Technical and Business Challenges Faced by FlashMobz

The purpose of this task is to provide a brief overview of the information system used by companies in the environment to grow and attain success. FlashMobz is a mobile phone company selling mobile phones and its accessories in England. The company is owned by Asif who initially started the business as a single store selling the electronic products and has now grown into a chain of eleven stores in the country. Asif purchased PhoneRUs which a group of three outlets. He bought this store with an aim to make these stores work under the brand name of FlashMobz. This activity initiated by Asif became of one of the significant operation for expansion in the company. Further it should also be noted that both the organizations FlashMobz and PhoneRUs have their different functionalities for IT for which the owner need to integrate different systems under them.

Further the below mentioned report contains two part. The first part of the report talks on the activity of the company FlashMobz on acquiring the PhoneRUs Company. It explains the technical and business challenges faced by the company in acquiring PhoneRUs and expanding their business in the international market. Further it also talks about the barriers faced by the company in implementing various expansion and growth activities in the business; all these issues and recommendations are stated by SBS consultancy team. It also talks about the ways in which FlashMobz can properly implement the activities in the business and improve its growth. Furthermore the second part of the task talks about my self-reflection on the information system process and the impact of technology in by personal life. More details about the task are discussed below:

Now days, it has become the need of the era to expand their business by collaborating with different organizations of same sector in the market. This process gives the aid of advancement to the company and use of qualified raw material as well. Acquisition and merger are mostly regarded as the best ways for an organization to grow; similarly it also helped the company FlashMobz to create an advantage in the market. But as both the companies FlashMobz and PhoneRUs were having differential information technology system which made it difficult for the company to collaborate their activities (Beier, and Wagner 2015). Further the technical and business challenges faced by the company are discussed below:

Insufficient IT integration: the lack of synchronization throughout the IT infrastructure attracted difficulties for the company to process their everyday activities. As the organization acquired new company due to which all the resources of the company multiplied, resulting to which the management cost of the company increased to manage such resources. But FlashMobz was unable to manage all the resources properly due to which some of them remained unexploited. Further the case study also explains that both the IT companies had their differential systems in use (Eisenberg, and Gupta 2015). Resulting to which, the process of the company slowed down as they were unable to handle both the systems at a time, apart from which they faced the difficult to integrate the FlashMobz software in PhoneRUs. Without integration of the supporting and the operational process applications in the process, the mistakes and its replication is impossible which increased the complications and distracted the company from achieving its core business objective (ETcontributors 2017).

Insufficient IT Integration

Lack of visibility: with the process of merger of two different companies the problem of duplication of customer’s information can be increased. Both the companies will share information of their clients which will emphasize on the need of single view of customer information. Further it should also be noted that attaining information about the customers will initiate the customer data driven integration system due to which visibility reduces. As the both the companies integrates their systems due to which the single view of customer reduces as both the companies show their respective information stored about the client (Hammer 2015). Lack of visibility and gives rise to confusion in the organization; the information of the client duplicates due to which it becomes difficult for the employees of the company to search information of the customer. For instance, if there is a name of two clients of the company is same, so the employees will face confusion while billing the amount of the respective client. Thus, in this way the problem of visibility was faced by the company as information of PhoneRUs was adjoined in the company (Drucker 2017).

The process of data integration refers to the process under which the business gains access to the information of another company. In the company FlashMobz, the IT team gained the access of PhoneRUs information due to which they combined the data of both the companies due to which the employees faced issues in implementing regular day to day activities. Apart from that, process of data integration requires qualified software which can easily store all the information on the cloud without hampering them (Harmon 2014). Thus, the company faced difficultly in integrating the information due to which they got scattered in different systems and resulted in loss as well. Further the service delivery also became complicated as the employees were unable to properly retrieve the information of PhoneRUs due to which the efficiency of the system of FlashMobz reduced resulting in loss of information of clients. Thus, it is important for the organization to integrate data effectively otherwise company can attract various issues. Lack of visibility is also a problem of data integration only (Kane, Palmer, Phillips, and Kiron 2015).

