INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 9, ISSUE 02, FEBRUARY 2020 ISSN 2277-8616 1510 IJSTR©2020 www.ijstr.org “Cheryl” Information Technology As A Media To Enhance Competitive Advantages In E-Commerce Whedy Prasetyo, Kartika, Rochman Effendi, Indah Purnamawati, Resha Dwi Ayu Pangesti Mulyono Abstract: “CHERYL” is the use of technology aimed to guarantee the smooth-run of businesses for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This research applied “CHERYL” information technology to create competitive advantages for an SME, namely Kopi Makmur based on the utilization of e- commerce technology. The utilization of e-commerce technology in Kopi Makmur was studied through qualitative method with case study in system application. The study was conducted by direct observation and in-depth interviews. The results showed that Computer-Based Information System (CBIS) contained problem solving data. “CHERYL” work sequence provided the identification of relationship between the system implementation, from start to finish, with the conditions encountered. This study used problem-oriented approach based on the system. This orientation produced efficiency, precision, convenience, as well as benefit of e-commerce information that was needed to achieve competitive advantages. Index Terms: “CHERYL” information technology , problem-oriented approach, e-commerce, competitive advantage ——————————  —————————— 1. INTRODUCTION THIS study was inspired by SMEs problem in utilizing technology to support the success of their activities and by daily opinion of Kompas (Indonesian national newspaper) on May 7, 2015 and January 11, 2018 which stated that the role of financial analysis in human life was changing. The financial arithmetic skills required in today’s life are different from those of previous centuries with the availability of accurate and fast computers in calculating a series of sums or complex analytical operations. Therefore, financial calculation skills in the present era are expected to prioritize problem solving and reasoning skills rather than calculation and formula. The above message is well illustrated through the “Cheryl” problem that went in viral in cyberspace within weeks of 2015 & 2018. “Cheryl” is an effort to utilize technology in achieving competitive advantages. Here is the story of “CHERYL” related to e-commerce business. Albert and Bernard had just become friends with Cheryl and they wanted to know the progress of the business she was doing and across the country. Cheryl then provided business choice with computer or manual calculation, needed time more than 24 hours, and could identify whether the business was known by public or not, or whether the business was creative, innovative, accurate, effective and economical or otherwise. The four questions were used to establish the resulting product. Therefore, Albert and Bernard knew that technology was needed in establishing business success. Thus, will they ignore the use of technology in business environment? Advances in information technology make it even easier to access information anywhere on the internet. One of the influential media in the internet era is online sale, which make transactions and saving costs easier than ever. In addition, online sale acts as an effective promotional media for local products because the media itself is widely accessed by the public as long as they are connected to the internet. The development of information technology causes the role changes from manual to digital role. The role of information technology systems concist of efficient, effective, economical to strategic role. Because of its strategic role, the information technology system is called a strategic weapon (competitive weapon) that is capable of being used as a powerful tool to compete in business field (Ward and Joe, 2002; Jogiyanto, 2006; Al Fatta, 2007). The reason is because of the competitive advantages as cited by Hariadi (2003), can be obtained from a better company position compared to its competitors. SMEs can get competitive advantages if the selected strategies can be implemented and executed properly. One effective way to implement and execute a strategy is to use information technology systems (Hidayati and Winarno, 2015; Sulistyorini, Royanti and Yunianto, 2015). Further, according to Dewanti, Ina and Simbolon (2013); Sulistyorini, Royanti and Yunianto (2015); Hidayati and Winarno (2015), information technology (IT) is an interconnected system that has a management control so that it can have centralized authority and function to produce information. In forming the system, IT consists of Hardware, Software, information, data, applications, communication and human that serves to create information. Basically, it consists of conditions that can support the development of micro-small and medium enterprises in Indonesia. The above statement is in line with Utami and Triyono (2013), Sakdiyah (2016), as well as Acemoglu, et.al (2016) on the use of technology in business. They claim that the use of technology for online business in small and medium enterprises is the ultimate solution to simplify the planning, implementation and control of the organization. This ease of information of outsiders and trust is the key in utilizing online technology systems. Utilization of social media means ("e") is one of the online media that many visitors and many users find as a useful marketing medium of all products, which makes services in the current era is not a new problem, because one of the purposes of media usage is a source of business information that is widely used by the community, either from the bottom to top of hierarchy (Sakdiyah, 2016; Grazzi, Jacoby and Treibich, 2016). The explanation above explains the formulation and purpose of this study, namely how to show the realism of harmonious imagination of “CHERYL” message in the business success through the use of e-commerce for Small and Medium Enterprises “W” in Malang. The use of information technology (e-commerce) is to provide success and accuracy in developing products. As explained by Wati (2013), Wiyani and Prabowo (2013) and Sulistyorini, Royanti and Yunianto (2015), e-commerce is a business done with ————————————————  All authors are affiliated with Accounting Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jember, Indonesia. The corresponding author’s email is reshadwiayupm.feb@unej.ac.id.