Multimedia Project for Coffee Beans Company - Example

A SMALL SCALE SAMPLE SURVEY Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s Name University City Date Multimedia Project Project Purpose 1. Business Problem Strategic plans are necessary in providing solutions to various business problems (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012). In this case the designing of a multimedia website for the coffee bean shop is seen as one such strategy that will not only help the shop gain customer preference but also offer competitive advantage and reliable business solutions. Considering the nature of operations of the Coffee Beans Company and the dependence on delivery of products to the customers, there is need for a platform that would increase accessibility of the shop, despite location proximity and also promote interactions between the customers and the shop. In addition, there shop also requires a feedback channel through which it would be able to examine customer opinions and view, for instance about delivery schedules and use this information to improve on services. Moreover, in marketing strategies the company requires an effective system that would inform the market about the products and services. This operation needs present business problems or challenges that need strategic solutions or plans to counter them in order to gain competitive advantage in highly competitive businesses. The Coffee Bean Company multimedia website offers solutions to these problems by offering a marketing platform for the products and services, a channel for online placement of orders and customer feedback. 2. Project Business Objectives Strategic Plan – Critical Issues Project Business Objectives Improve marketing through information dissemination To create a website that uses text information, images and video to market the shop. Establish a strategic channel for order placements To create a website that allows customers to easily submit their requests for deliveries online. Improve accessibility to the shop To create a website that provides information about our products and services. Receiving customer feedback Creating a website that allows customers to give feedback on our services To offer customers convenience in accessing the company’s products and services Creating a website that make enhance customer interactions and simplify access to products and services 3. Core Business Activity Impacted Core Business Activity Impact on Core Business Activity Marketing The multimedia website would contain video, images and text information for marketing. Product & Service Delivery The website would facilitate making online orders for home, office or hotel deliveries hence improving service. Quality improvement The website offers a channel for customer feedback thus improving the quality of product and service. Sales The website will improve sales through marketing and improving access to the company’s products and services. 4. Constraints With developments in technology, the world’s phone users are more inclined towards smart phone technologies and hand devices (Hollensen, 2015). Computer use is slowly becoming a thing of the past or mostly restricted to office work and operations. The use of phone applications is rampant and most businesses are developing applications linked to their websites to promote their operations (Chaffey & Ellis-Chandwick, 2012). Developing a phone application to support the dynamism of the multimedia website in promoting access would be a perfect solution in marketing and order placements. However, the implementing requires more expert personnel and is generally costly. As such, this is excluded in the current project but identified for inclusion in the future website improvement plans. B. Preliminary Project Description Strategy is key in solving business problems (Baker, 2014). Implementation of strategic plans goes a long way into optimizing profitability of a business which is the sole aim of doing business. In business, customer is king (Chaffey & Ellis-Chandwick, 2012). It is therefore necessary to identify the target markets, monitor market trends and install measures to attract customer preferences. The project aims at solving the business problems by improving access and simplifying service for the customers through website multimedia technologies. The website would serve the general public with the main aim of taking orders for free deliveries of the coffee beans to homes, offices and hotels and restaurants. With the placing of orders now just a ‘button-click’ customers’ work has been made easier in acquiring the coffee beans. This project is therefore not only beneficial to the business but to the customers too. Nevertheless, benefitting the customer has a double effect on the benefits to the business. With customer satisfaction, comes customer preference. As such, the project will be able to increase the sales made by the company through online orders and deliveries. D. Solution(s) Analysis – Part I 1. Description of Solution Solution Identifier Customer Service Short Solution Title Improvement to customer service Solution Description and Detail The multimedia website provides effective and efficient solutions to customer service. This includes improving ways through which customers are able to place their orders to come through to the company only by clicking on the place order link. The website will have an installed map service through which, the link is able to establish the location where the order has been placed from. The customers will also provide their telephone numbers through which our delivery team shall contact them in delivering the coffee beans. This channel improves service to the customers by simplifying the processes that would have been involved using other channels of placing orders. In addition it is time saving for the customer and they do not need to spend time, energy or more money driving to supermarkets of stores looking for coffee beans. 