but to also get prime placement and the best rates.

Over the past several years, newer forms of media have emerged on the scene, including satellite television, cable television, satellite radio and digital (or online) media. Digital/online media may include social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, email blasts, search engine marketing, referral linking campaigns, web portals, YouTube video ads, banner ads, interactive games and more.

As technology moves at the speed of light, when it comes to media planning and buying, the saying “You snooze, you lose” has never been more relevant. However, with so many choices, there’s never been a better time for a media planner or buyer to be able to truly target the right audience with the right advertising medium(s). If the budget allows, most media planners and media buyers will strive for a balanced “media mix” in which all forms of advertising work harmoniously to achieve optimal results.

Where traditional media is concerned, television still remains among the top choices for most advertisers, depending on their target audience and needs. Why? Because it works. When a media buyer is looking for “reach,” (targeting as many people as possible at one time), television can’t be beat for certain audiences. That’s especially true when you want to reach your target market with particular dayparts (certain multiple hours of day) and/or specific programming. People will always watch television, although it is becoming more and more difficult to hold the attention of a younger audience who is texting, tweeting and viewing their favorite show at the same time.

Radio can also be a highly effective traditional form of media, depending on how it’s utilized and what clients are selling. Radio is considered a “frequency” medium (targeting a specific demographic as many times as possible). Often radio will be used as a supplement to television, but not always. What can really enhance radio’s effectiveness is endorsements by on-air personalities, which holds especially true for sports and talk show personalities, who tend to have much more of a loyal following than the average DJ.

Savvy media planners and buyers must thoroughly understand each client’s target demographic, and determine the best media mix to achieve both maximum brand awareness and increased sales. They will then develop a strategic media buying plan based on several factors to ensure the client receives a maximum ROI. Most importantly, they will negotiate the actual media buy based on the particular medium’s standard measurement of audience. For example, with television, that measurement can be determined by CMP (cost per thousand), CPP (cost per point), etc. The ultimate goal is not to just reach the masses, but to reach the as many people who comprise the client’s target market as possible, as many times as possible, for as the best price possible.

While the media landscape is changing and evolving, some of the traditional methods of advertising are still bringing in fantastic results. Media planners and media buyers must not only keep the traditional methods in mind, they also have to stay on the cutting-edge and keep their client’s goals in the forefront of their minds to succeed.

What Role Do Business Directories Play in Indian Export Business?

There are many things going on in the backdrop of the Indian economy that are favoring the growth of India as a key player in the global economic setup. The small and medium enterprises are getting stronger, the value of Indian export goods is rising steadily and the Indian exporters are finding news ways to take their businesses to the international level.

If you analyze carefully, all these things are interrelated to one another. The growth of small and medium enterprises is contributing toward the increase in Indian exports and the exporters from the country are utilizing the concepts like online business directory promotion. And all these things are boosting the demand of Indian goods in the foreign market. As a result, the export industry is increasing its share in the total GDP of the country.

Business directories and Indian liberalization policy came into virtue within the same period. The liberalization policy adopted by the Indian government in the early 1990s allowed the exporters from India to go beyond geographical boundaries and sell their products in the international markets. The internet grew in popularity in the 1990s and the concept of online business directory promotion came into being.

The Indian traders, especially those with small exporting power, required a platform that could help them in extending their reach to different countries. The online business directories seemed to serve the purpose and that too, in a cost-effective manner. Rather than posting at trading directories of different countries, a business directory allows the traders from different countries to join the same place. The exporters India has today are using these directories to post their sell leads that become visible to the interested buyers in different parts of the world.

