Information Communication Technology
Contents
Task A 2
SWOT Analysis 2
Task B 7
Abstract 7
Topic- The Role of Social Media in Business 8
Introduction 8
Social Media in Business 8
Conclusion 13
References 14
Task A
SWOT Analysis
SWOT Template
Organisation: RealEstate.com Date: 27/09/2017
Description of current/new ICT service:
The current new Information Communication Technology service introduce by the company is the mobile application launched by the company. The application is developed with the purpose of targeting the new age customers who are using their smart phone for their day to day tasks. The application will have all the information and facilities as provided on the website and it will be notifying the customers on regular basis whenever a property as per the customer’s choice will be added and identified by the application software.
STRENGTHS
The high penetration of the mobile technology in the developed users market.
The reach of the application software will be for more than 8 billion smartphone users of Australia
The multicultural nature of the application is one of the main strength.
The affordability and easy availability
The information available on the application regarding general awareness of the property rights and laws for increased public awareness
WEAKNESSESS
There are many such applications available for the customers which does not provide any competitive advantage to the company.
The authenticity of the property shown on the application is always questionable which makes it difficult to gain the customer’s attention.
Uncertain revenue generation strategy. Such applications can be easily deleted from the smartphones
OPPORTUNITIES
Improving the user experience with the help of integrating a new web-based platform
Have ample prospects of development with the input of cloud computing, internet of things, etc.
Empowerment of the user’s information security and identity control
Plays the platform of creating open-ecosystem for data portability between the customers and sellers.
THREATS
Technology updates regularly and any delay in enabling it on the application will affect the functioning
Highly competitive market
Privacy and data theft issues may arise
Summary and Recommendations:
After conducting the SWOT Analysis of the new mobile application launched by Realestate.com.au it is clear that it is going increase the awareness about the company and its products and services in the global level market. The large number of smart phone user allows the increased number of potential customer that are informed and want to experience the hi-tech user experience provided by the application. The mobile application can be used with the help of internet services available at very nominal rates which makes it affordable and convenient to use. The multi-cultural nature will attract the customers coming from other countries to stay in Australia and in need of accommodation. The unique point of the mobile application is the information about property rights and law that makes it a more useful application against its competitors.
The weak point of the application is that it is an uncertain revenue generation strategy used by the company. Also, the credibility of the properties shown on related applications is very less and same thought process can affect the credibility of this mobile application.
Though, there are many opportunities associated with the mobile application like the improved user-experience will gain the confidence of the user and will increase the credibility of the application. The updated technology adaptation will bring more customers for the company, and act as a viable platform between the seller and the purchaser.
The threats associated with the mobile application is the highly competitive market and presence of many such applications for the users. Data theft on a public platform is an issue also, any technology updates in the related software will demand the update in the application. If not done then can affect the functioning of the application.
There are many opportunities for the company that its can turn into strength of the company and increase the revenue generation of the company. This is true that here are a lot of threats associated with the usage of the mobile application but the improved technology usage will overcome these threats into the opportunities for the company that will help in achieving the organizational goals and objectives.
Short Term (Now)
There is a need of taking a competitor’s analysis as this will help in identifying the strengths of the competitors. After identifying the strengths of the competitors, the ICT service of the company can be improved with the use of better and updated technology. Also, the actions need to be taken to reduce the threats to the minimum which will help in improving the market of the company’s services and products much better.
Mid Term (next 12 months)
The application developed s consumer based application. It aims to provide high-quality services to the customers and generate revenue from it. With the increasing users of the smartphones the company can increase the business by introducing the sellers also in the application. The company is presently taking information from the sellers and adding to the application but now it could involve the sellers directly. This will increase the business by adding all levels of sellers and customers and also the authenticity of the product and services will also increase as the image of the seller will be directly at stake.
Another, thing that can be added is the review section for the customer experience that will add pressure on the sellers to provide quality services to customers.
Long Term (next 3 to 5 years)
In the long-term action plan the company can add the feature of the video conferencing feature in the application that will allow the customer sitting at home to contact the seller and view the property directly.
Online all the paperwork can be done and digital signature and scanned identity can be used to seal the deals quickly and efficiently.
Better security services need to be added in the application to avoid any data theft or illegal procedure taking place with the use of the mobile application.
