Communication: Information Overhaul Necessity Case Study

Introduction

In a highly competitive local and global market where research and innovation take center stage in product development, the organization must constantly review their human resource and technological needs, if they aspire to command the market in which they operate. Incidentally, Information Technology (I.T) is a pivotal instrument in raising the bottom line of any company, considering that it links a company with the end-user of a product.

That being said, a discerning firm will underscore the importance of upgrading its I.T system to make it as user-friendly as possible and to ensure that it addresses the needs of its employees and its customers. When embarking on capacity building within a firm to meet expansion demands, information technology should never be given a wide berth

Justification for Implementing a new Information Technology System

As the number of clients increases due to a surge in demand for a more personalized service-oriented approach, there is an overwhelming need for clients to be kept abreast of the status of their purchases. A plausible information system should focus on how clients can track their merchandise, from the point of the manufacturer to door-step delivery or retail outlets (Hinchecliffe, 2011).

For this reason, there needs to be an online portal where new and existing clients can register on the Shore and More website, through their e-mail addresses and create their user accounts. This will provide a platform where clients can communicate interactively with online customer relationship officers, to sort out their concerns. This virtual approach to solving customer disputes saves time and money for both the customer and the company, considering that Shore and More is still a small player in the bicycle manufacturing arena, and doesn’t have outlets in every country.

Therefore, clients in far-flung countries can communicate with company personnel via the internet. For this service to be actualized, Shore and More needs to change its Internet Service Provider (ISP) with more secure modem connectivity, with an expanded bandwidth to support higher data traffic at higher speeds (Hinchcliffe, 2011).

Additionally, the call center needs to be insidiously expanded to at least 150 seats over the next three years to match the inflating number of customer queries. Furthermore, the communications department in conjunction with the call center agents should research the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), to determine the appropriate answers to be posted on the company website. This can go a long way into cutting down, on time wasted on responding to mundane inquiries.

Human Resource needs for the New Information Technology System

The human resources department also needs to adopt software that tracks the performance of every employee, against the quarterly and yearly sales and production targets that management will determine every financial year(Longbottom, 2014). In as much as the company focuses more on a database that captures employee records and payroll systems, the gist of the matter is that Shore and More is in business to make money.

A performance monitoring software should be adopted, to ensure that the company gets value for putting all the employees on the payroll (Longbottom, 2014). This will help the firm make profit projections for the next three years, and forecast the number of employees that need to be recruited every year to meet the set targets.

Importance of the recommended system in Globalization Support

Social media is an internet utility that has greatly revolutionized marketing in the world today. Shore and More should open Facebook and Twitter accounts with photographs of all the bicycles they sell, if they want to reach out to the younger market segment that forms a huge chunk of their customer base.

By incorporating the company’s Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in the fan page section to these accounts, interested buyers will always find inroads to the Shore and More website, and browse for items of their liking (Hinchcliffe, 2011). Social media is therefore a cheap marketing tool that reaches everyone around the globe and provides a forum where customers can criticize the company when it is at fault, and provide new ideas on product improvement and innovation.

By and large, social media also helps a firm keep abreast with its competition. This is achieved by capitalizing on markets where competitors get negative reviews from online communities and turning it into an advantage by providing what is lacking. Moreover, the Facebook and Twitter accounts should be handled by appointed administrators who represent divergent backgrounds and can respond to queries placed by Spanish, French, and Chinese-speaking clients from overseas.

Shore and More should partake in overseas Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in addition to sponsoring cycling events, at least once a year. To firm up global awareness, it must make its presence felt in third-world countries. This can be done by donating bicycles to the underprivileged and posting photos of such charity events on the company website. To get recognition from clients as a socially responsible firm and make more revenue, the company should visit a country on all the continents on a CSR drive over the next three years

Emerging Technology that can Spur Innovation and Service Delivery

Smartphones are convenience communication devices that are relished by all and sundry and can be a useful tool if embraced by manufacturers. Service and financial industries have exploited this territory fully, and come up with Android Application Package files (APK) applications, that link their products with their customers (Hinchcliffe, 2011).

The I.T department at Shore and More should be tasked with the responsibility of coming up with an android based phone application, that can be downloaded by clients in conjunction with Google’s Play store software (Hinchcliffe, 2011). This application should be a customer monitoring utility for bicycles, accessories, or apparel that are purchased by clients.

We live in a world where everyone is conscious about environmental safety, and environmentalists have time and again been at loggerheads with manufacturers over how their end products are poorly disposed of, much to the detriment of the environment. Seemingly, Shore and More manufacture alloy-made bicycles that can be harmful to the environment if wrongly disposed of. Biodegradable materials that offer the same quality of finishing as alloy metals should be researched into and adopted, to tap into the environment-sensitive market segment.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Communication is a vital component in the success of any organization, and the internet links clients from all over the globe with a firm that has an expansionist agenda like Shore and More. It is therefore critical that there is synchronization between all the company outlets, and the human resources department if capacity building is to be realized.

A formidable Information system will not only prevent the company from incurring losses through lost man-hours but also ensure that its objective of satisfying customer experience is attained. A private consultant should therefore be contracted to train the existing personnel on best information systems practices, to actualize the globalization agenda highlighted above.

References

Hinchcliffe, D. (2011). The “big five” IT trends of the next half decade: Mobile, social, cloud, consumerization, and big data. Web.

Longbottom, C. (2014). A data center infrastructure strategy fit to support business growth. Web.