Introduction
GoodStuff is an organization that has evolved from a downtown retail shop into a medium organization, which is attempting to entering the global economy. Having built server pages based on C#, the company, however, has not been updating its technology ever since. Although several alterations have been made in order to retain the firm’s position in the target market, no significant improvements have occurred; as a result, the company is facing problems, which may evolve into a major crisis unless radical measures are undertaken soon.
Problem
The fact that the organization has failed to update its current system in accordance with the technical requirements of 2015 can be viewed as the main problem (Gomzin 72). One might argue that the current technology-related issue can be viewed as the side effect of a poorly designed management approach. Indeed, studies show that issues jeopardizing an organization’s existence do not typically emerge spontaneously, and the mismanagement of the technical aspects of the firm’s operations should be interpreted as the manifestation of a significant internal issue (Caytiles and Lee 214).
Analysis
Business Risks
The organization is facing major business risks by resorting to the use of an outdated PoS system. Particularly, the drop in the quality of security and data transfer, which the specified decision is going to trigger, is likely to cause an immediate reduction in the organization’s cash flow. The risks for the company to lose a significant amount of its revenues are, therefore, very high. Particularly, there is a high possibility for the company’s liquidity rates to drop; to be more exact, people may become reluctant to buy GoodStuff’s assets. Moreover, slow information processing, which must occur due to the flaws in the PoS system, will also slow the pace of the company’s assets trading process down significantly (Frisby, Moench, Recht, and Ristenpart 2).
Financial Risks
The aforementioned changes in the organization’s business operations are also very likely to upset GoodStuff’s financial processes, introducing the latter to an increasingly large number of risks. The credit risk is also very high in the specified scenario, as the company is most likely to default on its payments as a result of the reduction in the number of customers, the number of sales, and, therefore, the annual revenue. Additionally, the equity risk is going to grow out of proportions unless GoodStuff leaders decide to adopt a different approach towards information and security management. Seeing that the misuse of security options may affect the safety of the customers’ personal data, people may cease to trust the organization (Pepe 72); as a result, the price of its stocks will decrease inevitably. Herein the threat of failing to comply with the current information safety requirements lies.
Technical Risks
Apart from the financial and business risks, using an old PoS system may affect a range of technical aspects of GoodStuff’s operations. Particularly, the issue of data transfer deserves to be mentioned. The existing loopholes in the system security can result in the company’s information as well as the staff’s personal data being stolen, altered, made public, etc. Therefore, the technical risks, which GoodStuff is going to face in the specified scenario, can be deemed as rather high (UcedaVelez and Morana 387).
The technical risks also involve the possibility of improper data transfer, which is clearly a major reason for concern. As it has been established above, the success of an organization hinges on an accurate transfer of data and its careful analysis (Bertollini, Ferretti, Vingali, and Volpi 108). Therefore, the drop in the quality of technology used for keeping, transferring, and processing data must have a negative influence on the overall process of information management in the company. Thus, the risks to misrepresent a particular issue emerge.
Reputation Risks and Other Concerns
Needless to say, the problems that the inconsistencies in the company’s technical processes will trigger will affect GoodStuff’s popularity significantly, reducing its chances to become a global organization to a considerable degree.
Additionally, the risks related to the security of the company’s and the staff members’ privacy deserves to be listed among the key current concerns. By defaulting on the update of its technical processes, GoodStuff aggravates the situation and makes people assume that its services are unreliable.
Alternatives
GoodStuff may also view altering its current mission and vision as the means of addressing the issue. By changing the specified elements, the company will be able to redesign its relations with the target customers. Alternatively, the firm may assume cost efficiency as its key strategy in reallocating its financial assets and funding the needed areas. Finally, GoodStuff may require a branding campaign that will attract new customers and spark the enthusiasm of the existing ones.
Recommendations
It can be suggested that the company should reconsider its approach to communication and technology usage. As soon as GoodStuff leaders recognize the problem, they will be able to identify the avenues for addressing it. Additionally, a change in the leadership approach may be considered a possibility. Thus, the company managers will have an opportunity to supervise the essential communication processes closer and spot emerging issues faster.
Conclusion
Because of the current issues with the technology used by GoodStuff, the company is prone to a variety of risks, which may pose a threat to the very existence of the firm. Therefore, the problem concerning the hiccups in the technical development of the company needs to be addressed. Unless GoodStuff reconsiders its current approach towards technology use, the safety of the company will be under a consistent threat. Being a part of the global economy means assuming a responsible approach towards managing corporate safety; thus, GoodStuff will have to develop a more comprehensive approach towards technology application and safety management.
Works Cited
Bertollini, Massimo, Gina Ferretti, Guseppe Vingali, and Andrea Volpi. “Reducing out of Stock, Shrinkage and Overstock through RFID in the Fresh Food Supply Chain: Evidence from an Italian Retail Pilot.” International Journal of RF Technologies 4.1 (2012/2013) 107–125. Print.
Caytiles, Robert D., and Sunguk Lee. “A Review of an MVC Framework based Software Development.” International Journal of Software Engineering and Its Applications 8.10 (2014): 213–220. Print.
Frisby, WesLee, Benjamin Moench, Benjamin Recht, and Thomas Ristenpart. Security Analysis of Smartphone Point-of-Sale Systems. 2014. Web.
Gomzin, Slava. Hacking Point of Sale: Payment Application Secrets, Threats, and Solutions. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2014. Print.
Pepe, Michael R. “Using Point of Sale (POS) Data to Deliver Customer Value in the Supermarket Industry through Category Management Practices.” Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness 6.1 (2012): 69–73. Print.
UcedaVelez, Tony, and Marco M. Morana. Risk Centric Threat Modeling: Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2015. Print.