Case Study What Does It Take To Go Mobile

CASE SUMMARY

• This case is about go to mobile technology. The case shows its customers new way that mobility can streamline operations, reduce costs, increase works productivity and enable power of real-time response.
• Decker Outdoor Corporation is the parent company of brands such as UGG Australia, Teva and Simple Shoes.
• USAA is Financial Services company serving members of US military and their families.
• Ryland Homes is a home builder at US. 
• Mobile technology is a business models and activities which are based mobile technology where firms need to designed and develop software applications for mobile environments. Customer expect and demand to be able to use a mobile device of their choice to obtain information or perform a transaction anywhere at any time.

• By 2015, there will be one mobile device for every person on earth. More people will use their mobile than PCs to go online. If company wants to stay connected to its customers, it needs some sort of mobile presence. Developing mobile apps or a mobile web site has some special challenges. Mobile apps is different from that on PC. There are special features on mobile devices such as location-based services that give firms potential to interact with customers in meaningful way. Firms need to be able to take advantage of those features while delivering an experience that is appropriate to a small screen.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

• Most personal marketing channel available on the market
• Measurable for ROI purposes
• Completely permission-based, with opt-in required for marketing text messages
• Ubiquity of channel - 260 million mobile subscribers nationwide, 3.5 billion worldwide
• Many consumers giving up landlines for mobile
• Sales of smartphones with Internet capability booming
• Many marketers, retailers and publishers recognizing need for mobile presence
• Most powerful loyalty marketing tool
• Ideal comparison-shopping tool for shopping and buying decisions 
• Mobile applications market growing by leaps and bounds
• The future of coupling
•  The future of search marketing 

WEAKNESSES

• Perception problem - always the bridesmaid, never the bride 
• User experience with the Internet on mobile not ideal - screen size, keypad and slow network speeds 
• Wireless carriers not innovating at faster pace 
• Lack of standards across platforms and carriers 
•  Many mobile marketing service providers not sophisticated in marketing outreach - don't tell, won't sell 
• Fate depends on four major carriers - AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel 
• Inadequate outreach to advertising agencies and media buyers

OPPORTUNITIES

• Gives legs to other channels - store, online, television, radio, print and billboards
• Mobile is the future - no, the present - of database marketing. Marketers must have mobile loyalty program to complement online and offline
• Benefit from marketing dollars pulled from television, print and radio toward more measurable, ROI-driven media, a.k.a., the Internet and mobile
• Mobile advertising subsidizes content and services for consumers who understand the tradeoff
• More SMS text marketing for marketers and retailers targeting offers and alerts to opted-in consumers in database. Make the short code common
• More quality content on mobile as publishers launch mobile editions. More room for targeted ads
• Mobile coupons - killer app for mobile, along with mobile database marketing
• Mobile marketing jumpstarts mobile commerce sales

THREATS 

• Integrity: It may be difficult to maintain the integrity of a database if it is too complex or changes too quickly.
• Open source software: If companies are inclined, they can put their open source applications on hardware that performs better and costs less than SaaS.
• Security: The threat of security remains the topmost concern for service consumers of the internet for the data and applications

QUESTION 1 : What management, organization and technology issues need to be addressed when building mobile application?

The introduction of a new information system involves much more than new hardware and software. A mobile strategy involves much than selecting mobile devices, operating system and applications. It also includes changes in business process, changing the way people work, skills, and the way a firm interacts with its customers. System builders must understand how a system will affect specific business processes and the organization as a whole.

1.      Management

A.    Decision to select new mobile application – management should know what benefits to company and customers are before developing mobile application.

Company name	Benefit to company	Benefit to customers
Decker Corporation	·         Streaming process ·         Make company more portable	Customer able to look at a product on his or her mobile and see the same information on that device.
USAA	·         Increase efficient process. ·         Eliminates the labor and expense of processing paper check. ·         Keep customers engage.	Provide mobile technology to its business process and provide simpler and more powerful ways for customers to interact with the company.
Ryland Homes	·         Able to engage customers ·         Increase sales.	Help potential customer to finds its locations, looks at this products and register with the company.

 

B.     Examine business process

Before firms go to mobile – Management should identify what the process, tasks and improvement that they want go to mobile that most affected by tablets or smartphones.

Example:

a)      Focus on customer engagement field enablement and employee productivity.

b)      Identify where physical and historical context can drive faster task completion.

