Love - How Information Technology can enhance a business - Essay Example

How information technology can enhance a business Modern information technology and communication systems have enabled businesses to cut their operating costs, increase the market share and manage customer relationships. The information technology has occasioned online marketing and e-commerce which has improved the competitive edge of many businesses. Information technology has enabled businesses to attract and retain customers as well as overcome the location barriers in their operations. Putt-putt family fun centre can implement technologies which will reduce the operating costs and increase the market share.

Digital score keeper will improve the service delivery by reducing the time wasted in manual score tallying as well as reducing score disputes between putt-putt groups. Online advertisements like use of social media and websites will enable the company to market its new services and improve the customer care services. Huge screens for indoor games will add variety to the services offered while digital boards on golf course holes will advertise other available services.How information technology can enhance a businessIntroduction The use of information technology and modern communication systems will enhance the operations and competitiveness of the business (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012).

Modern information technology developments have been used in production, provision of services and communication with customers and suppliers (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012). Information technology offers numerous efficient, cheap and faster channels of communication like the e-mails, instant messages, and short messaging system servers. Information technologies like business software systems have been used by the management in decision making since they have the capacity to capture, store, process and retrieve information as per the requirements of the user (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012).

Information technologies like electronic commerce have enabled businesses to trade in the global markets without having physical presence in those markets. E-commerce offers 24 hours business trading activity hence customers can shop from any location of the world and at their convenience (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012). Information technology has enabled businesses to attract and retain customers. Through the use of websites, social applications sites and messaging systems, many businesses have overcome the location barrier in their marketing efforts hence increasing the market size.

Information technology has enabled businesses to conduct market intelligence on the changing customer needs. Information technology facilities the communication between the business and customers hence the business can quickly respond to the customer complains and queries. Businesses can monitor the changes in the market competition by easily analyzing their sales performance by modern business software (Armstrong & Kotler, 2007).Information technology has been used by many businesses in the production department in new product development and product design.

Information technology enables the product development team to see a three-dimensional view of the product model hence they can design products which meet the customer expectations. Putt-putt family fun centre will implement modern information technologies in their operations in order to achieve competitive edge in the market. For instance, the family centre should display digital boards in all the golf course holes which contain advertisements messages about the centre and information tips on how the player can improve their putt-putt score.

This information strategy is effective since the message will able to capture the attention of the players which is mainly concentrated in the putt-putt holes. The players will be able to know of any other services which the centre offers and which they may not have used before (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012). Another area which putt-putt family fun centre can implement information technology is on the score keeping. A digital score keeper will facilitate score making each putt-putt group will be able to receive the scores in real time.

Digital score keeper will reduce the chances of scores dispute within the groups. Digital score keeper will reduce the time wasted in score tallying hence the centre will be able to serve more groups and increase their sales revenue. Digital score keeper will reduce the costs of personnel required to monitor the scores (Armstrong, G & Kotler, 2007).Another part which putt-putt family fun centre can implement information technology is provision of huge screens for playing Nintendo Wii as well as Xbox Kinect.

Since some customers are interested in indoor games, the centre will be able to serve the unique needs of those customers by provision of these added games which can be easily played in huge screens. In time of unfavorable weather like rain days, the customers can opt to playing these games in huge screens hence sustaining the sales revenue of the business and improving the profitability. The putt-putt family center will also implement technology in advertisements by establishing presence on twitter and facebook social Medias.

The centre will also develop a business website. Online advertisement will enable the family centre to market its services beyond Columbus. The social media and the website will be effective avenues for information on any new services which the family centre may launch as well as understanding the customer needs. The website can display pictures of the facilities present in the centre and enable customers to book their services online. More than half of the customers could be using the social networking sites hence the business should advertise its services on such social media sites (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012).

The putt-putt family fun centre will also develop an interactive Smartphone application which will allow customers to win free rounds of putt-putt as well as sending digital coupons through the application. The Smartphone loyalty application will increase the sales levels by retaining the customers since they have the chance of winning free rounds of putt-putt. The application will enable online selling which reduces the service delivery time and the operational costs associated with selling. Online delivery of the coupons enhances access and convenience on part of the customer (Allen, Semenik & O’Guinn, 2012).

ConclusionPutt-putt family fun centre can achieve competitive edge through differentiating their services through the use of information technology. The centre can use technology to provide additional services like indoor games such as Xbox Kinect. The centre can use information technology to advertise their services to the global market and manage the customer relationships. The centre can use information is selling the services hence reducing the overall operating costs.References:Allen, C., Semenik, R & O’Guinn, T. (2012). Advertising and integrated brand promotion. Mason. South-Western Cengage Learning.

Armstrong, G & Kotler, P. (2007). Marketing: an introduction. New Jersey. Prentice-Hall.