Name Peiling Su

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Group Number: 225

Website Link: http://infosys1102014s1group225.blogspot.co.nz/p/d2.html

Tutorial Details Tutor: Day: Time:Yvonne Hong 25/05/2014 9:24 pm

Time Spent on Assignment:

30 hours Word Count: 1649

Moneetrac- Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

Introduction

New Zealanders have a saving problem. We are not saving wisely for our future goals. We are too reliant on the government for financial benefits for whenever we are sick, unemployed or injured so there is no incentive to save. This can be a serious problem for our future economy. However, we have come up with a fun, easy and practical solution called Moneetrac. It is a tool that allows you to connect to your savings account real-time and allocate your savings to different goals anywhere and anytime.

3. Business section

3.1 Vision

Moneetrac’s vision is to provide a tool that transforms the world into a smart money saver.

3.2 Industry Analysis:

Online Saving Apps Industry:

Force: High/Low: Justification:Buyer power High Customers have many choices of online saving applications

to choose from, with each suiting the different needs of the customer. They can choose from mySuperList, Voucher Cloud, Idealo, etc which help you get bargains and vouchers (Rigby, n.d.). There are also more advanced saving apps choices such as Mint, SavedPlus, Flexscore, etc (Hiscott, 2013).

Supplier power Low Businesses have many choices to buy from such as internet service providers to support their online services; Vodafone, Telecom, Telstra Clear, Orcon, etc (Finding an internet, 2013). There are also many advertising suppliers that would supply advertisements for these apps through different social media sites, online stores and Google display ads (Marrs, n.d.). Suppliers of app design services are also abundant as their services can be provided from overseas, especially from the United States, United Kingdom and India (Top mobile app, 2014). There are hundreds of companies producing mobile application development platforms and millions of mobile app developers (Guglielmo, 2014).

Threat of new entrants

High It is relatively easy to enter this industry as there are no strong barriers to entry. There are no high set-up costs or legal barriers to stop anyone from creating and selling an online savings app. However, marketing and building the

app can influence the success of the product (Genadinik, 2013).

Threat of substitutes

Low There are not many alternatives to having real-time online savings apps that allows you to track and manage your savings. Substitutes can be managing your savings/spending with a financial worksheet or doing a goal-setting budget (Vohwinkle, n.d.).

Rivalry among existing competitors

High There are many different types of online saving applications ranging from Mint, SavedPlus, Flexscore, RedLaser, ShopSavvy, Groupon, etc (Hiscott, 2013). These apps are all for free so the competitiveness in this industry are very high as all these apps are trying to help customers save a bit of money through different ways, so they are competing with each other over the same customers.

Overall attractiveness of the industry:

The online saving applications industry is overall quite attractive. I would recommend entering the industry as it has no strong barriers to entry and no scarcity of suppliers. The only major concern is that the new business should have a strong competitive advantage that will distinguish itself from the rest of its competitors by offering something new or better to the market. A competitive advantage, that cannot be easily mimicked, will ease the unattractiveness of this industry as it will out-compete any rivals as well as become customer’s number one choice, therefore the business will be sustainable.

3.3 Customer and their Needs

The target market for Moneetrac are from teens to adults. It is in the teenage years where people start to get their first income but do not think about saving for their future needs. Research showed that 18-22 year old Kiwis have a ‘relatively low level of financial knowledge’ (Ihaka, 2012). Of those surveyed, 90% see the importance of budgeting but only 52% say they budget (Ihaka, 2012). This shows that, although Kiwis know the value of saving, they do not know how to go about it so they need something to help them manage their savings.

As for adults, ASB found that its customers were saving only $50/week and ANZ reports that half their customers do not feel confident in reaching their retirement savings target (Parker, 2012). They require something that not only helps manage their savings for long-term goals but also helps them develop healthy saving habits.

3.4 The product and Service

Moneetrac connects to the customer’s savings account which enables the customer to manage their savings by allocating the amount of savings into different goals, thus developing healthy saving habits. This helps the customer to be wise in their savings as they are actively thinking about their future goals and will evaluate which goals have more future importance and whether a specific goal will offer good future value. As a result, Moneetrac will help customers to plan ahead and save ahead.

3.5 Suppliers and Partners

Moneetrac will partner up with NZ banks such as ASB, ANZ, and Westpac in order for customers to connect to their savings account to Moneetrac, so that they can manage and allocate their savings. Moneetrac will also collaborate with PayPal as some customers would prefer to pay through a secure party.

Moneetrac’s suppliers would be internet service provider, Vodafone, as it would require internet to stay connected with its customers and provide them online services. App design supplier, Roam Ltd will provide Moneetrac app design services and advertising supplier, AppThat™ will provide advertising to promote Moneetrac.

