Innovative Management: International Mobile Money Transfer - Coursework Example

Innovative Management: International Mobile Money Transfer Name: Course Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission Background The concept of money has existed from time in memorial; this has been influenced with the availability of trade and consumption[Hum15]. However among the most important elements of consumption and trade has been the ability to transfer money from one geographical region to another. Many methods have since been introduced to enable this service to be in existence, Method such as the use of postal services. Money transfer by transportation services has altogether been used. However these methods lacked one crucial element in their service, the element of time and most importantly the element of urgency. With the innovation of communication systems and considerably the mobile communication system, there has been a loud calling by the subscribers for the introduction of mobile money transfer systems that will comprehend the communication part of the mobile system[IBI15]. Researchers have so far been able to create this system but an element has continuously eloped from their ability to innovate. This element was the ability to safely transfer funds from a very large geographical area to another. Giving an example was the ability to transfer money from one continent to another. This project will elaborate more on the issues that have made it difficult for this innovation idea to be invented and how we have deal with them to create this innovation. Context of the Project This project is undertaken in the normal setting of the community. The presence of trade, communication and transaction influence this project. The present need by the community to transfer money from one geographical area to the next has further warranted this research. The condition is to the normal day to day operations of the masses of Australia. Motivation The motivation towards the invention of this system was the need for a system that can allow users and other parties to transfer money from continents to people in different communication subscriber Identity Modules (SIM)[The131]. Additionally it was influenced by the need of a money transfer service that was quick, Easy to use, that was safe and that was convenient and has affordable prices to the common individual. Speed-In that it has an ability to transfer money in a matter of minutes, considerably in a period less than 5 minutes across a large geographical area. Convenient-In that it does not involve making a queue to get the money or go to a service provider like an ATM machine to withdraw the money Ease of Use-In that any person with any level of education can use it to conduct transactions reaching a high number of people[Tra15]. Safety-In that money transferred via the system gets to the recipient without being diverted to another person or deducted in amount[Tra15]. Affordable Price-In that both the high and the low income earners can use this method in their transactions. The cost was manageable[Tra15]. Additional motivation was that there are a considerable high number of people who have migrated from their places of origin in search of better working conditions so that they can adequately provide for their families. Why it was Innovative This project was not an improvement of the already existing model in that; It has a new way of doing things, in that with the existing model that uses the same Subscriber Identity Module this one will use different subscriber module hence covering the all the networks. It also has a new approach in conducting the transaction from one geographical region to another. Though risk has increased it was prudent to state that we intend to use the most modern security systems to safeguard banking transactions[Flo14]. We intend to get support of the security systems and companies that safeguard the money transfer systems and also hire experts of our own to always be vigil and track down suspicious activities in the system. We will also gain support from the International Patent Control Board to safeguard against future investments in this field. The system will reduce the defective rate of the current existing system by 3 million since it will have an increased control and new processes that will see maintenance and observation done regularly by innovative managers in the team[Ken10]. Project Management In showing how the project was managed I will use the Hybrid process model[Mar01]. The model encompasses the following parts; Exploration-The search for an opportunity was led by the need for a system that can transfer money from one continent to another through the use of mobile systems, the Subscriber Identity Modules[Laz12]. The Knowledge pull was the need to exploit new scientific knowledge on the subscriber Identity module and to show how efficient the technology could operate. Need pull-The desire by numerous subscribers of the Identity module to transfer money or conduct business from their own convenience had grown. The desire to be able to use any SIM to transfer any money to any other network also prompted this innovative idea. Research was conducted through the relating of different subscribers to know what their need are and what they desire the most too enable them to maximally use their mobile phones. The research team also conducted a market intelligence to be able to know what product existed in the market and which products did not exist. This analysis additionally allowed us to know what the customers of this subscribers need and want. This, we discovered was the innovation we were representing. We also discovered that competition exists but they are only based on the same SIM and same subscriber network as opposed to this that has different subscriber networks. Additional research also showed the amount of money that the subscribers are prepared to pay to get this service which I might add was a fair price. Selection – In this process the innovation management panel get to know what they will innovate in and why. A selection of the International mobile