Information System Fuzziness in Database Management

Question: Describe about the Information System for Fuzziness in Database Management. Answer: Introduction: A report is to be prepared on the relevance of the information system on the organisational perspective. In the digitised world information technology plays a vital role to provide a competitive edge to the organisations which facilitates them for a better decision making mechanism. Through this report a critical evaluation of the database systems should be highlighted and the challenges associated to it from the organisational point of view. In order to have a better understanding of the study, the organisation relevance of Vodafone would be taken in this case. It is to be noted that Vodafone is the UK based telecommunication services. Vodafone runs operation in around 26 countries around the world and has network partnership in 50 states around the globe. In the year 2015, Vodafone earned a revenue worth 42.22 billion (Vodafone, 2016). Vodafone provide mobile connection facilities to 436 million subscribers. Report Body: Database Management Systems Database management system (DBMS) is a software package which is conceived to manage the unorganised data into as organised data. In simplistic term, DBMS interacts with the user and other ort of database to source and analyse the different kinds of data (Xu, et al., 2013). DBMS take the relevance of software like MySQL, Microsoft SQL, Oracle and IBM DB2. Figure 1: DBMS Source: (Hoffer, et al., 2016) DBMS takes into account three important elements Data, Database Engine and Database Schema (Davenport, 2013). The capabilities of DBMS lies in specifying the structure of the database and exploiting same through its elements to extract the rightful information. Data are the unorganised information which needs to be organisation for the relevance of the firm. Database Engine allows the data to be accessed which otherwise are kept locked and need to be developed. Database Schema shapes the logical construction of the database system. These three elements together helps to build up the foundation of the information for the organisation (Grefen, et al., 2012). It helps to provide concurrency, data reliability, security and supervision of the sorts of information. Benefits of DBMS DBMS provides for a better data security and integrity from the possible threats and exploitation of the confidential data from the external elements. So DBMS provides for a better protection and maintenance of the data. It is a platform in which the data could be accessed by a multiple user but in a controlled manner. DBMS levies a rational, organised organisation on the data (Bosc, 2013). DBMS on its part provides for an economy of scale for the purpose of processing large amount of data. The capacity of DBMS to store files and memory are of a better and powerful expertise than that of simply storing in a simple CPU file storage system (Hoffer, et al., 2016). Challenges of DBMS DBMS often comes across the issue of unstructured data. These kind of data contains mere facts such as numbers and dates. The unstructured data grow comparatively faster than the structured data. It has the capability to surpass the activities of the structured data. So DBMS need to control the activities of the unstructured data to get the maximum from the structured data for the purpose of business (Hoffer, et al., 2016). Besides the source of data has become quite diverse with the advent of the smartphones and new kinds of mobile applications. So the data are to be collected from a variety of source, such as websites, android and social media and managing those data has become a diverse issue. It is a challenge seems to grip the issue of DBMS throwing off a challenge to manage it effectively in favour of the organisation. In addition to it, the issue of Cloud Computing has added to the complexity of the management of the database system. Therefore the organisation needs to take me asures like training its staff to convert those unstructured data into the structured one to exploit those in the favour of the organisation. Case Study related to DBMS on Vodafone A case study on Vodafone would be summed up in this particular section with reference to the DBMS. It is seen that Vodafone is a leader player in the telecommunication sector. It offers global solutions for fixed telephony, mobile services, internet and data, security services and CRM facilities to its subscribers spread over five continents in the world (Vodafone, 2015). So with the rise in the number of subscribers, Vodafone has come across various issues like handling the customer queries to deal with the process effectively. Vodafone has been concentrating on the relevance of the corporate customers. While doing so they encountered certain issues like customer disappointment for not being able to address their concern effectively. It needs efficient scaling of the business entities lie that of the call centres. Scenario The Vodafone call centres handle a significant number of cases. But higher number of workloads had compromised the efficiency of the customer service facility. This had resulted in a higher attrition on the organisational scope along with the drainage of potential revenue. The Vodafone call centres came across issues like inefficient process, obsolete data and high training costs which compromised the quality of the customer service facility. A closer look on this issue are provided below: Inefficient Process Customer queries grew up to a significant large number. But the existing system assisted the customer gents to navigate through different applications which resulted in non-productive measures. The measures like authentication process, customer selection and screening results in navigation which in turn increases the lapse time making the customers wait for a longer time resulting in customer dissatisfaction. Obsolete Data Most importantly the data used by the call centres were not updated and so they could not access the current information about the customers. This is because the data were to be derived from a computer-generated source of data warehouse. Training Costs The call centre agents at Vodafone were not trained enough to use the multiple applications working. So they made delayed response to the awaited customers. To counter this issue, Vodafone arranged for training of the employees which resulted in a higher cost to the company. It became obligatory for Vodafone to overcome these issues at the latest. To do so Vodafone adopted a unified current of all sorts of customer data to the customer service centres and customer portals from relevant sources like billing and incident management. It apparently helped the company to do away with data replication to a large extent. Solution Vodafone explored quite a few possibilities to develop a unified approach to have the customer data. They considered options like removal of the customer data to the CRM system or to load those data into the data warehouse. But they were not considered as it involved high resource cost and feasibility of the CRM system to hold such a large volume of data. In order to have a feasible solution towards it, Vodafone resorted to the Denodos Data Virtualisation platform. It assisted the organisation to have a single customer view: The data virtualisation system led to diverse connectivity of the dissimilar source system. The mechanism helped to provide the agents to have a complete overview of the data of the