Information and Communications Technology in Ultimate Recruitment - Case Study Example

Individual Reflection This paper details the individual reflection of a group project. The project was to provide an ICT solution to a recruitment company. This paper in addition to analyzing the ICT solution as such, it provides a reflection of individual work as well as a reflection of group work. Reflection of the ICT Solution Ultimate Recruitment is one of the most successful and leading recruitment consultancies in the Illawarra region. The company was started and run in 1998 as a single man operation. It specializes in finding jobs for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Professionals. Since then it has seen rapid expansion and development and today it has two major business centers in Wollongong and Shellharbour to operate its business. However both of their offices are not well connected and networked and Ultimate Recruitment’s connectivity with its clients as well as the job seekers is considerably weak. In order to bridge this gap and integrate both offices effectively an ICT solution was proposed, to be carried out by Global IT Solutions Company, one of the foremost IT consultancy services in Australia. The main objective behind this individual reflection is to assess and evaluate the solution provided, provide a reflection of the group and a reflection of self. The ICT solution provided in the business case is an e-CRM solution which is a newer concept as opposed to the regular CRM. I think that the primary advantages of the e-CRM is that it takes advantages of the Internet thereby expanding the existing CRM solutions with integration of the new electronic trends such as Web, network and database server etc. The e-CRM has five key applications. The first application is information integration. E-CRM helps gather customer data and other information from different sources like the website, transaction systems etc., and amalgamates all available data into one data base server that will enable easy retrieval. . The second application is Customer Analysis. This particular application helps predict customer actions. The third application is Real Time Decision. This application brings together and synchronizes with the web server. It utilizes business intelligence to identify and communicate the appropriate messages and offers, all of which is in real time. The next application is Personalized Messaging. This is a highly useful application to the company as well as the customer. An automated mechanism is utilized to respond to customer query regarding a job, as well as direct him or her to the web pages that are related to the job. The fifth and final application of this e-CRM is Corporate Blogging. This is a blog published by the employees of the company, based on a web server. The employees and other users can sign into this company blog, which has all the functions and services of a regular blog such as posting, editing, commenting etc. I feel that the ICT solution provided as such will prove to be very advantageous to the company. It will increase customer- company interaction and information exchange. It will bring about the participation of customers and employees thereby integrating all of the most important elements of the business. The availability of all related information in one server aids easier and timely response to customer requirements and queries. It increases efficiency, effective feedback and saves time. Lastly it will effectively amalgamate and network both the offices of Ultimate Recruitment and bring about coordinated and synchronized business operations. However I think that the employment of this solution requires a significant amount of initial work, close monitoring and constant updating of the five applications. These minor disadvantages and glitches have to be looked into and solved in order to bring about the desired cost reduction and increased productivity in the business as well as increase efficiency. Once this is done, the offices will be well networked and connected thereby bringing about systematic operation of business. Reflection on Self Since the assignment was divided into different sections, I took up the section which detailed the impact of the operation of the ICT solution on the business as such. The main purpose of this operation is to make full use and plan the resources of the company in order to achieve maximum benefits. To that effect I have identified two primary impacts of this ICT operation, namely Business impacts and Technology impacts. The Business impact contains and asserts the underlying principle that every company is aimed at profit. Hence with reference to profits, I have identified two further classifications. Increasing profits can be achieved by reducing costs as well as increasing productivity. This operation brings about a reduction is costs by using emails for communication between two offices as opposed to using the post office. It also helps maintain the number of employees the company has. However there are other advantages that have not been mentioned. The operation helps reduce costs in various other ways, all of which have not been addressed in this section. The next factor that contributes to the increase of profits is the increase of productivity. Productivity of a company depends on an effective data management system, correct implementation of applications and good communication and integration between the two branch offices of the company. This operation will ensure that there is a flexible system to receive applications through the website, requests from clients and job seekers and enhanced communication between the consumers and the company. In this part however there has been a reiteration of the applications of the five applications of e-CRM which is not altogether necessary. The Business impact of the operation has been considerably analyzed. However a more comprehensive coverage would be required to convince the company to take it up. More cost reduction benefits have to be addressed and stated in order to achieve the necessary goals. The second impact is the Technology Impact. In this section I have detailed the different ways in which the company will benefit from the use of technology and what the effect of the use of technology will be. I have comprehensively covered how Internet, databases, servers etc., will be utilized and how this usage will benefit the company. The company will wholly depend on technology for completion of its work, goals and objectives. Internet will be used to receive information from job seekers and this information will be stored in the database. This will assist the company in accurately obtaining and processing the data to be made readily and easily available to the researchers. Technology will also help the company to set up a process to communicate with clients regarding job seekers. The Internet will also be used to offer job counseling and testing to job seekers. The usage of Internet, databases etc., will assist the company in moving forward in the direction of a modern corporate organization. The technology impact of the operation has been significantly analyzed and presented. As I was entrusted with the impact of the operation of the ICT solution, I have one extensive research and study with regards to my section of the assignment. I have taken efforts to ensure that it integrates well with the rest of the sections of the assignment covered by my other group members. I have also made sure that the impact analysis contributes significantly to the operation of the solution. The ability to do extensive research, effective integration of study, the ability to work cohesively in a group etc., are some of the strengths that I have identified in myself. However, my section needs a little more clarity and detail regarding the business impact as well as technology impact. Reflection of Group While working on this project as a group, interaction among group members was most effective. I personally felt very comfortable working with my group members and felt that we worked in harmony and synchronization. As a group job, this project saw was very good understanding among the members of the group. The project was divided into sections with each member taking up one section. There was a good level of synchronization among the members of the group. Regular meetings were held among the members during the course of working on the project to ensure that every member was on track, moving in the right direction and were making considerable progress. Every member took extra interest and pains to ensure that their section was completed on time and was of good quality. Once each member had finished working on his or her section, it was all combined together to finish the entire project. Each section was checked and altered according to the necessity. Certain portions of the different sections were added and deleted in order to ensure and maintain continuity between sections and to make sure that all the sections conformed to the final objective of the project. Overall, good interaction among group members and effective communication has contributed towards the successful completion of the project. Thus in conclusion, the ICT solution will prove to be very effective in integrating the two offices of Ultimate Recruitment. Additionally it will increase customer and client interaction. Furthermore it increases productivity thereby increasing profit. The individual reflection has helped me identify my strengths, weaknesses and identify which areas I can improve and do differently the next time during a project. The group reflection has helped me assess my group, how we have worked so far on the project and what all we can improve during the next group interaction. Appendix Meeting Notes 1. 22nd April 2009 – First team meeting, breaking the ice with introductions, agreement of roles and deciding the next meeting. 2. 27th April 2009 – Second meeting with discussions regarding eLearning postings, assignment analysis and agreement to bring research material for next meeting. 3. 2nd May 2009 – Interaction regarding the leading CRM providers in the market through email. 4. 8th May 2009 – Meeting postponed to 11th May as all members were not available. 5. 11th May 2009 – Third meeting. Agreed on assignment content and divided it into 5 portions assigned to each of the members and agreed to submit the parts the following Thursday. 6. 12th May 2009 – Proposed solution including eCRM, wireless network, servers, real-time decision, personalized messaging and blogging systems. 7. 14th May 2009 – Fourth meeting. Issue in this meeting was poor attendance. Discussed our parts of the assignment, parts we have included, the assignment overall and next meeting. Reference Li, Tao and Xu, Xinhao and Al Otibi, Bader and Al Omri, Majed and Al Arfaj, Fawaz (2009). Innovative ICT Solution for Ultimate Recruitment. Faculty of Informatics. Read More