Lowe's is a home improvement department store founded in 1946 as a one-stop shop and has since grown to become the second largest in the world. As technology has evolved, Lowe's has made many advancements by incorporating new systems and devices to remain competitive. The purpose of this document is to evaluate the information technology management systems used by Lowe's. Porter's five forces model, supply chain management, will be examined; database management system, five agent-based technologies, electronic commerce, and system development life cycle. Additionally, it will review business continuity planning, emerging trends and security vulnerabilities relevant to your organization to remain competitive. Information Systems Staying Competitive Lowe's employs more than 260,000 people in more than 1,830 stores; These employees are trained to provide exceptional customer service and receive up-to-date product knowledge to assist customers with their improvement needs. Additionally, Lowe's upgraded the store's IT infrastructure to help employees access product data more quickly and easily. This is achieved by providing the sales team with computers with internet access and iPads and iPhones equipped with specialized apps (Lowes, 2014). Porter's Five Forces Model Threat of Entry. Lowe's is the second largest home improvement retailer in the United States and is expanding into other countries. Their stores offer a wide variety of major brands with “40,000 products in stock, 500,000 items available online at Lowes.com, and over 500,000 additional products available via special order” (Lowe's, 2014). Rivalry. Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Menards are the biggest competition Lowe's faces. With Home Depot being the big......paper center......: John Wiley & Sons.Real Results Magazine (2012). At the head of the group. Retrieved from http://www.jda.com/realresultsmagazine/view-article.cfm?did=2470#lowesRudarakanchana, D. (2013). E-commerce retailers expect strong holiday sales, with Amazon outpacing traditional companies. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/e-commerce-retailers-foresee-strong-holiday-sales-amazon-besting-traditional-firms-1468146Seeking Alpha (2012). Lowe's Companies, Inc. (low) news. Retrieved from http://seekingalpha.com/article/1047981-lowes-companies-ceo-hosts-2012-analyst-and-investor-conference-transcript?part=singleTraxler, D. (2013). Large-scale distribution redefines e-commerce. Retrieved from http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/60699-Large-Retailers-Redefining-EcommerceUPenn (2014). Calculation of mobile agents. Retrieved from www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/courses/629/papers/Concordia-WhitePaper.html