World Call

Executive Summary: Worldcall Telecom is a service provider company and is dealing in telecommunication services, cable providers, internet service provider, and payphone services. They are operating in Pakistan since 1996 when First Securities Commission began their operations in Pakistan. They started their cable service in1998 from Lahore. Then in 2005, they got the license of wireless loop for 14 major divisions in Pakistan. They are improving their business tactics and planning as the time passes and become number one in private telecom services. Salman Taseer is the chairman of the company. The major decision making lies in the hands of executives. For internal communication they are using LAN. Managing directors are responsible for the projects management and also for the operations of the business. At operational level, Worldcall needs to have information about its daily operation like daily sales transactions, No. of orders placed by the franchises, no of complaints from their customer. Company should be aimed to check the SWOT analysis to increase the efficiency of company. External environment has a great effect on the company. The major impact is of technology, because infrastructure and the efficiency of the company depend on the use of technology. The threat of entrance is high, there are many suppliers, bargaining power of the buyer is high, but there is no threat of substitutes of the company. The major competitors of the company are PTCL, WATEEN, CYBERNET, GSM operators. The main opportunity available to the company is to install fiber cables in company, they can also tale advantage of internet explosion. The major threat of company is from instability of economy. Other threats are from the newly launched companies providing the same services with lower prices. The major strength of company is the size of their network. They also have some licenses (WLL /LDI /NGN). Privacy is the major weakness of company. Not emphasize on the marketing is another weakness of the company. Company is normally

operating in the turnaround area. As it is a service based company, the major focus in the value chain analysis is on sales and marketing, and after sale services. Company has different strategies and alternatives to be implemented. Customer data base should be developed a data base system for customer information and should have DecisionEdge system to divide customer on geographical bases. They should develop an EDI for internal secure communication which can increase their company’s performance. They should modify their website and also give an online payment system. They should use ERP in order to combine their all sectors. It will also connect all the sectors of company. We are conducting some analysis and we get the detailed about portfolio management and we have done portfolio management process. After analysis and categorizing each, we found the DecisionEdge system (Oracle 9i), the best one for the company. The tactical plans of the company are to train employee, implement system with in a year, etc…etc. Operational plans includes necessary information about current data base, preparing of a vendor list, evaluate the cost and services offered by the outsource company. As for as the change management is concerned, we supposed that change should be in parts, firstly data base should be implemented and then trained people should be hired in order to increase the efficiency of the business. 2

BUSINESS PURPOSE OF THE COMPANY:

2.1

Mission Statement: Worldcall Telecom Limited will demonstrate quality in all aspects of its business in a

manner to be seen in as a way of Life. “They are committed to always remain ahead in delivering quality products and services conforming to the requirements of their entire internal and external customer.” 2.2

Brief History:

The concept of telecom has been growing since 1990’s, when commitments were made by over 70 WTO member countries to open up their value added and basic services sectors. Telecommunication has been acknowledged as a crucial infrastructure for any modern economy in the world. Cellular mobile service has been started in Pakistan since 1990’s. In 1996 First Capital Securities Corporation began a payphone operation called Worldcall Payphones Limited in Pakistan. Their perception of a changing business environment placed Worldcall at the lead of a demand-led explosion of payphones all over the country. Worldcall is the first private sector telecom operator to start Long Distance and international services in Pakistan. They installed their first payphone in June 1996. Under this license, they can offer nationwide and international calling facilities to the customers. Today Worldcall has over 47,000 payphones all over the country. They are one of the largest fixed line payphone operator and the pioneers of “Supervised Payphones” business model in Pakistan. With the expansion in telecom they have continued to innovate. Over the years they have invested in new technologies and businesses. In 1998 prepaid calling cards were launched by Worldcall Phone cards under the brand name "Hello". In 2000 Worldcall Multimedia established a Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) scalable network in Lahore thus becoming the first Multi-service operator in the country, providing cable television and Internet-over-cable. In cable TV in Lahore, Worldcall was the last entrant and by far the largest. In 2003 they launched a state of the art HFC network operation in Karachi under Worldcall Broadband Limited. These are the largest and only national networks capable of triple play (cable TV, high speed internet/data and telephony). These companies are also offering metro fiber lease to a number of other telecom / cellular operators as well as corporate.

