Walmart Specific Questions
- 2. Wal-Mart – Software Development Wal-Mart has a team of developers to create most software needed by the company. Before the development of every software, the developers work on the functional areas in which the software will be used.
- 3. Should Wal-Mart continue to rely on developing its own software? Big companies such as Wal-Mart need very specific software which probably will not be available on the market. The best way to develop a software that exactly meets the company's requirements is to use in-house development. With in-house development, the maintenance will be easier since the knowledge used to create the software is kept within the company. Wal-Mart “does not want to be held hostage by the software vendor” (Post & Anderson, 229). Adjustments on third party companies can be more expensive than in-house development for applications with the complexity demanded by Wal-Mart.
- 4. What are the benefits and costs to having developers work in a functional area before creating its own software? Most software developments are targeted to make user's life easier or to speed up tasks. The best way to develop a software is to understand the user's need. If the developer works in a functional area he will understand most of the requirements of the software. The additional days that the developers worked on the functional area will be compensated with the lesser need of adjustments and maintenance in the future.
- 5. Wal-Mart - Current and Future Trends and Technology Wal-Mart is known to be always on the leading edge of the technology (Post & Anderson, p227).
- 6. Why are some people upset about RFID tags? Are their fear justified? The main issue raised about the RFID is privacy. Some people fear that the RFID can be used to different purposes than what it was built for. RFID items can be read after the item leaves the store. Then, RFID scanners could also be used to scan all items someone has at their home that uses the RFID technology (Lewan, 2008). Lewan (2008) describes in his article that Mark Rasch, former head of the computer-crime unit of the U.S. Justice Department, states that there is a possibility of unauthorized people learning about who you are, what you have bought, how and where you have bought your items. Mark Rasch adds that thieves can scan car trunks, garages and offices from a distance. In addition, he mentions that even third party companies and the government can use the RFID to learn about you by scanning your belongs. These statements strongly support any fear of the uncontrolled use of this technology.
- 7. What does the UCCnet project do and why it is so important to retailers? UCCnet is a subsidiary of the Uniform Code Council that provide a way for companies to register item data and share standardized information between their vendors (Cleo Communications, 2005). Companies, such as the Wal-Mart, have systems that maintain their inventory and connect with the products suppliers alerting when a product has to be shipped (Cleo Communications, 2005). Most companies use a different set of data for their products. The UCCnet provides an industry-wide standard for data, making possible the integration of different systems (Cleo Communications, 2005). Without this synchronization, it would be extremely difficult to connect two company's systems.
- 8. Why did Wal-Mart stop selling some transaction data and will it affect the company in the future? Wal-Mart sold its transaction data to companies, such as drug manufacturers, in 2001 (Post & Anderson, p227). Wal-Mart saw that the competitors were taking advantage of this data. Since this information was more valuable to competitors than the price that Wal-Mart was charging, the Wal-Mart decided to stop this data (Post & Anderson, p227). This should not affect Wal-Mart, since it is a very big company and the money they made selling transaction data was only a fraction of their income.
- 9. What is the role of Wal-Mart's Web site? Is it a useful tool? The role of Wal-Mart's Web site is to follow the technology trends with the e-commerce. Wal-Mart's website is useful since many users can buy products directly through the website or search for items that he might need on the next visit to the store. The website is being so used, that on 2006, the website suffered from visitors overload on the Black Friday (Associated Press, 2006).
- 10. Sources Lewan, Todd (2008). Microchip future not sci-fi. Retrieved February 17, 2008 from denverpost.com web site: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8088619 Cleo Communcations (2005). UCCNet data synchronization FAQs. Retrieved February 18, 2008 from Cleo Communications web site: http://www.cleo.com/Documents/UCCNetFAQs.pdf Associated Press (2006). Wal-Mart web site stalls on Black Friday. Retrieved February 22, 2008 from MSNBC web site: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15878137/ Post, G. V. and Anderson, D.L. (2006). Management information systems: Solving business problems with information technology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.