Here are some benefits that online business directories offer to the Indian exporters to achieve success in their business:

Building long term relationship with retailers and wholesalers is possible by selling trade lead at online b2b business directories. These buyers may be located nationally as well as internationally.
It has become easy for the exporters from India to stay in the competition. Going a step further, their presence at online directories helps them to attract customers of their rivals.
These directories help the exporters to maintain their product catalogs and update them with new products launched by the manufacturers. Traditionally, it would take time to inform the global buyers about the new products that these exporters have to sell.
Receiving queries from interested buyers is fast and easy with an online directory. You don’t have to rely upon traditional methods that would delay the inquiries and orders of buyers. Online forms can be filled by the buyers to contact the exporters.
With the help of online directories, the exporters can easily refer to the demand of the buyers from different countries. This is because an online business directory allows the buyers to post their buy leads and the exporters who have the required products can immediately contact the buyers.

So, the online business directories are acting as the right platform for the Indian exporters to grow like never before. It is indeed a great advantage that internet technology is contributing towards economical growth of the countries like India.

Role of Budgeting in Planning, Control, and Resource Allocation Process in UAE Companies

Budget

Before understanding the key concepts of budgeting, it is important to understand the meaning of budget. A budget is used to make a documentation of the translation of plans into money. So, the amount of money that needs to be spent in the planned strategies of the company would lie under the budget of that company. These planned strategies include the expenditure that a company incurs and also the income that the company predicts to make. So, in other words, a budget helps one to make an estimation of the amount of money that would be required for the company to handle the projects undertaken by it. It must also be understood that a budget is not made permanently. There are conditions under which a company can make changes in the budget and go as per as the needs of the market. As for example, if a company sees that the use of computers is not as had been planned in the budgeting; it would either replace it with something or not make any investment at all in the field. This is where the utility of controlling comes into the picture. Other than this a budget is also significant from other perspectives. If one talks about the resource allocation, budget has an equally important role to play in it. The reason for the same is that let’s say that a company has budgeted that it can afford a certain amount of power supply for a certain project that is conducted in a village. Under the conditions, the amount of human resource that would be required to carry out the project can be determined from the budget itself. Normally a budget is of three types. They have been mentioned as follows:

Survival Budget: This form of budgeting is important in the boundary conditions. It estimates the minimum resources so as to complete a particular project. So, if a company has a look at the survival project, there is one obvious analysis that can be done. This is that under the most optimistic of the situations, the resources allocated would be sufficient. There would be very little margin of error under the conditions.

Guaranteed Budget: This budget is formulated when there is a guarantee of a particular amount of income at the time of formulation of budget. So, when a budget is made from this perspective, this income is taken into consideration. If somehow, the debtors are not able to provide the income that the company used as guarantee before making the budget, it would have to switch over to the survival budget formation.

Optimal Budget: The third form of budget is the optimal budget. This budget is used under the conditions when there is extra money in the company accounts or else the company feels that it could raise extra money from the market. So, if the position of the company is good then this form of budgeting can be applied. As for example if we consider a very famous company in the infrastructure sector, Emaar, we would find that the company has the ability to raise a lot of extra capital from the market. So, Emaar can hope to use it in utilizing the money to plan a few more interesting projects like it had made the longest mall in the world and the tallest tower in the world. Both these projects were outcomes of an optimal budget made by the company.

Budgeting Responsibilities

Owing to the circumstances under which a budget is fruitful, the organizations should be highly selective in handing over the responsibilities of making the budget. There are a few pre-requisites of making a budget. They are as follows:

The concerned employee should have a clear understanding of the company’s values, strategies, and plans that lie in the near future.

The employees must know the importance of cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Also, the concerned employee must have knowledge about the resources that would be used to generate and raise funds.

The above pre-requisites are essential for the company if they have the motive of using budgeting in the planning, controlling and resource allocation purposes.

