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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS:

DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION
2014

Name Jonathon Parris
NetID jpar633
Group Number: 265
Website Link: http://infosys1102014s1group265.blogspot.co.nz/
Tutorial Details
Tutor: Day: Time:
Olivia Thursday 9am
Time Spent on
Assignment:
16 hours Word Count: 1483

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Q-DOWN QUEUE IDENTIFIER
INTRODUCTION
Have you been a victim of immense queues that ruin your conveniently planned day of
shopping? Where you are forced to wait for unnecessary amounts of time in a queue for a
single item, smashing your hopes of getting the shopping done in a single day? Planning to
shop conveniently has never been more simple with the Q-down people counter app. Q-
down is an application designed to aid all shoppers in managing their shopping time. It
counts the number of customers in a selected shop/public area and provides a
recommendation on whether or not to enter at that specific point in time. This is achieved
through thermal people counters that are placed at the entrance and exits of a shop,
collecting data by tracking the number of people entering and exiting the store whilst
constantly updating and transmitting the data to the application on the customers
smartphone.
3. BUSINESS SECTION
3.1 Vision
To effectively manage the scedules of all shoppers by avoiding unnecessary waiting times
through the use of a managerial masterpiece.
3.2 Industry Analysis: Mobile retail monitoring industry
Industry: Mobile retail monitoring industry.
Force: High/Low: Justification:
Buyer power: Low A scarce amount of retail monitoring apps are on
the market, although there are apps that create
virtual queues, freeing the customer from a
traditional (queue such as VtracVR) that buyers

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could select . (Lavi Industries)
Supplier power: Low Many companies manufacture sensors used as
people counters for monitoring business trends
so suppliers would have little power.
Threat of new entrants: High As entry into the mobile app industry is a
relatively easy feat, entry into the mobile retail
monitoring industry would also be relatively easy.
A large capital is not needed and statistics show
that the number of niche app stores have
doubled annually suggesting that niche
marketplaces are the preferred solution for
smaller companies to penetrate the mobile apps
industry. (THOMAS L. RAKESTRAW,
RANGAMOHAN V. EUNNI*, RAMMOHAN R.
KASUGANTI, 2012)
Threat of substitutes: High There are substitutes outside of the mobile retail
monitoring industry that monitor queues in
shops, including ticket queueing systems such as
SmartQueue, but their system only aid the
customer once they have arrived at the store.
(SMARTQUEUE, 2013)
Rivalry among existing
competitors:
Low Due to a shortage of competitors in the mobile
retail monitoring industry, the rivalry among the
existing competitors is low, however in the more
broad app industry, the number of app
developers grew by 48% in Apples App Store from

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around 49 000 to 72 000 in a six month period.
(Figge Sutor, 2011).

Overall attractiveness of the industry: With a great buisiness idea, the mobile app industry
is attractive it is inexpensive to enter and is easily accessed by anyone with a smartphone.
The mobile retail monitoring industry is even more attractive as there are basically no other
existing competitors meaning very low rivalry for the players in the industry, buyers of
products in the industry have very little power as there are few products to chose from.
Although the platform suppliers have relatively high power in the industry, there are
substitute products that attempt to control queues, and the threat of new entrants is high
as it is easy to develop and introduce an app, the mobile retail monitoring industry is a very
attractive industry to enter.
3.3 Customers and Thei r Needs
The target group of customers that will potentially be the most significant users of Q-down
would be the everyday shopper. Our targetted customer base must own or have access to a
smart phone, as the product is an app. Time is extremely valuable in this day and age and
these busy shoppers have important duties and tasks that need to be done every day and
they need time to complete these activities! In order to make room for the time needed to
complete these important tasks, the length of time it takes to complete unimportand tasks
must be reduced. According to Matthew Burrows from Business Service Management
Review, customers need efficiency when they shop an efficient process achieves its
objectives with the minimum amount of time.. .
3.4 The Product and Service
Q-down essentially reduces time spent in stores waiting to purchase goods and in doing this
increases time needed for the shoppers to complete tasks of higher importance and
significance.
3.5 SUPPLIERS AND PARTNERS

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Partnership with Wesfield shopping malls would result in the Q-down heat sensors being
placed in ideally all Westfield shops. This would prove useful for the Westfield shops as it
would provide them with knowledge as to how many customers are entering and exiting
their stores each day/month - information to include in annual reports. As a high majority of
shopping occuring in malls along with the common knowledge that malls are extrememly
busy places with an excess of human traffic, buyers will feel the need to purchase the app to
aid and speed up their shopping experience at the mall. Another partner would be retail
store managers. The instalment of the sensors in their shops would provide the managers
with customer statistics and trends that would aid them with staff allocation.
Suppliers would include a company that manufactures thermal sensors such as OKI
installing their sensors into stores in partnership with Q-down would collect and transmit
the shop information to the users smartphones. Another supplier could be a smartphone
application software development company such as Activate Design. Activate Design is
based in Christchurch and designs applications for smart devices. They have a history of
designing successful apps generating hundreds of thousands of downloads.

