Technological Advancement in Information Technology Industry - Assignment Example

? DESCRIPTIVE QUESTIONS COLLEGE AFFILIATION Question Technological Advancement in IT Industry: Communication: Technology has helped greatdeal in improving the quality and method of communication. Decades ago when traditional telephones were the mode of wired communication, information technology development has brought in many changes. Now people can easily make wireless communications. Not only can this, with the help of smart phones, people use all kinds of other professional, personal and entertainment purposes. Internet connectivity in smart phones has further eased the processes. Moreover on the backhand side, the communication is managed by huge technical facilities like routers, signal booths; in short, communication is completely supported by technology. Business Operations: Worldwide business operations are handled with the help of technology. IT has played a big role in managing backhand support; the LAN, WAN systems, and connectivity through websites is supported by IT teams in organizations. Management Information Systems (MIS), a system that is used by companies in order to manage their operations, deal with customers and store data is due to advancements in technology. The latest trends include storing the data on virtual cloud, and being able to retrieve and present with the help of DropBox, Skydrive etc., is a great development into IT industry (Slatman, 2013). Food Processes: In food industry, where technology has changed many ways of business operations, both input and output side. For input side, order procurement is an area where with the use of JIT (Just in Time) inventory systems, the storage costs are minimized. Moreover, with the use of bar codes, effective inventory management gives a change to businesses to analyse which items are slow movers and what are fast movers and how effective marketing must be used to create pull factors for such items. At processing stage, machines are being used to monitor the temperature, humidity and other factors. Use of automated machines is increased in order to increase efficiency and decrease the service time. McDonalds, a well-known food chain used a prototype of robots to handle the processes of fries and shakes (Pantelidis, 2009). Sociocultural Forces in IT: Information technology has largely impacted on sociocultural factors. With the use of internet and latest technologies, people share a set of different values: Cultural and Ethnic Identity: with regards to Information Technology, the previous cultural identity of people, that is they are recognized and affiliated with a particular cultural norms and values, seems to vanish. With increasingly virtual world, people seem to own and present their own individual identities. The trend is widespread in West, though the East is in process of adopting it and the pace is quick. With increasing number of internet users, mostly due to the growth in Asia and Middle East, the cultural identity is taking new shape. A mix of cultural and personal identities, the ethnic aspect is equally affected due to change in technology. It is evident in real world the size and pace of immigration taking place. However due to technology, in virtual world, the ethnic identity is obscured by factors such as individualism, personality, self-concept and the like. Question 2 (a) Direct Marketing, one of the oldest form of marketing has been used in different ways. Direct mail, email, promotional material in shape of broachers, leaflets, billboards as well as advertisement on TV are few forms where consumers are tried to inform, persuade and remind about the presence of a product or a service. Many a times it is surprising to see how purely website businesses use TV as a promotional media as opposed to online media (where the consumers are just a click away from website businesses). The presence of such strategy is an example that consumers are complex, hard to comprehend and many a times irrational. Therefore they must not be treated by simple forms of selling, rather with a well-thought strategy with different media mix. Plenty of psychology studies try to understand human behaviors; these studies are further interpreted in multiple areas such as Education, Sales and Marketing, Health studies and the like. In the case where drugs are promoted through two different channels, the idea is to serve either of three functions of advertising that are: to remind, recall or persuade (ref). Therefore, even if the customer is not directly purchasing many products, it affects in some products, such as Over the Counter (OTC drugs). Secondly, by directly marketing the products to potential customers, the objective is also to fit in a subliminal message. This subliminal message can be presented though ways such as a strong and catchy tagline, attractive background music in the ad, or even just the visual features of. Therefore when a patient goes to a pharmacy or a physician, he or she might either ask for a certain drug, or inquires the third party (the physician in this case) and purchases it. This pre-set subliminal message helps the patient in making a decision since it is reinforced once a physician mentions the drug. One of the most common and successful examples in marketing directly to patients are ?supplements?. These are the drugs which often consumers may or may not even need but are forced to buy due to the pull strategy of direct marketing by the pharmaceutical companies. In colder regions especially in upper Europe and Scandinavia, where the lack of sunlight causes vitamin D deficiency, pharmaceutical companies aggressively market the supplements (Holick & Chen, 2008). Over the years, the trend of opting supplements instead of other healthier alternatives is gaining popularity. This is due to all the direct marketing efforts of companies. Therefore instead of using other healthier alternatives for Vitamin D, the consumers are conveniently purchasing these supplements. The other examples include Nasal Drops, Anti-Smoking/quit-smoking alternatives etc., which are easily available at POS (Point of Sale). Question 2 (b) The suitable psychological, situational and social factors affecting on three categories are: Physicians: Psychological: This determines the ?motives? and ?perceptions?. The physicians play a crucial role in influencing the decision making