Vermont Teddy Bear: Improving IT Systems Operations

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Vermont Teddy Bear is a company that has significant experience in selling its products on the market due to the fact that they have existed since 1981. It should be noted that it is essential to pay attention to information technologies that improve the work of the organization in the modern world. This is especially important in the field of e-commerce, in which Vermont Teddy Bear mainly carries out its activities. At the moment, the company is experiencing a number of difficulties related to the operation of its IT systems, which must be fixed and upgraded in order to improve business performance.

Background

Bob Stetzel joined the position of Chief Information Officer of Vermont Teddy Bear in 2009. This happened at a time when the company’s sales were at their peak due to the pre-Christmas hype. It should be noted that, at that moment, the company’s systems experienced various difficulties and failures due to a large flow of sales and an influx of customers. Thus, the main task of the new CIO was to improve the current work of the company before next winter. Bob Stetzel hoped that the team would be able to master the problematic middleware and proceed toward a more efficient and well-organized enterprise IT architecture. As a result, it may serve as a solid foundation for the company’s evolving business demands, as well as support its long-term strategic and operational goals. The critical problem is that there was a reduction in the staff of the company’s IT specialists in 2008, who were considered sufficiently experienced employees. In addition, each department of the company uses various programs and software for their work.

Case Evaluation

Vermont Teddy Bear provides e-commerce services specializing in three different products: Vermont Teddy Bear (VTB), PajamaGrams, and Calyx Flowers. The new CIO of the company seeks to make the necessary changes to the company’s IT infrastructure in order to change the existing inefficient approach in the functioning of the company’s systems. It should also be noted that the sale of the company is mainly seasonal in nature due to the specifics of the goods provided, which are sold on certain holidays. Furthermore, even though the company is striving to improve its performance, it has recently experienced economic difficulties, which have led to a reduction in the number of employees engaged in the IT field. Therefore, the main problem for the company’s management is to identify critical needs related to improving existing technologies and improving sales figures. Thus, the CIO (Bob Stetzel) is faced with the task of implementing the necessary changes to improve the company’s work. The main issue is the consideration of problems related to the current IT system of the company.

Key Problems

Regarding the IT sphere of the company, it is experiencing several of the following difficulties. One of the main problems is a relatively small staff of IT employees, who primarily specialize in solving a narrow range of problems. They are focused on correcting errors as they occur rather than improving the performance of the entire system. Another problem of the IT department is that some of the software used for various reasons is outdated and needs to be updated. Furthermore, some of the integrated hardware and apps are difficult to operate and may be incompatible with one another, creating barriers to operational efficiency. If not properly controlled and rectified, the absence of structure within existing IT systems can stifle performance and have far-reaching negative consequences in the future. In addition, the derivative of all these disadvantages is that the company has four main sales channels that are not interconnected by a single software. This leads to the problem that the company does not have reliable data on the number of sales, which does not allow upgrading the entire system.

Possible Solutions

The primary global solution to the company’s problem is the transition to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) package, which the CIO is trying to promote. However, in the process of this change, the company will have difficulties with functioning. Therefore, in order to maintain its operation, several steps must be taken. First of all, Vermont Teddy Bear can use the outsourcing services of a company that will provide servers for the nearest peak of sales. It is also necessary to invest in expanding IT staff and hiring new specialists to solve temporary problems and bugs. Develop a system for analyzing the peak sales period to reduce the workload of the entire organization system in a timely manner.

Best Solution

The immediate solution to the company’s problems, which will also contribute to improving its work and improving performance, is middleware reduction. The use of a single Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) package and a single software will contribute to the simplification of the entire system. The implementation of this approach will allow using one framework and language to make it easier for IT specialists to solve emerging problems. It will also contribute to improved integration of the system since all departments will understand the principles of its operation. In addition, combining all sales channels under one system will allow the organization to integrate an improved CRM system for more actual data. Thus, the company will be able to predict sales peaks and improve its market research.

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