Researching Software Solutions
Overview of BPMN
The BPMI has been developed a standard business process modeling notation. The BPMN 1.0 specifications have been introduced in the public in May, 2004. This specification should require more than 2 years of effort by the BPMI Notation Working group. The main aim of the BPMN effort is the creation is to provide annotation which should be readily understood by all the business users from the business analysts which has created the initial documents of the processes for the technical developers and after that to the business people which should be managing and monitoring the business process (Langley et al. 2013). The BPMN model should also be supported with the development of the internal model which will enable the development of the actual processes by which the operations should be maintained in a proper manner.
According to the case scenario, the Chris and Clive in the past have the focus on playing bands and they are session musicians who were remained busy at times. After that they have now the focus on developing Northern soul band to have touring around the Northern West of England. Chris and Clive has always the operational activities of running a band earlier which was their existing business of having studio work, playing at events, parties, TV and arranging radio programmes. The existing process they have is that they were publishing and making the marketing of their band through website development. So the existing process needs to be developing a business process model by which they can be able to promote the band so that they can now have their focus much on the networking and the promotions of their new band type they want to accelerate and implement in the future. According to the current market scenario, the clients will get the attractions by the development of the website which will provide them the opportunities to look and get aware of the activities they would perform when signed with CC music. So the BPMN model for their existing business should be explained with the help of the BPD diagram and it has been given below
From the above BPMN diagram it is illustrated that there is the development of the website for the promotion of their band they want to introduce and for the promotion of the services they should be providing it to the clients across the world took place. It is seen that the process starts with the aim of developing an official website. After that there should be the dealing with the clients to be taking place for the booking of the arrangements for the musical concerts to be developed. The booking arrangements should be done in a proper way. After that there is the status check that whether the client requirements fulfill the booking arrangements arranged by Chris and Clive. After that if the booking arrangements do not fulfill the requirements of the clients then it again goes to the booking arrangements web page. If the booking arrangements were fulfilled then it proceeds with the receiving of contracts options which the client need to check now. After that there is the need of identification of the payment method to be done by the client in the website. After that payment method options comes in front of the client who want to pay for the booking done. After that there are two options comes which involves the cash or check payment and the credit card payment. After that again status check took place which indicates that whether the end user will be able to proceed with check or cash or credit card. At this time the end user get both the options available. After that the payment is done and the package for the client gets fixed. After that the event ends.
Recommendations for Successful Strategy Implementation
In this current scenario, Chris and Clive want to have professional approach in their business and want to redevelop their strategies. At this time they think of starting their own music agency and they have fund that ERP and CRM are the two most important technological tools which they have to adopt it for starting their agency and run the operations in a proper way. So the BPMN process for the social media marketing to be done for the starting of their agency has been indicated and illustrated below
The strategic analysis for CC Music is defined with the help of the strategic management tool known as SWOT. The SWOT analysis is used for the internal analysis of the company (Baltzan 2012). The SWOT Analysis is illustrated in the form of table which is given below
Strengths Chris and Clive are very good in managing the events fully and they have taken the responsibility of doing the transformations alone. Publicize the band through website Focus on innovation Have a team of band members working with them. Good promotional and networking activities developed. |
Weakness They do not have proper business analyst with them to analyze their new business. They do not have great technical information advisor with them. They do not have proper knowledge on ERP and CRM software. The investment of funds for ERP and CRM software was not there with them. |
Opportunities Developing brand image. Wide range of services to the clients. Proper accounting of records. Sustainability of the business in future |
Threats Lack of knowledge on ERP and CRM software could make them less competitive in business. Loss of market share. High Competition. |
In this section there should be the comparison of the type of software they were trying to implement it so that they should be getting the best possible solution for the business. The ERP, CRM and the open source software should be compared by the consultant for CC Music. So the comparison chart has been given below in the form of table
Set characteristics |
ERP |
CRM |
Open Source |
Design |
The ERP software contains or shares a common database where all the information is stored in sequence (Baltzan 2012). The data or the information which has been stored once could be retrieved as and when required. |
CRM also has the database in built inside the software where the information is stored and retrieved as and when required. It has various layers through the information gets passed. |
In this type of software the designing is done by the creation of an user interface. The user interface communicates with the designers and the developers for the development of open source software. |
Flexibility |
ERP system should be providing high flexibility to be able to respond to the user needs as the system have open system architecture. |
CRM software is much more flexible and responds far better than the ERP software. |
The open source software is much more flexible than the ERP and CRM as the control is on the hands of the user for the development and functioning of the software in a comprehensive manner. In this open source software anyone can be able to change the codes and makes it flexible for the user. So it has the highest flexibility as compared with ERP and CRM software. |
Quality Assurance |
ERP systems produces high quality assurance as the data which is to be stored and retrieved should be of very high quality. |
The quality assurance in CRM software is not so good as compared with the ERP software. |
There is the need of the license for using the open source software and it is provided by Apache, Eclipse. It provides high quality assurance with the help of peer reviews and through user testing methods. |
Pricing |
Price is moderate and not high. It is suitable for small business. |
The pricing for CRM software is very low which $70 per month as compared with ERP is around. |
The price for open source software is only $4800 per month which is the lowest as compared with the ERP and CRM software. |
Usage |
The ERP software is used for managing the business processes which involves the tracking of sales, accounting, customer support and inventory management as well. |
The applications of CRM software is for managing and automating sales of any company, accounting, access of business information as and when required |
The applications for the open source software could be web applications, development of OS and handling of huge volumes of data. |
Examples |
ERPNext, Dollibar, Odoo etc. |
Zoho, Sugar etc. |
Apache, Firefox, Android etc. |
Introduction
This section would provide an overview of the current situation for CC Music with the road map of outlining how the proposed changes to the business could be achieved. It should also ensure that how the proposed changes to be done on the business ensure benefit for the business. The study will also have a comprehensive overview of recommending the best possible software for the expansion of the business and for extending the benefits the CC Music must leverage for enhancing high sustainable performance within the music industry as well. The study should also provide recommendations so that the strategy to be developed should be effectively implemented. It should also be evaluating the challenges in the future CC Music should be experiencing.
