IT & Entrepreneurship - Essay Example

IT & Entrepreneurship Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 The Business Idea 4 Background 6 Ownership and Company Structure 7 The Team: Leadership, Accountants and Lawyers 8 The Product/Service 9 Marketing Plan 10 Sales and Distribution 12 Competitors 12 Customer 13 Agreements or Alliance 13 The Budget 14 The Investment Need 16 Any barrier 18 Profit and Exit 18 References 19 Executive Summary The business plan is to create a website design for the people to get the transparent information regarding the private and cosmetic dental care. Cosmetic dental care market is observed to be growing rapidly but getting authentic as well as up to date information is difficult. Through the website design the search for the customer will become easy and convenient as it will provide information regarding the dental care only. With the help of the single mouse click people will get the information they want with little expense. The business will face various difficulties but with the help of the marketing strategies and research and development team, the website will be able to provide profit and useful information to the people. The Business Idea The business idea is to design a website that would be offering details regarding dentists based in the United Kingdom. The information provided through the website will be useful for the people in order to get transparent idea about the location, price and the features provided by the private and cosmetic dentist. The website will be made with no complexity for the people to operate. The design will be simple and the information will be gathered with single mouse click without much complexity. The website will also ensure that unique experiences are shared by the customers while dealing with it. Apart from this, website will also provide customers with easy and simple navigation. The website will act as a local search engine for the information regarding the dentist both private and cosmetic for the people. The creative idea of the search engine will be that it will provide information about the dentist only and no other information and advertisement will be allowed in the website page. The business model implemented is that the website will act as a search engine. The website will act as an innovative medium of advertisement with transparency for the people. The home page will not only display the web design of the dentists but also show the names of the dentist and their phone number according to the market ranking. The market ranking will be gathered from the past history of dentists, their performance, features provided and the advanced technology used by them. This will assist the interested people to take corrective measures regarding the choice of the dentists. Moreover, the names of the dentist will be categorised as the private and the cosmetic dentist so that the search for the people becomes easier as per their need. By clicking on the names of the dentist the next page will open which will contain the detailed information regarding the dentist performance, the price for the different surgical aspects and also the pictures of the entity where they operate. The location of the dentist and the enhanced technology used by them will all be provided in the website. The information incorporated in the websites will be gathered by the marketing team and then formulated by the research and the development team. This will help in providing ethical information regarding the dentist to the best of the knowledge (Mellor & et.al., 2009). The website will be different from the other search engines as this website will only focus on delivering updated information regarding the dentists with the use effective advanced technology. The other websites or the search engines usually provide information of various products and service thus the level of information in every aspect is not the same and updated. This is the key strength of website design which makes it its unique selling proposition as the information will be updated on the regular basis as per the performance of the dentist. This will help the people to get the best offer for them with the help of the useful updated information. Moreover, the website will be designed in such a way that a proper comparison can be done by the people regarding the performance of the dentist in not only the local region but also other regions. This information will be useful for the people to get to take the regarding their treatment. One of the key feature of the website will be that the dentist themselves will be able to deliver their information by creating their own account. In this account they will be given the authority to provide information about their qualification, their experiences and also the enhanced feature provided by them in their present business entity. Through this feature the authentication of the information regarding the dentist will be more as compared to other search engine in the market. This website will act as a modern media of information for the people without any complexity and will also help in to get proper information with utmost transparency. With the help of the website the people will be able to acquire precise and better result. Moreover, pay-per-click (PPC) system will be implemented. It will enable in tracking the number of visitors who pop in to the website. It will ultimately assist in acquiring quality of traffic and creating action necessary for generating revenue (Tourism and Events Queensland, 2012). The website created will act as a new generation marketing media which will bring change in the concept of marketing and will also increase the competition amongst dentists to provide better enhanced services as the updated performance ranking will be displayed in the website designed (Hotler, 2005). The potential strength of the