Assignment: Aligning With Business
Phoenix Fine Electronics (PFE) is a medium or mid-sized company but growing rapidly each year selling technology products to retail consumers. They have an annual revenue of $15 million in sales. PFE started with one store but has grown to 25 stores and has expanded into a second state.
PFE has one store in a town with a population of 100,000, and three stores in towns with populations exceeding 200,000. The goal of the company is to continue expansion into an additional 3 neighboring states within the next 5 years. PFE wants to utilize the same population numbers to determine the number of stores it should open. It would also like a marketing firm to do an analysis of each town that meets the population criteria to determine the best cites in which to open new stores.
Each store employs a store manager and an IT manager who both directly report to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The current IT plan for each store is to utilize technology to support the store; increase sales; track inventory; secure store customer data; perform payroll; and report all sales, inventory, and payroll data to the main office. The IT manager is responsible for managing the IT systems, making decisions on what technology and software are needed, and implementing the systems while ensuring accurate reporting to the main office. The store manager is responsible for all staffing, inventory, and sales functions within the store.
With expansion and the acquisition of smaller independent stores, the CEO is worried about how department and customer data can be aggregated to allow the company to make better, timely business decisions. Even with such a wide footprint the company must ensure unique, outstanding customer service and provide value to the consumer base. The CEO lacks IT experience and has been hesitant to adopt the suggestions of the store and IT managers, which is to give the company an online presence and advance the company into national competition with other consumer electronics stores.
The CEO hired a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Information Officer/Chief Technology Officer (CIO/CTO). The CFO will oversee the company finances for the expansion. The CIO/CTO will oversee the consolidation of the disparate systems and technologies that exist between the stores, streamline the information gathering and reporting to the main office, and develop an online presence that will catapult the company into a competitive position on a national level.
Your job is to help the new CIO/CTO move PFE toward the future.
Develop a 6- to 8-slide, multimedia-rich presentation for your next client meeting with the management team. In your presentation:
• Identify the commonalities in the business strategy and IT strategy.
• List the critical elements of information technology needed.
• Describe the importance of the critical elements.
• Identify recommended changes to better align the two plans.
• Describe the value added the business should realize if these recommendations are adopted.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.