for consumer. However, apart from their motive of serving a customer, they tend to be affected by the given perks and benefits by pharmaceutical companies. These include family holidays, invitation to parties, picnics, participation in seminars, conferences and other non-monetary benefits. Secondly, physicians are also concerned of maintaining their personality and good will. Therefore, the perception and opinion of a drug and organization is also critical. Social: ?Roles? and ?opinion leaders? apply as social influences since the physicians are the decision makers and hold an important position in overall consumer decision making. Moreover, there are greater chances that they will be heard and listened to by the patients if they prescribe any drug, they hold a strong position of being opinion leaders. Patients: Situational: ?physical surrounding? applies in case of OTC drugs such as Vicks, Vitamin Supplements, and Nasal Drops etc. Patients are mostly affected by the POS placements; and coupled with the subliminal messages described above, they are is more likely to make a purchase. ?Purchase reason? applies when purchase is dependent on factors such as timing, health of patient and other related instances. For example, if a person goes to a grocery shopping and has flu, he might as well end up buying a nasal drops. Psychological: Personal ?motives? such as the need and willingness of a patient to be healthy again. If a patient has a very serious illness, his decision will be of high-involvement and quick, and vice versa. Hospital Committees: Social: Social surroundings in this case may depend on the comparison, competition that public and private hospitals have with each other respectively. Therefore the decision by one hospital committee will be affecting the decision of the other. Secondly, ?motives? such as the rewards and benefits offered to the committee heads will affect the decision. One of the main issues in third world countries is the effort if pharmaceutical companies in alluring the committees and medical specialists in order to sell their drugs. In result of serious consequences, the pharmaceutical companies are strong enough to influence the government and get away with the issue. Secondly, ?Reference groups? relate to the memberships and partnerships of committees with certain bigger organization such as World Health Organization. Therefore the purchase decision may come from an obligation due to certain affiliations. Question 3 The conflict between marketing of product and services arises from the very core that is the Marketing Mix. The marketing mix, often called as 4Ps (7Ps in case of services) determine the process through which a product and service should be marketed. Therefore when the foundations differ, it is undoubtedly correct that the process differ. Before moving to further differences, we first look as the marketing mix: Product: In products, the marketers are selling something concrete and tangible whereas in services it is the idea, or process that is being sold and will be consumed by the customer, which makes it completely different. Example: purchasing sugar in exchange of money again purchasing an airline journey. Price: Both product and serve contain a price which is determined by the value it gives to customer. The higher the value, the greater the price. Place: The placement of a product and service is determined by the promotional strategy, which comes next. Example, the teaching may be given at university or college, whereas the laptops are purchased at company centres. Promotion: Both products and services need promotion in order to reach to a customer. Both products and services require a mix of media platforms, the later however need to be more based on references and recommendation. Crispy Cream doughnuts creates the whole customer experience so it gains word of mouth (ref). The additional 3Ps: Processes: The process by which a service is delivered is really important since services are more intangible. Therefore, to gain more credibility and increase overall customer satisfaction. Physical Evidence: This includes the tangibility aspect, where services must be presented in some sort of physical evidence in order for customers to enjoy the overall experience. The airline service comes with additional in-flight entertainment. People: In contrasts to the product, the services are delivered by the people, therefore the employee aspect is very important. The overall customer experience very much depends on how the service is delivered by the people. In addition to the Marketing Mix, the marketing strategy is also dependent on few other factors which makes a service unique. Firstly, services are highly intangible, consumers cannot touch, feel, or determine the quality unless they have consumed it. This makes services high-risk in terms of insufficient tangible evidence. Therefore when a service is marketed, it is important that business presents enough tangible evidence. Secondly, services have an inseparability factor, that is the delivery and consumption occurs at same time. For example in teaching, the service is delivered and consumed at the same time and the receiver has to judge the quality and gain the value simultaneously. Services can be highly critical such as travelling in an airplane or undergoing a medical surgery, the risks are higher and therefore it required utmost care in service delivery. Thirdly, services are highly variable; they have human involvement much higher than products therefore the variability is high. Take the example of restaurants, where the customer services is often dependant of footfall during a time in the day, number of employees, their work load etc. therefore the customer experience in this case will matter on what time of the day he comes to restaurants. Moreover, often at times the person promising the service is different from the person delivering it. This creates the discrepancy and often result in customer dissatisfaction. The last critical characteristic in services is perishability. Services cannot be stored for later consumption, either they are consumed or not consumed. A university lecture if missed cannot be returned, medical procedure cannot be stored, if a person misses the theatre, the ticket goes to waste (Shostack, 1977). In the industry where the use of internet and technology is maximum, the importance of services