money transfer was done. The best idea that we regard as challenging but achievable was selected. This idea was of the lowest cost and risk. The competitiveness of the idea itself was thrilling but however we believe that our idea was best. Because of the Uncertainty that this project entails with the possible emergence of new market and the income of new technology the management should be careful to update the system with technological innovations. Evidentially this project system was competitive; therefore absolute care was taken in this selection process. Stages of selection are initiated in the process itself, we opt to choose the portfolio process in order to be able to raise capital for further expansion and to widen the net on the market potential. Would be investors get to know what they will contribute and what their return will be, The return obviously must be more than their invested capital. The decision to select a process ought to be flexible in that it should be able to be changed in case of an error in the previous stages. However the management board must be politically influenced to be on board with the idea of investing in a system that transfers money internationally without the change of the customer’s subscriber identity module. Further the panel should all have good recommendations concerning the project. They must have made informed decisions on the project in order to choose it. The aim should be to replace uncertainty with knowledge in this process. Both consideration of the long and short term ought to be made in this section. Other points to consider are the strategy used by the management to select this innovation and the previous capabilities of the other systems that are currently available. Implementation- This was where the team of management deliberate on how they will make the project work. In this section for main agendas are considered, these include; the replacement of Knowledge that was previously Uncertainty with finally innovation. Use of selected feed back, for the innovation. Diversification of the members who are implementing this innovation and consideration of a dedicating funding process. The different small teams are chosen for the implementation of the project ought to be put at different spaces with a specialization agenda for each team. The teams are to be managed by a leader that was most preferable to succeed in the agenda of the implementation process. The teams must be dedicated to the achievement of the implementation process. Considerably the Stage gate system of implementation of the innovation should be used. This system has numerous advantages like the fact that it helps to contain the risk in case of any risk, and it also provides a structured approach to deal with that risk. In the review of the feedback we recommend that a structured formal sector should be introduced. This structure will review both technical and market data at each stage a high commitment resource and both allocation and barriers as progress was made. Roles should also be made clear on who was involved in what and who was not amongst the management. Additionally the role of the leader should also be made clear at all groups. Clear criteria should be set with the knowledge of how failure in this process looks like. The use of rapid development like cycles and the involvement of fast prototyping, testing and the use of pilot tests should be fast enough to allow enough room for implementation process. Test by the end users should be conducted for an analysis to be compiled. A dedicated funding source was key in the implementation of this process. Recommendation was to the use of the Intraprenuership system where the managers and the board of the idea are the first financers of the idea[The07]. This will work well with the other investors as it will allow them to get encouragement on the viability of the project and them to will invest Diffusion-This stage involves the capturing of benefit and the method of delivery to the audience. The stage was divided in to four other layers being; IP management, Involvement of partners, and the sustenance of the innovation[Liz14]. IP management- This was also known as patenting. This was the process where the ideas of the business are patented to make sure that the idea was not copied by the competing firm. This process was very useful to the organization of the innovation as it allows the innovators to continue inventing with no fear of future copying of their product and resulting into loss of their ideas. This position of the business needs specialization and people who was specialist in the management of systems. The holding of trade secrets was key to the business[Liz14]. Productisation-This part of the business can break or make the innovation. The team that hold this part of the innovation should be able to be innovative with their ideas and any new idea that come into the market concerning the mobile money transfer. They should be the first to produce a product to the market and gain an early win. They should also be able to have flowing ideas so as to enable them have a rapid release cycle which was the best practice in business innovation[Liz14]. The team was able to get the team model right therefore enabling them to work in line with the innovation wants and needs. This enabled them to have a line that they can follow and therefore avoiding diverting into other practices. They also avoided limiting the existing customer through the positioning and setting up of customer segments to address the customer challenges and difficulties. Additionally the management had the ability to observe and try new ideas concerning the innovation and therefore they could be able to identify lead users and prioritize on them. The Market and technology influenced the commercialization process in that it influenced the relationship between the innovation and its performance to its consumers. We also considered the use of soft launches for the early feedback in the marketing and therefore ability to create solutions immediately a challenge arrived. Rotational Management was also key in the