Compliance Regulation: all organizations have their different compliances for their business as FlashMobz comply with different regulations in their organization and PhoneRUs have different compliances to follow. So, the organization FlashMobz faced difficulty in complying with the rules and regulations of PhoneRUs. Although, both thee company are a part of information technology industry but different rules applies to both of them. As PhoneRUs is also present in Belgium due to which the company needs to follow the rules of regulations of that country as well (MuleSoft 2018). And now FlashMobz also becomes liable to entertain the European region regulation applying on their system. It is mandatory for FlashMobz to comply with the code of procedures of another company which they have acquired and in the event of non-compliance the organization might face strict penalties for the same. Further, with the process of acquisition the process of organization diversified due to which the management faced difficultly in controlling the process and run smoothly (Nusca 2014).

Lack of Visibility

Transitioning e-commerce challenges: The Company FlashMobz faced issues in transitioning e-commerce. With the development of diversified business, the owner of the company Asif realized the need of e-commerce in their business. E-commerce helps an organization to promote their business and initiate sales through internet; it gives the ability to the organization to serve to international customers as well. Further, below mentioned are the transitioning e-commerce issues faced by the company FlashMobz (Petkova 2016).

Cross-platform integration: mobile and accessories shopping has now days become an integral part of the e-commerce business as most of target market of the company look for these products online and buy them through internet only. Thus, overseeing such demand of products in the internet, Asif also entered in this market by customizing their application and optimizing products and resources for the same (Neelankavil 2015). Further, talking about the issue it should be noted that the organization faced the problem in functioning their business online. B2C e-commerce functionalities changed the current platform of the company as now the management needs to work on both online and offline platform which create a problem for them. The management of FlashMobz finds it difficult in integrating transactions of both platforms due to which efficiency of the company reduces (Mazzarol 2015).

Cart Abandonment: This is one of the major problems which the enterprise faces while initiating their e-commerce business. Cart abandonment refers to the problem under which the visitor leaves the page without completing the activity of shopping. The millennial target customers of the company only make window shopping with the company due to which their cart includes products which they wish to buy but did not buy. Resulting to which, the company faces high revenue loss due to cart abandonment. The customer might leave their products in the cart without purchasing because of high cost of shipping, complications in checkout process, and fewer options for payment etc. (iFour Team 2016).

Inadequacy in Scaling: The Company FlashMobz is new to the field of e-commerce due to which they faced difficulty in scaling the price of products to different customers. The company offers differential prices to the enterprise that purchase the products from the company in bulk (Tan, Guo, Cahalane, and Cheng 2016). Another problem in scaling FlashMobz faced when they increased their product portfolio and offer diversified products to its customers, thus different products have different prices to which the company was unable to label them effectively. Scaling takes place when a company deals in B2B and B2C services, thus FlashMobz was unable to scale the products properly (Knoke 2018 ).

Compliance Regulation

Human resource: As the company FlashMobz aimed for expansion in the IT sector due to which they required qualified employees to help the management to initiate sales through online as well. But the company faced difficulty in implementing their strategies as the company didn’t find quality human resource to match up to the expectation of the company (Sekaran, and Bougie 2016). Thus, it should be noted that due to inefficient human resource present with the organization they were unable to implement the plan of expansion properly in their organization. Also increasing competition in the e-commerce business increased the problem of management present their services in such a way that the customer gets attracted towards them (Chen 2017).

Venture Capital: In order to expand the business by acquiring other business and using innovative technology, the organization would require adequate venture capital. It is the capital which an organization funds into another organization to increase its efficiency. It is also called risk capital. So, if an organization has optimum sum of venture capital with them then only they can think of expanding their business by introducing new technology or increasing product line. In the company FlashMobz, as they acquired PhoneRUs due to which the venture capital of the company reduced, further the management aimed to expand their business into e-commerce but lack of venture capital hindered the growth of the plan of the company (Jemison, and Sitkin 2018).

