COMP3760/6760: Enterprise Systems Integration

COMP3760/6760: Enterprise Systems Integration

Assignment 1 (10% of the semester)

Semester 2, 2024

The Aggregator Model of eBusiness

Consider the business model of Shippit (appendix 1). Explain how acting as an aggregator, the company makes strategic use of IT to conduct their business (chapter 2/week 1 in our text).

In line with Shippit, what other examples of aggregators can you find?

Shippit is a courier aggregator, which automatically selects the fastest and cheapest courier for every order. Providers include Australia Post, Aramex and Couriers Please …. “Delivery has a genuinely causal effect on loyalty, and through our platform, we have the opportunity to power the next generation of retailing here just as we have done in Australia over the last decade.” ….. “With the influx of international retailers like Amazon, local businesses need robust delivery solutions to maintain customer loyalty. Shippit’s platform. addresses this by offering multiple delivery options, supporting bulky deliveries, and ensuring extensive coverage across both North and South islands,” ….. Shippit offers retailers access to a comprehensive carrier network that covers more than 95 per cent of the country’s parcel volume. The move should allow businesses – from national enterprises to family-run stores – to leverage discounted rates and diverse delivery options … Shippit has a partnership with Australia Post, which allows it to harness the power of more than 11,000 delivery vehicles Australia-wide, making it one of Australia’s largest delivery platforms (Bell, 2024 – appendix 1).

For this assignment write no more than 700 words around the following points:

- Discuss Shippit as an eBusiness

- How does Shippit make strategic use of IT?

- Explain how the aggregator model of eBusiness works

- Find 2-3 other examples of aggregators

1.     Read the articles in appendix  1. The first is more relevant, the second provides further background.

2.     Find some other articles.

3.     Use academic writing approaches (see appendix 2).

a.   There ‘should’ be 3-4 references in your reference list which you have drawn upon to write the report (again

see appendix 2).

4.     Write  @   100  words  each  for  your  introduction   and  conclusion,  and   @  500  words  for  the  main  body  of  the

assignment (Shippit and the strategic aggregator model of eBusiness).

Deliverable and submission

Soft copy only

1.   One PDF document (PDF only) submitted on iLearn.

DATE DUE: 11.55 pm, Friday 16th August - Week 4 Bibliography

Bell, M., (2024) “Shippit to expand into New Zealand as it edges closer to profitability” The Australian 3/7/24 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/

business/companies/shippit-to-expand-into-new-zealand-as-it-edges-closer-to-profitability/news-story/a9979f2cc30edd73a91110d5c574cb4f

(accessed 10/7/24).

Chaffey, D., (2015) Digital Business and e-Commerce Management: Strategy, Implementation and Practice Pearson Harlow U.K.

Hewett, J., (2020) “How Shippit got lean and profitable during COVID” The Australian 27/8/20 https://www.theaustralian.com.au

/business/how-shippit-got-lean-and-profitable-during-covid/news-story/938acbc48a1d71aa3be7f1e6939ec8c6 (accessed 10/7/24). Papazoglou, M., (2012)  Web Services & SOA: Principles and Technology 2nd ed. Pearson U.K.

Papazoglou, M., Ribbers, P., (2011) e-Business: Organizational and Technical Foundations eText John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Chichester West Sussex

U.K. https://www.amazon.com.au/Business-Organizational-Technical-Foundations-ebook/dp/B00DWHOKYU

Appendix 1

Bell, M., (2024) “Shippit to expand into New Zealand as it edges closer to profitability” The Australian 3/7/24

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/shippit-to-expand-into-new-zealand-as-it-edges-closer-to- profitability/news-story/a9979f2cc30edd73a91110d5c574cb4f (accessed 10/7/24).

Shippit to expand into New Zealand as it edges closer to profitability

William On and Rob Hango-Zada are taking Shippit to New Zealand. Picture: Nikki Short

The $300m e-commerce delivery platform. rival Shippit will expand into New Zealand as it looks to broaden its footprint across the region months out from becoming profitable. The company, which powers hundreds of millions of deliveries for prominent retailers such as Kmart, Chemist Warehouse and Coles, says it will also enhance the delivery experience for retailers  and  consumers  alike,  demonstrating resilience  and  growth  in a rocky retail landscape.   Shippit  is a courier aggregator, which automatically selects the fastest and cheapest courier for every order. Providers include Australia Post, Aramex and Couriers Please.

