First, it is necessary to highlight that there are three ways for a company to go: creating their own product, integrating a ready-made product, and outsourcing. It is necessary to start with the least effective strategy, the development of own program. The key advantages of such a solution are the independence and innovation of the product, to which unauthorized persons will not have access (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). However, from a business perspective, this option is a losing one. In order to invent their own system, the company needs to spend much money on hiring specialists and studying technologies (Jackson & Brannon, 2018). The second disadvantage is that the project will take a long time to complete, which might result in a loss of potential as well as competitiveness. (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). In addition, there is no guarantee of the final demand and success of the system on which resources will be spent.
A more effective strategy is outsourcing, which is the process of entering into a deal with another company to develop or provide collateral. The main advantage of this method is the absence of a large time investment and the need to hire new employees (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). In addition, this has a positive effect on the credibility of the company, which manifests itself as a business partner (Valacich & George, 2020). Despite these significant advantages, it is worth emphasizing the disadvantages. There are risks in the field of security and confidentiality of the organization (Loukis et al., 2019). Programmers and product engineers from a third party corporation will have specific information about Fab Flowers programs (Loukis et al., 2019). Given that the firm plans to store all critical data, including employee and profit information, a leak could occur.
After all, the most effective solution is to purchase licensed software. Firstly, it is the most inexpensive process of all considered. The company significantly saves resources when buying a product, since the expenses are not long-term, but one-time (Jackson & Brannon, 2018). Secondly, finished products have practically no drawbacks compared to previous possible analogues, since they are aimed at meeting demand (Valacich & George, 2020). Thirdly, there are feedback and rating systems for finished products, as well as the practice of using other firms (Information Resources Management Association, 2021). Combination of these advantages allows Fab Flowers to minimize risks and not lose business efficiency. The only drawback of this strategy is that the product may not fully meet the needs of the company. However, this problem is solved with the help of an advanced search, which will allow management to find a sufficiently effective program.
Recommendation
Based on the analysis, the main recommendation for Fab Flowers is to buy a finished product. Since the main need of the company is to manage all the information in one place, it makes sense to consider ready-made databases with extended access. Such programs are distinguished by the fact that they are easily integrated into the business (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). In other words, this does not require the hiring of specialists or the presence of narrow-profile knowledge (Valacich & George, 2020). Another advantage is the lack of access to information from third parties and companies, including the developer (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). In addition, in case of problems and incidents, for finished products, there are instructions and solutions in the public domain (Loukis et al., 2019). In addition, Fab Flowers will significantly save on human and financial resources when purchasing such a product.
Conclusion
As a result, it must be emphasized that in order to satisfy the needs of the organization, management always has several strategies. However, it must be understood that the wrong choice leads to a decrease in efficiency and an increase in risks. On the example of Fab Flowers, it was analyzed that out of three possible options, only one is the most effective. Companies need to buy a ready-made information management product instead of experimenting with their own or risking outsourcing.
References
Information Resources Management Association. (Ed.). (2021). Research anthology on Agile software, software development, and testing. IGI Global.
Jackson, S., & Brannon, S. (2018). In-house software development: Considerations for implementation. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44(6), 686-691.
Loukis, E., Janssen, M., & Mintchev, I. (2019). Determinants of software-as-a-service benefits and impact on firm performance.Decision Support Systems, 117, 38–47.
Valacich, J. S. & George, J. F. (2020). Modern systems analysis and design. (9th ed.). Pearson.
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019). Computer systems analysts.