So, it is generally recommended that a company has a budgeting team that has an optimal size so as to prevent any discrepancy with the formation of the budget. Under all situations where the concerned members of the finance department have difficulties in planning the budget, they would have to consult the board of members for the same. For a situation like this to arise, the planning in the company must certainly have been wrong. So, we can see that the new planning would depend solely on the fact that budget allows the same to happen. Under all other conditions, the estimated plan would have to change. (Budgeting, 2010)

Role of Budgeting in Planning

Here we are taking the telecommunication giant, DU into account to understand the role played by budgeting in the planning process. It was only about a couple of years ago that the company introduced its new plan. This new plan was about introducing the pay-by-the second plan amongst the services of the company. This was done as per as the optimal budget plan of the company. DU had formulated a budget where it got the option of introducing a new facility with the extra money that it hand in hand. As the company analysis shows that DU was climbing the ladders of success even then, so this was certainly a major step in the making. Moreover, the funds that had been allocated in the budget were enough for the fact that the company could start this service any time it wanted. So, it chose the time when the nearest rival company Etisalat had screwed up its plans after introducing the Blackberry services. As an optimal budget is that which allows the time for starting a new investment, this was just the time and DU made the most of the opportunity. Today this plan is among the most revenue-fetching plans that the company had ever introduced in its services. So, budget played an extremely important role in the planning of this success of the firm. Had the company planned to use the extra money as a surplus or retained or reserve, it would never have been able to introduce this service. So, one can see the importance of making the right budget at the right time can help in planning for great successes in a company. There are other examples also where one can see the planning being aided by preparation of budget. The tourism department of Abu Dhabi was guaranteed of the fact that it would have a considerable amount of income from the flourishing tourism in the country due to the onset of some of the most peculiar activities in the country. Under the situation, the department used the guaranteed budget to enhance the cultural activities of the country. A number of museums have been renovated because of a planned budgeting under the guaranteed budget plan. The department had planned that with the money they would have from the already existing resources in tourism, it would evoke a cultural feeling in the country and its natives, It has been able to do it successfully as per as the statistics of the museums of the region are concerned. So, once again we see that budgeting has helped in planning of such an important landmark in the country.

As in general one can say that budgeting is about aiding a company to make plans for the future. It is that process where a company can be assured of the fact that it would have enough money so as to carry out the requisite projects. We are all acquainted with the fact that the world is about competition as of today. Every company needs to plan new projects so as to show its core competency. Under the conditions, no company can automatically start investing on its research and development. It has to come through a substantial degree of planning which could only be possible after the budget of the company allows it to do so. In all other situations it would finally have to terminate the services with an excess of demand or supply.

There are also other instances where a company can use the principles of budgeting in order to carry out its planning. This can be seen in the case of training. Every planning of training has to be supported by budget. This is one of the foremost criteria of training. There are a number of instances in the country where the Government is implementing programs like Emiritzation. If the budget of the company does not support such plans they would certainly not be executed. The loss can be huge under the conditions. The first case would be a monetary loss as an incomplete training would actually be of no used as it would be insufficient to fulfill the company’s criteria. If some small companies do place employees with an incomplete bit of training, it would make the company even smaller!

So, we can see how budgeting governs this chain of planning which of not executed in a suitable manner could bring about adverse results. (The Importance of Budgeting, 2010)

Role of Budgeting in Controlling

As in the case of planning, budgeting also has a special role to play in controlling of an organization. We have seen that a plan would simply lay the conditions of taking on a particular activity. What follows is its controlling in the implementation phase. Let’s say that a company wishes to promote its products or services in the trade fare of Dubai. This is one of the places where controlling comes into play with respect to budgeting. Dubai Trade Fare is one of those occasions when a number of companies use the best of means to promote their products. With an adequate amount of control, the companies would never be able to compete in the pool of so many. So, a budgeting has to be done to choose the HR and marketing department which would be responsible to control the scenario.

Without a proper budgeting in this respect, the company would make inefficient decisions and after a while, there would be no control over the promotional measures of the company.