C.    Select the right device, software and application.

Management should decide what is the right device, software and application that can support their mobile technology business process. For example what software or application that capable to handle the customization work requires integrating with the process such as capabilities for creating, viewing and managing customer information online.

D.    Monitor and control

Develop own apps and apps store – monitor and control. Manage mobile enterprise access through own in-house IT. Involve security system.

2.      Organization

The key element, of an organization is its people, structure and business process.

Redesign business process	Redesign job	Train employees
·         Procedure/ SOP that can drive faster task completion. ·         Redesign processes to skip or accelerate those tasks.	Changing the way people work – focus on task orientation -          Change the way in which workers interact with core business system.	Provide training to staff – helps staff take the next step in whatever process scenario they are operating in at the time. -          Need to adopt to new method of process.

3.      Technology

Technology is one of many tools that firms can use to cope with change. To support firms new business process, firms should select the right technology and application that consists of CRM & SCM.

Company name	Technology & Application Used
Decker Outdoor Corporation	Technology such as touch interfaces, location and mapping features, alerts texting, cameras and video functionality.
USAA	Dedicated 100 mobile developers writing apps for devices using iPhone, iPad, Android OS, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. -          Apps able to send geographic information system (GIS) data to a towing service and display nearby car rental locations. -          Apps support photo deposits: customer can capture an image of a cheque with a smartphone & automatically submit to the bank. The money is instantly deposited in the customer’s account. -          Apps display loan and credit card balances, shopping service & auto insurance policy information.
Ryland Homes	-          jQuery mobile software : to create variation of the site that were appropriate for different smartphone or tablet models. -          Focused on features communities, clickable phone numbers and brief online registration.

Question 2 : How does user requirement definition for mobile application differ from that in traditional system analysis?

Customer wants to be able to look at product on his or mobile device and see the same information on that device as that person would obtain in the store, plus some additional information such as consumers review.

Mobile technology can streamline processes, make the device more portable and enhance them with capabilities such as touch interface, location and mapping features, alerts, texting, cameras and video functionality.

The technology can also create less efficient process or fail to deliver benefits if the mobile application is not properly designed.

QUESTION 3: Describe the business process changed by USAA’s mobile application were deployed.

USAA launched its Web in 1997 and went mobile 10 years later, with about 90% of its interactions with customers taking place on these two self service channels.

In 2001, USAA handle 183 million customer contacts through mobile channel alone, and expect the mobile channel will its primary point of contact with customers in next two years.

USAA has 100 dedicated mobile developer writing apps for device using iPhone, iPad and Android systems, along with apps Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.

1.      Accident report and claims application

-enable customer to snap a photo and submit claim differently from the site of an accident.

-send geographic information system (GIS) data to a towing service and display nearby car rental location.

2.      Photo deposit and application.

-capture an image of a check with a smartphone and automatically submit to the bank.

-the money is instantly deposited in the customer’s account.

3.      Other application.

-loan and credit cards balances.

-shopping services.

-homeowners.

-auto insurance policy information.

-home circle and auto circle buying service.

CONCLUSION

In short, mobile service providers must not hibernate, ad agencies must open their minds, carriers must collaborate, publishers must make their inventory mobile, retailers must launch mobile commerce sites and advertise

Case Study Groupon's Business Model : Social And Local

INTRODUCTION 

 

Groupon (a portmanteau derived from "group coupon") is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, and the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. By October 2010 Groupon served more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and had 35 million registered users.

The idea for Groupon was created by now-ousted CEO and Pittsburgh native Andrew Mason.The idea subsequently gained the attention of his former employer, Eric Lefkofsky, who provided $1 million in "seed money" to develop the idea.

The company offers one "Groupon" per day in each of the markets it serves. The Groupon works as an assurance contract using ThePoint's platform: if a certain number of people sign up for the offer, then the deal becomes available to all; if the predetermined minimum is not met, no one gets the deal that day. This reduces risk for retailers, who can treat the coupons as quantity discounts as well as sales promotion tools. Groupon makes money by keeping approximately half the money the customer pays for the coupon.

Groupon breaks into new markets by identifying successful local businesses, first by sending in an advance a number of employees to research the local market; when it finds a business with outstanding reviews, salespeople approach it and explain the model, and use social marketing sites such as Facebook to further promote the idea.

