Envisaged System Stakeholders - Dus Current System - Assignment Example

STUDENTS NAME: STUDENT ID: INSTRUCTORS NAME: COURSE TITLE: ASSESMENT TITLE: NAME OF THE PROJECT: Support Soft system (Du) DATE: Table of contents 1. Introduction…………………………………………………..3 2. Envisaged System Stakeholders……………………………..4 3. Current System……………………………………………….5 4. Problem definition……………………………………………6 5. Scope…………………………………………………………..6 6. Support soft System features……………………..………….6 7. Envisaged support soft constraints……………..…………...8 8. System feasibility……………………………………………..9 9. Support soft business benefits……………………………….10 10. Recommendations and conversions…………………...11 11. References……………………………………………….13 Du Introduction Du is a new telecommunication company mainly based in UAE that offers fixed and mobile telephony, broadband connectivity, and IPTV services to individuals, homes and businesses. The company has approximately 3 million active users and they have close to 2000 full time staff that are working to enhance and expand their bouquet of service offerings. Over 50% of its senior management team are UAE national and the organizations is as committed as ever to ensure that they are providing fulfilling opportunities for top talent in a modern cosmopolitan working environment. As part of its business strategy, the company has now partnered with Vodafone in which they have agreed on an exclusive non-equity strategic partnership which will assist both the companies to serve the needs of their respective clients in UAE. This means Du customers are now going to access Vodafone’s range of services and devices while at the same time drawing on Vodafone’s experience in roaming, enterprise customer relationships and global sourcing. This partnership is expected to bring to Du customers enhanced voice and data roaming access across 67 nationalities where Vodafone is already operating and access to Vodafone’s future devices and services. Vodafone’s customers are also likely to benefit from these partnership by extensive coverage while roaming within the UAE and also enjoy Vodafone’s services which are available within their home networks which is mainly due to Du’s state of the art 3G network (Du, 2010) The company has a vision of a world where peoples reach is not limited by matter or distance, but a world where people effortlessly stay in touch with family and friends, a world where organizations of all sizes can easily reach new markets without the limitation of distance and travel. It also has a mission of extending peoples reach. And they aim to achieve this by developing advanced networks that will enable people to develop, learn and grow With the organizations vision, mission and business strategy in the increasingly competitive telecommunications landscape, they have realized that they need to enhance their technological offering and this is likely to be performed by a support soft system. Envisaged System Stakeholders A modern integrated support soft system is a component of organizational improvement strategy that is mainly focused around its clients. Some of the specific stakeholders that may be affiliated to a support soft system may include: The business owners/Shareholders: To this group of people some of the benefits likely to be realized by the implementation of a support soft system may include: Increased net profitability with reduced operating cost. A system that scales to growing business needs. Enhanced ability to improve on the business that is client focused. Sales & Marketing Manger: They are likely to benefit from the system by The ability to view sales opportunities Shorter sales cycles that translates to improved sales efficiency The ability to recruit new sales staff A higher lead to close ratios Sales People: These professionals may benefit from Efficient and consistent sales process for different target groups. The ability to provide instantaneous feedback to the customer Access to the latest products and services Increased confidence in selling Increased access to information whenever, wherever. Customer Support Manager: He is likely to benefit from Enhanced support call resolution Decreased turnover in customer support staff Customer Service Representatives: They will benefit from the system by Quick access to the customers account and the ability to provide to the clients their personal information on demand There is increased personal satisfaction in the customer’s eyes Business Development Manager: he may benefit from Effective marketing campaigns to prospects Increased feedback from sales result Effective marketing materials for the sales people Accounting manager: He will experience Happy business customers who are likely to pay their bills on time Reduced employee turnover Increased sales revenue and net profit Improved organizational efficiency by using known business operational process. Other stakeholders may include people in the IT departments and the other remaining employees (Dick & Marshall). Current System The current system is semi-automatic. When a customer makes a call, the system does not display his caller ID until the customer representatives asks for the callers ID personally, it does not generate automated billing and tariff displays which makes it very difficult to help the customer and finally it is slow due to its semi-automatic nature. Problem definition Du’s current system is not fully computerized; it can be referred to as semi-automatic. The current system is computerized with the ability to generate automated billing, provides clients feedback, However, it lacks the ability to integrate specific clients data such as call history, automated queries via Short message services (SMS), lack of automatic caller identification with the inability to provide customer specific information such as call credits per month that may enables the organization to drill down and mine specific data that may be used in an organization business intelligence initiatives or marketing purposes. It is not inline with systems from modern companies such as Vodafone & Etisalat that is why it is important that part of heir enterprise system should be upgraded/enhanced or even overhauled if necessary. Scope Due to the current limitations which are harboring our customer acquisition, retention and eventual organizational strategy & growth, it is better if the company