website designed is that it will provide detail only regarding the dentists and their dental care features. The information provided in the website is on the basis of the ranking of the dental care in the area. On contrary, the limited scope for the people to search as the website deals with the dentists sector only can be considered as a weakness. Furthermore, the opportunity for the website will be that it will provide of fair and transparent information regarding the dental care than other websites. Moreover, presence of considerable number of people seeking dental care which will ultimately enhance the growth and revenue prospect for website can be attributed as an opportunity. Nonetheless, the exiting market leaders and their loyal customer base can serve as a threat for the website. The high competition and new entrants in the field of website can also lead to threat for its successful operation. Background The private and the cosmetic dental care businesses are embraced with numerous opportunities in the modern day scenario. The private dental care provides services to the people in order to treat their teeth and provide National Health Service. On the other hand, the cosmetic dental care provides wide range of services to the people in a warm and relaxing environment to attract more customers. The private and the cosmetic dental care offer high technological equipment to provide advanced dental care with customer service. However the price range of the services provided to the people by the dentists differs even if standard procedure is followed everywhere. It is observed that the dentists providing better enhanced quality services at an affordable price for the people are being prevented from conducting advertisements. This can be viewed to be preventing in sharing the knowledge to the people regarding the service provided. Information sharing using the conventional media such as the UpMyStreet.com is not being able to communicate the proper knowledge and information regarding the variation in the prices of the dentistry. This is creating an unethical environment wherein transparency is not being adhered for the common people. This lack of transparency in the market environment regarding the accurate knowledge about the delivered service is creating an ambiguous situation for the people regarding there deals. Thus, a business plan is being implemented is to create a web site wherein the customers will be able to locate the information regarding the dentist and the without any dispute. Ownership and Company Structure The website project design will be a sole proprietorship business in order to have a proper control over its management. The sole proprietor will have various employees working in varied department important for the website design and information regarding the dentist. The website will be so named that it gives a brief idea about the service it delivers to the customers. The name of the website will be Den Info.Com. Search engine providing relevant information regarding the local private as well as the cosmetic dentist care. The company structure is an important part of any business as it helps in increasing the efficiency as well as effectiveness by allocating the departments and the employees in every department. The company will follow the hierarchical structure with the CEO as the top management. There will be the departmentalisation which implies that every unit will be allocated with the given responsibility which they require to fulfil. The department in the business will be of a marketing department, research and development, information technology department as well as the financial department. Every department will have expertise so that the tasks are performed efficiently with fewer chances of issues (Montana & Charnov, 1993). Moreover, the location of the website business will be in the science park where various other technological tasks are performed. This will be beneficial for the purpose of website design. The Team: Leadership, Accountants and Lawyers As mentioned the website business plan, the company structure will follow departmentalization structure. The style of leadership will be situational as per the need of the company and the various departments. The situational leadership will be implemented as it will give importance to the tasks of the individuals and the help in building relationship with the employees on the behavioural aspect. This behaviour will help to motivate the employees and enhance their performance which will in turn help the website as it will always be updated and the technological issue will be less due to the performance of the employees (Mississippi College, 2007). The accountants will be appointed to take proper view of the revenues generated and the expenses caused in the website along with the salaries of the employees. The proposed business will hire a professional accountant who will be liable to manage and monitor the financial activities of the business. Before creating the website a space will be purchased and for the website to be authentic as well as secure it will require copyright and licence from the government. Maintaining the confidentiality and security of the customer will be observed in the web design and in case of any contingency a temporary basis lawyer will be appointed. Moreover, the lawyer on the regular basis will update the legal framework of the business so that all the laws and privacy will be adhered by the website Den Info.Com. A lawyer will also be appointed to deal with any legal obligation that may arise during the course of its operation. Thus, the leadership style, the accountants and the lawyers together will help the website business to flourish and gain significance by the customers in need for a better dental care. The Product/Service The product in the business plan is the search engine