dissemination process in that it allowed the staff to experience a new leadership every time and therefore boredom was not felt. Similarly there was inflow of new ideas through the change of management. The process of internal management as well allowed the room for the best exploitation of competencies and a joint venture that further demanded release of the innovation. The role of the partners being the widening of dissemination and a further need for the ongoing production. The efficiency of the staff enabled further better dissemination to be experienced in that the project managers were able to pass directions to the staff and the staff could effectively use the directions with no misdirection. Prudent it was also to mention that we avoided projects with single points of failure since they had a very high risk. Credit on achieving this process of management was equally shared and therefore enabling motivation to the management teams[Liz14]. Evaluation and Feedback- this section of management was aimed to get response on how well the innovation was being received and how best to improve on it. This was achieved by the questioning the end users and the stakeholders. Another statistical measure was made by the management itself to see if the organization was meeting its own regulation. The evaluation from end users gave as the project valuation from the customer. They evaluated the project and the organization of the project staff and delivery. On these the response was positive and the customers had no complains. However recommendation was set on the safety of the transactions on this system. They said that the staff performed considerably well and they made service delivery efficient[Liz14]. The second method where focused groups were put together with prototypes of the product so that they can evaluate it suggested that the systems software needs to be upgraded for quicker transactions. Also the systems needed more functions like banking services to enable the subscribers to have an all in one mobile finance system. The survey to our view was fulfilling in that we got the response that we anticipated for. The involvement of stakeholders in the feedback process was also used. They wanted to be involved more in the decision making in the introduction of new systems in the market concerning the innovation. We created support structure that would enable the one on one conversation between the innovators the staff and the end user; online platforms were also in assistance to help with the gathering of feedback. Trial support functions were also set up in view of this hence allowing room for further interactions. We believe that feedback should be an ongoing process and therefore the groups were maintained to allow room for continued discussions between the innovators and the end users of the international mobile money transfer system. This system was evidentially leading to fast evaluation. After the feedback was received then in came the evaluation process where the innovated project was evaluated and the process to plan target and review took place. The review was done by the innovators in conjunction with the board of management and decisions on what could have been done to improve took centre stage. However a future exit strategy was also deliberated in case of the failure of the innovation and subsequently the company. Audit on the Innovation was scheduled to be done regularly to make sure that the innovation was on track. Employees were awarded for their role in the feedback process to make it possible for them to give the best researched feedback. Additionally, the awards were presented to those employees that performed best and to also inspire future innovation in the field. Challenges faced in the Project 1) Funding for the project was an issue. It was difficult to convince investors that this project was possible and the fact that no one had attempted it earlier seemed to worsen the situation with convincing them. To tackle this issue we had an intraprenuership where the innovators became the first investors in the idea thereby showing a level of confidence to the other investors. 2) In this field of money transfer there was a stiff competition in innovation and new technology. This was launched by companies that have already performed considerably well in the field in the past. This challenge we faced it by gaining new innovators with new ideas in the field hence enabling us to compete. 3) Our designs were getting copied by other companies therefore producing similar prototypes to ours This challenge we dealt with it by the patenting of our innovation Factors that have caused success of the Project The success of this project we owe it to the project management strategy. It compatilised the sections of management thereby allowing us to understand what was meant to be done next. The breaking down of management sections gave rise to more ideas and procedures that needed to be involved in the project implementation. The leadership of the teams that were involved in the implementation of the decisions and directions also did a commendable job and the success was also owed to them. They have both contributed to management, staffing and work assignation of the staff in the innovation exercise. Other strategies in management that could have been used in management include; i. The Tidd and Bessant Model that include the search, select, implement and capture sub activities. ii. The Eggers and Singh Model that involved the idea generation, idea selection, idea implementation and sustaining ideas and finally the idea diffusion. Reference Hum15: , (Human IPO, 2015), IBI15: , (IBIS world, 2015), The131: , (The Financial Inclusion Tracker Surveys Project, 2013, p. 3), Tra15: , (Transfer Mate Global, 2015), Flo14: , (Flood, 2014), Ken10: , (Kendall & Machoka, 2010, p. 7), Mar01: , (Martin & Raffo, 2001, pp. 1-4), Laz12: , (Lazo & Jovanovic, 2012, pp. 3-6), The07: , (Theme, 2007), Liz14: , (Lizier, 2014, p. 2), Liz14: , (Lizier, 2014, p. 5), Liz14: , (Lizier, 2014, p. 10), Liz14: , (Lizier, 2014, p. 14), Liz14: , (Lizier, 2014, pp. 4-13), Read More