Group 9: Smart Leisure ( 3 Case Studies ) 

Automakers Become Software Companies

1)  How is software adding value to automaker products?

Ø  The eventual system would require the cars feed increasing amounts of information to systems which can minimize highway congestion.

Ø  By using software in automaker products, the products are entering uncharted territory.

Ø  Raise the same privacy concerns surrounding location tracking improve navigation controls, the music and phone features, and also can control the car temperature

2)  How are the automakers benefiting from software-enhanced cars? How are customers benefiting?

  A) Automakers benefiting from software-enhanced cars

Ø  This will enable Ford and other automakers to significantly improve the passenger experience and the automaker can add new features to cars after a few year

  B) Customer benefiting

Ø  Enable drivers to connect their tablets and smartphone to the Sync system to access music and other apps using voice commands

3) What value chain activities are involved in enhancing cars with software? 

Ø  Automobile companies are enhancing their vehicles with onboard software that will improve customer experience and the automaker can manage to car via the cloud

Ø  Ford has doubled its investment in vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies.

4) How much of a competitive advantage is software providing for automakers? Explain your answer.

Ø  The Ford can analyze how their customer reaction when using the software

Ø  The automakers can interact with the customer by software

Ø  The engineer can also make changes on software with customer feedback

Starbucks

1. Analyze Starbucks using the competitive forces and value chain models.

Ø  Competitor Forces, they pursue a more aggressive product differentiation strategy by using high quality beverage and emphasize to improve their customer service.

Ø  Implementing Wi-Fi technology enabled Starbucks to increase the in-store presence of district managers by 25% without adding extra managers.

Ø  Starbucks using fast-food chains to increase the profit.

 2. What is Starbucks’ business strategy? Assess the role played by technology in this business strategy.

 Starbucks implemented a technology that allows customers to pay using smartphone apps as their business strategy. This app is integrated with the Starbuck Card System which allows regular customers to pay with a pre-paid and rechargeable card at any Starbucks branch.

3. How much has technology helped Starbucks compete? Explain your answer.

Wireless technology enhanced Starbucks’s business process simplification effort. Starbucks district managers use the in-store wireless networks to run store operations and to connect to the company’s private corporate network and system.

Interactive session: People “Should You Use Your iPhone for  Work ?

1)  What are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

Advantage of allowing employees to use their personal smartphones for work:

a) The company does not need to spend their own money on the mobile device

b) Make the business processes easier:

Ø  By using employees’ personal smartphones in work, it will make the business processes more efficient on generating order, submitting order, checking credit, assembling product to ship product

c)  It will help the company’s leverage mobility to become more effective

Ø  Smartphone can connect to the firm existing IT platform and also company system like CRM, which will increase the company mobility.

d) Easy to communicate with customer and senior management

Ø  Employees can directly communicate with customers, it will improve the relationship with customers. In return, it will raise the company profit.

Ø  Senior manager can monitor the work of employee at any time

Disadvantages of allowing employees to use their personal smartphones for work:

a)      Company may face some difficult problem of allowing employees to use their personal mobile device.

Ø  Like security, inventory management, support and integrating mobile devices

b)      Leakage of confidential information of the company to the third party.

Ø  When employees lose their smartphones or their smartphones are stolen by people, the information of the company will leak.

c)      The performance of  employees will be affected

Ø  Because of using their personal smartphones, they may do other things during working period and they will not pay fully attention on their work. The employee may use their phones to online or chat with their friends

d)     Data flowing over networks, steal valuable data during transmission or alter messages without authorization

e)      The security of  smartphones are not stronger than that of computer.

Ø  The data in smartphones will be easier to leak out than that of computer system.

2) What people, organization and technology factors should be addressed when deciding whether to allow employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

          The security, inventory management, support, integrating mobile devices into pre-existing IT functions and systems and measuring return on investment should be addressed when deciding whether to allow employees to use their personal smartphones for work. The corporate IT resources are important for managing and maintaining a large number of devices in an organization. The company’s networks must be configured to receive connections from the employees’ mobile devices and operating system to access the company’s information. When employees make changes to their personal phones, companies need to quickly and flexibly ensure that their employees are still able to remain productive. Firms need an efficient inventory management system that keeps track of which devices employees are using, where the device is located, whether it is being used, and what software it is equipped with. Besides that, company needs to provide adequate technical support for every employee who is using a variety of phones and operating systems. When employees are not able to access critical data or encounter other problems with their mobile devices, they will need assistance from the information systems department. A firm’s software development teams need to have one professional focused on ensuring that new applications will be easily used and useful on smartphones. The applications and software need to be used on mobile devices to connect to the firm existing IT platform and company-wide CRM, SCM, and ERP systems. The mobility experts can make company’s leverage mobility more effective. Companies need to ensure that sensitive or confidential information is secured by using technologies that allow them to wipe data from devices remotely or encrypt data when a device is stolen or missing so that it cannot be used.

3) We agree that allowing employees to use their own smartphones for work will save the company money.

a) Using smartphone to replace stationeries/ assets

Ø  Smartphone is like a mini computer that employees can take notes, review and edit the appointments, contacts and documents in the smartphone without using any stationery.

Ø  Smartphones today have bigger money capacity. With this, employees can easily store files particularly those that are important for the business which means company does not need to purchase assets to store the data

b) Free communication tools

Ø  Employees can connect to the internet for using free communication applications in smartphone such as Wechat, Facebook Messenger and Line that provide free texting, voice messages and video calls to communicate with the customers without any cost.

Ø  Employees also can save costs by using email to send the documents to customers. Many documents that used to be sent through the mail at regular postage rates can be sent by email. These savings add up significantly over time. Money is also saved by the speed of email.