The Media And Entertainment Information Technology Essay

The Media and Entertainment industry is that sector of business which provides consumers the service and products which keep them updates as well as busy. This sector includes print media, television, radio, film entertainment, video games and casinos.

Today this industry can is heavily dependent on the technology. Thus, media and entertainment industry and technology grow hand in hand. The evolution of this industry has brought into practise new business practises and technologies.

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource planning is a computer based system to integrate business management practises and latest technology. The system integrates various processes of an organisation and helps to achieve the goal of the organisation. Thus, ERP includes the following components; Business Management Practises, Information Technology and Business objectives.

In other words, ERP is software that helps in collecting and distributing scattered information across the various departments of an organisation. Thus, at the heart of ERP is centralized data server to acquire information from and supply information to other servers in each department.

ERP software architecture includes the various enterprise functions. It includes Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Customer Relationship Management, Finance/Accounts and Manufacturing.

Formerly, ERP were used in large scale industries. But today ERP is used in all kinds of organisation irrespective of field and scale of operation.

Advantages

It establishes a perfect integration of all the functional areas.

The system streamlines various business processes and workflows.

There is smooth flow of information across various departments of the organisation.

There is an increase in efficiency, performance and productive levels by the use of ERP.

It helps in taking decisions, thus enhances forecasting.

Improve customer service and satisfaction.

The Ideal ERP System

An ERP is considered to be ideal if it integrates all the below mentioned processes of the organisation:

Manufacturing: – Engineering, material planning, production processes, resource planning, workflow management, quality control etc.

Financials: – Accounts, fixed assets, ledger, cash management and billing.

Human Resource: – Recruitment, training, labour rules, attendance, payroll, compensations

Supply Chain Management: -Inventory management, sales order administration, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, supply transportation and distribution.

Customer Relationship Management: – Service, commissions, sales and marketing, customer contact and sales support.

Data Warehouse: – Information storehouse that can be accessed by organisation, suppliers, customers and employees.

ERP Vendors

Case Study

Company: Melco Crown Entertainment

ERP Software: Microsoft® Dynamicsâ„¢ AX 2009 ERP Solution

Company Overview:

Melco Crown Entertainment is owner and developer of casino resort in Macau. The company got listed in NASDAQ in 2006 raising in excess of US$1.14 billion in the process. The company aims to provide the best entertainment experience in Macau. It has 40 different business entities. The company has various properties like City of Dreams, which fulfils the company’s goal. The company is one of the largest employers in Macau with more than 10,000 employees.

Business Challenge:

The company had no prior experience in using a ERP system for all its 40 business entities. Each department functioned on its own.

As Melco got listed on NASDAQ it faced strict requirements to meet in the global market. Further, Melco had to meet the requirements of Macau gambling regulations. Thus, Melco Crown Entertainment Needed an ERP which could comply to all this rules.

The company’s HR and Finance faced challenges due to the heterogeneous nature of business. The time consumed was more and increase in the number of employees made it difficult and costly to support.

Further, the nature of business made the company realise the need of better data visibility and management. Thus, the company needed a centralised knowledge management and timely access to business data.

Also, the company wanted to improve its productivity and security.

The company had a very short time meet all these challenges and implement a ERP solution due to its other on-going projects.

Solution:

The company studied and analysed three different ERP products. But it was Microsoft Dynamics AX that suited the most for Melco Crown Entertainment.

In the words of Mr. Roger Seshadri, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Melco Crown Entertainment, “Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 ERP Solution has all the ingredients of a world-class enterprise product. We wanted an ERP system with excellent usability and good bang for our buck. Dynamics was the clear choice.”

Microsoft Dynamic AX

Microsoft Dynamic AX is the most easy to use enterprise resource planning solution for small and large scale organisation. It provides the user with software tools which are compatible with tools used every day like MS office. This ERP software makes people in organisation work more efficiently, manage data and gives a competitive edge in global market.

For companies in the media and entertainment business, the advancement in technology and era of digital media has brought immense complexity to the industry. Organisations that continue with outdated business management solution may fail to survive in this market. Thus, Microsoft Dynamic AX is one business solution that has helped this industry in the following manner:

It manages resources more efficiently. It helps in keeping track of production crew, talent, and other tangible resources more efficiently

It reduces cost of operation by reducing the manpower.

Various business intelligence tools help produce project report, graphs easily.

The software integrates data from all the various aspects of media industry. Thus, giving the company better data visibility and provides information when required.

Media industry is constantly in touch with its customers though it products and service. Microsoft Dynamic fosters betters relationship between the organisation and its customers by maintaining proper track of their order and customer satisfaction.

Impact on Melco Crown Entertainment:

The implementation of Microsoft Dynamic ERP solution overcame all challenges faced by the organisation. This software was a great success for Melco Crown. Today, success of Melco Crown can also be attributed to this business solution. Thus, benefits provided by the software are:

Increase in productivity: This ERP significantly increased the employee productivity at Melco Crown Entertainment. Dynamics AX integrated all the application of various business entities, reducing the complexity. The conventional interface of Dynamic AX avoided the complexity of change management and training.

Improvement in business processes and compliance: It has provided business process re-engineering and standardisation across all the entities. Most of the process are automated, making less labour work. Dynamic AX has provided a robust financial system with process and system controls, security, workflows and audit trial. The payroll for 10,000 employees is executed faster. The system also manages Macau and Hong Kong labour laws and tax requirements.

Centralized Information management: Real time access to information has made Melco Crown Entertainment a tough competitor in the entertainment industry. With integrated and timely information availability has improved the decision making pocess, which helps in planning future goals.

Lower IT costs: The company has been able to fulfil the demanding and critical business requirements with less hardware. Thus, IT team can focus on more business value jobs.