may enhance its support soft system in order to increase its efficiency which are likely to arise from an improved system Support Soft System features Du, the company in question is using support soft which is a provider of software and services that are intended mainly to reduce technology support costs associated with many companies; this system will offer the company some proactive support to its residential internet users. This product which is supported by Support soft’s Subscriber agent is aimed at improving the service quality which is always experienced by the companies’ internet subscribers, this system is going to help the company’s clients solve internet connectivity issues personally without involving the companies’ customers’ service representatives for some support. This technology is in form of desktop client software that will be utilized by the companies’ broadband subscribers known as AL Shamil which is a name for the ADSL subscribers (CRM today, 2008) A modern support soft system may provide the organization with wide range capabilities for interaction and customer self care via Du website and Because the system, are always fully integrated with the financial billing system, they enable the representatives to investigate and re-solve inquiries faster, professionally with point to point simplicity. With the system, the organizations customer representatives may access and modify a client billing data, they can also view invoices, account balances together with their histories, accept payments, reverse notices and even reconnect terminated services. With the system, the representatives may react immediately in requesting information, sending product brochures and contract details. They are also in a position of handling service issues from end to end by generating trouble tickets, analyzing, isolating and escalating problems, and eventually closing down the trouble tickets. In addition, with a modern system, it is possible to handle disputes in a guided manner which may be achieved by crating a single case for each complainant that contains information as to who is/are involved, links to transactions, history of the dispute in which later on the organizations customer care representatives will make a follow up and possibly route the cases to authorized handlers, this reduces dispute resolution time and turns the negative situations into positive ones. A modern system will help the Du company to improve on its efficiency, effectiveness and profitability on marketing campaigns and promotions, this is mainly because of the real time information that is readily available which helps the company to plan, budget, and analyze its activities at any level. It is possible to roll out tailored personalized campaigns that target certain customers; this raises profitability and reduces wastage. The company will also be able to consistently plan and forecast its sales activities with great accuracy and at the same time organize territories according to criteria such as size, revenue, or strategic accounts. The organization may then provide the sales representatives with the information that is required to make most contacts with customers and prospects. This is also likely to lead to more motivation to the sales representatives by introducing incentive programs (SAP). Modern systems also enables business partners share critical information such as sales forecast ad delivery schedules, which in turn ensures that each and every customer care representative is working towards total customer satisfaction which makes it easy for the customers to do business with the company. They also come with capabilities that offer wide range of self service tools through internet portals while at the same time providing to the partners, employees, and business customers some access to information and processes that helps them understand the organizations products and services better. For instance, with a modern system, it is possible to maintain dealer-related information, it is also possible to identify and forecast demand across the entire existing company’s channel. This seamless communication coupled with efficient management, reduces support costs, increases value to the companies clients, helps in fighting organizational fraud and finally drives more revenue via the indirect channel (SAP). A Customer Relationship management features similar to the ones that are integrated in Du’s Support soft system and how they function. Fig 1.0 CRM components Envisaged Support Soft Constraints However, regardless of the envisaged benefits that are likely to arise from the system, there are drawbacks that seem to jeopardize the whole project. There are external threats as well as internal ones and these includes. There are the external suppliers who may not be very conversant with the system that may lead to logistics bottlenecks that may affect the organizations operations. Business customers have to be made aware of the new system and this s likely to increase expenses to the organizations because of the new system awareness campaigns that may involve a lot of money. The project may exceed the available budget allocation that pertains to the IT department and this might eventually put the put the project status at stake. The organizations management might not approve it Lack of qualified personnel to manage the new system However, with the evolving technology, we will have to overhaul the existing IT infrastructure in order for the envisaged system to be adequately integrated and accommodated. This is indeed expensive because new software licenses and hardware’s as well have to be purchased. But with the latest information system in place, the installed system in the organization is likely to experience a life span of approximately 10 years, and going by the fact that the organization belongs to the hot telecoms sector with mushrooming profits, this cost is likely to be accrued within the first two years of the system in operation. System feasibility Operational Considering the magnitude of business clients that we have at hand, the number of trade partners and the overall organizations reputation in the field, it is very feasible to implement this particular system. The system will require its users to learn a new skill which is going to cost the organizations employee time and training