This document provides a business analysis for a proposed sprinkler system product. It includes a vision statement aiming to provide effective sprinklers with customer service as the top priority. An analysis of the horticulture irrigation industry finds it has high buyer power, competition and potential for new entrants. The target customers are farmers needing to reduce costs and workload. The sprinkler system would automate watering, fertilizing and pesticide application. Key business processes and systems are described to support customer service and product improvement based on feedback.
This document provides a business analysis for a proposed sprinkler system product. It includes a vision statement aiming to provide effective sprinklers with customer service as the top priority. An analysis of the horticulture irrigation industry finds it has high buyer power, competition and potential for new entrants. The target customers are farmers needing to reduce costs and workload. The sprinkler system would automate watering, fertilizing and pesticide application. Key business processes and systems are described to support customer service and product improvement based on feedback.
This document provides a business analysis for a proposed sprinkler system product. It includes a vision statement aiming to provide effective sprinklers with customer service as the top priority. An analysis of the horticulture irrigation industry finds it has high buyer power, competition and potential for new entrants. The target customers are farmers needing to reduce costs and workload. The sprinkler system would automate watering, fertilizing and pesticide application. Key business processes and systems are described to support customer service and product improvement based on feedback.
Name Jingyi Liu NetID jliu238 Group Number: 410 Website Link: http://infosys1102014fcgroup410.blogspot.co.nz/ Tutorial Details Tutor: Day: Time: Nicholl Friday 11am Time Spent on Assignment: 32 Hours Word Count: 1616
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2 BUSINESS ANALYSIS FOR SPRINKLER SYSTEM INTRODUCTION Farmers in the agricultural sector are using more and more pesticide, water and fertiliser to increase crop yield, this has a negative impact on the environment as the fertiliser and pesticide would contaminate waterways. (United States Environmental protection agency, 2010) If the excessive uses of chemicals were left unsolved, the ecosystem in lakes, rivers and ponds near the farmland would be damaged, threatening fishes and biodiversity. The solution to control the usages of fertiliser, water and pesticide is a sprinkler system that controls and automates the amount of water, concentration and dosage of pesticide and fertiliser for each area of field. This system would provide the exact amount of water, fertiliser and pesticide needed resulting in a win-win situation, saving the environment and saving the farmer money (Matson and Vitousek, 2006). 3. BUSINESS SECTION 3.1 Vision To provide the most effective sprinkler system with customer service as the first priority and to improve the environment by reducing harmful chemical use. 3.2 Industry Analysis: Horticulture irrigation industry Industry: Horticulture irrigation industry. This industry includes all businesses that mainly produce products whose purpose is irrigation. Force: High/Low: Justification: Buyer power: High There are many ways to irrigate horticultures such us basin irrigation, furrow irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation. (Brouwer, C, 2001) There are already products, designed and
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3 implemented for each method of irrigation. Supplier power: Low There is an abundance of suppliers that supply raw materials such as water pipe in the industry. So buyer can just easily switch to another supplier if they were unsatisfied, therefore supplier does not have much power on us. Threat of new entrants: High It is easy for a new entrant to enter the horticulture irrigation industry due to low entry barriers. Basic irrigation does not require a huge investment of time, fiscal and technology. Threat of substitutes: Low Irrigation is essential for plant growth and rainfall is unreliable depending on the season. The substitute for this industry is very low. Rivalry among existing competitors: High Competition inside the industry is fierce due to many competitors. Different method of irrigation has different product to support. Low barriers could allow new entrants easily enter the market and therefore increase competition. Overall attractiveness of the industry: Horticulture irrigation industry is not the most attractive industry as buyer power, competition inside industry and also threat of new entrants are high. However, the industry does not have any substitute because irrigation is essential in horticulture growth, therefore this is an important industry. Furthermore, the supplier power is low means firms in this industry will have the opportunity to find a cheaper supplier and therefore increase profit. I personally believe this is still an attractive industry.
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4 3.3 Customers and Thei r Needs The target markets are mainly farmers in the agricultural sectors. Farmers want to reduce operation cost and time spent in growing plants, (Ron,S, February 2007) this is the reason why they are just easily using more than enough pesticide and fertilizer. Furthermore, Farmers are lack the knowledge and time to properly take care of their crops (R.B. Howarth, 2001) 3.4 The Product and Service The product has a main system that can control and automate the amount of water, concentration and dosage of pesticide and fertilizer for each area of field. This allows farmers to concentrate on other tasks rather than having to concentrate on automatable tasks, and hence increasing productivity. The sprinkler system has sensors to measure the soil moisture level, PH level, and the amount of nutrients in the soil. It also has water pipe underground across the field to delivery water, fertilizer and diluted pesticide from main system. In the long run, the product decreases the operation cost as less water, fertilizer and pesticide are used. 3.5 Suppliers and Partners The companys potential suppliers would be companies that produce water pipe and companies that produce sprinkler. As our companys competitive advantages are the unique technologies, which are installed with the main systems, water pipes, sensors and sprinklers. It is more convenient to outsource manufacturing water pipes and sprinklers to companies such as AcwaPipe and Reliable Sprinkler. The companys partners would be companies that produce pesticide such as Aimco Pesticides Limited and companies that produce fertilizer such as Koch Fertilizer, LLC. Our company is providing a product that makes it more convenient for users such as farmers to use pesticide and fertilizer. Aimoco and Koch as our partners are not supplying products for our company; however, our customers can buy products off them, which will compliment our sprinkler system.
