Current Business Opportunities of AT&T Inc - Case Study Example

? [Business Opportunities] Executive Summary The company was earlier known as the South western Bell Corporation, it was created in 1983. It was actually a part of the breakup of the AT &T, which had resulted due to a lawsuit. In 2005 it had amassed enough fortune to buy the parent company. It retained the name of the company and only added an Inc after it. It even used the AT & T logo for trading in the stock exchange, this was a very wise decision on the part of the company as it helped retained its previous customers along with the customers of AT & T who did not have the fear that the company no longer exists. Now the AT & T Inc has retained around 45% of the sub companies that had occurred due to the lawsuit. The company is an international level telecommunication company that is head quartered in the United States of America. It is a multinational company that is currently operating in around 200 countries all over the world. It has it’s headquarter in Dallas, Texas. It is the second largest company that is providing both fixed and mobile telephony to the people of the United States of America. It’s ranking within United states of America is 7th according to the total revenue that it has and if the non oil companies are considered then it is the third largest company. They are a very well established company and have been titled by Forbes as the fourteenth largest company in the world due to the market value that it has. It has been listed as the ninth largest non oil company in the world according to the Forbes list. It is the twentieth largest company in the world of telecom companies and has in total around 100.7 million customers all over the world. It even gives broad band telecommunication television subscription service too. Its major market is in the North of America. The current Chairman of the AT & T is Randall Stephenson. Their revenue has been on an increasing trend and is currently around US$ 126.723 billion. There are around 256420 employees who are currently working for AT & T. AT&T Inc. is itself the chief trading company the shares are traded in the name of the At &T Inc. and the rest of the structure is as follows: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Arkansas, AT&T Kansas, AT&T Missouri, AT&T Oklahoma, AT&T Southwest, AT&T Texas AT&T Tele holdings Illinois Bell Telephone Company Indiana Bell Telephone Company Michigan Bell Telephone Company The Ohio Bell Telephone Company Pacific Bell Telephone Company Nevada Bell Telephone Company The Southern New England Telephone Company Wisconsin Bell, Inc. AT&T Corp. was acquired in 2005 with the name and the products. AT&T Alas com BellSouth Corporation d/b/a AT&T South was acquired by the firm in 2006 BellSouth Telecommunications, AT&T Mobility Technological Opportunities Currently there has been a serious increase in the data traffic of the network. There has been an increase in the users as well. The company is doing quite well. As they are famous for investing a lot in the Research and development side of the business they have had constant innovation at their workplace and this has helped increase a lot of traffic for them. They were one of the first companies who actually switched from telephones to the wireless service and then ever since they have been working to enhance their services and get hold of better facilities and technologies that will actually help them compete in a better way in the fast paced world of today. The main issue that people have had is in relation with the quality of the calls and the frequency of the dropped calls. There are also rumors that Apple is actually looking for other networks as the AT & T have felt that they didn’t need the LTE development. The major problems started when the Apple company came up with their I phone 4s, and the AT & T were unable to fulfill their demands. It was then that the Apple Company started looking at other options like Verizon. The telephone companies today are actually looking for carriers that offer 4g technology; it has become the preferred service (Kotler, Armstrong, 2012).  During the rush to develop the LTE program, there was much news floating around that the data of the existing customers was no longer safe and it was being shared and at some being accessed by different people this was a great lapse and the company should look into it they should encrypt their data so that it is not accessible to all. Cryptography has generally been used widely and there are some keys that are written for public and the major reason is to protect the data that is being transferred that is why it usually remains a secret or a matter of confidentiality between the receiver and the sender. It is a matter of great concern for the government and especially the law enforcing agencies when the data is encrypted as they need to be better equipped with programs and software so as to be counter the encrypted data and be able to read it. This is the sole reason that previously there was such a hue and cry with relations to the matter of privacy. It was discovered that there was no mail or communication that was hidden from them. They had super software and super computers to help them decode the algorithms and be able to decipher it. Earlier in 2009 there a series of very serious attacks on various organizations like Yahoo, Google, Morgan Stanley, Juniper Networks, Symantec, Dow Chemical and the Adobe Systems. It was an attempt to get hold and manipulate the SCM of these organizations. The SCMs were wide open for access and the organizations never thought of protecting them as they felt that it was safe. The SCMs are quite an important part of any programs as they help when the person is looking to restructure the programs or rewrite them for any changes that are required. The main reason for the attack was