3.6 Strategy: Cost leadership

Moneetrac’s generic strategy will be a cost leadership. We are targeting a broad market as we want customers of all different ages to have this tool to manage their savings and develop healthy saving behaviours that benefits them in the long-run. Also, Moneetrac’s will have a low cost strategy where it will be cheap. The affordability will appeal to wider range of customers so everyone can benefit from using Moneetrac.

3.7 Value Chain Activity: Market and sell the product or service.

Moneetrac’s value chain activity is to market and sell the product. This is because Moneetrac’s cost leadership strategy is to market to a broad market at a low cost. So the affordability and practicability features are important in attracting customers to buy Moneetrac, and thus generate value for the business in terms profits. Moneetrac’s vision will be used to market and sell the product by attracting customers to become smart savers.

3.8 Business processes

3.8.1 Customer Membership process

The Customer Membership process includes receiving and recording new customer information. This includes only asking for important customer information and no trivial questions. However, in this process, it is important that the customer has provided their correct information so that this information can be used to connect to their bank account later on. If the information is not correct, the application is sent back to the customer for correction. Only a completed application will be automatically recorded by the customer information processing system to the business database. This process helps sell the product by making the membership process simple and error-free and so the earlier the customer can use its product, the more satisfied they will be. Also, this will help them save sooner and become smarter savers.

3.8.2 Marketing process

The marketing process involves gathering and processing all the customer’s information and using an information trend processing system, these information are analysed and graphed into trends. The individual’s own saving progress will then be compared to the population trends to produce an evaluation report that is sent to the customer. This will show a general picture to the customer of their progress against other customers in similar savings group. This marketing process will then help market special features of Moneetrac to customers by introducing them to relevant savings features that helps them save smarter and more effectively, whether they are low savers or high savers.

3.9 Functionalities

3.9.1 Customer Membership process

-Record customer information

-Check the completeness and accuracy of information

3.9.2 Marketing process

-Analyse customer population trends

-Identify and promote relevant app features to suitable customers

3.10 Systems

3.10.1 Customer Information processing system

This is a system that automatically records the personal information of new customers to the business database. This is so there are no delays in receiving and recording the information and thus, the product can be provided to the customer faster, saving time. This enables the customer to use Moneetrac and become smarter savers as soon as possible.

3.10.2 Membership Detail Checking System

This system checks the completeness and accuracy of information contained in the customer’s membership application. This checks for any mistakes, blanks and incomplete sections. This is so the correct information is used to verify and thus connect the customer’s correct bank account to Moneetrac so the customer can become a smarter money saver.

3.10.3 Information Trend Processing system

This system analyses and identifies trends between information collected from all customers of Moneetrac. This will then generate a general population view of the customers’ saving behaviours which will then be used to identify the progress of each customer compared to the population average. This is so that recommendations of saving features can be sent to help customers become more effective money savers.

3.11 Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain Activity

Process Functionalities Specific Information Systems(s)

Broad Information System(s)

Marketing and Selling the Product or Service

CustomerMembershipProcess

-Record customer information

-Check the completeness and accuracy of information

-Customer Information processing system

- Membership Detail Checking System

TPS

MarketingProcess

-Analyse customer population trends

-Identify and promote relevant app features to suitable customers

Information Trend Processing system

CRM

Conclusion

Moneetrac is an online app that acts as a tool to help customers connect to their savings account so that they can allocate their savings into different goals. Information systems gives value to the business by capturing, processing and storing customer information. All these systems drive business processes to operate Moneetrac, which enable customers to use and become smarter money savers and thus generate profits for the business.

References

Finding an internet service provider in New Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.enz.org/getting-an-internet-connection.html

Genadinik, A. (2013). 4 barriers to monetizing mobile apps. Retrieved from http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2013/07/17/4-barriers-to-monetizing-mobile-apps.aspx

Guglielmo, C. (2014). Mobile apps won’t lead to riches for most developers. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2014/01/13/mobile-apps-may-not-pave-the-way-to-developer-riches-sales-average-less-than-1250-a-day/

Hiscott, R. (2013). 25 apps to save you money. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2013/11/01/apps-for-money/

Ihaka, J. (2012, November 20). Young Kiwis aren’t saving-survey. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10848644

Marrs, M. (n.d). Online ads: a guide to online ad types and formats. Retrieved from http://www.wordstream.com/online-ads#Mobile

Parker, T. (2012, June 13). Kiwis ‘not saving enough to retire on’. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10812617

Rigby, S. (n.d.). 18 best money saving apps. Retrieved from http://www.savethestudent.org/save-money/17-best-money-saving-apps.html

Top mobile app developers and development firms. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sourcingline.com/directory/mobile-application-developers

Vohwinkle, J. (n.d.). Budgeting 101 everything you need to know about budgeting. Retrieved from http://financialplan.about.com/od/budgetingyourmoney/tp/budgeting-101.htm