The current situation of CC Music is at the growing phase. Chris and Clive have started their music career as session musicians. After that they have started a website which should be publicizing their band. They have six members with them who simply turn up and play the music. The band has played at least 12 gigs per year. So they want that they need to enhance their business and the approach by which they are doing the business now should be improved and redeveloped if they want to be successful in the future as well (Galliers and Leidner 2014). It is seen that they have committed much more time on the promotions and developing networking. So for the development of healthy networks and gaining interest of the promotions for the business, they have to redevelop the strategy by approaching it professionally (Galliers and Leidner 2014). They would like to start their own agency and for starting it they should be having an innovative approach to deal with it. They would love to have digital marketing to be done as they thought that technology is a tool which should be playing an important role for providing sustainability to their business. They would be having social media marketing for their services they offer to the client across the world. They should be keeping the business accounts, updated calendar of events and keeping track of the communications between the members and the clients who would love to book bands and the bands who have signed to CC Music (Crowston et al. 2012).
Comparison of ERP, CRM, and Open-Source Software
CC Music would love to investigate that what type of IT support they really need it to develop into a small and medium size business. They require the professional business IT technology advisor who would be providing effective decisions on recommending the best possible IT software required for turning up into a small business (Kapferer 2012). Chris and Clive have their relatives who would love to manage and run the business in the future. They have actually agreed to run the business in a democratic manner where the members involved in the business could be able to have equal vote for any business decisions made by them.
According to the current situation of CC Music they actually want the business to be expanded and making it much more innovative and technically sound. They would like to convert their business into a small business where the professional approach is required. They have focused much more on the promotions through social media marketing. They would like to invest funds in the implementation of any IT software to be implemented in business (Hotz and Xiao 2013). They are also keen to develop healthy networks with the clients so that they can run and manage the business in the future. The business has changed much more on the technical aspect by having the focus to be made on the digital marketing and the involvement of business software to be implemented in the business for CC Music (Kapferer 2012).
The benefits which have been achieved through the proposed changes could be the ease of the business processes. It will help in improving the communication between the clients and the members of the CC Music (Chang 2016). The business should become much more streamlined and flexible with the development and implementation of It software into the business. The company should be getting added competitive advantage by gaining high reputation in the market. They have also been able to meet the needs and demands of the clients easily with quick access and strong exchange of information to be taken place is an added benefit for the business (Eden and Ackermann 2013). The implementation of the software helps in managing and running the core business processes easily.
The challenges in future for CC Music should be the handing of the processes as the process would become much more streamlined and functionalities could become much more innovative creating problem for the members of CC Music (Chang 2016). The changes in the requirements for the clients across the world could be a challenge for the organization. The next challenge could be the feasibility of the idea which has been involved for CC Music of changing the business to a different level (Abdul-Muhmin 2012). The challenge of investing huge funds for this strategic move to be implemented might poses high risks if the strategy fails. The changes in the working culture of the members inside the organization pose great challenge in implementing the operations successfully for CC Music.
SWOT Analysis
Conclusion
From the study it is evident that the company needs to be adopting the digital marketing as the technique for the promotions of the business in future. It concludes that CC Music should be adopting the open source software as the best possible business software due to its very low cost of implementing it with greater benefits and high efficiency for them. It is evident that CC Music is trying to develop a small business in the future so that it should become sustainable as well.
It is strongly recommended that the open source software implementation is important for them as they would not like to invest so much of funds for the other software. It is recommended that they should hire technically skilled expertise by which the open source software must be applied for managing and running the business operations of CC Music Successfully. It is recommended that they should be trying to develop social media marketing as the tool for the promotion of their services in the future as well.
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