Government Legislation: The government also imposes various legislations which affects the growth of the company in the external market. As the company FlashMobz is present in England so it should be noted that the company needs to follow the rules of England, apart from that the company need to comply with the rules of the region in which PhoneRUs initiates their working and the areas where they are aiming to expand their warehouses. Complying law of three regions at a time made it difficult for the company to implement their regular activities properly (Dunning 2014).

Lack of liquidity: In order to successfully implement the new defined operational plan, it is important for any organization to have adequate amount of liquid so as to meet the unforeseen demand of the organization. Thus, FlashMobz invested most of their liquid cash in expansion purpose and acquiring different business unit due to which the company started facing cash crunch in implement their expansion process of e-commerce. As FlashMobz has more ratio of investing activities than operating activities due to which liquid cash ratio present with the company reduced with adversely affected the operational activities of the company (Hair 2015).

Transitioning eCommerce Challenges

Logistics and supply chain: In order to initiate the e-commerce activities of the company it is important for the management to attain efficient supply chain management system which can effectively supply the products and service offered by the company to prospective customers present in the market. As FlashMobz has newly initiated the e-commerce activities in the business and they are not even present in different parts of the world due to which the company faced the difficulty in assembling the raw material providing finished goods to the customers in the market (Currim, Mintz, and Siddarth 2015).

Below mentioned are the strategies which shall be recommended to the company FlashMobz to improve their activities in the market.

• In order to remove the barriers of implementation, initially the company shall train their existing employees about the process which they are currently using and which they will use in the near future to initiate sales online. This will improve the efficiency of employees and reduce the human resource management problem. Also the company shall use the performance management tool to satisfy the requirements of the employees in the organization. Satisfied employee will bring more fresh talent in the organization (Buckley, and Casson 2016).
• Further in order to maintain venture capital and liquid cash in organization, the management team needs invest carefully. Also the company needs to monitor their expenses and aim to reduce them so as to save liquid cash for other activities in the organization. The supervisors shall aim to initiate waste management activities which shall monitor the irrelevant expenses made by the employees in the organization. Cutting cost is an effective way for the company to maintain liquid cash (Gervasi 2016).
• Logistics and supply chain activities can be initiated in such a way that the company shall spread their activities in different parts of the world so that the demand of customer is fulfilled on time. Demand shall be forecasted by the management so that they do not face pressure when the actual demand of thee product arises and they can easily deliver the products to the customers (Grant 2016).

Ethics is an important aspect which should be considered by all IT professionals. Leniency in the use of information system tools can adversely affect the growth of the company. Before reading this module, I had no clue about precarious implications of ethics. But with further investigation, I came to know about the legal aspects of IT what can happen if these rules regulations are not bounded appropriately. Further talking about the case of ‘Kim Wall’ case, I came to know that publicity of information can damage the reputation of people. Under this case, a person was murdered and the clipping of that event was made viral. Looking at this event with a legal and ethical eye, it should be noted that the person whose computer was misused to reveal all such information was held liable. Even after expressing his feelings, the accused was not saved because while purchasing a computer software and internet connection the statement is clearly mentioned to the customer that any kind of information stored in their computer belongs to them. As an IT profession, this incident gave me teaching that I need to carefully store my data from the dark web activities as it can ruin my image in the market.

Another case of General Data Protection Regulation talks about the responsible ethical rules and legislations which should be followed by people worldwide. The DPO talks about the consent of people about the data which they want to store or delete. Thus, from the above two scenarios, I came to know about the dos and don’ts in the legal IS world which an IT professional shall do. In my future practices as an IT professional I will surely incorporate the activity to bind all the legal rules and keep a track of the information stored in my system.

