Questions and answers

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Institution

List 3 strategic goals for Ted’s business and provide an explanation of each.

Firstly, Ted wishes to decrease expenses in order to achieve higher profits. Ted realized he was spending much money on unnecessary expenses that made his production cost increase. He strategized to open the store depending on the weather conditions. From spring through fall, he keeps his business open throughout the week, but in winter months he opened the business three days in a week. This strategy helped him reduce unwanted expenses.

Ted’s second strategic goal is innovation. Ted decided to advance his business to fit the current technological demands. He realized that implementation of Information Technology (IT) practices would assist in boosting his income. Ted decided to open a website for his business where clients, especially tourists, could easily trace his location and learn about his services.

The third goal is to increase the market share for his products and services. Ted decided to sell low priced bikes and ignore expensive ones. Ted realized that customers purchased bikes in the range of $400 to $1000. He decided to sell lower priced bikes because they are easier to sell and gave him high cash flows.

Identify 5 specific types or categories of information that Ted needs to run his business and explain why they are important to him.

The five specific categories of information are:

Target market

Who are his competitors

Market needs for the target group

The most effective modes of communication

Pricing and offering strategies

Having clear information of the target group will assist Ted in deciding the best location to set up his business and understand their needs. In addition, competitors play a significance role in the growth of a business. Understanding competitors will help Ted develop effective strategies to ensure more customers use his services, hence winning the market share and the competitive advantage. Moreover, understanding market needs for the target group will enable Ted offer only those services that are desirable to consumers.

On the other hand, information on communication means will be of great use to the growth and development of the business. Communication in a business is essential because it promotes perfect relationship between sellers and buyers. By adapting effective communication channels, Ted will be in a position to achieve his business strategic goals. Finally, information on pricing and offering strategies will help Ted achieve his objectives. Setting customer friendly prices by first getting information from competitors would help in the growth of the organization.

Identify and explain three business processes that Ted likely uses in his business and explain how a technology solution could help each one of them.

Management

Ted uses the management process to control all the operations of his business related to strategic management and corporate governance. By incorporating technology solutions on management process, Ted could improve his business output and attract more customers. For example, the opening of a company website would be a better strategy for selling his products and services in the internet.

Operational

Business operational processes have a lot of significance to the growth and development of any organization. Operational process is the most essential in Ted’s business because it comprises of core business features such as marketing, primary value streaming, sales, and purchasing. The proposed technology solution for improving this process is the use of internet marketing through the company website. Internet marketing would help Ted create bigger pool of customers, and become more competitive.

Business

The business process acts as a supporting process for Ted’s business. The tasks performed under this process assist Ted in supporting core business processes found in the operational processes. The technology solution mentioned above of creating a company website would help this process by assisting in recruiting reliable personnel in order to increase manpower. Ted can create job advertisements in his company website at a lower cost and reach a large number of potential recruits.

Ted has a website with information about his stores. Identify and explain two additional ways Ted could use the internet in his business. Tie each use to a specific e-commerce business model and explain how that model applies.

The use of the internet has become one of the best strategies business owners use to attract and retain more customers. The website could be used to attract potential buyers who could eventually sell bikes to consumers. This process could occur using the Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce model to promote his business. Ted would only be buying bikes from manufacturers at wholesale and placing them on his company website for potential buyers to sell them to retailers.

Secondly, Ted could cooperate with the government to market his products. Most of Ted’s clients are tourists. Ted could take government tender to supply clients with bike riding services. The government would advertise Ted’s business in its website. This method is tied with Business-to-Government e-commerce model (B2G).

Explain to Ted what a supply chain management (SCM) system could do for his business and how it might improve his operations. Be sure to cover the full range of SCM functionality as it applies to Old Dominion Trail Bikes.

By using supply chain management (SCM) system, Ted will be in a better position to minimize expenses associated with purchase and leasing of bikes. Ted will be able to identify processes in his business that increase cost without increasing the value of product or service. For instance, Ted decided to employ only one staff in his store. SCM system will help Ted eliminate such processes that increase costs of production.

Another benefit of using SCM system will be increasing operations efficiency. SCM system helps in proper planning of business strategies by incorporating various marketing concepts that help improve business efficiency. SCM will ensure Ted’s business processes flow smoothly and his output is according to the company goals.

