For this project, imagine that you work for a small brick-and-mortar business specializing in designer clothing, shoes, and handbags. Your business offers discounted designer clothing and accessories for men and women. There are two full-time employees and three part-time employees. Currently, the store only has a basic website with a list of a few products, and customers can only purchase items instore. This is a problem because the business is not able to reach customers as easily as its competitors. The business owner has identified the following companies as its primary e-business competitors:
Bluefly
Zappos
Kohl’s
Macy’s
HauteLook
Nordstrom Rack
Lyst
The ultimate goal of the business is to promote growth with an online presence and become more customer-focused. The business owner wants to streamline the business processes involved in integrating a brick-and-mortar business with an e-business. She is aware that there will be some potential consumer privacy and security concerns associated with this change, and she wants to ensure that company data is protected internally. She also wants to be confident that the business’s suppliers and technology vendors do the same. The business owner is looking for a technology solution that will meet the following key technology requirements: integrating online shopping, managing inventory and shipping, providing order status and online payment processing, facilitating collaboration internally and externally (with staff and customers), managing customer contacts, providing reporting, and being able to use the new technology to manage the current brick-and-mortar processes (sales, payments, inventory, and customer contact). Currently, the physical location struggles with managing customer information and does not have a reporting tool to help management make informed decisions. Your job will be to research three different technologies and the business market competitors that use those technologies, and to make a recommendation on the technology solution that you feel would best position your store to expand its business. Select three of the following technologies to focus on in your business systems analysis paper:
Big data and knowledge management
Wireless, mobile computing, and mobile commerce
Social computing
Cloud computing
Business analytics and business intelligence solutions
Intelligent systems
Overview: This assignment is the first milestone that you will complete for your final project. In this milestone, you will address the following:
You will begin drafting parts of your final project, focusing on your business requirements, competitors, and technology.
This assignment is an important practice opportunity for you to create a draft, and to get feedback from your instructor to improve your final draft.
The rubric reflects that this is a practice opportunity. You should focus on getting the necessary information into your draft. No draft is perfect.
This milestone aligns with sections I, II, and III of your final project. Use the questions in the critical elements as a guide.
You are free to work in the Final Project Template document or on a separate word document for your drafts. o It is recommended you use the template to ensure you do not miss any items you need to address. The critical elements are highlighted in yellow in the template.
The decision matrix is not required for this milestone; however, you will be submitting the decision matrix in Milestone Two. It is recommended that you use the template provided to help narrow your technology recommendation.
Prompt: Imagine that you work for the small brick-and-mortar business described in the final project case scenario. The owner of your business wants to focus on generating new revenue through e-commerce, but she knows that this change in operations requires the company to integrate new technology. To gain an understanding of what the business might need for technology, she has asked you to create a business systems analysis. In this analysis, you will clearly introduce the problem that your business is facing. Then, you will determine the business requirements for solving that problem, including the requirements that any new technology needs to meet. Your goal in the final project is to establish an e-commerce presence, but you must improve the current technology first. Use the Decision Matrix document as you conduct your research for assistance organizing your thoughts. (You will submit the completed decision matrix in Milestone Two.) For additional resources on developing the decision matrix, refer to: Decision Matrix: What It Is and How to Use It: This article defines the decision matrix and discusses how leaders evaluate and prioritize all of their options when considering solutions to a difficult task. Decision Matrix Analysis: This article explains how to use a decision matrix analysis, a useful technique for making a choice when many factors must be balanced. Decision Matrix Example: Use this resource to view an example of a completed decision matrix.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Introduction: In this section, you will briefly introduce the small business from the case scenario, and the problem that it is trying to solve. A. Clearly state the problem that the business owner is seeking to solve. Be sure to address the question of what your business ultimately wants to do. B. Identify and briefly describe the two technologies from the list provided that you will research in your business systems analysis.
II. Business Requirements: In this section, you will determine what the business requirements are to solve the stated problem, and establish the criteria that will help form your technology recommendations. You will also articulate why the business owner should undertake the project of integrating new technology. A. Explain the objectives of undertaking this project to integrate new technology. In others words, what should the project accomplish, and how does it support the goal of your business? B. Provide a project description that explains the purpose of the project. Be sure to address the following: i. What does your business need to do to satisfy the objectives? ii. What are the desired results at the end of the project? iii. Why is it important for your business owner to consider implementing new technology? C. State the key technological requirements that will be required of any new technology in order to effectively solve your business’s problem. In other words, what specifically does the technology need to be capable of doing? (These are the technology requirements in the decision matrix.)
III. Competitors and Technology: In this section, you will describe two competing companies that operate in the same industry as your business. You will also explain how a company uses the two technologies that you are investigating to determine if the technology may be appropriate for your business to use. Remember that a list of competing companies was provided to you in the final project case scenario. A. Technology One: Select one company in the same industry as your own that uses this technology. Briefly describe what that company does and how it uses this technology to support its business in general. Include specific examples. B. Technology Two: Select one company in the same industry as your own that uses this technology. Briefly describe what that company does and how it uses this technology to support its business in general. Include specific examples. C. Referring to what you learned in your research on the companies above, explain one specific way in which one of the companies is benefitting from technology, and describe the potential benefit to your business if you were to adopt the same approach.