Worldcall

Telecom

Limited

(WTL)

acquired

Wireless

Local

Loop

(WLL)

licenses/spectrum in the post deregulation auction to provide WLL telephony in all 14 telecom regions of Pakistan primarily in the 1900 MHz band. It has partnered with Samsung for a CDMA 2000 1x solution (with EVDO option). WTL started service from Lahore in June 2005 which is now available in 14 cities. WTL also acquired an LDI license and service commenced at the end of 2004. In line with its vision, Worldcall Telecom division has been integrated into a single corporate

entity

to

realize

maximum

synergies

from

its

diverse

and

extensive

operations/infrastructure deployments in the telecom sector and offer a total telecom solution. Worldcall Communications Limited, Worldcall Multimedia Limited and Worldcall Broadband have been merged with Worldcall Telecom Limited. Source :( www.worldcall.com.pk)

2.3

Past and Present Performance: The company is focusing on its aim of becoming the number one national alternative

telecoms provider and a leading multi service operator in the region. Worldcall Telecommunications Group began life in 1996 when First Capital Securities Corporation Ltd. started Worldcall Payphones, now Worldcall Telecom Limited. The next few years were spent in expanding its payphone network nationally, creating new telecoms businesses and drawing investor attention to the value of Worldcall as the number one alternative

national telecoms operator post deregulation. Today Worldcall Group has the most extensive and diversified telecom deployments by a private operator in Pakistan. Worldcall is part of a larger corporation and along with First Capital Securities Corporation Ltd. owns a mix of telecom, print & media, technology, financial services, retail and property development businesses with both national and international coverage. Worldcall has achieved another landmark by shifting Hello calling card traffic into LDI network. At the same time a NGN (Next Generation Network) powered plate form installation is also complete, which help the company to handle call traffic even more economically. In the subsequent year, they launched WLL payphone under the name “Free Phone”. Public response to it was really great and encouraging. The management is well aware of the facts that their will be a great immense of pressure on prices, so they are mostly focusing on the quality services, and proper customer care which help them in achieving their target of maximizing their customer base. Worldcall has a National distribution network across 220 cities and 50 Regional offices encompassing with a wide network of more than 59,000 points-of-sale. Business Plus is one of the Pakistan’s one of the leading business channels is running by Worldcall. Worldcall deployed the first ever HFC broadband infrastructure in Pakistan to provide interactive multimedia services. 2.4

Structure Analysis: Worldcall telecom is a service based industry. Currently the company is operating in

telecommunication, internet services, and cable services. Salman Taseer is the chairman of the company and the decision of the company is centralized. The major decision making of the company lies in the hand of the board of directors which include Kamil Aziz, Naveed Tariq,

Effan ibne Riaz, and Farooq Ahmed. The major purpose of the business is to find the potential buyers and also they are focusing on the best services to the users. For the internal communication (within department) they are currently using Local Area Networking, and for the communication with other heads of departments they are using simple internet. The managing director of the finance department is responsible for the forecasting of new projects and also for the costing of the current departments. They are maintaining the database for every department which is being updated on the daily basis. The director of information technology is Shahid Mahmood which is responsible for the use of technology in the organization by departments and between other departments. Under these there are chief operating officers, whose duty is to check and run day to day operating activities of the business. Company has more than 59000 franchises, so it is a great task for the business managers to collect data from all the places and than put it into a single data base.

2.5

Strategic Vision: “To become the number one national alternative telecoms provider and a leading multi-

services operator with regional and international footprint.” 3

INFORMATION NEEDS OF THE COMPANY In the organization, the information flow is from top to bottom and then bottom to top.

These information are very important to the company for operating in their operational activities and also for the development of the new strategies of the company. These information are used by all level of managers to perform their business activities.

3.1

Operational needs: As a service providing company, Worldcall needs to have information about its daily

operation like daily sales transactions, No. of orders placed by the franchises, no of complaints from their customer (franchise and consumer), quantity of telephone set to be ordered. They also need customer information for the interaction with their customers daily. They also need to know how many connections available in the particular area so that they can assign the free ports to the demanding users. They also need complete information about the packages of the company on their products. 3.2

Managerial Needs: Managers need information about the customer changing demands. Management should

know about the technological developments in the world. They also need to have information about the channel in the world which is creating their demand. Which areas really need more BTS? They also need to have information about the installation of new BTS. They should know about price fluctuations in the market and the stock exchange status. Management need to know about the complete profile, past record in the business of the customer/supplier. Managers should know about the no of customers and no of the supplier in the market. Management should know about the competitors and about their strategies. They should also know that which hand set is better for which package in wireless service. From whom the set should be purchased. Etc… etc. 3.3

