Multi-agent-based cloud utilization for the IT office-aid asset distribution chain: An empirical case study

IT office-aid assets (ex. PC, Telephone, etc.) are required tools for most office workers in an enterprise. The process from ordering to dispatching the composite office-aid assets for new employees itself is a supply chain within a company. This study aims to reduce labor costs, increase process efficiency, and resolve operational issues in the supply chain, by reengineering the process and integrating the multi-sites and multi-roles/tasks into a multi-agent-based collaborative cloud application service. The result shows that the empirical data supports the goals in twofold/two aspects: the process time is reduced, and thus the goal of issuing the IT office-aid composites at an early time is also achieved. Additional contributions of this study include converting batch processing of centralized management into parallel information processing by an agent-based collaborative platform and a simplified interface allowing users to get the picture of the entire flow in a snap shot with the help of a simplified interface. Meanwhile, agent-based cloud utilization for rapid and abundant distribution can be adopted by the company subsidiaries with similar processes or applied in other uses such as large-scale emergent gatherings in the military or the distribution of necessities to refugees in a disaster.