which is used to access the data required by the customers. The search engine is the medium through which the people can get the information they are querying for in a simple convenient manner. The product is of great importance for not only the customer but also for the people of the dental care as they will get the opportunity to provide information about their dental care to the people in an effective manner. The product designed will be different from other search engine as it will provide information only regarding the private and the cosmetic dentist care. It will also provide the names of the dentist as per their market performance which will make it different from the others. The design of the website will be such that the information will be derived in a smarter and faster manner by the click of the mouse or by just typing the needful. The search engine will help in extracting the information by reducing the search for the people. Moreover, the dentist will be given the opportunity to subscribe the website and update their data in the portal. The pricing strategy is different as per the customer need and their number of visits in the site. The dentists are provided with discounts as they are the subscribers of the site (Google, 2014). Furthermore, the people will be allocated with a scope wherein they can give their feedback in the website regarding the service provided. There reviews regarding the ranking mentioned of the dentist after they have adhered the service from us and also the dentist. This product feature will also make it different from others as the business will value the views of the customer. Marketing Plan The marketing plan is of relevance for the business in order to identify the target customer, provide information to the customer regarding the new business venture and also to increase the number of visits of the customer in the website. The marketing plan will be followed properly in order to increase the number of prospective clients and hence increase the revenue of the business. The target audience for the website are the people of every age and demographics who are suffering from the dental issue and with people who want to enhance their beauty through the cosmetic dental treatment especially the young generation who are tech savvy. The main objective of the marketing plan for the website is to promote its visibility in the market among the people at a rapid pace so that people get to know about the website with the implementation of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The SEO will be applied as marketing concept to attract potential customer to use the website. To get the people know about the website technique such as cross linking will be implemented. The website will be designed in such a way that it will be known for its ‘keyword rich text.’ Link popularity will be implied which refers to the linking of the website with popular webpage to get high rank and visibility in the eyes of the people (Prince Edward Island, 2007). Moreover, social media networking sites will be used as a marketing tool wherein through the help of the Facebook the users will get to know about the new website providing information regarding the dentist care. The other methods for the purpose of marketing will be the use of viral marketing which will act as word of mouth marketing. This will help in to raise the awareness of the customers regarding the new website and the features offered by it to the people (Xavier & Summer, 2009). This will help in increasing the visibility of the website at the earliest and start generating revenue. For the promotion of the website the marketing technique such as the online display advertisement will be done wherein the pop ups regarding the website will appear in various other websites. Additionally, the emails will be sent regarding the website design and its importance so that people get to know about it. Sales and Distribution It is important to sell the website in order to generate the revenue from the people. Apart from providing reliable information regarding the dentists to the target people, the website will also sell advertising and subscriptions. The website will charge nominal fees in the form of commission which would aim at increasing the profit generation capability of the website. Moreover, through the help of the ‘Highest Click-Through Rate’ the revenue can be generated. The subscription fees charged from the dentist will also generate revenue for the website (Loukanov, 2011; Wang & et.al., n.d.). Moreover, pay per click concept will also help in to generate revenue and make the business successful. With the increase in the number of visit in the website minimal fees will be charged which will help in to increase the revenue generation for the website. Competitors The level of competition is relatively high at the marketplace and in order to succeed it is important for the website to have some USP over the others. There are various search engine is the United Kingdom which provides information to the people regarding the medical sector such as the dentist and others. Bing Health, Searchmediaca and WebMD are the few major competitors that might affect the website business. The competitors are known by several people and hence they have an existing wide market area. In order to get the market the website will have to display its USP to the people which is that they will only provide information about the private and cosmetic dentist care. The other strength that will assist the website design project is that the information will be placed in the website on the basis of their performance in the market and the added features provided by the dentist will be updated by them. The easy way of search through the keywords will also be its strength than the others. The weakness faced will be the there are several established