Assignment Scenario:
You are a technical consultant brought to a prospective customer who operates several different ecommerce websites. The company runs multiple different systems to perform each of the functions with little or no data flow between them. The company has grown rapidly until recently and this growth has created a number of complicated processes that have slowed the ability to process end user orders quickly. The result of this slower order processing has resulted in end user complaints.
You have been asked to analyze their existing systems and formulate recommendations to better integrate their various support systems: Inventory, shipping, credit card processing and so on. Currently the company runs multiple different systems to perform each of the functions with little or no data flow between systems.
At a meeting with the company's IT manager, the head of Accounting, and the President, it becomes clear that the IT Manager and the head of Accounting are strongly for the redesign. During the meeting, the President heads off into a tangent about Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR). He had recently attended an industry trade group event and saw a presentation that suggested VR/AR would quickly change the ecommerce sales cycle. A key concern was that the company adopts an AR platform and supports the technology. Also, this is a very new, untested platform.
Instructions:
Research how AR could be the technology of the future for e-commerce. After conducting research write a report that discusses the process of using this technology to gain a competitive advantage to the company president. This plan should document how AR technology could improve the customer experience by adding this component to the system.
Also, write a process map for implementing AR into the current system, which summarizes the requirements, identifies potential technology solutions and provides an operating plan to reduce risk. A detailed plan should be outlined for each step in the process including:
1. Listing the steps necessary to identify, define and document the business's needs.
2. Defining a process that determines business needs while creating the least amount of adverse risk to the organization.
3. Creating a methodology for identifying new technologies into the existing systems.