Question 1 : How does Groupon take advantage of social networking and location technology?

Since its launch in 2008, the daily deal Web site Groupon has become so popular and so profitable that it passed on a $6 billion buyout offer from Google in December 2010. Groupon has achieved fame and fortune by putting a Web-savvy spin on the boring old coupon. But to understand how Groupon works, let's start with how coupons work.

A coupon is what is called a loss leader. A loss leader is any kind of sale, promotion, discount or special offer that entices customers to walk in the door. The business will almost certainly lose money on the discounted items, but the hope is that the customer will also spend money on other items, or even better, become a regular customer. Coupons typically have an expiration date and offer modest discounts; perhaps a dollar off specific grocery store items or a 15 percent discount at a major retailer.

            Groupons are like coupons on steroids. The deals offered daily through Groupon start at 50 percent off and can go as high as 90 percent cheaper than the normal price. Groupon can offer such steep discounts because it guarantees business owners a minimum return on their investment and the possibility of becoming an overnight sensation. Groupon claims that its service is a win-win for both businesses and consumers, but there are some disadvantages.Groupons was use their strategies to take advantage of some culture that intrested with discount.

Nowdays, Social, local, mobile are three words marketers are hearing more and more these days.Sometimes we may even hear them uttered together in one breath as SoLoMo.With an increase of users relying on mobile phones, tablets and their accompanying geo-location technology, businesses today are increasingly finding the need to think locally

Question 2 : Do you think this business model is viable? Why or why not?

            In our oppinoin, this business model is still viable because the increasing the numbers of social networking user that will increase the numbers of Groupon's customers.

            Other than that, increasing the online business will help this kind of business model to growth healty.

Study Case Knowledge Management And Collaboration At Tata Consulting Services

INTRODUCTION

The Tata group’s core purpose is to improve the quality of life of the communities it serves globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation.

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise headquartered in India, and comprises over 100 operating companies in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. Tata companies have operations in more than 100 countries across six continents, and export products and services to over 150 countries. The revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $96.79 billion (around Rs527,047 crore) in 2012-13, with 62.7 percent of this coming from businesses outside India. Tata companies employ over 540,000 people worldwide.

Good corporate citizenship is part of the Tata group’s DNA. Sixty-six percent of the equity of

Tata Sons, the promoter holding company, is held by philanthropic trusts, thereby returning wealth to society. As a result of this unique ownership structure and ethos of serving the community, the Tata name has been respected for more than 140 years and is trusted for its adherence to strong values and business ethics.

Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently and has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable. There are 32 publicly-listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of about $126.62 billion (as on June 19, 2014), and a shareholder base of 3.9 million. Tata companies with significant scale include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels.

Many Tata companies have achieved global leadership in their businesses. For instance, Tata Communications is the world’s largest wholesale voice carrier and Tata Motors is among the top five commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world. Tata Steel is among the top 10 best steelmakers and TCS is amongst the top 10 global IT services companies. Tata Global Beverages is the second-largest player in tea in the world and Tata Chemicals is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of soda ash. Employing a diverse workforce in their operations, Tata companies have made significant local investments in different geographies.

QUESTION 1 : Analyze the knowledge management efforts at Tata Consulting Services (TCS) using the knowledge management value chain model. Which tools or activities were used for managing tacit knowledge and which ones are used for explicit knowledge?

Using the value chain model, the knowledge management efforts at TCS can be divided into the following activities:

Knowledge Acquisition: Over the years, TCS had acquired a vast body of knowledge and experience in several fields through on-shore and off-shore projects for its clients across the globe including GE Insurance, GE Health, Hewlett Packard, Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank etc. In addition, TCS regularly rotated people across various functions and within other Tata Group companies to gain cross-industry experience. Employees were also encouraged to be part of outside bodies like the IEEE, and go in for certifications.

Knowledge Storage: TCS had developed various repositories and databases for knowledge storage such as KBases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax, and Ultimatix.

Knowledge Dissemination: Knowledge was disseminated using a variety of techniques such as Ultimatix – a web based electronic knowledge management portal; propel sessions that brought together employees with similar interests; Live Meeting and Knowledge Transition sessions at the project level; and  “Tip of the Day” email comprising technical, conceptual or human skills tips were shared within the organization daily.