to modify the SCM and then re modify the programs to their own motives. This attack showed how vulnerable the SCMs were. The result of this attack was to encrypt the SCM so that even if anyone got hold of them they would not be able to modify it. The encryption codified the programming and thus it was useless until the person was an expert in the algorithms. The attack basically modified the file path and turned normal usable software into malwares. It was at first discovered by the Google blog and then as a result they put forward an ultimatum that this originated in china and if it is not taken care of Google would close its franchise in China. There were further algorithms that were released from time to time just to exploit the loopholes that existed in various very commonly used software and this was done by random programmers. Encryption helps prevent such attacks (Stallings, 2011). With the advent of technology, many things that were earlier out of reach are all today within reach. But like everything today there is negative side to it as well. With passing time as the systems are advancing, the ability of people to find loopholes in the existing systems is also increasing which is causing quite a stir in the IT sector of every small and big business. The constant development has also accelerated the level of protection to increase in the world, but even the increased protection has not reached the level that any system is safe from malicious software. Earlier the threats were in a very limited form, but as the technology evolved the harmful programs became more discreet, harmful and undetectable, which has resulted in many harmful things happening to many organizations. The harmful substances, programs or software can today creep into your systems and can have access to all your private information without even you knowing it. This sort of programs is very harmful for an individual user and they therefore are also extremely disastrous for the organizations. The need to keep some sort of information as a secret is very necessary for some organization; the data is very sensitive and therefore needs protection. Earlier this sort of information were being kept under lock and key, but as the world advances the need to revolutionize the system also came up causing the sensitive info to be stored in the digital form and this has increased the risks especially when people are demanding more safe guarding of their data. The increased globalization has also given huge opportunities to the company to hire people and work with them through Video conferencing, cloud computing. The increase of wireless technology has also increased interaction among the people and today people are less skeptical of wireless workings as the level of trust has increased. They can outsource their technological work to areas like India where the technical expertise is high and the labor is cheaper and willing to work long hours. Already many multinationals have their call centers and either technical work outsourced to such regions to save up on costs. Marketing Opportunities AT & T s currently not present in Iran and Pakistan and they are very good markets to exploit especially Pakistan. There are a growing number of people who are actually getting more interested in the use of technology and look forward to embrace newer international trends. The company might face a bit of issue if they plan to introduce their services in Iran as there are hostilities against the Americans and the American companies. It would be easier for them to operate in Pakistan since they are already operating in Afghanistan. There are a high number of US forces also present in Pakistan and this will give them a boost. Also, considering the fact that people are becoming tech savvy therefore, they will be very receptive. There is an increased understanding as to what should be done and what actually to look for in the applications that are being provided to the consumers. The extensive online marketing that they have been doing has also helped them establish their name and gain awareness among the Social users. They give out free phones and huge money rebates this helps attract customers. The company can offer the roaming services as well in these countries and the best way is to partner with the local mobile brands or the most selling international brands, this will help them build their reputation and penetrate the market and establish themselves. The policies that they had was actually according to the American culture and there was not much difference among the boss and the employees. The equal treatment that was given out helped create an easy and understanding atmosphere among the workers. The access to equal rights and all kind of news instilled in the workers a deep sense of responsibility. This also gave them confidence that they were capable enough to be trusted and thus this also helped them focus on their future and life in a better way. The work environment was quite laid back and this helped encourage a better atmosphere within the company (Kerin, Hartley, Rudelius, 2009). It is a universal method that to keep the employees engaged and dedicated the company gives its maximum efforts and provides them with benefits and perks. The changes should be made in such a way that the employees with creativity in them should feel encouraged to participate well in the organization; they should try to prevent the scenario that is happening with Apple by providing the right kind of technological help. REFERENCES Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., & Rudelius, W. (2009).Marketing. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2012). Principles of marketing. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall. Stevens, R. E., Loudon, D. L., & Warren, W. E. (1991).Marketing planning guide. New York: Haworth Press. Read More