Customer Relationship Management and Security - Case Study Example

Site Analysis (Scoopon) Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Table of Contents Executive summary 3 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1 Company core business 4 1.2 Mission 4 2.0 E-commerce business model and mechanism 5 2.1 Ecommerce business model 5 2.2 Benefits 5 2.3 Limitations of ecommerce to Scoopon 6 3.0 Organization’s competitive advantage 7 3.1 Competitive advantages 7 3.1.1 Charmed life of experiences 7 3.1.2 Blossomed and delightful working place 8 3.1.3 Selling of experience 8 3.1.4 Best deals for the customers 9 3.2 How to make better use of the digital economy 9 3.3 Benefits of the digital economy 10 Business 10 Customer 10 4.0 Transaction processing system and decision support system 11 5.0 Customer relationship management 12 5.1 Importance of CRM 13 6.0 Security and ethical challenges 14 6.1 Security and ethical challenges 14 6.2 Current practice 15 7.0 Conclusion 15 References 16 Executive summary The Scoopon was established in 2010 and became a member of the Australian’s number 1 ecommerce Group and is also leading Australian company in buying and also in e-business. This report covers areas of the company’s site provided in the link: http://www.scoopon.com.au and goes a step further to tackle issues as E-commerce business model and mechanism, company competitive advantages, how to make better use of the digital economy, benefits of the digital economy and Transaction processing system and decision support system. The other areas covered by this study are: Customer relationship management and security and ethical challenges with regard to the use of DSS in business. The company business model is online transacting with the customers and other private companies while among the competitive advantages include selling of experience, charmed life of experiences and offering of the best deals for the customer. The digital economy could also be used in establishing customer relationship management (CSR) database and calling and capturing important market leads among many others. The benefits of digital economy include increased customer base, increased efficiency in business operations and increased access to the business. The company transaction processing system is online and it is supported with the decision support system which has been integrated into it. Security challenges include Hacking, software and intellectual rights piracy and to improve on this, it is recommended that much of the information be dispatched through the memberships and also limitation on information played and displayed on You Tube and even Facebook. 1.0 Introduction The site provided here is about Scoopon which is a leading Australian company in buying and also in e-business. The site is detailed in that it provides comprehensive information about the company in terms of what services it offers, what are its targets and the different ways in which the private companies and customers can access different services. The site also provides a brief overview of when the company was started and what is its mission as it strives to meet the customer demands. In general, the site is a detailed overview of what the company is able to offer and the various online capabilities it has in relation to satisfying the customer expectations irrespective of their geographical location. The Scoopon was established in 2010 and became a member of the Australian’s number 1 ecommerce Group (Scoopon, 2013). 1.1 Company core business Scoopon is the Australian’s leading Group Buying Company and a member of the Australian’s Number 1 eCommerce Group (Scoopon, 2013). The core business for the company include supplying its millions of customers in Australia with a number of services and products that include holiday services, designer apparels, baby needs, fitness facility and memberships, groceries, wines and electronics as well as high class restaurant services. 1.2 Mission Thriving to stay ahead of the competition and also remain happy in leading the rest by ensuring that the company is always striving to enhance its experience for its members and also ensure that they always have access to the latest and great deals through the most innovative, convenient and reliable channels available. 2.0 E-commerce business model and mechanism 2.1 Ecommerce business model The key feature in the process of buying and delivering products and services to the customers used by Scoopon is the use of online model whereby, the private companies and private customers can access the services online (Scoopon, 2013). This means that the majority of the business transactions which include buying and selling by Scoopon are done electronically and in way the company is collaborating with the customers through memberships. The online business model that the Scoopon is using allows for the membership by customers for different products which they are interested in like holidays, fitness, baby needs and many more so that at each and every time, there are new arrivals, they can be sent emails so as to make decisions if to buy or not and also the discounts attached to each product (Rosenbaum, 2012). 2.2 Benefits The business model used by Scoopon is also supported by the use of the social media like Facebook, twitter and YouTube to improve on its service delivery to the people of Australia (Scoopon, 2013). This is a strong tool to apply in any business operating in the 21st century and that is aimed at competing favorably for the available market with rivals. Social media use in the case of Scoopon could be one of the preferred online business tools for a number of reasons. First, accessibility is an important factor in any business. Technology in communication and use of modern devices such as iPhones is at a very advanced stage and going as per the recent report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of 2011, over 95% of the Australian have access to the internet with 70% accessing it through their iPhones and the rest from other devices like the 3G internet (Rosenbaum 2012). This ensures easy accessibility of the market. Second, cost is an issue in majority of businesses. Previously, different devices could be used for advertising and at the same time different channels used for distribution. However, with the social media like face book, the cost is very minimal both for the company and the customers and the same time could be used as an advertising and distribution device. Finally, there is also an issue of customer interaction and fast customer query management. This is because majority of the customer queries can be responded to almost instantly (Markov and Larose 2007). In the case of Scoopon, use of eCommerce is beneficial from the point that it will allow the company reach more potential markets both within and outside Australia. Ecommerce will also benefit the business from reducing its operational costs especially those associated with promotions and advertisement (Scoopon, 2013). Finally, improvement in customer relationship management is also possible with regular interaction between the business and the customers. 2.3 Limitations of ecommerce to Scoopon 1. Increased insecurity arising from client and server failure, data transfer and duplication by competitors and disruption by change of weather conditions. 