quadruple. Information technology is being used for sales, marketing, and recording customer feedback. Companies have made their online and social presence which is only managed by the IT professionals. Therefore, the need to understand customers, their behaviours, their responses is the basic foundation in developing a marketing strategy. Companies have their social presence where consumers directly comment on the companies strategies, and register their complains, this gives a high amount of backhand information, only to be interpreted by IT professionals in order to help the business strategists devise strategies. The latest trend of Business Intelligence, a mix of IT and business, where the professionals interpret large amount of data in order to get meaningful results about the customers and then transform them into marketing strategy is one of the field where there is hype. The data is used to understand customer, their needs and then suggests available services. Often at times we see promotions and advertisements of things we have been visiting in recent past on a completely different, third party website (Luhn, 2010). This is purely due to advancements in business intelligence, in short, due to a successful mix of IT and Management. Question 4 Mention Address Hello, I hope this letter finds you well. It has been a while since we have last met or exchanged letters, the pace of studies and time demanding assignments have kept us both busy. I am expecting you must have advanced a semester now and I also hope you are enjoying the new academic year as much as I am. This semester has a lot to offer to me as I have a marketing course which presents a completely different but important dimension to my IT academic studies. As you know my Major subject is Information Technology Management, you must be wondering what it is that I find interesting in Marketing is. I felt more or less the same before I took the course. Marketing, specifically services marketing is very crucial for an industry as major as Information Technology. You will be surprised if I tell you that IT industry is one of top industries to invest into marketing. On an average, 30% of a company?s marketing budgets are spent on E-mail marketing, social media, Search Engine Optimization and Online advertisements. Not only this, a survey reveals that High-Tech providers all over are aiming to double their marketing budgets. Since I aim to make a professional as an IT specialist, understanding customers and their needs and wants well ahead is becoming increasing important (Fouts, 2013). In this digital age, almost all research is done online either directly or indirectly. There were times when story writing, a form of research methods where people were asked to write what they bought, ate etc, was one most used method of research. Now, the same is being done without s customer knowing it. Take the example- when you write ?how to? or ?what is? on google, the search engine already presents some possible search completing sentence. Wondering where it comes from? It is because google keeps records of what other people have been looking for, and gives you most commonly written phrases. The other day a friend told me he was searching for available flights to UK, the next thing he sees is a website advertising cheap flight tickets on a completely different web address, I am guessing it was on some blog. You look for McDonalds and you get to see latest McDonald offerings on some other website, you search for come place?s map, and the next time you see advertisements of hotels, eating places near that place. The internet has no limits!!! This is specifically what makes me much content at selecting IT profession, I find a lot of growth and opportunity to learn and grow in this field. With knowledge of marketing at hand, it will be great combination of IT and coupled with marketing. The new concept of Business Intelligence, where almost everything, every data is taken, programmed and interpreted into meaningful results to serve the marketing needs. This is where I see an ideal mix of IT and marketing. I can use my IT knowledge and combine it with marketing techniques in order to excel in my career. The course of marketing has been a great deal in making me aware of academic knowledge and the ongoing trends into marketing field. I also aim to further take additional marketing and service related courses in coming years. Well, I think I have told you all that I am excited about after taking the course, I am looking forward to apply all this knowledge into my career in future. It has been long I have got the updates from you; even your passion and interest in Engineering is serving you well. Let me know how you have planned the mid-summer break, it will be great to meet up. Write back as soon as you can and update me about your academic life and other activities. Regards, Your Name References: Fouts, R. (2013). 2013 Marketing budgets Raising again for High-Tech Providers. Gartner. Retrieved from: http://blogs.gartner.com/richard-fouts/2012/09/10/2013-marketing-budgets-rising-again-for-high-tech-providers/ Holick, M. F & Chen, T.C. (2008). Vitamin D deficiency: A worldwide health problem with serious consequences. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 84(4). Retrieved from: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/4/1080S.full.pdf+html Luhn, H.P. (2010). A Business Intelligence system. IBM Journal of Research and Development, 2(4). 314-319. Retrieved from: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5392644&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5392644 Pantelidis, I.S. (2009). High Tech food services: Overview of Technological Advancements. CHME Research Conference, 18. Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/180452/High_tech_foodservice_an_overview_of_technological_advancements Slatman, H. (2013). Opening up the Sky: A comparison of performance-enhancing features in SkyDrive and DropBox. University of Twente. Retrieved from: http://referaat.cs.utwente.nl/conference/18/paper/7363/opening-up-the-sky-a-comparison-of-performance-enhancing-features-in-skydrive-and-dropbox.pdf Shostack, G.L. (1977). Breaking free from product marketing. Journal of Marketing, 41(2). Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1250637?uid=3738984&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102237224137 Read More