Executive Summary
The current information age dictates that organizations that are willing to succeed should have a strong presence on the internet. One such company that has developed the objective of increasing its visibility is Footsteps Historical Tours.
It has contracted Inter-Net Ltd, which is an IT consultancy business, to provide it with a strategy to be followed while updating its IT structure to boost its trade on the internet. This report provides the strategy that Footsteps Historical Tours should follow to ensure that it is marketable on the internet in an effort to increase its revenue.
The report proposes that Footsteps Historical Tours should buy the necessary computers and equipment. It also suggests that the company should install a working intranet while also contracting a web designer to equip it with a working website.
The report also proposes that the company should contract an Internet Service Provider and another company to host its website. The investment appraisal, timescale for the operations, and the appropriate recommendations are provided in the report.
Report: Footsteps Historical Tours
Strategic Analysis of Footsteps Historical Tours
Footsteps Historical Tours is a travel company that majors on local and international travel. It has been in existence for five years. Established as a tour company, Footsteps Historical Tours initially owned several transport vehicles, which were used for tours around the country.
The company later engaged in international travel, with its customers mainly consisting of business people, families, and individuals traveling internationally and locally. The company’s size has been increasing over the last few years. It is ranked highly in the travel and tours industry in the country.
Other companies operating smaller travel and tours programs for organizations together with small businesses provide competition. Footsteps Historical Tours is in the process of opening offices in many parts of the world.
Currently, it has operations in three countries, employing 170 people in the process. The annual performance as indicated by the revenue returns are in the range of millions of dollars. The management structure consists of the CEO, the board, and the departmental heads.
Marketing Plan
Footsteps Historical Tours has had a successful marketing plan in place. This plan has enabled it to be the market leader in the region in the travel and tours industry. Despite this success, the organization has no working online marketing strategy. The management has not put the same in place to ensure adequate competition along this front.
The company aims to be the leading tours and travel company in the country and the region at large. The management and the marketing department also have the objectives of increasing the firm’s visibility on various platforms, with this activity being projected to increase the returns.
However, the main objective for approaching Inter-Net Ltd is to enable the company to trade as a successful on-line travel business.
By engaging in e-commerce, Footsteps Historical Tours will have a number of benefits. The company will have improved visibility on the internet, thus increasing the number of clients. The other benefit of e-commerce for the firm is that there will be relative reduction of costs since some of the operations such as travel bookings can be done online.
This situation will also reduce overcrowding at the offices. It will increase efficiency and/or allow room for better information management. Many of the organizations and companies operating in the travel and tours industry have shifted their operations to the online platform.
This move has created a new avenue for competition. Footsteps Historical Tours will have better competitiveness if it engages in e-commerce. The firm will also be able to increase the number of services that it can provide including marketing.
Some of the other benefits that Footsteps Historical Tours stands to enjoy through the development of e-commerce and the use of the internet as a business include coverage of new geographic areas that were previously out of reach and expansion of the customer base.
The company will be accessible to all people in different parts of the world. This will be beneficial in its goal of regional and global expansion. The program will also be a platform for the corporation, with other companies sharing the goals and objectives of Footsteps Historical Tours.
There are currently a number of weaknesses that may influence negatively on the development and maintenance of an effective online marketing strategy for this organization. One of the weaknesses is that business owners are currently inexperienced in the IT industry.
They will have the challenge of maintaining the operations. The management is willing to learn the utilization of the strategy at the company. This step will be important in countering the weakness. There is currently no infrastructure at the organization to handle the proposed e-commerce project, and hence another weakness.
However, the organization is financially able to put in place the required infrastructure. The main threats for the organization and the online marketing strategy are the negative publicity that the project may face together with the poor reception from employees who may not be well experienced in the use of the internet.
A number of issues will have to be implemented so that the plan may succeed. The organization needs to invest in hardware such as computers, routers, working internet connectivity, and other computer accessories. Back-up for the machines and power back-ups will also be needed at the organization’s branches and headquarters.
Each department will have to equip employees with computers at their desks and carry out programs to train them on how to use this infrastructure. The company will then invest in appropriate software such as web browsers and operating systems that are compatible with the machines and the data connection networks.