Its New Zealand operation will be led by head of market development  Sofia Newcombe supported by a team of 30 – across  research  and  development,  product,  shipping operations,  customer success and sales  – servicing  the country. Shippit co-founder and co-chief executive William On told The Australian that expanding into New Zealand was a logical next step for the start-up as it looked to become a truly Australia-New Zealand platform. “Like Australia, New Zealand is an entrepreneurial, proud and innovative retail market. Our arrival comes at a pivotal time, though, as retailers prepare to compete against foreign retail entrants,” he  said. “Delivery has a genuinely causal effect on loyalty, and through our platform, we have the opportunity to power the next generation of retailing here just as we have done in Australia over the last decade.”

Shippit will  enter  New  Zealand  with  established partnerships with  local retail giants including  Spotlight, Freedom, Harvey Norman, Accent Group, Macpac and Kathmandu. Mr On said that the timing was right to enter New Zealand, with  the  country’s  retail  market  projected  to generate  $8.44bn in  revenue by the end of  2024.  “With the influx of international  retailers   like  Amazon,  local  businesses  need   robust  delivery  solutions  to  maintain  customer  loyalty. Shippit’s  platform. addresses  this  by   offering  multiple   delivery  options,  supporting  bulky   deliveries,  and  ensuring extensive coverage across both North and South islands,” he said.

Expansion comes as Shippit continues to track towards its first profit slated to be achieved by October. Shippit has seen group revenue lift 30 per cent in the past year with order volumes up 26 per cent despite consumers pulling back on retail spending because  of cost-of-living  pressures.  Shippit  offers  retailers  access  to a comprehensive carrier  network  that covers  more  than  95  per  cent  of  the  country’s parcel volume.  The move  should  allow businesses –  from national enterprises to family-run stores – to leverage discounted rates and diverse delivery options.

Shippit has a partnership with Australia Post, which allows it to harness the power of more than  11,000 delivery vehicles Australia-wide, making it one of Australia’s largest delivery platforms. Retail trade has slowed significantly in the past year as rapid interest rate rises coupled with sticky inflation erode many household budgets. Economists forecast that retail trade  data  for  May  to  show  growth  of 0.3  per  cent  in  the  month  compared  to  0.1  per  cent  in  April,  when  the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases it on Wednesday.

Matt Bell is a journalist and digital producer at The Australian and The Australian Business Network. Previously, he reported on the travel and insurance sectors for B2B audiences, and most recently covered property at The Daily

Telegraph.

Hewett, J., (2020) “How Shippit got lean and profitable during COVID” The Australian 27/8/20 https://www.

theaustralian.com.au/business/how-shippit-got-lean-and-profitable-during-covid/news-story/938acbc48a1d71aa3 be7f1e6939ec8c6 (accessed 10/7/24).

How Shippit got lean and profitable during COVID

By Jackson Hewett August 27, 2020

Logistics  software  provider  Shippit was  one  of the  first  companies to recognise the  scale  of  COVID-19’s  impact. Powering fulfilment for the likes of Harvey Norman, Cotton On and Kathmandu, they started seeing how supply chains were  freezing up  China  well before most  companies  had  an  inkling  of how  big the problem would be. They moved quickly, shifting to fully remote working in February and started sharpening the razor when they started to see demand soften. For Rob Hango-Zada, company co-founder, it was an enforced maturation of a five-year-old business that had been enjoying the growth spurts of a fast-moving start-up. “Our habit was always to invest ahead of growth but we took a more conservative approach and felt the need to really cut deep and quickly to preserve some precious capital,” he told The Australian’s Remaking Business live audience.

Hiring stopped, salaries were frozen and rulers were run over any non-essential software subscriptions to jettison bloat. They quickly came to realise that wouldn’t be enough and shifted their mindset to a retail market of “zero to no growth” . Lay-offs ensued. “We cutback on sales and some core operations and reduced layers of management with  a focus to preserve capabilities and maintain a certain level of service,” Hango-Zada said. “We had a beautiful product road map. We’re a software business, so we had a lot of grand plans and when we went through this whole exercise, we completely reset our strategy. “We took on a mantra and mindset of austerity within the business. Cost control was king.”