cost, however the likely benefits are likely to be overshadowed by the associated costs this is mainly due to the benefits that are likely to be accrued. The management will definitely support the system this is because it is likely to bring increased customer satisfaction which means more clients hence more sales and profits, it will streamline business operations because the companies executives will be able to obtain clients data from their dashboards at the comfort of the whenever, wherever, anytime via a computer system connected to the internet and through a web browser and this will help them make instantaneous decision pertaining to the organization. The employees will also use the system, for instance, the marketing guys have to use the system in identifying key customer information, and the executives may drill down on customer’s data and use it in making informed decisions such as new tariff for some niche market. Technical The project is very tricky to implement, however, this shouldn’t worry the organization because all the implementations will be performed by the chosen vendor whom will also likely train the staff on its operations both on the end user sides and the technical side. Schedule The system is likely to take a maximum of six months to implement. Systems business benefits Some of the benefits envisaged with running a modern system may include: They empower the organizations customer care representatives to answer inquiries and embark on an immediate action; this is mainly because of their end to end integration with their billing & service management systems that provide tools that deliver true customer satisfaction. They also show a face to the customer with full integration for consistent client’s data across the entire company. It will help in managing partners and dealers efficiently while at the same time increase the sales of the company’s products and services. It is likely to improve on the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and give the company a better return on their marketing campaigns. It will increase company’s revenues because of efficient customer acquisition and direct marketing response. It reduces expenses because there is automation of interactions, increased productivity and streamlined processes. The company will increase on its competitive advantage because of greater customer loyalty that is likely to be achieved by the using of the system. The system will also enable the organization to identify trends, uncover emerging market needs while at the same time the system will also be re-allocating development resource to product design that are geared towards the future demands. Recommendations and conversions In moving from the current system to the modern system, Du is going to use a phased implementation technique, this is mainly because the implementation is done in phases and this particular technique becomes more manageable while reducing risk to the enterprise. Since the company has different business units, one unit may be used as a template in which the process may be replicated in the other remaining units (Pearson’s). This methodology is favored mostly by companies because: The organization is in control on the level of change it is to absorb at a certain given time. It has less risk because problems can be easily isolated and this reduces complexity associated with system implementations. Initial lessons learnt may be applied to later stages The implementation teams do not have to do all the work because key users can easily observe an implement the software’s personally. With Information Systems infrastructure becoming increasingly critical to enterprise success, optimizing the Information Technology investments should be a top priority. A comprehensive Information System governance solution such as a support soft system should strive to ensure that there is greater control over organizational overall business strategies while at the same time improving on the level of engagement between Information System and the enterprise and maximizing the return on investments in the Information Systems with the results being enhanced ability for the enterprise in operating more like a service business and delivering on much improved service levels with greater organizational strategic values. This will ensure that Du is on a level playing field with its local competitors such as Etisalat and on the global scale they will be on the same level with more established companies such as AT&T. With such a comparison, Du is likely to grasp the attention of strategic investors whom may come in and offer both technical and financial investments that may be used to upgrade the organizations communication infrastructure network and make it one of the best if not the best hence delivering an improved return on investment not mentioning improved shareholders value. With an improved telecommunication infrastructure in place which is likely to enhance the quality of Du’s service offerings, it is likely to attract & retain new customers, this will mean more revenue for the company and hence natural expansion. References Du (2010). Who we are. Retrieved May 2010 from http://www.du.ae/en/about/who-we-are Du (2010). Vodafone Partnership. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from http://www.du.ae/en/about/vodafone-partnership CRM Today (2008). Etisalat selects Support Soft’s eSupport software. Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.crm2day.com/content/t6_librarynews_1.php?news_id=125648 Software Application Protocol (SAP). Customer Relationship Management for The telecommunication Industry. Retrieved April 2010 from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AaX4AN1NowPAJ%3Awww.sap.com%2Findustries%2Ftelecom%2Fpdf%2FBWP_SB_CRM_for_Telecom.pdf+ttelcoms+customer+relationship+management&hl=en&gl=ke Dick Wooden, Marshall & Poe. Success with CRM. Stakeholder value returned from the value of CRM. Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.marshallpoe.com/solutions/CRM/Stakeholder%20Value%20Returned%20from%20the%20Benefits%20of%20CRM.pdf Fig 1.0 CRM components. Retrieved April 2010 from http://www.greenbeacon.com/images/content/crm101/CRMComponents.jpg Pearson. Software Implementation methodologies. Retrieved April 2010 from http://vig.pearsoned.co.uk/samplechapter/078972670X.pdf Read More