customers and at the same time minimising data replication. The platform led to the right time delivery of the data. It would help the call centre agents at Vodafone to work with the latest version of the data helping in increasing the efficiency of the work processes. The recyclable data services allowed publishing of the data to the multiple client applications. It facilitated in incurring lower costs for development and maintenance. It is a cost-effective mechanism which extracts data from the clients. The information of the clients are collected from their data usage, kinds of calls they made and video chatting. These kind of information are used to serve the customers in a better way by offering the services they want more in number. So the user of the software know beforehand the kind of usage the customers are habituated with. It saves time, resources and efforts on both the sides. Figure 2: Denodo Data Virtualisation Platform Source: (Vodafone, 2015) The Denodo platform interconnected the source system taking into account the Oracle databases. It does contain the data of the customers from the billing system and subscribers using JBDC and the incident management system using the web services. This data source along with that of Denodo in order to develop data services that led to the creation of three major applications: Application Service Management Contact Centre The application along with the integration of CTI facilitates automatic queries with each incoming call. This helped the call centre agents to get the relevant customer information before receiving the call. Sales Management Application The Denodo application with the help of the web service provide the call centre agents with unified view of the data related to the customers. Those data were related to subscriptions and promotions based on the past records. It makes the Vodafone agents to have a quick understanding of the requirement of the customers. Vodafone on its part exploits the data to develop its business further. It is done by upselling and cross-selling of its product. Portal of the Distributors The distributors portal connect to the Denodo platform through Java API. In this process the information of the customers are provided to the distributors. Benefits of the Denodo platform The Denodo Data Virtualisation platform assisted Vodafone to escalate the competence of the call centres. At the same time it developed the eminence of the customer service speed. It really benefitted the firm to gain a higher customer loyalty and retention of the customers. Phenomenally the lapse time to serve the customers from 6 minutes to 2 minutes. Therefore, the said platform reduced the service response time by 66% and improved the overall quality of the customer service (Hoffer, et al., 2016). The Denodo platform increased the scalability of the data infrastructure system which helped the business to support its growth. Most importantly the Denodo Data Virtualisation system enhanced the productivity of the organisation by a whopping proportion of 40%. Findings of the Case Study From the case study it is clear that with an efficient database platform, organisations could lead to an efficient workforce to handle the customer queries in a big number (Grefen, et al., 2012). Vodafone has rightly used the Denodo Data Virtualisation system to manage its DBMS to source for business intelligence. The application on its part helped to source the customer data from the billing and subscription system. The JBDC and incident management web services helped the organisation to source this intelligence effectively in favour of the business. The application of the Denodo Data Virtualisation platform smoothen the functions of the call centre agents. The 40% surge in productivity and 66% reduction of the lapse time bear evidence to it. All this has been possible with the right implementation of the Denodo Data Virtualisation system as rightly resorted by Vodafone to improve on its productivity and DBMS. The efficiency in the system led the organisation to upsell and cross-sell its product to the pool of the satisfied customers. So a better database management system led to the correct decision making in favour of the organisation which yield to have a better stream of revenue for Vodafone. The case study is also a live example for the implementation of the knowledge management system. As seen the call centre agents of Vodafone were used of making use of a traditional database system. It made them complicate the situation as it did generate customer dissatisfaction compared to the customer satisfaction level. While implementing Denodo Data Virtualisation system, the call centre agents has to undergo training. So in this case the organisational knowledge goes a rhetoric change in order to put into application the Denodo Data Virtualisation platform. So the DBMS has put into use the system to gain relevance on the business intelligence, analytical thinking for decision making and knowledge management system Conclusions: Through this report an insight has been provided for along with a case study on Vodafone. DBMS on the organisational aspect facilitates customer service unto a great extent. It laid for challenges for Vodafone in terms of customer dissatisfaction. The firm came over by shifting to an efficient platform like Denodo Data Virtualisation system to provide the customers with a better service. The case study presented on Vodafone shows that with the effective implementation of the right kind of application such as the Denodo Data Virtualisation platform an effective measure is been soughed for to improve the customer service facility. Recommendation For the purpose of the report some recommendations are been suggested for to have a better and efficient DBMS. In this case the aspect of cloud computing would be of much help. This is because cloud computing paves the way for optimised scaling, higher availability and most importantly effective utilisation of the resources. So against the backdrop of the traditional database, cloud computing could be of much help as evident from the case study presented in the report. Therefore, Vodafone with the effective implementation of the cloud computing process and applications like Denodo Data Virtualisation system the DBMS could be made up for a much better usage in favour of the business. The ethical aspect would be addressed by giving the customers an effective resolution which they sought for. So with the adoption of a technical efficient mechanism like cloud computing, Denodo Data Virtualisation system Vodafone could come up with a moral standpoint to have the faith of the customers on them by serving them better. Bibliography Bosc, P. (., 2013. Fuzziness in database management systems. Vol. 5 ed. London: Physica. Davenport, T. H., 2013. Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. London: Harvard Business Press. Grefen, P., Pernici, B. Snchez, G. (., 2012. Database support for workflow management: the WIDE project. Vol. 491 ed. London: Springer Science Business Media. Hoffer, J., Venkataraman, R. Topi, H., 2016. Modern database management. London: Pearson Education Limited. Vodafone, 2015. Vodafone. [Online] Available at: https://www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/apps/index.htm Vodafone, 2016. Vodafone's global presence. [Online] Available at: https://www.vodafone.com/content/index/about/where.html [Accessed 06 July 2016]. Xu, J. D., Benbasat, I. 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