Fossil Information System Fossil, United States Computer-Based Information Systems Support Best Business Practices High-quality, up-to-date, well-maintained computer-based information systems are at the heart of today's most successful global corporations. For a business to succeed globally, it must be able to provide the right information to the right people in the organization at the right time, even if those people are located around the world. Increasingly, this means that decision makers can view the state of every aspect of the business in real time. For example, an executive in Paris can use an information system to see that a company product was purchased from a retailer in San Francisco three minutes ago. If a company's information system is not efficient and effective, the company will lose market share to a competitor with a better information system. For a deeper understanding of how information systems are used in business, consider Fossil. You are probably familiar with the Fossil brand. Fossil is well known for its watches, handbags, jewelry, and fashion accessories that are sold in numerous retail and department stores around the world. Fossil was founded in 1984 when it set up wholesale distribution of its products to department stores in North America, Asia, and Europe. The company quickly grew and began manufacturing products for other brands such as Burberry, Diesel, DKNY, and Emporio Armani. As Fossil grew, the information it managed expanded until it threatened to be unmanageable, so Fossil invested in a corporate-wide information system developed by SAP Corporation and designed for wholesale companies. The SAP information system efficiently stored and organized all of Fossil's business information, which assisted Fossil management with important business decisions they needed to make. An information system's ability to organize information so that it provides fuel for smart business decisions is the real value of computer-based information systems. SAP, IBM, Oracle, and other computer-based information systems developers do much more than provide hardware systems and databases. The systems they install are governed by software that implements best business practices. These systems assist managers in designing the best business solutions, which is why selecting the right computer-based information system is crucial to a company's success. Using the SAP information system to manage its business, Fossil continued to prosper. The company linked its information system to those of its customers, such as Wal-Mart and Macy's, to automate the task of fulfilling orders. Fossil was one of the first companies to launch an online store on the Web, and managed its evolution from a wholesale business to a retail business. Another information system was developed for Web sales that worked with the core SAP corporate-wide information system. More recently, Fossil began experimenting by opening its own retail stores, which have now blossomed into hundreds of Fossil stores across the United States and in 15 other countries. However, because managing a retail store is different from managing a wholesale company, Fossil again turned to SAP and IBM to design additional information systems that would service its retail needs. Because Fossil's retail and wholesale operations share production warehousing and shipping, the retail information system is designed to be integrated with its wholesale information system. Fossil's information systems are all integrated, connecting to one central database. Using these information systems, the company can quickly react to market demands. For example, if Fossil sees that a particular style of watch is selling well at its retail store in London, it can quickly ship more of that style to department stores operating in the same area. Fossil credits the information systems for simplifying its business infrastructure and supporting consistent best practices across its expanding global business.

Use the information pyramid concept, discuss what information systems fossil employed at each level and how the use of each information system helped the business.