A service of a property lawyer could also be added that can answer the questions of the users regarding specific property and related laws of the area it is situated in.
Task B
Abstract
The paper presented here discusses the topic ‘The Role of Social Media in Business,’ The aim of the paper is to define the role that social media is playing currently in the businesses. This is done by defining the communication media ‘social media’ and how it is being utilized by various organization to promote their products and services in the global market. The positive factors associated with the use of social media are discussed along with the negative factors of associating the business with social media. Some recommendation to effectively use the social media in business without getting affected by the negatives of social media is added. In the end, a conclusion summarizes the whole findings of the paper.
Topic- The Role of Social Media in Business
Introduction
The mobile and web-based technology that is used to make the communication turn into mutual conversation is known as social media. This mutual conversation can take place between individuals, communities, and organizations with the aim to have a mutual conversation regarding a purpose. The use of internet allows millions of users to connect with one another and business owners use it to promote their products and services globally by taking the help of web-based application. With the recent change in the nature of business and its conduction, social media has made an integral position for itself in people’s day to day to life. That makes the traditional advertising strategies insufficient, as the social media’s reach is tremendous and its networking allows the business to use for various benefits (Wu, 2014). Where some communities and societies are promoting the use of social media for the purpose of developing business, on the other hand some expresses great negativity regarding its usage. It is important to identify the positive and negative factors associated with the use of social media to decide the adaptability of its usage in any business. Though there are many measures available that can keep the negative factors of the social media in control. This paper will analyses the role of social media in business by analyzing its negative and positives and also suggest some measures to keep one-self and the organization safe (Weller, 2016).
Social Media in Business
The social media has given new wings to the businesses., but it is important to look where one is flying. The world is getting global and so the businesses. When the businesses are getting globalized the methods of conducting businesses are also changing. The market for the products and services has left the boundaries of the countries and the whole world has become the market and potential customer for the organizations. Therefore, the old traditional methods of approaching customers are not sufficient for attracting the targeted customers that are spread across the globe (Schrock, 2008). The usual and common conventional media like radio, television, and print have a limited approach as they cannot target the customer sitting in another country. On the other hand, the use of social media has no limits, the ideas and information can be shared globally and in much improvised way. Being a new phenomenon, social media is increasingly becoming an essential part of organization’s marketing and customer targeting platform. In the present times, around 94% of organizations are either using or aiming to use social media platform for marketing their products and services in the domestic as well as global market. It is expected that soon every organization will use the social media for promoting their products and services to the targeted market (Park, Han and Kaid, 2012). Around 85% of the organizations have a social media dedicated section in the organization. The function of this section is to develop marketing approaches using social media. The surveys show that the firms with a dedicated social media section have much more market exposure, then any other organization using traditional methods of marketing approach. With the increasing social media users worldwide, the organizations are aiming to use the changing trend of using social media by incorporating it on its business level strategies and corporate level strategies. It is expected that social media approach will take the organizations to a different level of success and a better customer and seller relation can be developed by providing better customer services (Miguel, 2016).
Globally, the impact of the social media is very substantial, especially on the multinational firms. On the global level, the organizations are adapting social media as a marketing approach as it is cheaper and user-friendly in achieving the aimed business growth. The influential nature of social media allows the development of the brands image at a relatively low cost. Organizations use the influential nature to develop the market for the products and services in an easy and convenient way (Madianou, 2015). The companies are using social media for advertising their products and services globally and finding success in developing market through the creation of brand image. The surveys show that approximately 15 billion products and services were advertised on the social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, LinkedIn, etc. in the year 2016. That shows the usage of social media by various organizations and also it reflects that social media approach is adaptable for all types of products and services. The social media is proving to be very effective in creating a market for the organization and new methods are being used to create an influence of the product and services in the global market (Lee, 2013).
