Starbucks Data Management in Starbucks

Starbucks Data Management in Starbucks All organizations must keep track of some sort of data such as payroll, inventory, or even a seating chart for an office so as to be as an efficient organization as possible. Starbucks is no exception. This report therefore is about Starbucks Corporation and how they manage their data. Another question is if the company uses Microsoft Excel and if so, some of the ways the software package is used.

In addition, Starbucks must maintain a great deal of information so what other database software do they use. And finally, the report tries to assess the current use of data to see if the company could manage it better. Starbucks Corporation has been one of the twentieth and twenty first century business success stories.

The company basically purchases and roasts whole bean coffees and sells them as a combination of brewed coffees, Italian style espresso beverages, cold coffee blended beverages, complementary food items, coffee-related accessories and equipment, premium teas and even a line of CD's through a combination of company and franchised outlets as well as external retail chains and the internet. Starbucks as a corporation has over 4,500 retail stores with that number growing daily. but, the company also is a major seller and reseller of both unprocessed coffee and tea products worldwide.

New business ventures recently implemented include new equity investments in bottled Frappuccino and DoubleShot coffee drinks as well as a coffee flavored line of premium ice creams. With all of these nuances, any and every aspect of the business requires a sound handle on data management. Starbucks could not be where they are today if they were not as successful at managing their vast amounts of data as well as they do.

The company has been able to coordinate shipping dates of coffee from Argentina with the selling of a cup of Joe in Nebraska. The tools they use are variable because of the size of the operation and the fact that they have to contend with so many different governing bodies. For example, because both Microsoft and Starbucks are originally out of the North West city of Seattle, the two companies have been very forthcoming about the excellent relations the companies have with each other.

The Microsoft operating system and Office packages are very prominent in the company's day-to-day operations. Microsoft Excel for example has been a major organizational tool for store and district mangers for the plethora of information needed to coordinate operations. Sales and district accomplishments are regularly monitored and compared through the ease of Microsoft's spreadsheet package. But the company has a great deal of information that has to be managed.

The company has to contend with, to name just a few, supermarkets, retailers, franchisers, shipping organizations, bottling plants, cup distributors, equipment and manufacturing facilities, printers, tax officials, farmers, investors, and at times whole nations. For these massive operations, the company has instituted the heavy firepower from Hewlett Packard and Oracle for their mainframe and database needs. But the company has a global operation and each local facility may have a totally different tool based on local vendors and contracts. The company has always been very progressive with its data management.

"Starbucks is considering networking home offices with Wi-Fi technology, too. "We're trying to lower our infrastructure costs in field offices," says James Snook, Starbucks' VP of it and enterprise architecture. "If you need to tear out or change a network setup, you can reconfigure quickly with wireless." (George, 2003) This database management technology will allow Starbucks district managers to have access to a myriad of job-related data via wireless-enabled notebook computers.

The company needs it management to be able to spend as much time as possible with individual store managers and customers and this new database technology will giving them access to corporate information while on the road. "Of course, database marketing in any form raises the specter of potential abuses and invasions of privacy. Many companies, once they've captured information about their customers, turn around and market those lists to third parties. However, foodservice operators know they must be cautious because they're dealing with their.