Strategic needs: At strategic level the top management should know about the SWOT. They should know

about the strengths and weakness of the company and also about the up coming threats and opportunities in the industry. And also the potential of the company to take advantage of new coming opportunity and the ability of the company to fight against any threat posed by the

environment. The information of external and internal environment and the possible alternative strategic options available to the company has to be known. How company can get the competitive advantages and how the company will sustain itself in today’s competitive environment. 4.0

ANALYSIS

4.1

Industry Analysis:

4.1.1

External Environment

4.1.1.1 Pest Analysis: A PEST analysis is an analysis of the external macro environment that affects all firms. PEST analysis consists of P.E.S.T. These factors are often out of control of the company. Sometime these factors are threats for the company. But with the passage of the time or in the current situation these can become the opportunities. Political Factors: The political factors have a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses. The Pakistan is at that time has a quiet stable political environment. Worldcall has no particular effect of political factors. They are a licensed company and operating since 1995 and continuously improving and expanding their business although in that period Pakistan political environment has very dramatic changes. Current government has made some better policies for the expansion of the telecommunication industry. Recently Pakistan has given operating licenses to some new

companies e.g. Al-Warid, Telenor. Worldcall started its wireless telephonic services in that arena. They have some legal issues. Some licenses are also issued to local companies for some local loops. The government’s policy on the economy is also good. The overall GDP is growing rapidly. Recently Government has privatized the PTCL thus finishing the monopoly of the government. So the ground for the telecommunication is established and the chances of overall growth are assure. Further more the government is involved in trading agreements with some Asia countries and some other countries as well. These agreements helped Worldcall to enhance their business in other part of the world. Currently they are operating in Sri Lanka. Economic Factors The economic factors also have a major impact on the companies operating in the country or for those companies who actually want to open their operation in that country. Pakistan, an impecunious and underdeveloped country, has suffered from decades of internal political disputes, low levels of foreign investment, and a costly, ongoing confrontation with neighboring India. Since the major supplier of Worldcall of the handsets and desktop are from china, Japan and Germany so economical changes in the prices of electronics make the supplier to increase the price of their products. Thus the price of all the products is very dynamic. The economic crisis of the supplier’s country may also affect the prices of their product. Socio cultural Factors

The social and cultural influences on business vary from country to country. It is very important that such factors are considered. The company is involved in the services providing sector. Change in the lifestyle trend will affect the profitability of the company. As the Islam is dominant religion in Pakistan so if people shift from cable it will hurt the company. Worldcall has a very good strategy for expansion of the business. They started with pay phones but as they realized that customer are shifting to wireless technology; they came up with wireless phone. Now they are introducing internet cable to full fill the changing needs of the customers. Technological Factors Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. The past decade has seen major increases in the complexity of IT systems and infrastructures, spawning inefficiency, inflexibility, and mounting costs. However, all this is set to change. We are now on the threshold of a new wave of innovation that will roll across the IT industry. At the forefront is a new generation of IT designed to provide efficient, high-performance information creation and delivery that effectively supports the rapid pace of business Technology has also impact on the cost structure in terms of time and money. The technology threat is always there for Worldcall. Many companies are operating with GSM technology but Worldcall has CDMA technology in their wireless network. Further cyber net is coming with high speed internet which will threaten the Worldcall cable. 4.1.2

Competitive Force Model: The Competitive force model helps the company to know the business situation of

the particular industry. It also helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment.

Worldcall telecom is working all over the country and is the one of the largest telecommunication provider, largest cable internet service provider and one of the largest internet service provider in big cities. Since the company is formed, they are continuously improving their operations and quality and continuously extended their business operations. The competitive force model normally looks at the four basic areas such as the threat of entry, bargaining power of buyer, bargaining power of customer, threats of substitutes. Threat of Entry: The resolution of telecom industry began in 1990 when 70 countries of WTO have commitment on the telecom industry. The threat of entry in the telecom industry in Pakistan is held by PTA till 2003. After 2003, New Telecom policy was unveiled in July with an objective to attract investment, increase telecom density and sector development. After this policy, the threat of entrance in this industry is very large. Since this policy is unveiling, the PTA is giving the licenses to four telecom companies and now in Pakistan, there are nine telecom industries operating in Pakistan. So the threat of entrance in this industry is huge. On the other hand, higher cost will be the factor of restriction of entrance, so according to this factor, there is no threat to entrance. Bargaining Power of Supplier: The bargaining power of the supplier is low with respect to the software. There are many software companies operating in the world, they can buy and implement the software from any software company. Fiber optic cable which is used for high speed internet facility has been provided by many companies, so bargaining power of the supplier is low. The bargaining power of supplier regarding the telecom industry is also low, because they are buying their handsets

from Samsung, Motorola, and Wastech/NeoLeadertel. There are many other suppliers regarding the purchase of hand sets. Bargaining Power of buyer: Bargaining power of buyer is higher regarding all the facilities provided by Worldcall telecom. Buyer has many other choices to take the services from other telecommunication companies ISPs, and cable service. There are many others telecom service provider like PTCL Wireless, Go CDMA, certain mobile companies. Regarding the services of cable, there are many cable operators in the country who are providing almost the same services like Worldcall. Threat of Substitute: Telecommunication is the largest and the fastest growing industry in the current times. It is also the fastest way of communicating with the business world people. Now a day, business is running very fast and there is no time available for any business to do business with out the help of IT. Another big advantage of the telecommunication media is that it has less cost and high performance. There is no substitute of taking the information from world wide very vastly and so quickly. It is only possible through internet and multimedia. So the threat of substitute is no more in that area of the business. WORLDCALL MAJOR COMPETITORS: PTCL: PTCL is operating in Pakistan from the earliest stages of Pakistan. It the first telecommunication company in the country. It holds its monopoly since 2003, but after the investment policy is unveiled, it has no more monopoly in the country. It is also providing its customer the calling card options. Go CDMA:

This is a newly operated company in Pakistan. It is being worked in the country after 2003 and has enhanced its business operations in country very fast and very effectively. Like other telecom companies its major business is to provide the telecommunication services and the internet services to the customer. Cybernet: Cyber net is one of the competitors of the Worldcall by providing the ISP services to many organizations. Currently they are coming up with a high speed fiber optic internet (DSL) in Lahore. They are testing the response and the quality of this service in Lahore. GSM Operators: Another large competitor of the Worldcall is the GSM services provided by the GSM or cellular companies. They have also established a wide area coverage mobile phones network in Pakistan. 4.1.3

SWOT ANALYSIS: (Opportunities & Threat Portion)

Opportunities: New Telecom policy was unveiled in July 2003 with an objective to attract investment, increase telecom density and sector development, so it is a big opportunity for the telecom industry to enter in the country and take advantage of this policy. The main opportunity available to the telecom industry is that they can install new networks, fiber cables, etc…etc. they can also take advantage of Global and domestic internet explosion and give opportunities to the intelligent people to come and develop the organization infrastructure. They also have the opportunity to create customer awareness and empowerment through IT and internet. Another big opportunity for the telecom industry is that Pakistan is relatively less develop and the

developing cost in Pakistan is very low, so they can develop new networks with low cost. Another opportunity available to the telecom industry is that they can give quality training to the people and can hire them after giving them training. Another opportunity available to the Worldcall is that it is a develop industry in Pakistan, they can through out the newly develop telecom industry and enjoy the higher profits. Another opportunity available to the company is that through effective promotion, they are able to attract more customers. Threats: The big threat to the Worldcall telecom is that there is no restriction to entry because PTA is now operating on the investment policy, so there is always a threat that any company can enter into the market and do the same business with lower cost. Another big threat to the Worldcall is that Pakistan economy is very unstable. Continued instability in the country can affect their business because they are operating on the basis of the contracts given to them; if there are no more licenses available to them they are going to be struck at this stage. High taxation to the information technology industry is one of the greatest threats to the telecom industry to extend their business. The lack of the understanding of the IT is also a threat to the company, that they are not able to hire the competent people for their job; it can also decrease their development. Newly setup companies are also the threat to the Worldcall telecom, because new companies are going to be installed on new an advanced technology, which is not available at the time of installation of the developed companies. Lack of Government support to the telecom industry or the information industry is also the threat to the company that any one can disturb their business and damage their business or try to loose their customer. 4.2

COMPANY ANALYSIS:

4.2.1

SWOT ANALYSIS: (Strengths and Weaknesses)

Strengths: The major business strength of the Worldcall is that they are the largest cable operator in the country. Their network size of the cable is 200,000 house pass scalable broadband FC network. Their network is deployed in the middle and high income residential areas. They have setup the first hybrid fiber coaxial network in Pakistan. Their network is based on the 175 km of the optic fiber cable. Another big strength of the Worldcall telecom is that they are the only multi service operator in Pakistan. They have been awarded by the license for local loop (LL/WLL) long distance and international telephony. Another big Strength is that they have 21 point of presence nationwide and they want to grow it to above 40 in a year. Another big strength of Worldcall telecom is that they have control of significant amount of traffic through existing services such as calling cards & payphone. “Worldcall’s HFC networks face competition in each of their product lines; however there is no single competitor who provides a “Bundle” of services like we do which makes us technologically superior, cost effective and user friendly.” (Chairman Salman Taseer) Weaknesses: The main weakness of the Worldcall telecom is that they are currently using E-Mail to communicate with in the organization; it is not a good way to communicate in an organization because company has its own secrets which has to remain with the company. Company new strategies may be hacked from the internet. Another main weakness of Worldcall telecom is that their system is not up to mark of the current requirements of the people. People want high speed communication network, their system has some problems that sometime their system is getting down. Sometime call is not connected to their network because their network is too busy, some

times call is being disconnected. Another weakness of the Worldcall is that they don’t emphasize on the advertisement of their company, that’s why they are loosing their customers or they are unable to attract their customers. 4.2.2

Strategic Grid Matrix: According to the strategic grid matrix, the company is currently operating in the

turnaround area. The company is currently implementing new technologies, changing the standards of their business. They also made gross roots experimentation by introducing the fiber cable of 750km. Recently they merged their four sectors of business into a single department. They are trying to improve the local performance of the business by offering low prices for the same services offered by the competitors. The ways they are not able to attract their customer because they are new in the market as compared to their competitors; their main competitor is PTCL, which is operating in Pakistan since 1947. they are trying to implement the user friendly systems for their employees in order to increase the efficiency of the business and improve the day by day performance of the business. They are trying to implement new standards of business by introducing new business. They are still lacking in some areas which are related to the customer relation management and systems they are using. They also invest more money in new ventures and especially the areas which are not being targeted by the business. 4.2.3

Value Chain Analysis: Value chain analysis is a systematic way through which company can attain competitive

advantage from their competitors. Inbound Logistics: The purchase department handles the purchasing of the goods. Here goods are being purchased according to the requirements of the company and the goods in excess are being

stored in the warehouses. Worldcall has its own warehouses and their own vehicles, and they are storing their inventory in their ware houses until it is not being used. Operations: The major purpose of the Wordcall Telecom is to provide the services to the customers. Their operations are to implement the system where it is needed. For example, if at any point there is a need of implementing new amplifiers in order to strengthen the signals, they will implement it, where the BTS should be needed in order to increase the wireless signals. Sales and Marketing: Sales managers and Marketing directors are responsible for the sale and marketing of the product. Marketing managers are required to choose the way of marketing their products or new offers of their products. Marketing department is also required to tell the potential customers and they are also required to find out the target people for their product. Sales department is required to find the authorized dealers who can sell their products, giving them licensing. The major focus of marketing department is on the promotion of services offered by Worldcall. Sales department is also focus on the promotion because their sale depends on the promotion of services offered. After Sales Services: The major success of the company depends on the after sales services provided by the company. Worldcall has its own 59000 franchises or point of sale in the country, so they are doing very well in providing after sales services. They have their separate customer relation management department whose unique function is to check where the customer is having problems and after identifying the problem they resolve the problem as quickly as possible. They also have a separate customer care department, whose function is to record the customer problem and inform the technical department to fix it.

5

STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES AND OPTIONS An advance customer information database (Oracle 9i) should be developed which

should contain all the information about the customer. Customer ID should be assigned so that company knows that which kind of facility their customer is using (wireless facility, TV cable, internet Cable). The address and other important information about the customer will be mention in the data base. They should buy a decision support system like DecisionEdge system. It will help them to divide the customers on the geographical bases. The company will know that how many connections of internet cable, TV cable and wireless telephone customer in different areas of the city. In addition to this, there would be another MIS which would also be centralized and would be attached to the customer information database. These systems would keep track of all the orders from their customer (franchises) and also consumer of their products and also keep track of the supplier. The company will able to know that in which city they have less connection of their wireless telephone. So they could emphasize on that city to increase the number of connections and to increase market share. They will able to know that which area of the cities having more connection so company should increase the capacity of the connection by having more BTS station their. Worldcall should establish an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) system with its supplier and customer (franchises). It will help to update the Database after the sale of every connection. Also it will provide flexibility of ordering only at demand. The system will automatically order supplier of the telecom sector, when demand of telephones increases (handset, Desktop) .Even they can manage the inventory of cable related items such as fiber optic, coaxial, connectors, poles etc. This would reduce the haphazard of placing orders again and again with reducing inventory stocking costs and depreciation costs. On the other hand they will able to get the

figures out the demand of their services. This will help them to fulfill the required demand and also they will able to get the data for forecasting and for future strategy. Although the Worldcall has a website but it needs a lot of modifications. Firstly all the services of Worldcall should be merged on one site. Secondly online payment option. Thirdly FAQ should be there on the site. Fourth the website should be updated on regular intervals. It should be more detailed having information about all the packages, future plans and details about the franchises and telephone numbers of CRM and other customer related departments. The addresses of the head office and also about regional offices. Online payment options could be provided by obtaining a secure SSL encryption connection. So customer can pay their bills of both the telephone and cable through net. This would facilitate customers to pay online while at home. Payment options is another area where IT/IS can be used for competitive advantage. Prepaid Bills cards should be used for the payment of the bills. An online system will be their. Customer has to put customer ID and than option for the billing means for which services they want to pay. And after paying bills they can confirm their bills payments and reaming balances in the prepaid cards.

They can use ERP in their organization. As they have three main sectors in their organization which made the Worldcall a very complex type of organization. The ERP will help them to combine their entire sectors and further more all the departments will be connected with each other. It will help to a have a true financial picture of all the sectors and also all the departments. Employee in different department c an see the information by using single software and can update it accordingly. ERP especially help Worldcall in standardize HR information. It

will help Worldcall in managing and tracking employees’ time and communicating with them about benefits and services. It will also help in managing inventory of the company. 6

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES AND OPTIONS All strategies mentioned above are best for the company; these strategies can help the

company improving the performance for the company. Comparing Option 1 and Option 2 For a company which is operating in the information technology arena need the automation system implementing for their internal work. Comparing Option 1 and Option 2 If they use an advance type of database like Oracle 9i with DecisionEdge, It will really help them to know about their weak areas, where they are loosing their share in the market and where they are doing well. But it has one flaw. How they will update their database. This can create problems for them as we mentioned above of loosing customer confidence. But if they use EDI system it will help them to update their existing. Database they can get the information about the customer orders and information about the supplier. The ordering process will be simple and convenient. Efficient quantity will be ordered online and company will also cut down it cost regarding ordering cost and also in inventory. Comparing Option 1 and Option 3 Only making a website will not work well. Although it will gave some kind of competitive advantage. But in most areas of Pakistan are with out the facility of internet, so making this type of strategy will tackle only a segment of market. Same is the case with online payment but establishing a database system and decision support system will really matter for the company.

Comparing Option 1 and Option 4 Managing an ERP system will really help the company in this global environment. ERP will combine all the department of the organization. All the departments will able to check the position of other department before processing an order. Wheatear there is any inventory for that specific item or not. But ERP has some hidden cost and also it will take a lot of time for implementation. They have to train their employees and wait for two to three years for ROI. But the first option has its own worth. ERP is a good option but it doesn’t do any thing regarding customer. But the first option will help company to enhance it share in the market and also make their operation quiet efficient with having updated information regarding customer all the time. Comparing Option 2 and Option 3 Again making a website and giving online payment option is good for competitive advantage but EDI will help a lot in managing the company database and for ordering process to the supplier. And it is always good to have a connection with your supplier.

Comparing Option 2 and Option 4 EDI will help the company to have correct information about customers and will help to have a direct connection with the supplier but ERP has its own advantage. Although it will take time for implementing but after implementation it will really work for a complex organization like Worldcall. Comparing Option 3 and Option 4 The idea of having a fully professional looking website is good. The website with complete information and also on line payment option will really facilitate the customer. More likely this website is customer oriented and it will really entertain the customer and will help to

increase satisfaction level of the customer. On the other hand ERP is an internal type of strategy; it would be more beneficial for the company. It has no concern with the customers. Comparison between current and upcoming strategies: Currently they used manual system for information about the sale of new connections and after receiving all the slips from their representatives they put this information into their system. It happens that the repetitive came with the new connections information after weeks. Updating period is long for new sales connection and customer information. This create problem for operational decision. Currently they have their database system for their customers but as mentioned above it is not updated on the daily bases. Because of that they get some problem at operational level. When a customer apply for the connection Worldcall staff check the availability of free connection and come to know that there is a free connection available in that area. After giving an OK report to customer they come to know that the connection has been already sold to a customer but it was not updated. At that time they feel embarrassment. But after the installation of EDI the records will be updated even after a single connection sale and will provide management a way to make efficient decision. Currently they don’t know about segmented information about the customers. For example they don’t know about the specific areas where the user of their internet cable is more than other areas. In which area they have most customer of cable. In which area they have more Worldcall wireless connections. Using decision support system like DecisionEdge they will able to know about the above mentioned things and will make better decisions. Now they know in which area they are lacking in internet cable and in which area they have more demand. After getting information they will increase the number of lines of internet cable in that area. And areas in which they haven’t much connection the marketing department should come to play.

7

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROL MECHANISMS (AN ACTION

PLAN) 7.1

Portfolio Management: The numbers of good strategies are available to the Worldcall. All are IT based. These

strategies will help company to brighten up its business and to get competitive advantage in the market. The implementation of ERP, EDI, a professional looking website or using the management information system (DecisionEdge) will improve the overall efficiency in its operations. Worldcall is committed that they always remain ahead in delivering quality products and services conforming to the requirements of their entire internal and external customer. So by empowering their company with IT will make their mission statement true, as they will come up with ERP or EDI etc. These IT techniques will help Worldcall to have a competitive edge over the other companies in the market. Providing facilities to the customers like online paying of their internet cable and telephones, a well positioned website which have all the answers of the customer’s questions will really bring the customer loyalty. And this is really parallel to the Worldcall mission. Gathering All the Information For having an advance type of database and Decision support system, MIS, EDI or ERP Company should contact with IBM. For developing a website with some advance options software developers like Unitech can be hired. Company should outsource these systems to reduce the cost of hiring the skilled staff and maintenance cost. The outsourcing can be given to reputed companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions (US), CSC (US), HCL Technologies (India), or EDS (US).The head of departments and the IT staff should come together to examine

critical issues in the strategies. The finance department can gave comments on the financial conditions of the company. After having all the quotations from some reputed companies the market, the Finance department can tell that which strategy is with in the range of the company. Company should provide PCs to the entire employee with processor speed more than 833 MHz. the company has an IT department but it should be upgraded having more IT professionals. Prioritize The decision about the selection of the strategies is next process it can be done using following matrix. 10

DecisionEdge and an Web Site construction and online advance database system, payment option ERP, EDI

Strategic Value

0 0 10 Operational Value Construction of website and online payment system will not really help in operation value but developing a Decision support system, ERP or EDI will really up grade the company strategic value but the operational value as well. The company has not sufficient resources to buy an Expansive system. So ERP and having EDI system which will connect 59,000 POS are more expansive to use. So best option for the company would be an advance database like Oracle 9i with Decisions support system like DecisionEdge will gave company a good chance to get competitive advantage.

Tactical Plans Tactical plans consist of development of an advance database (Oracle 9i) by some software developers like Unitech and DecisionEdge in one year time. During time company should give program training to handle the database to their employee in two to four months. This includes the three months training time period for employees. Implementation of MIS would be done in six months. In that period company should gave training programs to the management. Operational Plans Operational plans would be to get all the necessary information form the existing data base in two to three weeks. Then all the requirements that should be included in the MIS should be collected in next two to four weeks. Based on these requirement next steps would be Development of a request for proposal (RFP) to be sent to some reputed software developers. This will contain all the requirements of the company. Then company would evaluate, on status of the software house, cost and time. After that, a company will be selected and system would be developed by the external company. During the developing process the all the possible end-users from all the departments would be attached with the software developers to gave him some direction and to have touch with the upcoming system. Change management

Phased change Change would be in parts. In first part the database would be implemented in the company head offices. The end users that are already attached with the software developing company will explain in meeting the basic features of the database. All the employees would be there for questioning. Extra training programs will be arranged for the end users for efficient utilization of the database. After four to six months the decision support system should be implemented in the company, and a complete training program would be arranged to train the IT departments of the Worldcall and also the users of that MIS. An IT professional would be hired that would be specialized in decision support system for overlooking the system and to instruct the employee about the system.