There are also a number of chances where a company goes with leisure expenses. It does increase the value of the company for a particular period of time but after a while there has to be an end to it. Now, with a planned budget under the conditions, the companies would be able to restrict themselves from over-spending as the budget would not suit their expenditure. This requires the company to make a survival budget. As we can see a survival budget would certainly take care of the budgeting requirements of the company. If the employees are aware of the fact that they would not be able to complete their respective projects with the type of expenditure they are doing, they would certainly shift to other economic reasons. This way a company can also control the activities of the employees. Once a planned budget is produced the whereabouts of the employees can also be checked as they would be on a hire. The amount of time given to them in the budget would be fixed. If they are unable to finish their respective works in this stipulated time they would see the effect on their salaries or wages. So, this way, the company’s activities, employees, time and money can all be under control with the introduction of budget in the company’s financial plan. The company would certainly become more efficient if it works in a controlled manner. So, this would be for the mutual benefit of both the employees and the company as well. (Controlling a Budget, 2010)

Role of Budgeting in Resource Allocation

A company’s success is highly dependent on the resource allocation. This has to be done optimally so as to complete a certain project. The law of economics suggests that a company has the least resources and has to make the most of it. So, only an appropriate resource allocation would help this happen. This would be in terms of human resource, raw materials, equipments, money, time and all other attributes that take for making a project successful. Here again, the budgeting of the company plays an important role to play. The reason for the same is that in all the sectors that have been talked about here, only a planned budget could decide the maximum a company can afford. Let’s say that ADNOC has the plan of staring a new subsidiary. Under the conditions, it would have to make a budget where the company could allocate the amount of human resources in order to make this happen. Not only this, there are a series of activities that would have to be done in the process. Much of the time, there would be two processes going on and at times even one. So, a planned budget would estimate the amount of money that the company can afford throughout the process. Based on this, the processes would have to be allocated in a manner where the company can make the best use of the human resource available. If ADNOC has 200,000 AED for the purpose, and there are 10 slots, rather than allocating 20,000 AED per slot, the company would have to see the priorities of each slot. If a particular slot requires double the number of processes than the others, the resources would have to be allocated accordingly for the same. Now this can only be possible with an appropriate amount of budgeting. If the budget of the company does not allow double resource allocation for a particular slot because of other activities, then the company would have to come up with other alternatives. Had there been an inability of a budget, the company would allocate double resources and finally land up with none available for a process that has little requirement. So, we can see that even the process of resource allocation requires budgeting to a large degree.

Talking about the company Emaar, as per as the organizational size of the company, there has to be a proper budgeting done. The reason for the same is that every department requires an adequate amount of human resource and funds. If the company’s budget for a particular project is 200 million AED, the company would also have this budget divided into different departments. Every department would have to use only the allocated funds to support its human resource and all other requisites prior to conducting the project. If the construction department spends so much that the company is not able to use any funds for its advertisement, in this world of competition, even a company like Emaar would have to bow down to others in the league. There are so many options that people have for residents that promotion under forced conditions could change every profitability ratio of Emaar. So, here again we see the hierarchy that could be affected because of the inappropriate use of resources that would result from the non-availability of a budget that could suit the purpose. (The Basic Budgeting Problem, 2010)

Conclusion

So, one can see that a budgeting process has a number of utilities in the projects of a company. This could be from the perspective of planning, controlling or resource allocation. Every company has the desire to be at the top. Finance has a special role to play in the same. Te steps of laying down an appropriate budget are as follows:

Firstly, the concerned person should lay down all the places of investment with respect to a particular project.

Next, make an estimation of the unit cost of every product that would be manufactured in the process.

Next, analyze the resources that would be sufficient to provide for the unit costs found.

Next make a proper budget format so that it is clear to all the departments and they the amount of allocation for them in all the respects.

It is also advisable to make notes so as to be able to explain the budget better.

Next, it is required to take a feedback on the budget so as to see whether it is applicable to all the departments or not. If not, then it would have to be re-planned.

Finally, make the final documentation so as to be able to help in planning, controlling and resource allocation as has been suggested earlier.

With all the above processes followed, a company can afford to perform all the financial activities in its respective projects. It must be remembered that only a systematic design of budget as has been concluded could be used for the mentioned cause.