2. High cost to start, connect and maintain some of the hardware and software. 3. Legal implications especially when customer data is not protected well. 4. Loss of direct contact with the customer and consequently instability in long-term relationships 3.0 Organization’s competitive advantage Scoopon’s competitive advantages are founded on a number of factors and which include charmed life of experiences, blossomed and delightful working place, selling of experience and getting best deals for the customers online. 3.1 Competitive advantages 3.1.1 Charmed life of experiences The package of experience that is being offered by the business is one important key advantage that has helped the business outdo some of its competitors in the market. The company for instance is known to offer large and very extravagant feasts, numerous hours for pamper and can be accessed by the members without pay for the products and services they consume, established luxurious gateways and great adventure in the premises and around its services. This feature makes the company a community feature that one cannot afford to explore the city without going through it. Further, this gives people the reason to come together, to have a real feel of the unique experience (Markov and Larose 2007). However, despite the much attraction the charmed package of experience the business may have, there is a risk that a business is expected to deal with and this is the increase in cost of arranging numerous and extravagant feasts especially when the cost of services go high as result of change in the market trends. This could be a costly affair during hard economic times as the business will find it difficult to sustain and as result losing customer trust and loyalty (Ray et al 2011). 3.1.2 Blossomed and delightful working place Since its establishment in 2010, Scoopon working place has been a wonderful one with a very delighting environment for all the staff and even the customer on the way they are handled when in the premises (Scoopon, 2013). For instance, it not very easy after walking into the company one can miss to hear a soundtrack from different keyboards and numerous ringtones as sales people tend to seal different deals. This is a working environment that any person could wish to work in and served from (Xia and Zhang 2010). 3.1.3 Selling of experience Also important about Scoopon and the reason behind its performance, is the selling of experience. The company does numerous little things that make it a happier and thriving community. This is because apart from having loveable personalities, each and every employee in the company, is very passionate about the work that is being done. What this means is that, the staff is selling different experiences which they are much more than willing to try themselves. This makes every deal awesome both to the business and the customer since there are no compromises. This kind of experience in a business environment is important in that customers will always feel loved and taken care of by the business at every single point of the business. However, to sustain this kind of environment, the business has the obligation of ensuring that all employees are part of the company and this could be achieved from fair working conditions alongside good pay and remuneration systems (Xia and Zhang 2010). 3.1.4 Best deals for the customers The business has a plan of having frequent deals with the customers and this can be learnt from the discounts that the company offers for various products and services. For instance, by browsing into the company site, one would be able to establish the various deals that are available including outings, hangouts and discounts. This to the majority of the customers looks like getting one of the best deals on a silver platter. This is critical to attracting and retaining many customers and consequently increased sales and revenues. However, in the long-run, this could be very expensive to the company if for instance certain products are not selling well because of changes in tastes or even play from competition (Ray et al 2011). 3.2 How to make better use of the digital economy Digital economy can be described as that economy where the business world is connected in one global economic network that facilitates communication among different businesses and also enabling socialization with the customers through the internet and the mobile as well as sensor networks (Ray et al 2011). This digital economy can be used in many different ways in a business environment and particularly in the case of Scoopon. To start with, the digital economy will allow for collaboration with other businesses in the process of accessing important information about the market and the opportunities as well as threats that are available. Scoopon will also use the digital economy to penetrate into different potential markets outside Australia. This could be done by the establishment of the search engines through which customers can access important information about the business. The other ways that the business could use the digital economy include: 1. Establishing customer relationship management (CSR) database. 2. Calling and capturing important market leads 3. socializing and interacting with the customers and other important parties like suppliers through Facebook, Twitter and Linkedln as well as Google 4. Establishing a 2-way interactive communication for compliments and complaints 5. Publishing high level images through the multimedia for the customers to share with their friends and even colleagues. 3.3 Benefits of the digital economy Business 1. Increased customer base 2. increased efficiency in business operations 3. Increased market surveys and research 4. Improved customer relationship management Customer 1. Easy accessibility to the business 2. Quick and timely responses from the business 3. Reduced costs of product searching 4. Convenience in delivery and follow-ups 5. Regular updates on new product arrivals 4.0 Transaction processing system and decision support system The transaction process system of Scoopon is done online. This means that for the customer to access any product or service, then it should start with a single touch on the search engine of the company. This is because virtually almost all products and services that are offered by the company are put on display and their prices and the process of making a transaction starts when the customer makes a click on the product (Ray et al 2011). This is a very important transaction process system for Scoopon since it gives the customers the opportunity to access important information about the product including the delivery modes before completing a purchasing transaction. This kind of transaction processing system is also important in ensuring that important information about the product including prices, discounts available, place and mode of delivery as quality, are well detailed. This tends to give the customer the confidence he wants before making any purchase decision. The online transaction processing system further gives the customer the opportunity to try new experiences within a very short time and very short process that involves few people to strike the deal. However, for the company to reach its current state of serving its customers, decision support system (DSS) has been very critical. This is because it forms a very important part of the integrated system of different hardware and software which is the backbone of the company’s decision making process (Ray et al 2011). Reliance on DSS by different organizations is aimed at providing tools and techniques as well as models for assessing and solving different questions that arise daily within a business context. In the case of Scoopon, DSS has been integrated into the transaction process system through connection with the market. It is from this perspective that the company gets to know what is happening in the market through a 2-way communication which allows for queries, responses, complaints and compliments. The interconnected system is used to facilitate the process of keeping the customer database, reporting, monitoring and analyzing different data on the performance of different products in the market before making strategic decisions about the same (Ray et al 2011). 