search engine in the market which might create issues for the new website. The issue will be the lack of trust of the people regarding the authentication of the data provided in the website. The high competition from the competitors will be taken into consideration while formulating the business policies and strategies. The weakness of the other search engine is its wide range of information regarding the medical department. Hence, the time taken by the people for the purpose of searching is more time consuming and complex. Customer Different customers have diverse needs from the informational media. The need depends as per the demographics of the customer as the young people wanting a cosmetic dental treatment will search for the information regarding the dentists who have enhanced technology and goodwill in the market without concerning about the price. Thus, the website will be designed in such a way that the customer need will be easily meet through the keywords. The target customer for the website will be both the young and old age people. Moreover, people with lack of finances will go for the search option which will state the price range of the services delivered. The website design will be so made keeping in view the need of the target customer. This website will deliver high quality technology but with minimum complexities which can be used by every individual without any issues. Agreements or Alliance The website will have an agreement with the dentists in order to promote their dental and cosmetic care. The dentist will have to pay a subscription fees to the website so that they can create an account and allow the users to provide feedback regarding the service availed by them. Moreover, to promote the website and make the people aware regarding the service provided, the website will have a strategic alliance with the Channel4.Com. The Budget Start-up Capital is important for the business and its establishment. The cost that will be borne by the business in the initial years will be taken into consideration in the budget. Every department in the business will incur an amount of cost that is important for the business to initiate in a proper manner to commence and compete in the market. The estimated Start-up capital is depicted below. This gives the idea regarding the expenses that the business will incur at the time of the initiation. The Investment Need The need of the investment for the website design will be nearly the same as the budget amount £17,400 as it includes the rent of the building, the expenses and the salary of the employees who will be recruited. The need for the investment calculates the initial cost, the cost when the project will start running and the contingency. The need for the investment will be nearly £17,400 in the initial year. The revenue generated as per the marketing and pricing strategy will be nearly £60,000 in the initial year and with popularity and other strategies it will be more. Therefore, the pre-tax profit for the website company at the end of the first year would be £15,160. Any barrier Every business face challenges in the initial stages due to the increase in the competition from the competitors. The barrier faced is regarding the generation of the authentic data from the dentist care, both private as well as the cosmetic with quality on the regular basis. The barrier is to identify the quality of the updates provided by the dentists regarding their dental care. The competition from the old market share leader can be observed to impose barrier for the successful operation of the business. Moreover, the change in the external legal policies might also influence the website design project. Keeping track regarding the subscription fees and other revenue generation aspect can be the barrier at the initial stage of the business. Profit and Exit The business designed will have various strategies regarding the marketing and revenue generation which will help in to provide a ‘win - win situation’ for the business. The website will be the only search engine which will provide information regarding the dental care making it unique in the market for the customer. This feature of the website will help in generating substantial profit in the market with simple design and easy availability of the information for the people. The value of the website will be good because of its unique features and high technology. Moreover, the business has the ability to earn income through the various methods making it profitable and effective. References Google, 2014. Our Products and Services. What We Do. [Online] Available at: https://www.google.com/about/company/products/ [Accessed on March 06, 2014]. Hotler, E., 2005. Benefits of Local Search. Newfangled Web Developers. [Online] Available at: http://www.newfangled.com/benefits_of_local_search [Accessed on March 06, 2014]. Loukanov, B., 2011. Guide to the New Facebook Ads Manager. Slide Share. [Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/truthdefender/guide-to-the-new-facebook-ads-manager [Accessed on March 06, 2014]. Montana, P. & Charnov, B., 1993. Organizational Structures: Concepts and Formats. Management: A Streamlined Course for Students and Business People, pp. 155-169. Mellor, R.B. & et.al., 2009. Entrepreneurship for Everyone. SAGE Publications Inc. Mississippi College, 2007. Situational Leadership. Section 4, pp. 35-45. Prince Edward Island, 2007. Increasing Traffic to Your Website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques. Original, pp. 1-10. Tourism and Events Queensland, 2012. E-Marketing. Pay Per Click (PPC) 101, pp. 1-3. Wang, X. & et.al., No Date. Click-Through Rate Estimation For Rare Events In Online Advertising. Chapter, pp. 2-11. Xavier, L.J.W. & Summer, G.Y.S., 2009. Viral Marketing Communication: The Internet Word-Of-Mouth. School Of Management, pp. 2-93. Read More