Zara Case Study

566 Words3 Pages
There are multiple risks of not upgrading the IT system in Zara – • The POS applications in Zara ran on top of DOS operating system and Microsoft was no longer supporting DOS after 2003. DOS was now outdated and Zara’s business model was heavily dependent on that technology. It posed a high risk to Zara as the hardware vendor for POS could decide to change the machine such that it no longer runs on DOS and as a consequence stores would not be able to provide information about their sales and demand immediately impacting Zara’s business. • Old technology is more prone to security vulnerabilities and is hard to maintain, improve and expand. In short, availability and scalability of the application takes a hit. • Zara is currently not able to manage the inventory using the PDA and POS technology. They are dependent on phone calls and fax machines to manage the inventory. This decreases productivity and efficiency. In the modern era of new technologies, company’s decision to use old system can degrade company’s efficiency and put them at a competitive disadvantage compared to its competitors who may be using new technologies. Potential Business rewards – • The key decision makers in Zara are the store managers and commercials who decide about the ordering of garments based on sale. New garments are available to be viewed on small PDAs after which the store managers can decide to order them. This requires effective information flow between headquarters and stores. New technology and establishment of PCs at the stores would improve that communication and help in taking effective decisions about ordering of new garments. • Zara stores are decentralized and not connected to each other. Employees make phone calls to check for inventories which is time consuming and decreases productivity. Upgrade to the new IT system would help Zara to connect the stores through network
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