5.0 Customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) comprises different aspects a company has with the customers irrespective of sales or even service oriented. More important about CRM is its use by business as a strategy to understand the customer, retain and attract new customer as well as win new contracts and reduced customer management costs (Nikitkov and Bay 2010). At Scoopon, CRM has been demonstrated from different ways and one such important way is through sending a query to the Customer Service team whereby a note is written and forwarded by the customer and on awaiting for response within 2 working days. The other ways the company is using to manage its relationship with the customers is through the social media which include the Facebook, Twitter and company blogs. All these communication channels are also used by the company as customer touch points and they allow the customer to query, request, complain, compliment or even order for a product or services. These are exploitable revenues for CRM since they create an opportunity for the company to help the customers get to know what is available and how their queries could be channeled and responded to (Ray et al 2011). To start with, the use of the contact line where queries are only sent in terms of notices to the customer management, stands to be suitable only for large queries and at the same time those queries that are not so urgent because responses can take up 2 working days to come. On the other hand, the use of social media is important in allowing customers to raise their queries at all times (Nikitkov and Bay 2010). However, even though the two approaches are important to the business, they may not be the best approaches for two main reasons namely: 1. Where the query is urgent 2. Where the usage and application of the social media is low 5.1 Importance of CRM Customer Relationship Management is one of the best and most efficient ways of maintaining and ensuring good and stable relationships with the customers. CRM is not only about business but also about ideas to create strong bonds among people (Mangelsdorf 2007). This therefore makes CRM important for almost every organization including Scoopon. Its benefits include: 1. Helping the customers in reducing their search time and also the business in understanding what the needs of the customers are and serve them in a more effective way. 2. Helping in understanding different customers and segmenting them more effectively 3. Helping the company in giving more personalized feel and response 4. Attracting new customers 5. Cost management 6.0 Security and ethical challenges 6.1 Security and ethical challenges Despite the major role the Information Systems could play in helping Scoopon improve on its performance, there is emerging security and other ethical challenges related to the same and they include: 1. Hacking: Hacking which can be described as obsessive use of information systems like computers or access of computer systems by unauthorized people. This could lead either to data damage or alteration (Ray et al 2011). 2. Software piracy: This is described as the act of copying data that belong to an organization by unauthorized people. This therefore requires the company to establish its systems within the required copy right policy in order to have its software protected and access by illegal parties denied. 3. Intellectual property piracy: This is likely to happen when the company material other than software is copied and several copies are made available. For Scoopon this could be in form of image and transaction processes which could easily be copied by the competitors (Ray et al 2011). 4. Virus infection. This is a computer worm when inserted into the computer system, could be used to hinder its functioning. 6.2 Current practice The current practice at Scoopon is that much of the information about its products, services and even business deals, are displayed on the company site. During this era of competition, the company is not as safe as much information could be accessed and used by the competitors to improve on its strategies (Mangelsdorf 2007). To help improve on this problem, it is important for the company to work more on its membership campaign so that information that is accessed is channeled through right people. In addition, much of the information could be played to the company about different business practices and how the business implements its business deals and how in general, the business works. This puts into the public platform information that may be considered private and therefore raising questions on information protection measures. To help improve on this, it is recommended that information played be limited to only that can be for general public and cannot be used in any way against the company (Nikitkov and Bay 2010). 7.0 Conclusion In the report, different issues have been tackled in relation to Scoopon which is a leading Australian company in buying and also in e-business and also a member of the Australian’s number 1 ecommerce Group. The business model that is being used by the business is an online model whereby the private companies and private customers can access the services through online. Different key competitive advantages about the company have also been discussed and which among them include selling of experience, charmed life of experiences and offering of the best deals for the customer. Most important is that the DSS has been critical in supporting the business in making important decisions with regard to its digital business. In general, the approach to business is very important, however, one thing to deal with, is security and ethical challenges for protection of its information and the rights of others as well. References Adams, F. G 2003, The E-Business Revolution & The New Economy: E-conomics After the Dot- Com Crash. South-Western Educational Publishing. Mangelsdorf, M 2007, Beyond enterprise 2.0. MIT Sloan Management Review (Spring), 50-55. Markov, Z. and D. T. Larose. 2007, Data Mining the Web: Uncovering Patterns in Web Content, Structure, and Usage. Wiley-Interscience. Nikitkov, A and Bay, D 2010, Online auction fraud: An empirical analysis of shill-bidding practice. Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting 2(3): 191-228. 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