Where the company previously had that start-up mentality and methodology that afforded a lot of latitude to employees to  innovate inside a strategic framework, instead the leadership team set team targets to “maximise revenue, minimise costs” looking  at  five areas  of the business  including  finding new markets  and  launching products,  improving the  customer  experience and reducing non-staff operating costs. “We did that for a quarter, and it changed our culture. It went from one  which was a little bit more start-up, a little bit more happy-go-lucky to a business which was really determined to succeed  and pull through. The team really dug deep,” Hango-Zada said. They put in place tools to better automate the business,  implementing a new customer relationship management tool, a new billing system and other optimisation software they  had put off during the growth phase. It led to their first profitable quarter since the company was founded and reinforced  to Hango-Zada the need for constant reinvention. “It’s kind of our version of digital transformation,” he said. “We’re a  digital native business but  for us,  looking  at  automating  processes  around  sales,  around  how  we  bill  customers,  and  around how we operate the company was really important.”

Just as Shippit was getting lean, the downturn they had planned for suddenly went in the opposite direction. Sales volumes tripled on the platform. in the first few weeks of the shutdown as millions of people started to work from home, filling online carts with furniture for home offices, gym and exercise equipment and coffee and coffee machines, all while the high-end fashion retailers who had been such a vital part of the platform. since its inception saw sales dry up. The frenzy had subsided somewhat, Hango-Zada said, but demand is still far higher than pre-COVID. Hango-Zada is particularly impressed with the ingenuity shown by businesses who have successfully made the switch to online. “I was speaking to Sal Malatesta, who’s the  founder  of Saint Ali  Coffee  Roasters  down  in Melbourne. All  of a  sudden  overnight,  their business was decimated. But they pivoted really early on and created a bit of movement with their brand, they opened a general store. Now they sell more hand sanitiser than coffee and more personal protective gear than brewing equipment so they’ve done really well,” he said. That innovative spirit is even more important now the second lockdown in Melbourne is underway. According to a recent survey by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), about one third of businesses were concerned about their viability in May, but by August that number had increased to two thirds.

Lisa Livis,  small business banking  spokeswoman for Westpac  said the lockdown was taking its toll on businesses in Victoria and the businesses that were most successful in navigating the lockdown were those who both kept a tight rein on operating costs while identifying new areas for additional revenue. “Their priorities were maintaining income, looking at their cash and keeping their people employed. It was about really sticking to those core functions, while also looking for other opportunities,” Livis said. “Customers who have had really good operational excellence, have been going to their advisors such as their accountants and their relationship manager to do scenario analysis — what’s the worst case, what’s the expected case and what’s the best case. They’ve really hoped for the best but planned for the worst.”

One factor that has been keeping many businesses alive has been the JobKeeper program, with ACCI saying that 60 per  cent of firms were reliant on the subsidy for survival. Hango-Zada said it was definitely a factor in assisting their retail  customers build  and  service  an  online  clientele.  “JobKeeper  has  been  an  absolute godsend for a lot of our  retailers,  bringing their staff back to stores and back to work and, using our technology, turning the stores into fulfilment centres so  they  could  get  products  to   customers  a  lot  quicker  when   they  weren’t  actually  walking  into  stores  themselves,” Hango-Zada said.

While  Shippit  has  been  in  the  enviable position  of  catching  a  favourable  wave  during  the  COVID  lockdown,  the experience overall has been one of maturation for the five-year-old business. The rapid experimentation and willingness to fail from their start-up days has been tempered by the pain of having to let staff go. “Before, if we failed, it was OK. But I think the cost of failure is a lot greater for our business now. We’re a little bit more  ‘measure twice, cut once’ in our mindset,” Hango-Zada said.

Appendix 2

Writing at university level means academic writing. Academic writing is not like writing a novel.     Informal writing styles  are  not  encouraged.     You  are  required  to  substantiate  what you write/say  in  your  academic  and  professional lives. It is only in rare instances where you will be permitted to write works of fiction at university, it is also for similar reasons  that  the  first  person  singular  (I  feel, I think, I did, my feeling is   …),  is  generally  to be avoided in writing university   assignments   (there   are   some   exceptions   to    this   rule,    for    example   law    faculties    often    adopt   the first-person-singular in their writing style).

