BlackBerry: Key Information Management Concepts - Essay Example

BlackBerry: Key Information Management ConceptsBackground BlackBerry was created in 1984, is currently headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, and has subsidiaries in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America (BlackBerry, 2015). In 1999, BlackBerry transformed the telecommunications sector by entering and introducing innovative mobile technology. Incorporated in 2003, BlackBerry today is a provider of wireless tools consisting of smartphones, wireless services, and mobile security software (BlackBerry).

BlackBerry’s main executive leadership comprises a Chief Executive Officer (John Chen), a Chief Operating Officer (Eric Johnson), an Executive Vice President (James Yersh), and a Chief Financial Officer (Steven Zipperstein) (BlackBerry). BlackBerry’s main products include BBM Protected, World Class Global Services and Support, App Ecosystem, and BES12 (BlackBerry). The main services are platforms and tools for unified access to data such as email, instant messaging, online and intranet-oriented apps and browsing.

Key Concepts The four key concepts to be discussed are competitive advantage, firm cost, value creation, and added value.1. Competitive advantage- BlackBerry designs and provides very secure smartphones that make up the company’s key competitive edge. BlackBerry’s smartphones use secure encoded network technology that enables users to send emails to other BlackBerry devices without the risk of data theft or network intrusion (Beyers, 2013).2. Firm Cost- BlackBerry is not leveraging firm costs as it recently decided to cut off 40% of its worldwide workforce.

In addition, recently, BlackBerry has been trying to move to manufacturing device hardware and real estate (Shah, 2013).3. Value creation-BlackBerry again leverage its value creation by just preserving its existing value. Preservation will play the role of creating value successful in terms of stock market representation (Money Investor, 2013).4. Added value- BlackBerry fully leverages the concept of added value by categorizing numerous solutions as added value applications. The company’s enterprise server operators freely did deploy these solutions using the application control techniques that is compatible with the solution (Research In Motion Limited, 2012).

Effects of the Key Concepts1. A stronger competitive advantage through investment in cloud-based services would affect BlackBerry in a positive way. Providing cloud-based services strengthen BlackBerry’s position in the Information Technology market, especially when the cloud services sector is expanding rapidly.2. Leveraging firm costs by rejecting multibillion-dollar takeover offers from conglomerate firms is apt for BlackBerry. Project such offers should alleviate the costs of laying off its global workforce.

Additionally, this form of leveraging would help prevent the recording of unsold device stock for claiming purposes.3. Preserving the company’s present value should certainly be helpful in the sense that it generates value for its shareholders. The value currently ascribed to BlackBerry by the stock market would equally arise because of preservation.4. BlackBerry can increase its added value pool by including hardware devices or components and services in its added value category of solutions.

Instead of leaving this leveraged to ISPs and telecommunication companies, BlackBerry could return to providing value-added products and services to customers directly.IM Leader An IM leader should be mindful of deployment strategies and product or service valuation and analysis when considering the value of a competitive edge, low firm cost, value creation, and added value (Piccoli, 2012). The way these concepts are implemented into the company and market determines consumer perception and the true value of the marketed product or service.

The CIO cannot solely depend on the efficiency or performance of the device or software when attempting to strengthen the company’s competitive advantage, reduce firm costs, create value, and add value.ReferencesBeyers, T. (2013). Is This the End of BlackBerry's Competitive Advantage? The Motley Fool. Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/02/15/is-this-the-end-of- blackberrys-competitive-advanta.aspxBlackBerry. (2015). About BlackBerry. BlackBerry. Retrieved from http://us.

blackberry.com/company.htmlBlackBerry. (2015). Blackberry enterprise products and services. BlackBerry. Retrieved from http://us.blackberry.com/enterprise/products.htmlBlackBerry. (2015). BlackBerry Executive Team. BlackBerry. Retrieved from http://us.blackberry.com/company/newsroom/executive-team.htmlMoney Investor. (2013). BlackBerry Can Engage In Value Creation Through Preservation. Seeking Alpha. Retrieved from http://seekingalpha.com/article/1553242-blackberry-can- engage-in-value-creation-through-preservationPiccoli, G. (2012). Essentials of Information Systems for Managers.

New York: Wiley.Research In Motion Limited. (2012). Value-added Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones. Blackberry Knowledge Base. Retrieved from http://btsc.webapps.blackberry.com/btsc/viewdocument.do;jsessionid=F0ED006F764F12 082009689734F4E77C?externalId=KB24317&sliceId=2&cmd=displayKC&docType=kc &noCount=true&ViewedDocsListHelper=com.kanisa.apps.common.BaseViewedDocsLi stHelperImplShah, S. (2013). BlackBerry’s job cuts will cost firm $400m. Computing. Retrieved from http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2298543/blackberry-s-job-cuts-will-cost-firm- usd400m