Assignment 1 Information Technology (IT) Management (MGT307)

ASSIGNMENT 1 Information Technology (IT) Management (MGT307) Lecturer: Aminath Fazleen MARCH 19, 2015 FACULTY OF SCIENCE Written By: Mohamed Fathih (37521) Hammaadh Rasheedh (37404) Asadhu Shujaau (33475) Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 Background and History ....................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Mission.................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Vision .................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Goals ..................................................................................................................................... 2 2.0 Current Situation ....................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 SWOT Analysis .................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1 Strengths ....................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Weaknesses ................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.3 Opportunities................................................................................................................ 4 2.1.4 Threats .......................................................................................................................... 4 3.0 Proposed IT Strategy Plan ........................................................................................................ 5 4.0 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 6 References ....................................................................................................................................... 7 1.0 Introduction This document is about the IT Strategic Plan developed for Real Softwares Private Limited company based in Male’, Maldives. This plan provides 5 year roadmap to improve the company’s services and help it work towards its vision. 1.1 Background and History Real Softwares Private Limited started its business in 2013. The business focuses mainly on developing enterprise application for its clients. However, as the business is in its adolescent age taking on huge projects were difficult at start. Hence they also take on small to medium projects as well. Also they provide networking services to its clients. As of today, the company now carries out medium sized projects often. However, they are still unable to take huge projects as they are still new and as they have few customers. At the moment they provide their services only within Male’ and larger markets are yet to be explored. In future, Real Softwares are thinking about creating applications that would be common to small businesses and sell them locally. 1.2 Mission The mission of the business is to provide products on time and at expected level to its clients. 1.3 Vision The vision of the business is to become the ideal software development company in Maldives and to be a globally renowned software development company. 1.4 Goals The following are the goals of Real Softwares Private Limited.   To reach customers in other island of Maldives and the customers abroad,  To meet customer expectations by providing product on time and with expected quality,  To provide an enjoyable working environment to its employees ,  To provide job opportunities to specially to people will to go forward in an IT field, To come up with innovative ideas to solve IT related problems in Maldives. 2.0 Current Situation The following are the findings from the SWOT analysis that was carried out in order to understand the current situation of Real Softwares. 2.1 SWOT Analysis 2.1.1 Strengths  Well-educated team: employees working in all departments of the organization are skilled  in the fields required for the specific job,  with their final product,  Also there is a good relation among departments as well,  worry about routine office works. This can help them work more productively, Quality of Service: analysis showed that so far almost all customers have been satisfied Teamwork: employees work with a positive attitude and help each other learn and grow. Dedicated project team: project team is fully focused on the task at hand without having to Supportive Management: the ideas of employees are taken into consideration while making decisions. This can make employees feel they are a part of something great and hence help them be motivated and more willing to work. Moreover, the management is also willing to  provide the necessary resources required for the projects whenever possible. There is not much competition from within Maldives. 2.1.2 Weaknesses  Poor marketing: currently the company is advertised through billboards, posters and one Maldivian TV channel. Hence, many does not know about the company and many potential  markets are unexplored. Manual work in the organization: although the organization has its own network. There is no specialized platform connecting all departments and simplifying daily tasks. One has to go through a set of documents either soft copy or hard copy in order to find what they are looking for. Human Resources department uses a specialized software within the department but it is not well integrated to be accessed by other departments for example to check details about an employee.   As marketing is poor, they are unable to attract many customers. Moreover, as they are not able to take on huge projects yet, the company generates very little profit. High Development Cost: Real Softwares are not well known a less number of clients choose the company. Due to this, they charge huge amounts in order to carry out the projects. 2.1.3 Opportunities   Effective ways to reach larger markets are available like through the internet. Although applications are developed, most of the work is still done manually in Maldives, this can be because applications does not meet customer requirements or are not user friendly. Real Softwares has opportunity to create better applications for different fields  hence they have a capable team who knows what they are doing. In this age, customers are tech savvy and are willing to try new products. 2.1.4 Threats  Maldivian government sometimes comes up with huge projects, which are given to NCIT. Hence, as of now it is unable to take on such projects and it is a loss for the business as it  will help Real Softwares gain more experience and innovative ideas from such projects. Competitors abroad: Software projects are rarely finished on time in Maldives, hence even the clients in Maldives prefers giving the project to an overseas firm. 3.0 Proposed IT Strategy Plan To overcome the current weaknesses in the business alternative ways have been taken into consideration. Since the business is slowly developing, it needs to focus on gaining market share. Currently the company is using a TV channel which is not so popular and hence the public does not give much attention. It will be effective to advertise in more than one channel and to prefer a popular channel which may give positive results by gaining a wider market coverage. Since the company itself is a software developing company, it is vital to create and use its own website to give better access to the customers about the company. This can indeed reach more customers As this generation is very active on the internet mostly on social media. By advertising on a social networking sites like Facebook the company can reach more customers within and outside Maldives. Maintaining the daily business activities and operations efficiently in the business requires flexible and sophisticated modern technologies. This can be achieved by digitalizing the company work and its infrastructure and maintaining a centralized database like (Oracle DB). This will help to minimize workload and improve efficiency of the business hence reducing the cost. It is also viable to reduce the cost of the company, by using open-source software in the operations of the company rather than buying software and paying them annually. In order to maintain and sustain the customers trust and integrity of the business, the company has to find more creative ways to give its customers what they expect. By focusing on creating software that are optimized for the clients, the company might be able to attract customers who were previously dissatisfied with other software developers hence they could not meet their needs. This will help Real Softwares to gain popularity domestically and move toward company’s vision. 4.0 Conclusion From the above mentioned strategies, the company should at first focus on gaining market. Not much cost will be incurred in creation of a website and or advertising on a social media like Facebook. Company is financially more than capable of handling this tasks. Hence it is safe to say this marketing strategy will be feasible. Moreover, Real Softwares can still focus on taking projects from its clients which means this will not have any significant effect on the workflow of the company. In order to optimize day to day works of the company, it needs to develop a system to integrate with all of its business departments. This will give better access and simplify the work of the departments. However, this might take a lot of time to develop. To go forward with this plan the company will need to first gain more market. This is because the company might not be able to focus on both clients’ requests and its own business projects. This is bound to take a long time to develop, however, if completed successfully it will lead to faster and more manageable workflow. The staff might need additional training to handle the new system when it is developed. This plan needs to be monitored, evaluated and updated in a routinely basis for the next 5 year in order to maintain and improve the strategy plan and to cover new issues that come along the way. References Larson, E. D., & Gray, C. F. (2011). Project Management: The Managerial Process (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Lavinsky, D. (2013, October 18). Strategic Plan Template: What To Include In Yours. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2013/10/18/strategic-plan-template-whatto-include/ Schriener, J., & Doherty, P. (2013, March 20). Step-by-Step IT Strategic Planning. Retrieved from http://enewsletters.constructionexec.com/techtrends/2013/03/aec-informationtechnology-strategic-planning-step-by-step/ SmartDraw. (2015). SWOT Examples. Retrieved from http://www.smartdraw.com/software/swotexample.htm