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5 3.6 Strategy: Focused High Cost I believe the competitive scope for this company is narrow market as the company is only targeting farmers in agriculture sector rather than other markets such as domestic households. The cost strategy would be high, as there are very high costs involved in researching and developing the system. Furthermore, there are many cheaper way to irrigate and spray pesticide such as manual labour. The overall strategy is therefore Focused high cost. 3.7 Value Chain Activity: Service after the sal e As the companys strategy is focused high cost, we are targeting a narrow market with high cost and therefore customers satisfaction is most important for the company. As the nature of the product relies heavily on maintenance of the product after the sale, a high standard of customer service would add value to the company by building a good relationship with customers and satisfying their needs even after the sale, which in turn will improve the business reputation and conceivably more sales. As part of the vision of the company is to put customer service as the first priority, the most important value chain activity would therefore be service after sale. 3.8 Business Processes 3.8.1. AFTER-SALES MAINTENANCE PROCESS Sprinkler system is a long-term used product unlike those traditional one-off traded product. Our product needs regular maintenance and inspection. Once customer determines their needs, our employee will deliver and install the system. Once installation has completed, initial inspection will ensure that the system runs successfully. Regular routine inspection could be set up depending on customer needs.
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Figure 1: AFTER- SALES MAI NTENANCE PROCESS
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7 3.8.2. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND IMPROVEMENT PROCESS The process starts by asking customers their feedback when sales are complete. Based on customer feedback, changes will be made so that company can keep improving the product to better cater for the needs of their customers.
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Figure 2: CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND I MPROVEMENT PROCESS
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9 3.9 Functionalities 3.9.1. AFTER-SALES MAINTENANCE PROCESS Improve customer satisfaction by providing high quality after-sale maintenance. Ensure that the product is fault free and always user-friendly to customers. 3.9.2. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND IMPROVEMENT PROCESS Build a good relationship by getting feedback on how customer feels after the sale. Improve business reputation by improving the product based on customer feedback. 3.10 Systems
3.10. 1. FAULT LOGGING SYSTEM - This system records all the faults that occurs during initial and routine inspection, it can help engineering team to improve product development and even check the quality of raw materials such as water pipe and sprinkler. This keeps all the information regarding faults synchronised between all teams in the company, from customer service teams to engineering teams. By reducing these errors, it would provide a better experience for the customers. 3.10. 2. CUSTOMER SERVI CE TRACKING SYSTEM This system logs the date and details of each customer. The system automatically reminds the customer service them when the next inspection is. So that when customer service team does the routine inspection, they can refer to the profile in this tracking system. So that the employees will be well informed and the customers will receive a better experience which meets the vision of putting the customer as first priority. 3.10. 3. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK CAPTURING SYSTEM This is a system where customers can place feedback about the product or business. The customer services team can record the customers feedback into the system at any time and any place. All the information in the system are protected by the department against the public, yet they can access the information for product improvement or further analysis, to eventually provide the most
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10 effective sprinkler system for the customers. This is also a fundamental system that supports the business vision: put customers in first priority .
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11 3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems
Value Chain Activity Processes Functionalities Specific Information System(s) Broad Information System(s)
Service after the sale 1. After-sales maintenance process 1. Improve customers satisfaction by providing comprehensive after-sale maintenance. 2. Check the product is fault free and always used well by customers. Fault logging system
Customer service tracking system Decision Support System
Customer Relationship Management System 2. Customer feedback and improvement process 1. Check the product is fault free and always used well by customers. 2. Improve business reputation by keep implement customers feedback.
Customer feedback capturing system
Customer Relationship Management System
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12 CONCLUSION The idea of the sprinkler system would be successful as it has unique technologies supported by a high standard of customer service. The business has a clear vision, which is to provide the most effective sprinkler system with customer as first priority as well as to improve the environment. However, the information system acts as an extremely important role in the business. Without the information systems, the business could not efficiently analyse the customer feedback so more likely to fail in build a good relationship with the customers. The information systems add value to the business by synchronizing the workflow and resources around the business, which conforms to the vision statement of th business. REFERENCES
Brouwer, C. (2001). Irrigation Water Management: Irrigation Methods. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.fao.org/agl/aglw/fwm/Manual5.pdf
PAMELA A. MATSON AND PETER M. VITOUSEK. (2006). Agricultural Intensification: Will Land Spared from Farming be Land Spared for Nature? Conservation Biology. 20(3). Retrieved from https://www.humboldt.edu/wildlife/faculty/johnson/431/readings/matson_vitousek_2006.pdf
R.B. Howarth. (2001). Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs. Ecological Economics. 39(3), 449462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00238-5
Ron, S. (February 2007). Southwest Farm Press. Lower seeding rates reduce costs, increase rice yield for Ark. farmer, 34(6), 9-9. Retrieved from Business Source Premier.
United States Environmental protection agency. (2010). Source Water Protection Practices Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sourcewater/pubs/fs_swpp_fertilizer.pdf
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