As insulting as this may seem, as a student you are not considered to be an expert at anything (that usually comes with the title Dr. and then later Professor).     The point is you need to state the source of your information in assignments.

For the purposes of this assignment, we will use the Harvard referencing  style, although if you  are comfortable with footnoting, please do so.

Citing vs. quoting

1.     Where an idea is ‘adopted/adapted’ from an author but restated in your words, one uses citing as a means of

establishing where the information was derived from.     For example

…… Smith (1990) was inclined to believe that … blahblahblah, … (where blahblahblah are your words, but the author’s ideas). No page number needs to be included for citing authors (but you must include the author’s surname, and date of publication of the reference where you have derived the information from).

No, you cannot cite your friends (or lecture/tutorial/practical material).

2.     Where the words have simply been lifted/copied directly by you, is referred to as quoting someone.     For

example  … ..  it  was  felt  that  “of all  the  database  schemas,  the  object  relational  approach  is  … .. ”  (Zhang,

1990  p.  53).  In  this  case  quotation  marks  are  used  as  well  as  a  page  number  stating  where  the information directly came from.

Where you have a quote that is longer than say 20 words, you indent these as a separate paragraph from the main body of your text and you single space the block quote, like so

When faced with  a small problem domain,  system development can be all about modeling of user functional  requirements.  However,  when  faced  with  a  large  problem  domain,  such  as  with  an enterprise information system, system development must recognize the demands placed on it by the non-functional system qualities. The quality of interest in this paper is supportability (Maciaszek and Liong, 2003; Maciaszek et al., 2004).  Supportability  is really the  combination of three qualities – understandability,  maintainability,  and  scalability.  An  unsupportable  system  is  a  legacy  system (Maciaszek, 2005 p. 17).

… . Note, no quote marks are necessary, but you still include author surname, year of publication and page number where possible.

You do not need to italicise block quotes (or normal quotes for that matter).

Lecture notes/course notes do not count as references - these are not to be referred to in written assignments/reports (one is expected to go to the source reference instead – i.e., the book, journal, or conference paper).

Report structure

The word-processed report will include

- table of contents

- sub-titles

- list of references OR bibliography3

3   A list  of references includes just those  specific references you  cited  and/or  quoted  from, whereas  a bibliography includes the

references as well as any other texts (electronic or paper) you may have used in producing the assignment (e.g., you may have looked up a word in a dictionary).

The assignment text should be space and a half or double-spaced. The reference list or bibliography should be single-spaced.

Your paragraphs may either be left-aligned or justified.

Bibliography/Reference list

The minimum level of detail for each book/journal reference used in either a list of references  or bibliography is as follows.

For a book:

Busch, P., (2008) Tacit Knowledge in Organizational Learning IGI-Global Hershey Pennsylvania U.S.A. For a journal article/conference paper:

Venkitachalam, K., Busch, P., (2012) "Tacit Knowledge: Review and Possible Research Directions" Journal of

Knowledge Management 16(2) pp: 357-372. For electronic publications (e.g., ones from the internet):

Busch, P., (2006) "Organisation Design and Tacit Knowledge Transferal: An Examination of Three IT Firms"

Journal ofKnowledge Management Practice 7(2) URL: http://www.tlainc.com/articl111.htm (accessed 10/7/24).

At  the  end  of  your  assignment,  you   simply  place  all  types  of  references  together  in   alphabetical  order  of  author surname. You do not list them separately by book, conference paper and electronic publication.

Marking Rubric

	Developing (Borderline Fail-Pass)	Functional (Pass)		Proficient (Credit)		Advanced (Distinction-High Distinction)
Writing and Analysis	Perhaps 1 or more references, but little cohesion in writing. No link between one concept to the next. References lacking at the end of the assignment.		Perhaps 2-4 sources considered, basic presentation of concepts but lacking good synthesis of arguments.		Good range of literature consulted (3-4+ references). Case well argued. Some flaws in analysis.	Excellent understanding of the concepts with very sound synthesis of the literature (typically 6+ references cited/quoted).