Knowledge Application: Students should visit the TCS website to explore the new capabilities developed by TCS and how it relates to the knowledge they have accumulated over the years about the customers, markets, systems development, and technologies.

To manage explicit knowledge, TCS had used KBases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax, and Ultimatix.

Tacit knowledge was managed through redesign of development centers, Propel sessions, Knowledge Transition Sessions, and communities of practice.

QUESTION 2: Describe the growth of knowledge management systems at TCS? How have these systems helped TCS in its business?

The concept of knowledge management (KM) was introduced in TCS in 1995 and a dedicated KM team called “Corporate Groupware” was formed in 1998. This group launched the KM-pilot in mid-1999. At that time, KM in TCS covered nearly every function, from quality assurance to HR management. The employees could access the knowledge repository that resided on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet, with a browser front-end or a Notes client. The knowledge repository, also called KBases, contained a wide range of information about processes, line of business, line of technology, and projects.

The next step was to create Process Asset Libraries (PALs) which contained information related to technology, processes, case studies for project leaders which were made available to all development centers through the intranet. The same thing was done through the web-based electronic knowledge management portal called Ultimatix, of which PAL was the precursor. The PAL library and KBases, which were hosted on the intranet, were merged with Ultimatix, which had sub-portals for quality management system, software productivity improvement, training materials, and tools information. In 2007, TCS developed Knowmax, a knowledge management system, using Microsoft sharepoint portal server that gave TCS consultants access to nearly 40 years of experience and best practices arranged by type of engagement, the technology in use, and customer requirements. It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via Ultimatix to all TCS associates. Any associate could contribute to the K-Bank and Knowledge officers were made responsible for maintaining the quality of content.

QUESTION 3 : Describe the collaboration tools used at TCS? What benefits did TCS reap from these tools?

TCS used a variety of collaboration tools – Infinity that includes instant messaging, IP telephony, and video conferencing; blogs and wikis; IdeaStorm, TIP, and Mysite.

As a result of adopting Infinity, collaboration of  overseas and local offices improved as instant messaging (IM) got rid of cultural and pronunciation differences that could occur on the phone. Furthermore, corporate communications was able to run a 24-hour internal news broadcast to all TCS offices in the world. In addition, travel and telecommunications costs were reduced by 40 percent and 6 percent respectively.

The other tools improved collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing among the employees.

QUESTION 4 : How did Web 2.0 tools help TCS manage knowledge and collaboration among its employees?

Blogs, wikis, and other tools were used to boost communication and productivity among the employees.  Wikis were used for collaborating on materials related to project, supporting brainstorming sessions, and developing presentations. Employees used blogs as a means to gather inputs on problems that they faced on a project. JustAsk System allowed employees to pose a question and in turn get answers from other colleagues, sometimes leading to a detailed discussion. If someone often answered questions on a particular domain, the relevant specialist group invited that person into the domain group and thus gave the visibility to talent within the company. The IdeaStorm, used by the management, helped in generation of ideas on topics posted by the corporate team. TIP was used as a portal for product innovation and new ideas. It helped the management to garner ideas related to product/service innovation and helped in solving problems. TCS also used social networking like MySite to help employees communicate better with each other. 

QUESTION 5 : How do you think KM tools have changed some key operational processes at TCS, such as bidding for new projects, project development and implementation, customer service, and so on?   

TCS aims to move up the value chain and to continue to bid for higher-level projects, beyond those of maintenance and development.  By accumulating knowledge, it has built capabilities to understand how to service clients through consulting and in other strategic areas. So KM has enabled TCS to continue to move higher-up and to bid for more strategic projects.  KM repositories that capture best practices in the projects it has undertaken make the company more efficient in servicing clients. This means it can execute better.  Thus, systems development and implementation activities are more likely to be done by TCS in a manner that is timely, effective, and cost efficient.  The same for customer service – by knowing customer requirements and also taking ideas from other industries that are stored in the KM databases, the company can provide new and innovative solutions to resolve customer queries.

Overall, KM tools have become a key strategic resource at the company and all hires are required to learn them as a part of their orientation.  These tools are also the first go-to before starting any project or approaching a client.  Knowledge in these databases allows TCS consultants to quickly gather intelligence about the client or similar projects and thus align themselves better with what the client might want. This has led to a higher success rate in bidding and in project execution.