A business report on investigating the best practice Information Systems for Coffee

Construction Australia

Prepared For

The senior leadership team

Coffee Constructions

Prepared By

Muhammad Khan

S3572148

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Technology and Information Management

BUSM 4409

Date

11-08-2016

Muhammad Khan Page 1

Executive Summary

The Firm Coffee constructions is the old style family based firm that has not embraced
technology and now they need to implement the best practice information systems to manage the
volume of projects. It is recommended that Coffee construction must implement CRM
(Customer Relationship Management) systems into their organization. All the benefits of
implementing this system are written below in detail

Muhammad Khan Page 2

Introduction

Customers are the backbone of any company or an organization. Customers are the key base
which provides a business with relevant information and capital to survive and prosper (Sant
2004).

This reports prime focus is to investigate the best practice Information Systems for the Coffee
Construction Australia which is to implement Customer Relationship Management systems.
Coffee Constructions is a privately owned (family) Australian building and civil engineering
business.

Coffee Constructions Australia is an old style family based firm that has not embraced
technology and the firm is having trouble managing the volume of projects and the Board of
Directors has become very concerned about the firms reputation and future business
opportunities. The extent of technology employed by the firm consists of Microsoft Project and
the Microsoft Office suite of products and email. Jim Coffee the firms chief construction
executive thinks that the current model is outdated and it needs to implement some information
systems.

Background

Coffee Constructions holds fully certified builders licenses in NSW, QLD, NT and ACT. Coffee
Constructions early projects included boutique hotels, large residences, Primary Schools, a range
of facilities for local councils, work for the CSIRO, and a waste water treatment plant. In 1990
Coffee constructions continue to grow, they managed to established client relationships during
the previous two decades and were further strengthened with several major projects being carried
out at a tier one university.

As an old style family business that has not embraced technology as a consequence they were
having trouble with the management of volume in the projects. It is then the firms chief
construction executive wants to prepare a management report for the senior leadership teams
next meeting outlining the best practice information system, how the IS would support the

Muhammad Khan Page 3

various business functional areas and how this system would or could be used by the firms
project managers in managing projects.

Limitations

Due to limited time available for the research study will focus primarily on investigating the best
practice information system in the company and its advantages and disadvantages. This report
wont reflect the whole process of implementing the CRM systems in the firm.

The Business value proposition of using best practice information system.

What is a Customer Relationship Management System?

The fundamental business goal for effective and efficient customer engagement has not changed
over time: Acquire new customers, build tighter bonds of loyalty, and reduce the costs of
marketing, selling, and servicing (Band 2010).

In order to get the most from CRM we need to have a clear objectives and goals there are
certainly a number of improvements that a well implemented CRM system can help you
accomplish which includes improve the efficiency of business, expand your customer base and
enhance sales and support teams.

Improves the efficiency of Business

Coffee constructions having turnover of $480M turnover and lacking behind technology
implementing the CRM system will definitely help remove shortcomings in the marketing
campaign of coffee constructions by enabling us to understand which stage of the purchasing
process each returning customer is in.

Muhammad Khan Page 4

Expanding Customer Base

A CRM system is not just for managing the customers that Coffee Constructions have already.
This system is linked with knowledge management platform that will allow the firm to stay in
touch with the prospects which are yet to convert. To make our marketing efforts more effective
and efficient for faster conversions Coffee Constructions can minimize costs in a number of
areas while increasing profits. In the meanwhile all the new customers will be added into the
systems that enables us to keep in touch with them.

Enhance Sales and Support teams

HR management software and other cloud based can help the firm to increase the value of the
employees .Moreover the data we will collect by using CRM system can be used to monitor
employees performances on the basis of this we will give rewards and incentives.

Automation

By implementing this system it will automate all the vital processes in the firm. CRM will enable
us to write and manage contracts, track sales and monitor relationships.

Muhammad Khan Page 5

How the IS would support various business functional areas.

Various Business functions may include:

Human Resource

Marketing

Finance

Customer Services

Human Resource

Employees are the backbone of every profitable organization, apart from managing customers
and clients its a responsibility for an organization to manage and fulfill the needs of its
employees. It would be inappropriate to say that CRM systems is used only to manage its clients
and customers, but most of the heads in HR department use CRM for managing the company
employees,

Such as Profile Management this technique in CRM is to manage the profile of all the employees
which are working in the Coffee Constructions.

Training: Notification to attend training within the organization can be easily distributed.

Leave Management: employee can apply or notify for leave.

Online Alerts: online alerts can be generated whenever any employee have something due.

Muhammad Khan Page 6

Marketing

CRM tools can take advantage of market data which can be used as rightly identification of
target clients and for tailoring marketing activities to capture the important clients.

Finance

CRM allows a company to input all the key information on a "Customer" or prospective
customer in a single location. More importantly, each of these customers can be classified
according to their "Relationship" to the company (Pach 2014).

CRM is not only for tracking customers but also it can be used to track all business partners for a
company such as subcontractors and the architects.

How each information system would or could be used by the firms project managers in
managing projects

Training

The project Manager must have strategies to handle both user groups. a firm project manager
must ensure proper training before the implementation of CRM systems in the organization. For
this Top Management role is crucial, they are the one who drive the culture in the organization.

Super User

A firm must hire a super user in order to implement the CRM systems in the firm. Super user is
the one who enjoys working in this new system and who ever needs assistance he will be there to
help.

Muhammad Khan Page 7

Communication

Coffee Constructions may need a communication plan in order to execute this CRM
implementation. This may include updating executive leadership to update the CRM status.

The most important thing communication must include:

Timeline: that includes risks associated with it.

Roles and responsibilities: what is expected and when should be expected

Strategy

When implementing a CRM systems the whole firm needs to change their working styles and
pattern

Conclusion

Coffee Constructions as a firm that havent embraced any technology over a decade will
certainly have some issue adopting this new CRM systems in to their organization. The firm
Chief Construction executive is quite adamant that this new system has to be implemented in the
organization. The benefits are huge if this system would be implemented. Because right now the
firm isnt using any kind of Information system to for its business growth. The report encloses
each detail to be jolt down before implementing new system. Coffee Constructions is having
trouble in managing the volume of the projects so this report is best in order to see the benefits
and how much it could increase the turnover of the business.

The report is well documented now its up to the board of directors who will decide whether they
want to implement this system or not.

Recommendations

As far as recommendations are concerned I would recommend that to implement this system as
soon as possible because the benefits of standardizing the sales of Coffee Constructions and also
the bidding process can provide the immediate return on investments.

Muhammad Khan Page 8

References

Band 2004, Customer relationship management strategies in the digital era. USA.

Sant,T 2004. Persuasive business proposals, New York: AMACOM.

Pach, C 2014. Does CRM matter for construction, Linkedin.

Muhammad Khan Page 9