2. Decision Criteria a) Business Process Impact This solution to customer service by providing an online order placement service will improve sales of the coffee beans in different locations considering the free delivery policy. Despite increasing sales, and subsequently multiplying the profits, there are expected elements of change that may occur within the company. For instance, delivery of the coffee beans to other stores and shops for sale may stop such that the company is in charge of full distribution of the products to the company. As such, the establishment of the website may lead to laying off of the most of the sales and marketing team and recruiting distributors, who in most cases would not need much technical skills. In most cases, distributors are required to understand interpretation of maps and know how to drive cars or ride motorbikes. Consequently, this may not augur well with the stakeholders and may face some elements of resistance. b) Technical Feasibility Implementation of this solution requires a look into various technical aspects. To begin with, there is need for expert personnel to deal with the technicalities of the technology. This dimension of the website will entail technical complexities such as integration with map technologies. As such, the operating team needs to be skilled in effective interpretation of maps and know different locations within the market locations. c) Maturity of Solution Placing online requests or orders has become a common trend in the recent years. It is a strategy used by most stores to reach their customers and improve customer service thus attracting customer preferences. Online market stores have strategically relied on these technologies to penetrate the markets and effectively conduct their business. As such the method is fully tried and tested and guaranteed to be effective in improving customer service for the Coffee Beans Company. d) Resource Estimate Resource Requirement(s) Funding $ 62,000 Project Team Project Manager Web developer Web designer Analyst Tester Customer Support Null Facilities Null Equipment Null Software Tools Null Other (Be specific) Null e) Constraints Impact While installing this service in a phone or handset downloadable application may improve access to most people, this potential solution still effective for the frequent computer users. In mobile phone technologies, the website could still be accessed by directly opening the webpage through a browser. E. Solution(s) Analysis – Part II Solution Identifier Customer Service Short Solution Title Online Order Placements 1. Cost Benefit Analysis Summary COSTS AND BENEFITS PROJECTIONS FOR 10 YEARS Direct Costs Actual Capital Investments Subscription fees Annual maintenance Costs $376, 800 $1, 800 $4, 860 Indirect Costs Training Changes in utility rates $ 2, 500 $ 4, 500 Total Costs $390, 460 Benefits Increased Output Reduced Labor Cost Reduced Inventory Cost Reduced Taxes and Fees $402,070 $ 87,000 $ 36,200 $ 12,100 Total Benefits $537, 370 Payback time = Total Cost/ Total Benefits = $390, 460/ $537, 370 = 0.72 of 10 years (7.2 years) 2. Return on Investment (ROI) Summary In calculating the ROI for the 10 years period, the method used included subtracting the total costs from the total benefits and dividing the results by the total costs. ROI= (Total benefits-Total Costs)/Total Costs = ($537, 370 - $390,460)/ $390, 460 = 0.38 F. Comparison of Solutions Decision Criteria Solutions Online Order Placement Business Process Impact 5 Technical Feasibility 4 Maturity of Solution 5 Resources Required 4 Constraints Impact 4 Cost Benefit Analysis 4 Return on Investment 5 Other 5 Total Score 36 G. Preliminary Recommendation 1. Recommended Solution Solution Identifier Customer Service Short Solution Title Improving Customer Service While setting up the online order placement for requesting deliveries, the company should include a system that is effective in handling multiple orders. This way it would avoid confusion and mix up of orders and destructing the function of the entire technology. 2. Recommended Solution Justification The other solutions are considered reliable and effective for the business operations. However, for this feature, improvements need to be made in terms of handling multiple orders. Usually, there are tendencies of orders clogging the systems and becoming too many forcing the system to strategize into measures of dealing with this numerous orders. H. Decision _X_ Accepted __ Rejected __ On Hold __ Requesting More Information Approved By: Name: _______________________________________ Title: ________________________________________ Date: ________________________________________ Reference List Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan. Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Digital marketing. Pearson Higher Ed. Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. (2012). Marketing strategy, text and cases. Cengage Learning. Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education. Read More