The next step after the investment in the hardware and software will be the creation of a special intranet where all departments will be connected, with employees being provided with special passwords to transact with on this network. A special internet service provider (ISP) will then be contracted to run the intranet at the organization.
It will also connect the organization to the World Wide Web. After the development of an intranet and connection to the internet through the ISP, the organization will then need the creation of a website together with a company that will be contracted to host the website with annual payments.
This website will contain the description of the services that the company offers. The main use for this website will be to allow travel bookings, payments, printing of receipts, downloads for the organization’s services, and marketing the company among others. After the implementation of this strategy, the company will be present on the internet to provide its services.
After the company has established its presence on the internet, it will need to engage other organizations providing related services such as online payments. The collaboration with these online companies will make the operations easier.
The strategy will also be a marketing plan to allow users of these partner companies to see Footsteps Historical Tours on their web pages. It is also necessary for Footsteps Historical Tours to embrace the use of online marketing. Some of the online materials to be used include web promotion on other websites and search engines.
The development of an e-commerce site is worthless if there are no likely customers who can visit the site or know of its existence. To enable the web page to be easily discoverable, the company should have keywords listed by the major search engines, with appropriate pay for the service.
The tactics to be utilized include e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, banner advertising, rich media advertising, publicity, and virtual malls.
The organization will need to put in place these measures to increase its online visibility, thus ensuring that the website is visible to offer information to as many customers as possible. These services will cost the firm in the initial setting up. However, the cost benefits will be evident after some time.
Investment Appraisal
The investment appraisal for Footsteps Historical Tours IT strategy is possible through consideration of the appropriate costs of the infrastructure and operational costs. The estimated amount required to set up the company so that it can trade online is $180,000.
The bulk of this money will be used to purchase the required equipment and develop the adequate infrastructure for the online services. The average estimated cost for setting up appropriate hardware on each desk in the organization is $5000.
This money will be used to purchase a fast and cheap computer, software for the computer, and the backup required at each desk. In total, the organization will need to equip 100 desks with computers and software, with the amount totaling to $50,000.
The development of the intranet at the company headquarters will cost an estimated $60,000 since the organization is not large. The rest of the money will be used for the development of a website, development of the marketing tools on the internet, and contracting an internet service provider.
The design for a good website is estimated to cost $15,000. The amount for one year’s hosting is a maximum of $60,000. The estimated cost for the maintenance of the networks is $20,000 a year.
The project will be successful. Managers can expect a growth in the sales and the number of clients visiting them. This means a growth by over 300% in revenue. It will cover the costs of setting up the network and maintenance.
The estimated total cost in the first year will be roughly $250,000. The revenue will increase by $600,000 because of the online transactions and the estimated doubling of customers by the end of the year. This means that the overall benefit of the project will be the creation of $350,000. This will increase in the subsequent years as the company embraces e-commerce.
Timescale
The company should start the acquisition of machines that are necessary in the creation of the network in the first three months. Since the organization has the available funds, tendering should be conducted, with the winning contractor delivering the machines within three months of the tendering process.
Another tender that the company should advertise is the supply of networking materials and the creation of an intranet within the premises.
This should also have the same timeline as the delivery of computers and other equipment in the organization. The company should install the network and computers in another month. At the same time, an internet service provider should be sought.
The next step will be the creation of a website and the development of an appropriate marketing strategy on the site and other websites. The estimated time that the process will take is five months. By the sixth month, the management should have employees suing the internet and the intranet as their workstations.
The organizations should also install a WIFI network at the workplace, thus ensuring unlimited internet connectivity for employees. The returns of the project should be visible within a year, with the expected outcome being the increase in sales volumes.
Recommendations
- There are a number of recommendations in the application and maintenance of the IT strategy at Footsteps Historical Tours. The company should ensure that it puts in place these recommendations to assure positive productivity. Some of the recommendations include:
- Footsteps Historical Tours should embark on training its employees on the use of the internet.
- The company should also set up a trial of the website to be used before the installation of the intranet and the contracting of an internet service provider to allow assessment of web performance.
- Footsteps Historical Tours should also invest in campaigns to popularize the new strategy to its employees and the public.
- An IT department should be setup at Footsteps Historical Tours to oversee the implementation of the online marketing strategy.