Please answer this Case.

52 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise INTERACTIVE SESSION: ORGANIZATIONS DOMINO'S SIZZLES WITH PIZZA TRACKER When it comes to pizza, everyone has an opinion. shorter training times. Since then, Pulse has become Some of us think that our current pizza is just fine a staple of all Domino's franchises. Some of the func the way it is. Others have a favorite pizza joint that tions Pulse performs at Domino's franchises are tak- makes it like no one else. And many pizza lovers in ing and customizing orders using a touch-screen America agreed up until recently that Domino's interface, maintaining sales figures, and compiling home-delivered pizza was among the worst. The customer information Domino's prefers not to home-delivery market for pizza chains in the United disclose the specific dollar amounts that it has saved States is approximately $15 billion per year. from Pulse, but it's clear from industry analysts that Domino's, which owns the largest home-delivery the technology is working to cut costs and increase market share of any U.S. pizza chain, is finding ways customer satisfaction to innovate by overhauling its in-store transaction More recently, Domino's released a new hardware processing systems and by providing other useful and software platform called Pulse Evolution, which services to customers, such as its Pizza Tracker And is now in use in a majority of Domino's more than more important, Domino's is trying very hard to 5,000 US branches Pulse Evolution improves on the overcome its reputation for poor quality by radically older technology in several ways. First, the older improving ingredients and freshness. Critics believe software used a thick-client model, which required the company significantly improved the quality of its all machines using the software to be fully equipped pizza and customer service in 2010 personal computers running Windows. Pulse Domino's was founded in 1960 by Tom Monaghan Evolution, on the other hand, uses thin-client' archi- and his brother James when they purchased a single tecture in which networked workstations with little pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The company independent processing power collect data and send slowly began to grow, and by 1978, Domino's had 200 them over the Internet to powerful Lenovo PCs for stores. Today, the company is headquartered in Ann processing. These workstations lack hard drives Arbor, Michigan, and operates almost 9,000 stores fans, and other moving parts, making them less located in all 50 US states and across the world in 60 expensive and easier to maintain. Also, Pulse international markets. In 2009, Domino's had $1.5 Evolution is easier to update and more secure, since billion in sales and earned $80 million in profit. there's only one machine in the store which needs to Domino's is part of a heated battle among promi- be updated. nent pizza chains, including Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Along with Pulse Evolution, Domino's rolled out and Little Caesar. Pizza Hut is the only chain larger its state-of-the-art online ordering system, which than Domino's in the U.S., but each of the four has includes Pizza Tracker. The system allows customers significant market share. Domino's also competes to watch a simulated photographic version of their with local pizza stores throughout the U.S. To gain a pizza as they customize its size, sauces, and toppings competitive advantage Domino's needs to deliver The image changes with each change a customer excellent customer service, and most importantly, makes. Then, once customers place an order, they good pizza. But it also benefits from highly effective are able to view its progress online with Pizza information systems. Tracker Pizza Tracker displays a horizontal bar that Domino's proprietary point-of-sale system, Pulse, tracks an order's progress graphically. As a Domino's is an important asset in maintaining consistent and store completes each step of the order fulfillment efficient management functions in each of its restau- process, a a section of the bar becomes red. Even rants. A point-of-sale system captures purchase and customers that place their orders via telephone can payment data at a physical location where goods or monitor their progress on the Web using Pizza services are bought and sold using computers, auto- Tracker at stores using Pulse Evolution. In 2010, mated cash registers, scanner, or other digital Domino's introduced an online polling system to devices continuously upload information from local stores In 2003, Domino's implemented Pulse in a large As with most instances of organizational change of portion of its stores, and those stores reported this magnitude, Domino's experienced some resis improved customer service, reduced mistakes, and tance. Domino's originally wanted its franchises to Chapter 2 Global E-business and collaboration 53 select Pulse to comply with its requirements for data security, but some franchises have resisted switching to Pulse and sought alternative systems. After Domino's tried to compel those franchises to use Pulse, the US. District Court for Minnesota sided with franchisees who claimed that Domino's could not force them to use this system. Now, Domino's continues to make improvements to Pulse in an effort to make it overwhelmingly appealing to all franchisees Pizza Hut and Papa John's also have online order ing capability, but lack the Pizza Tracker and the sim- ulated pizza features that Domino's has successfully implemented. Today, online orders account for almost 20 percent of all of Domino's orders, which is up from less than 15 percent in 2008. But the battle to sell pizza with technology rages on Pizza Hut cus- tomers can now use their iPhones to place orders, and Papa John's customers can place orders by tex- ting. With many billions of dollars at stake, all the large national pizza chains will be developing innova- tive new ways of ordering pizza and participating in its creation Sources: PR Newswire, "Servant Systems Releases Domino's Store Polling Software." PR Newswire, April 14, 2010; Julie Jargon, Domino's IT Staff Delivers Slick Site, Ordering System. The Wall Street Journal November 24, 2009, www.dominosbiz.com, accessed May 17, 2010: Paul McDougall Interop Domino's Eyes Microsoft Cloud." Information Week, April 25, 2010, Domino's Builds New Foundation Under Proprietary Store Tech Nation's Restaurant News, February 25, 2009, and "Inside Domino's " Pa Tracker What It Does, Why, and How" Nation's Rest News, February 27, 2008 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What kinds of systems are described in this case? Identify and describe the business processes cach supports. Describe the inputs, processes, and out- puts of these systems. 2. How do these systems help Domino's improve its business performance? 3. How did the online pizza ordering system improve the process of ordering a Domino's pizza? 4. How effective are these systems in giving Domino's a competitive edge? Explain your answer MIS IN ACTION Visit Domino's Web site and examine the order place- ment and Pizza Tracker features. Then answer the following questions: 1. What steps does Pizza Tracker display for the user? How does the Piazza Tracker improve the customer experience? 2. Would the Pizza Tracker service influence you to order pizza from Domino's instead of a competing chain? Why or why not? 3. What improvements would you make to the order placement feature? Supply Chain Management Systems Firms use supply chain management (SCM) systems to help manage relationships with their suppliers. These systems help suppliers, purchasing firms, dis- tributors, and logistics companies share information about orders, production, inventory levels, and delivery of products and services so that they can source, produce, and deliver goods and services effi- ciently. The ultimate objective is to get the right amount of their products from their source to their point of consumption in the least amount of time and at the lowest cost. These systems increase firm profitability by lowering the costs of moving and making products and by enabling managers to make better decisions about how to organize and schedule sourcing, production, and distribution. Supply chain management systems are one type of interorganizational system because they automate the flow of information across organizational boundaries. You will find examples of other types of interorganizational information systems throughout this text because such systems make it possible for firms to link electronically to customers and to outsource their work to other companies. Customer Relationship Management Systems Firms use customer relationship management (CRM) systems to help manage their relationships with their customers. CRM systems provide infor- mation to coordinate all of the business processes that deal with customers in sales, marketing, and service to optimize revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. This information helps firms identify, attract, and retain the most profitable customers; provide better service to existing cus- tomers, and increase sales