SCM system could also lead to increased outputs and more profits for the business. By fostering SCM, Old Dominion Trail Bikes will create a close relationship with suppliers and customers, ensuring timely fulfillment of orders placed either through the net or directly in the company. In addition, the system will improve company’s timeliness and make it more responsible leading to more customers loving their services, hence improved output. Moreover, SCM system will help the company strategize of pricing. Application of SCM system to Old Dominion Trail Bikes will lead to cost reduction through eliminating wasteful processes.

How could Ted combine the information he gets from in-store customers with those who purchase via the website into a single Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and what three benefits would he gain from doing so?

Ted has managed to create a company website that will make online users shop and rent bikes conveniently. By merging market efforts with business processes above, Ted could easily combine the information he gets from in-store customers with those who purchase via the internet into a single Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This will promote improved customer experience because the in-store customers will experience fast services as those buying via the internet.

In addition, CRM will make Ted put more market efforts by giving a complete picture of sales processes of existing customers. Information from in-store customers will be fed to a computer and stored in the same area as that from online users.

On the other hand, the business will have better coordination and cooperation between buyers and sellers. Sharing a common CRM platform between sales, marketing and customers in an organization promotes cooperation. Combination of in-store information and internet information will allow anyone to access key business information that allows the company to work as a single unit.

Ted would like to increase repair work and rentals as they are the highest profit aspects of his business and the Internet is not a competitor. What are three specific ways he could use technology to accomplish this?

Ted could use technology to repair work and rentals by using technology in the following ways. Firstly, he could call upon all his clients to subscribe to social media communication channels such as faceBook or Twitter. Customers will be in position to message Ted whenever they need any repair or bike rentals. Secondly, Ted could advertise is repair and rental services via his company website. The advert should be the first thing that a person sees whenever he or she opens the website. Thirdly, Ted can promote repair and leasing services for his company by creating cloud connectivity to all his customers to allow them lease bikes online.

Ted is not sure if he should implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Identify and explain three benefits to an ERP for Old Dominion Trail Bikes. Identify and explain two important considerations in implementing an ERP.

Old Dominion Trail Bikes could benefit from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in the following manner. ERP would bring about improvement and efficiency in repair and rental services for Old Dominion Trail Bikes. Implementing ERP through technology will allow Ted to make business information and resources readily available for customers to use.

Secondly, ERP enhances customer satisfaction through provision of correct feedback. Ted could create a query system in the company website where clients can ask any question and provide any recommendation to the company. This will also promote timely delivery of services that are of greater quality.

Finally, ERP implementation at Old Dominion Trail Bikes will ensure effective decision making. By incorporating the ERP system, Ted will be able to provide right information to clients, in the right manner, and at the right time, and

If Ted implements an ERP for Old Dominion Trail Bikes, he will need to know whether the project was a success. List and explain three metrics (or measures) he can use to determine whether the project was a success.

Strategy implementation

ERP system can be measured through focusing on how the company implements the planned strategies. Ted will be looking at factors such as strategy supporting business growth, supporting business alliance, process changes, and change of business practices. An improvement in any or all of these factors would act as a good measure of the effectiveness of ERP system implemented at Old Dominion Trail Bikes.

Managerial

ERP systems also focus on managerial practices. Some of the measures of managerial processes under the ERP system are better resource management and improved decision making among the company staff.

Operational

The key metrics that Ted will use to measure business operational processes under the ERP system implementation are cost reduction, productivity, customer service improvement, reduction of delay time, and service quality improvement.

Since neither Ted nor anyone on his staff has any experience with information technology, list and explain five things he should consider or address as he proceeds with his IT projects.

Cost

Cost would be the most essential factor to consider when implementing IT services for Old Dominion Trail Bikes. The cost that the company will incur should be minimal to avoid the company operating at a loss

Availability of IT professionals

Ted should bear in mind his staff’s ability to operate using the new technologies. Availability of experienced staff will reduce cost of recruitment and training new staff

What services does he need

IT has a number of services that an organization can implement. Ted should plan for his company needs in order to determine areas requiring total IT usage and those that would require human intervention

Technology support

Before implementing IT services at Old Dominion trail Bikes, Ted should have a strong technology support. He should be able to know how to solve any problem that may arise leading to poor operations

Innovations

Technology keeps advancing as experts come up with more innovations. Ted should implement technological services in his company giving room for future innovations. For instance, he should purchase computers that are compatible with any future software that might be introduced to improve business operation.