The social media has created a revolution in the field of global marketing and the marketing department is not only communicating about their products and services they are developing new methods using social media to influence the targeted customers. The organization owners and marketing departments are learning new procedure of marketing and by using it they are marking their presence in the global market. The level of approach that the social media has on the market that the costing of the whole process becomes very cost-efficient. It helps in creating a positive impact about the organization by improved customer relationship management, better customer retention, expanded customer base, improved public relations, and thorough market research (Kim, Sin and He, 2013). The social media also helps in identifying suppliers and distributors that can help in creating better supplier-purchaser relationship. Social media has provided the organizations the effective platforms for finding success in their businesses and at some level the positive impacts of the social media has given the strength to the organization to bring new and innovative ideas for the customers. Though, there are certain issues and proceedings that that are associated with the use of social media that is in need of proper attention (Jensen, 2015).
Social Media has gained a lot attention due to its positive impacts but there are many negative impacts also of social media in any business. With the increasing users and benefits, there are many challenges that organizations face for while using social media for promoting their products and services to the potential customers. There are many organizations that claims that use of social media is the reason behind the reduction of workplace productivity of the employees which is affecting the organizations negatively and costing them millions of dollars. In a survey it is mentioned that annually, Australian organizations are losing approximately 5 billion dollars as the employees are assessing Facebook which is a social media website (Jensen, 2015). Social media usage has been considered as an addiction by various philosophers which impacts the working ability of the human beings addicted to the usage of social media. There are many incidents reported of increased cyber bullying, and identity thefts. Surveys conducted on the negative impacts of the social media shows that about 20% of students are being cyber-bullied and these are just the reported cases calculation. Aimed to strengthen the connection between people living far away, social media is bringing distance between people living close as most of the people are spending their time glued to their gadgets and have no time to talk or discuss anything with the close-ones. It is not wrong to say that social media can help in creating money but it is not improving the lives of people associated with it (Hyun, 2015).
The negatives of using social media is not limited to the individual people but its negative impacts can be observed on the organizations also. There are many cases of using false identity and conducting big business frauds. There is no privacy when an organization enters the public platform of the social media. There are many bad elements in the society those who waiting for such opportunities. They use the information provided on the social media and commit wrong conducts. There are many cases noted where organizations have falsely represented their data to promote business, its products and services with the aim of gaining profit from the naïve customers. Not having any measure of the identification of the authenticity of the organization the companies are facing lawsuits for conducting frauds and unauthenticated identity. Another negative of using the social media for business is the authenticity of the data provided about the products and services. Also, the data collected by the organizations from the customers for different purposes can be misused for different approach then actually providing help to the customers. These issues make the societies and communities consider the use of social media for the purpose of promoting businesses (Gabriel Helde, 2015).
The positive features of the social media attract the organizations to adapt it for developing by promoting its products and services and improving relations with suppliers, distributors, and customers. On the other hand, the negative features of the social media make its position suspicious and make people opt for traditional methods of communication and promotion of the products and services. But as it is said that when there is a will there is a way. Social media is the present and the future of all promotional and marketing services needed to conduct by any organization. Thus, it becomes important to find the ways for using social media effectively and take its benefits (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2016). The social media is a great platform to promote a product and to do that the organizational information also have to provided which can be used by the bad elements present in the web-world. Hiring a web-security operator can help in keeping the data of the organization secure when entering the world of web. There are many security software that are available in the market that can help the organization in keeping one-self safe from any fraudulent activities occurring on internet. Social media is good to create connections but checking the creditability of the person sitting at another end is very important. It is necessary to confirm the identity of the person one is getting in contact with during a social media usage (Bhatti, 2015). This will help the organization keeping themselves safe from any fraudulent practice. Important things like digital signatures, passwords, account details, and personal information should not be shared on social media as one never knows who can use such information for what purpose. These are few instructions that an organization can introduce in its working if planning to add social media as a process of communication with the customers and marketing the products and services through social media. They will the company to keep its data safe and be safe from any social media fraudulent practices (Aykurt and Sesen, 2017).
Conclusion
The use of Social Media has become an important aspect of creating an awareness about the product and services of an organization and also to improve the marketing services of the organization. It is the quickest method and covers the largest number of targeted customers compared to any other communication media. There are many positive factors in using social media platform in an organization, but there are certain negative aspects also associated with it. The analysis of the positive and negative factors of shows that a company can take security measures to keep the organizational data safe from the bad elements of the web-world. Also, be attentive and always confirm the identity of the person coming in contact through social media. Hence, it is concluded that social media has become an integral part of any communication plan and marketing strategy but one has to cautious while using it in its business.
References
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