3.6 Strategy: Cost Leadership
As Q-downs targetted customers are all people with smartphones the target market is
extremely broad.
The app itself will be affordable for users to download and use with a low cost structure.
The overall strategy is therefore Cost Leadership.
3.7 Value Chain Activity: Technology Development
The most important value chain activity for this business is Technology Development
(Research and Development). As there are so many apps on the market and the majority of
them follow the Cost Leadership strategy, it is important for Q-down to be continuously
developing and updating their product in order for them continue to compete in the
market. Considering how inexpensive and easy it is for new entrants to compete for market

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share, it is important that Q-down stays dominanant in the market if it hopes to manage the
schedules of all shoppers.
3.8 Business Processes
3.8.1. APP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The development of the Q-down app client is extremely
important as it is the main aspect of the business that our customers will be dealing with.
The process involves the planing and design of the app from the design and technical
support department using an application design system. The process involves sending the
plans to the supplier ActiveDesign and also checking compatibility with the sensors.

Plan the functions & design of the
app
Design the features
of the app
Send the app to
ActiveDesign to
devlop
Is the app compatible
with the OKI sensors?
The Design and
Technical Support
Department
YES
Initial Development complete
NO
Isolate the
problems
Application Design System

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3.8.2. BETA TESTING PROCESS - The beta testing process is extremely important as it gives Q-
down an idea as to what the customers views are on the app. Q-down select a group to test
the app and then feedback from the customers is given to the customer service department
and recorded on customer service systems. Q-down take into account any
recommendations from the customers and if deemed appropriate, they adjust the app
accordingly.



Invite a selected group to test the
developed app
Distribute Q-down beta to the
selected customers
Collect feedback from the
selected group
Was there any feedback worth taking
into account and altering the app?
YES Alter the app appropriately
NO
Beta testing/feedback programme complete
Customer Service Department
Customer Service System

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3.9 Functionalities
3.9.1. APP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Designing the applications functions and appearance
Ensuring compatibility with the sensors in store
3.9.2. BETA TESTING PROCESS
Gathering customer feedback
Processing and analysing the feedback for potential adjustments.
3.10 Systems

3.10. 1. APPLICATION DESIGN SYSTEM The design of the application is crucial as it needs to
appeal to the customer. It needs to work well with no errors that put the app out of use. Q-
downs vision involves appealing to all shoppers therefore thorough designing through the
use of an application design system will ensure the app in perfect working order 24/7.
3.10. 2. CUSTOMER SERVI CE SYSTEM To be an extremely large seller, Q-down needs to
satisfy the wants and needs of their customers. Storing feedback from the beta customers
on customer service systems will allow the company to record the feedback and adjust the
app where needed.
3.10. 3. VISUAL INTERFACE SYSTEM The appearance of the app is crucial as it is the only
aspect of the business that the customer actually views. A visual interface system would
control everything the customer sees on their screen - the system would be extremely
simple and straight forward so it will appeal to everyone.

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3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain
Activity
Processes Functionalities Specific Information
System(s)
Broad Information
System(s)

Research
and
Development
1. App development
process
1. Designing the applications functions
and apperance.

2. Ensuring compatibility with sensors.
Visual Interface System


Application Design System
Enterprise Resource
Planning System

Enterprise Resource
Planning System
2. Beta testing
process
1. Gathering customer feedback


2. Processing and analysing feedback
for potential adjustment
Customer Service System


Feedback Processing System
Customer Relationship
Management System

Decision Support System

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CONCLUSION
To produce and succeed with a mobile application that helps the customer manage their
day of shopping conveniently, many different Information Systems must be used. The value
of these systems is immense the planning, funtionality and overall appearance crucially
depend on the use of these systems and because of them a revolutionaly app can be
produced.

REFERENCES

1. Sim Ahmed. (2013). Infographic: iPhones down, Samsung up in NZ smartphone wars.
http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2013/05/infographic-iphones-down-samsung-nz-
smartphone-wars
2. Technical Note Six. (2003). Waiting Line Management. P 243-251.
http://www.ateneonline.it/chase2e/studenti/tn/6184-7_tn06.pdf
3. Matthew Burrows. Operational Efficiency its not just about cost cutting
http://www.bsmreview.com/oppseff.shtml
4. THOMAS L. RAKESTRAW, RANGAMOHAN V. EUNNI, RAMMOHAN R. KASUGANTI.
(2012) The Mobile Apps Industry: A Case Study. P 3, 4, 7-9, 13, 14.
http://www.aabri.com/NO2013Manuscripts/NO13006.pdf

5. OKI (2012) OKI Develops Ultra-sensitive Human-detecting Sensor Technology
Capable of Detecting Minute Movements, including Human Breathing
http://www.oki.com/en/press/2012/10/z12054e.html

6. ActivateDesign. IPHONE - ANDROID APPLICATIONS CHRISTCHURCH
http://www.activatedesign.co.nz/applications

7. Figge Sutor. (2011) Analysis of the app market based on Michael Porters five
competitive forces. http://3xhappiness.com/analysis-of-the-app-market-based-on-
michael-porters-five-competitive-forces/

8. Lavi Industries. Qtrac Virtual Queuing System.
http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/companies/showcases/lavi-
industries/products/qtrac-virtual-queuing-system/

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