MOORE MEDICAL CORP. Buket Güney Nükhet Agar

About Moore Medical… Moore Medical Group serves in the area of medical products since It is serving in the USA, and decided to implement new systems to manage their office business in an efficient manner. Autore is the CEO of this company. The company bought an ERP system, and they are going to decide on whether to buy a CRM package or not.

WHY CRM SYSTEM ? The company evaluates employing a CRM system in order to keep track of practitioners and carry on the management of relations in an efficient way. The company changed its strategy from providing pharmaceuticals to supplying products for the practitioners due to the large profit margins, and it wants to acquire and retain customers by the help of this system.

…WHY CRM SYSTEM ? The CEO wants to make sure that CRM will eliminate the causes of the deficiencies. The company builds its strategy onto practitioners, so a powerful system relating to that field should bring about a comparative advantage.

OUR SUGGESTION Since the system enables the company to store and reach different kinds of important information with regard to the customers, it will have a significant and positive effect in the operation of the company. So we suggest the usage of the CRM. It is also important to nail down these inefficiencies for acquisitions and retentions, and the company should also investigate the ways of supplying other related products such as x-ray devices. But anyway CRM seems to be necessary in this context.

CRM vs ERP On the other hand, we think the company should have delayed the implementation of ERP. Although the ERP system was successful on receiving online orders and found to be appropriate in pre-project planning "at the first glance", it didn't comply with the processes of the company very well.

PROBLEMS It had some problems with keeping track of the quotes, causing redundant data and deficiency of the company's operations such as slowing down the order entry processes. The ERP system was very costly, and it had some problems with the usage of the data in the firm. The G.D. Edwards system was not flexible enough, and people faced with unnecessary information in front of them.

FINANCIAL ISSUES For such a company that is not newly established, not too big, or not having a powerful IS system to make the necessary customizations complying with the work system in the company; it seems that a 7,000,000 dollars of expenditure is quite unnecessary. The most important point is to insure that the costs are less than or equal to the benefits, and the evaluation of possible alternatives which can be customized according to the needs of the company is a prerequisite to take an action for such big, structural investments.

DECISION MAKING Actually the criteria for employing such system should be to analyze the needs, and therefore decide on the system which provides the best answer for the need. This requirement is also valid for employing a CRM system. But there is a conflict between the company's priority and G.D. Edwards in this case.

DECISION MAKING For example, Autore was planning to make pro-active planning to make the goods available at the right place, but the ERP was found to support reactive planning instead of proactive planning. Since there is a conflict with the strategic goals, an alternative solution which does not reflect these inconsistencies may have worked better.

IT SYSTEM To determine whether IT provides a solution for a specific problem or not, we should concentrate on every possible factor to obtain a precise idea. If the results are mostly related to the accessing and organization of data, it may mean that the IT system needs an enhancement. If the problem arises mostly from strategically management- related concerns (such as problematic approaches to marketing and finance), alternative solutions should be applied.

IS SYSTEM The amount of spending which is realized for improving the IS system within the company should be influenced by its productivity and by its relevance. If we want to make a decision with regard to our realized expenditures on the I.S, i.e if we want to make sure that we made a good decision to employ a new information system in a big cost, we should look at two things:

THE RIGHT CHOICE How much could we earn only for employing this new system? (the net benefits related to the system) How can the system be consistent for our company, enabling it to obtain a sustainable advantage for using the system?

FACTORS We should know the net income which we get for implementing the system, and if it seems to amortize its cost in a reasonable period of time, it may be a good decision to switch on it. Here we should also consider the trend of the technology, i.e today it is an obligation to make use of internet technology for conducting day-to-day business For example we need to have the capability of receiving online orders.

FACTORS So the effect of future should also be considered by looking at the trend. Besides: o If the system we paid a lot of money is not related to our business experience o If it is not easy to modify the system for our specific needs This is not appropriate to use this system. So shortly, the most important point is to know how much value the system adds to our company.

FACTORS In addition: o If our IS does not respond to the needs of the business, and we are behind our competitors, we need to spend a bit more on IS. o If we can't implement the obtained solution for our business problems, or if our system has some a lot of additional functions other than what we need, it may mean that we have spent a lot on IS.

FACTORS If: Our system responds to our business needs without additional payments for unnecessary functions Our system doesn't cost more than the systems that the others in the industry use it means that we have paid the optimal amount.

QUESTIONS 1.What should we consider if we want to make sure that we made a good decision to employ a new information system in a big cost? 2.What are the problems in implementation of ERP system?

How much we could earn only for employing this new system? (the net benefits related to the system) How can the system be consistent for our company, enabling it to obtain a sustainable advantage for using the system? ANSWER 1:

Very costly Problems with keeping track of the quotes causing: – redundant data – deficiency of the company's operations Problems with the usage of the data Not flexible ANSWER 2: