Hardware Replacement Project
Jeremy Nieves
IT205
March 9, 2014
Dave Collie
Hardware Replacement Project
A hardware replacement project is a serious undertaking for a business to implement. It is essential that the project have proper management in order for the project to be a success. According to Laudon and Laudon (2013), “Project management refers to the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to achieve specific targets within specified budget and time constraints” (p. 389). This can be achieved if the five major variables of project management are followed; these five variables are, scope, time, cost, quality, and risk. If the business project managers closely follow the variables by utilizing knowledge and
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A project is supposed to be for the better, but if not planned right, it can hurt a company’s bottom line. One consideration that needs to be taken to in account is the cost of the new CRM software and hardware, versus the long-term benefits they are anticipating. A business can determine this by looking at some common benefits. Tangible benefits can benefits that help the company make more profits, while intangible benefits are the improvement of customer service and more accurate decision making (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). While the former will see the benefits fairly quickly, the latter benefits might take some time before they are noticed and yield better results. Taking these considerations and making sure the business is choosing the best possible solution to its problem is vital to the projects overall success.
Some factors that influence project risk are the size of the project, the projects actual plan, and the team that is undertaking the project (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). Anytime a business takes on a new project, the risk will always be there, especially for larger projects, such as replacing the hardware for a company. This is no small task, and risks are going to be prevalent just by the nature of the job. Another risk is the learning of the new hardware by the IT team, all they way down to the customer service representatives. Having the
The paper is divided into three sections, the first of which will establish a timeline of events. This project background will serve as a case study for the analysis in the following section that will be structured such that each of the previously mentioned facets will be independently analyzed and contrasted with project management principles. Finally the paper will conclude with a summary of the analysis and recommendations based on
From an organizational and profitability standpoint, an efficient, easy to use, and unified CRM system, captures all key and critical data from sales and marketing to commercial operations, all the while focusing on sales process, sales efficiencies, and increasing sales, all contributing to the bottom-line profitability of the organization. Data has proven that CRM platforms increase the productivity and profitability of individual departments and subsidiaries, these same platforms and characteristics will have the same ramifications on a larger scale organization, especially an organization that spans the global footprint, such as
This may help users accept the changes in processes, which help to reduce the resistance of process change among users. Seamless integration tools combat the major pitfall often associated with process of CRM. Therefore, good processes are key for functionality. Process in business defines how things are done and what rules must be followed in the business. Many implementation strategies of CRM often suffer because of technical issues, poor business process designs, and customization challenges. Business must ensure existing processes such as apps are compatible with updated CRM solutions. Therefore, it is important for businesses to clearly and accurately define their business process. Utilizing mapping may identify trouble areas within existing business processes. Strategy may affect CRM solutions through weak deployment practices. Business must ensue deployment options are functional. Also, examining and understanding the overall organization resources is necessary for successful implementation and monitoring of strategies. Businesses must have adequate staffing. Businesses must calculate the cost associated with implementations. Good management of budgets and expenses make for successful implementations. Businesses must also manage and consider
There are five major variables to consider when starting a major IT projects and there are scope, time, cost, quality, and risk. Most major IT projects will require a project manager to handle to overseeing of the project. The project management refers to the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to achieve specific targets within specified budget and time constraints. Project managers activities will include the planning of the work, assessing the risk, estimating the costs required to complete the project, and several other important duties. As in other areas of business, Project management for
With the exceptional growth in technology, the present day projects are often large and complex involving a significant risk. So, a Project Management Methodology enables the delivery organization to handle these projects comprehensively, systematically and in an integrated manner, which results in strategic, tactical and operational benefits.
It impacts the timeline, milestones, and schedule of the project. That in turn will also impacts the budget of the project.
Project Management Institute. (2000). _A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th ed.)._
Considerations that must be applied when selecting projects that deliver the best business value are benefits and costs. In the long or possibly short are the benefits that can regain costs and possibly or will increase financial gains for the business. The company needs to realize the CRM application; if it will indeed benefit from this application and that the application covers all aspects of what the required objectives. Obviously if the company purchases the CRM application and doesn’t meet the requirements then the project will not reap the benefits or costs. Other considerations are training and maintenance of the hardware, software and application. Without training of the application how would one know how to use it to its full potential? Training is planned and designed for the various users and departments. With the CRM application each department will have their specific requirements as to what they will use it for and what they can and cannot access. The IT group will be trained on how to support the application and how to maintain and upgrade when needed. This leads into maintenance which is never cost effective but normally mandatory for reasons of fixing application bugs or hardware upgrades and even operating system updates.
* The CRM systems helped the company in differentiating its service as well as optimizing some of the activities which lead to the reduction in operational costs. For eg. OnQ Reservation used data from the CRM, allows the agent to access callers’ personal dossier and update their preferences. This helped in reducing the call time as well as promoted the cross selling. Another example is having information prior to
In this paper, the author will introduce a failure case of K-Mart 's IT modernization system project. In 2001, K-mart took $1.4 billion dollars into this project with the purpose of competing with its rival Walmart. The dream is beautiful, but the real work is cruel. After 18 months, the project was failed because of lacking of cash. What happened in the detailed for this project? $1.4 billion dollar is huge numbers, why it was still not enough to pay and distribute for this project? How did its project manager do in this project? What are the project problems? How can we learn from the failure of this case? The paper includes the case background introduction, the project development process, the problems in the project, analysis and
First, they need to build out their IT team. Currently, they only have one employee focusing on data analysis. If the historical data they have isn't accurate then the CRM software is useless. So they first need to get through the two years worth or data they have and verify its accuracy. They also need to make sure that the data they collect in the future is reliable accurate information. In the past there were not any checks and balances on data accuracy. They need to have a system that can gather the information automatically so that the risk of human error is eliminated or at least reduced.
You are worried about your employees not using the CRM once you sign up with us? The advantages of signing up the NetSuite is that we will train your employees how to use the CRM to their advantage so that it will increase their sales and in turn make them more money. The training we offer will help your employees see the value of a CRM. Does that lift some of the worry off of your shoulders?
Replacing hardware at any organization, regardless of the size of said organization, can be an overwhelming task if one goes into it unprepared. When replacing the hardware, one must have a complete and thorough understanding of the issue. The issue may need to be fully investigated so more members of the organization have a better understanding of the problem. Coming up with and evaluating alternatives then possibly selecting the best option would come next. The final stage of implementing a hardware replacement would involve replacing a system, testing it, introducing the new system to the organization, and refining the overall process over time. One also needs to look at the five major variables of project management - scope, time,
There are a few disadvantages as well as benefits as to having CRM Software. A common one is that the software is often too complex and difficult to understand, which may end up having some of its functions unutilized. If this happens the customer may become uncomfortable with not having the ability to understand the software. Another big disadvantage is that a system that has good usability tends to have poor security and vice versa. Due to this occurrence, if confidentiality is endangered it can be very hard to gain back customers trust (Kikoy).
But, some of the disadvantages of customer relationship management system appeared at the same time. Company which using CRM is put too much focus on sales department and not integrate with accounting and marketing information, the customer relationships spread the whole life cycle but the company representative was forgetting and not connect with the service departments. In addition, the ability in performance will go down if the process of CRM dehumanized. It is because the system need people create the needed information and the human thought is needed to input information. The inputting data