Preliminary Investigation of the Company - Assignment Example

 Preliminary Investigation Report VMOST The company’s primary objective is to position itself as a major player in the business of producing land management software in the local market and eventually in the global market. Aside from this, the company wants to be recognized as an expert in terms of consultancy services, a training provider and software customization. This preliminary investigation was prepared by the Information Technology department of the company in efforts to improve productivity and earn more profits by boosting the sales of the company by boosting its advertisement efforts. The department and the company as whole aims to achieve this goal by setting up a website that would lead potential customers to get to know about the company and the services it offers. The company’s target markets include local clients as well clients from foreign countries. Among the company’s long-term objectives include branching out in terms of land management applications and venturing into producing software to manage forestry, environment, mining, oil and gas. Several concerns and opportunities were mentioned. The first is to establish the company as a household name when it comes to land management software. The company also hopes to establish itself as a big brand name in providing consultancy services, training, and customization in the said field. In order to establish itself as a market leader in the local scene, one should have a lot of customers. To rake in more sales, the company should be visible to potential clients locally as well as abroad. With this end in mind, the company is keen on putting up their own website. This will serve not only as an information center to current and potential clients but will bring in more sales what with the ease of availing products online and within the comforts of one’s home. The company, being global in scale has recently felt that the market is too large to maintain strong relationships with all potential buyers. The company has been used to utilizing direct mail to attract new clients. However, this method does not ensure that the brochures and advertisement material are reaching the decision makers of the target companies. The current advertisement setup uses mail-outs to special groups which have been selected based on predefined criteria. These are sent out every 2-3 months. Instead of doing this, focus on the key persons for such companies, send them emails and find out how they will be able to use the software, and if possible, set up presentation meetings over lunch or dinner. This way, with a clear void to fill, the goal is more focused and a strategy to present the product in the best way possible to the potential customer can be formulated. Also, contingency plans can be setup in case the client rejects the first approach. Moreover, if the correspondences would prove that the prospect is a dead end, it should send the signal that it’s time to move on to other prospects, thus saving time. This project aims to solve existing problems in the company as well as reveal opportunities that would lead to the overall betterment of the company. To determine the contents for a website, the researcher should be familiar with the operations of the company. Before the interview sessions, the designer/researcher should request for reference materials and, if possible, an overall briefing. Prior to meeting with the interviewees, the designer / researcher should be aware of the functions of his interviewee. He should be asking the right questions so as not to waste his interviewees’ time. Interviews should be conducted with the people who are familiar with the company’s day to day operations as well as the goals and the new direction that the company is set to take. The researcher can start by finding out which departments are the heart of the company, study the functions, find out the existing problems and opportunities for improvement. Through the interviews, the researcher should be able to find out pertinent details. In addition to this, the researcher would be able to gain valuable insight that even the management may not be aware of but knowledge of which they will greatly benefit from. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS Within the company, those that will benefit from the installation of the new software include the management as well as the sales, marketing, public relations, information technology, technical support departments. The software will make the jobs of those working for internal parties mentioned a lot easier and more organized as information will be easier to collate and analyze. This is true for the management in particular. For sales and marketing departments, it would bring more productivity as information about the company’s products and services are more accessible to potential customers. This would require less effort in looking for customers but will entail them to be more diligent with regard to following up sales calls. A great burden will be lifted from the shoulders of the public relations department as the website in itself is the company’s advertisement. The company will be able to benefit a lot from this as advertising costs and manpower may be decreased considerably without compromising function. This new integration will open up more opportunities in the information technology and technical support department as well as manpower will be needed to maintain the website’s content and functionality. SWOT ANALYSIS The strength of this proposal lies in the fact that the company knows what it wants, in terms of the betterment of the company as a whole. In this light, it also knows how to get it. For its overall improvement, the company is intent on getting hold of by means of boosting its advertisement efforts and embracing the benefits that getting help from information technology might be able to impart to it. The fact that the company is willing to partner with a software designer to lead it to its goal proves that the company understands what this step entails and is willing to do what is needed. One weakness of this project could lie in the eagerness of the company to embrace the new technology without considering the underlying costs of the acquisition. To lessen the instances of this, it is recommended that the company determine the specific needs that should be met and stick to fulfilling those needs. The accomplishment of this project would highly benefit those who have vested interests in the field of land management. Those who need the information will have easy access to whatever information is available on the website. One likely threat is the easy access of company information that competitors might use to their advantage but this slight threat outweighs the benefits that the company will be able to derive from this venture. The proposal is desirable and doable in an operational sense. The proposed software is compatible with standard computer hardware packages available in the market. In case the computers that the company are using don’t have the capacity have new software installed, the most that the company will have to do to adapt the software is to do an upgrade of their existing machines. Of course, this will be done only after a thorough examination of the existing setup. INFORMATION NEEDS The software designers will be as discrete as possible with regard to doing their research. In doing the interviews, they will be done during the work hours of the interviewee so as not to disrupt company operations. Once all the important data is gathered, the creation of the software can be started. The integration of a customer tracking system into the company’s existing operations will require minimum downtime as the installation will be fairly simple. Also, operational schedules will be considered so as not to create conflict with schedules of critical operations and meetings. Usage-wise, the employees won’t have a difficult time adapting to the new application as the design will be user-friendly, self-explanatory and easy to navigate. The designers will also devote a considerable amount of time to train a certain number employees to familiarize them with the new software. The cost of the proposed software is fairly reasonable. The company will be able to significantly increase their sales by the considerable amount of exposure that the company will get by launching their website. Aside from this, relationships with customers will be enhanced by virtue of easier online access to their technical support as afforded by the new software. After selling its products to a lot of customers, the company should also build on after sales services such as troubleshooting and putting up helpdesks to cater to the needs of customers. Possible constraints that could crop up in the midst of the venture would include budget constraints, time constraints, hardware and software conflicts. These complications can be avoided with proper planning and open communication on both the company and the software designer. Critical factors that would determine the success of this venture lie on the accuracy of the information obtained from the company. This means that the company should be clear communicating its requirements while the software designer should be sensitive to the needs of the customer. The designer / researcher should be very careful in analyzing the problems or needs of the company and make sure that he fully understands the requisites to avoid miscalculations and bugs. This is also true when making recommendations for hardware and / or software upgrades. Read More