Evolution of Database Systems

Databases and Information Management Use of Databases in an organization The evolution of databases in business and organizations has created subtle and substantial changes in the business environment. From the introduction of PC-based contact management software, to integrating complete sales and contact information on company intranets, the availiability of information has made customizable solutions to individual customer problems possible. No longer is a business limited to a one size fits all approach to meeting their customer needs.

The most effective way to illustrate how databases have affected business operations is to draw an organizational outline for a typical small business. The;business described below is fictional, but the interdependency of business operations and database applications can be clearly seen. A small marketing and engineering firm in the Midwest has 3 offices in one state, and one office in another state, and designs and markets high performance automobile parts to the aftermarket auto service centers in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

The products are designed in a main Michigan plant. Warehouse facilities house and ship over 100 SKU's from Michigan which serves the northern half territory, and from a newer, smaller facility products are delivered to the southern sales territory. The company uses Microsoft Access database applications for each of the major divisions. Accounts keep full records of customer sales, accounting, and contact information. The Warehousing division accesses the same client base, but keeps records of individual items shipped, and sales rates.

The warehousing division tracks sales trends, and seasonal fluctuations, which tend to revolve around the seasons, and new model year releases. The sales trend information is available to the sales staff. The company has a multi-contact sales strategy. Every customer has a sales person assigned to it who makes regular calls to introduce new products, manage the client relations and deal with any return - replacement issues. Some of the customers choose to call in orders as needed, and to serve these customers the company has maintained its order desk.

The company has also launched an ordering system integrated into the company's informational web site. Customers who choose to can access a client only side of the web site. They can see their sales history for the last 24 months and take advantage of online-only special promotions on some of our high turn merchandise. There also is a pricing discount for customers who place their orders online.

When the online order center was launched, the company had needed to train the sales staff in the use of the online system, and make sure that each office of the company had complete access to all the customer details. For this purpose, a customer relationship management software was purchased, complete with training from Thompson's NETg training services. These software packages, such as Peoplesoft, provide a comprehensive CRM solution offering greater user adaptation, an improved user experience and real-time intelligence for our enterprise to make smarter decisions.

Every customer interaction can now be an opportunity to build relationship value, and an opportunity to build business value with our customers. www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/line/crm/all_modules.jsp" (Peoplesoft.com, online) This CRM package is fast to implement, and deploy quickly with our applications and built in MS Access connectors. The staff is able to see 360 degree view of all relevant customer and enterprise data.

The software has proven to be a key to launching the internet online ordering system, and facilitating our company's intranet communications. This software has helped the company improve business processes by predicting the customer needs for successful cross sell and up sell opportunities. In the auto aftermarket accessories, cross selling and introducing our new products is key to keeping our customers on the cutting edge of market and consumer trends.

If our customers miss the introduction of a new product which is custom designed for a new car model by 6-8 months, the company misses the sales opportunity, and the peak desire period for the new products. This can significantly affect sales in missed opportunities, and open the door for our competitors. In the past, these functions were addresses by check lists, manual charts, extensive paper records, and.