Cross-platform Integration

Conclusion

Thus in the limelight of above mentioned events it should be noted that Asif, the owner of FlashMobz initiated all these activities with an aim to expand their services in the international market and attain growth as well. The company acquired various organizations and invested in various areas with an aim to expand. The organization also aimed to operate the e-commerce business in which they faced many difficulties as well. The organization faced issues in  managing their ecommerce business, apart from that acquisition of PhoneRUs was also an important decision taken by the management of the company, as both the company were having different IT system which made it more difficult for the employees to operate  their activities. Lastly, it should be recommended to the employees to initiate their activities strategically and the management shall lay more focus on the ecommerce business only so that the company earns sales from online business as well.

References

Beier, M. and Wagner, K., 2015. Crowdfunding success: a perspective from social media and e-commerce.

Buckley, P.J. and Casson, M., 2016. The future of the multinational enterprise. Springer.

Chen, C., 2017. Transitioning towards a Single Page Application for a fashion e-commerce: Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the transition’s impact on business performance.

Currim, I.S., Mintz, O. and Siddarth, S., 2015. Information accessed or information available? The impact on consumer preferences inferred at a durable product E-commerce website. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 29, pp.11-25.

Drucker, P.F., 2017. The Theory of the Business (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard Business Press.

Dunning, J.H., 2014. The Globalization of Business (Routledge Revivals): The Challenge of the 1990s. Routledge.

Eisenberg, K. and Gupta, G., 2015. Analysis of the Expansion of E-Commerce Into India and Growth Opportunities for Flipkart. J. Int’l Bus. & L., 14, p.151.

ETcontributors., 2017. Six key challenges facing modern e-commerce. Viewed on 28 February, 2018 from < https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/marketing-branding/marketing/six-key-challenges-facing-modern-e-commerce/articleshow/61503054.cms>

Gervasi, M., 2016. East-Commerce: China E-Commerce and the Internet of Things. John Wiley & Sons.

Grant, R.M., 2016. Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons.

Hair, J.F., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. ME Sharpe.

Hammer, M., 2015. What is business process management?. In Handbook on Business Process Management 1 (pp. 3-16). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Harmon, P., 2014. Business process change. Morgan Kaufmann.

iFour Team, 2016. Challenges faced in merger and acquisition for information system like ERP. Viewed on 28 February, 2018 from < https://www.ifourtechnolab.com/blog/challenges-faced-in-merger-and-acquisition-for-information-system-like-erp>

Jemison, D. B., and Sitkin, S. B., 2018. Acquisitions: The Process Can Be a Problem. Viewed on 28 February, 2018 from < https://hbr.org/1986/03/acquisitions-the-process-can-be-a-problem>

Kane, G.C., Palmer, D., Phillips, A.N. and Kiron, D., 2015. Is your business ready for a digital future?. MIT Sloan management review, 56(4), p.37.

Knoke, D., 2018. Changing organizations: Business networks in the new political economy. Routledge.

Mazzarol, T., 2015. SMEs engagement with e-commerce, e-business and e-marketing. Small enterprise research, 22(1), pp.79-90.

MuleSoft., 2018. Mergers and Acquisitions. Viewed on 28 February, 2018 from < https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/cloudhub/mergers-acquisitions-it-integration>

Neelankavil, J.P., 2015. International business research. Routledge.

Nusca, A., 2014. The problem with acquisitions? Tying the technology together. Viewed on 28 February, 2018 from < https://fortune.com/2014/11/05/aptean-sencha-business-applications>

Petkova, I., 2016. Between high-tech and high-fashion: How E-Commerce fashion organizations gain moral and pragmatic legitimacy in the fashion field. Poetics, 57, pp.55-69.

Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Tan, F.T.C., Guo, Z., Cahalane, M. and Cheng, D., 2016. Developing business analytic capabilities for combating e-commerce identity fraud: A study of Trustev’s digital verification solution. Information & Management, 53(7), pp.878-891.