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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS:

DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION
2014

Name Jingyi Liu
NetID jliu238
Group Number: 410
Website Link: http://infosys1102014fcgroup410.blogspot.co.nz/
Tutorial Details
Tutor: Day: Time:
Nicholl Friday 11am
Time Spent on
Assignment:
32 Hours Word Count: 1616

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS FOR SPRINKLER SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
Farmers in the agricultural sector are using more and more pesticide, water and fertiliser to
increase crop yield, this has a negative impact on the environment as the fertiliser and
pesticide would contaminate waterways. (United States Environmental protection agency,
2010) If the excessive uses of chemicals were left unsolved, the ecosystem in lakes, rivers
and ponds near the farmland would be damaged, threatening fishes and biodiversity. The
solution to control the usages of fertiliser, water and pesticide is a sprinkler system that
controls and automates the amount of water, concentration and dosage of pesticide and
fertiliser for each area of field. This system would provide the exact amount of water,
fertiliser and pesticide needed resulting in a win-win situation, saving the environment and
saving the farmer money (Matson and Vitousek, 2006).
3. BUSINESS SECTION
3.1 Vision
To provide the most effective sprinkler system with customer service as the first priority and
to improve the environment by reducing harmful chemical use.
3.2 Industry Analysis: Horticulture irrigation industry
Industry: Horticulture irrigation industry. This industry includes all businesses that mainly
produce products whose purpose is irrigation.
Force: High/Low: Justification:
Buyer power: High There are many ways to irrigate horticultures
such us basin irrigation, furrow irrigation,
sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation. (Brouwer, C,
2001) There are already products, designed and

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implemented for each method of irrigation.
Supplier power: Low There is an abundance of suppliers that supply
raw materials such as water pipe in the industry.
So buyer can just easily switch to another supplier
if they were unsatisfied, therefore supplier does
not have much power on us.
Threat of new entrants: High It is easy for a new entrant to enter the
horticulture irrigation industry due to low entry
barriers. Basic irrigation does not require a huge
investment of time, fiscal and technology.
Threat of substitutes: Low Irrigation is essential for plant growth and rainfall
is unreliable depending on the season. The
substitute for this industry is very low.
Rivalry among existing
competitors:
High Competition inside the industry is fierce due to
many competitors. Different method of irrigation
has different product to support. Low barriers
could allow new entrants easily enter the market
and therefore increase competition.
Overall attractiveness of the industry: Horticulture irrigation industry is not the most
attractive industry as buyer power, competition inside industry and also threat of new
entrants are high. However, the industry does not have any substitute because irrigation is
essential in horticulture growth, therefore this is an important industry. Furthermore, the
supplier power is low means firms in this industry will have the opportunity to find a
cheaper supplier and therefore increase profit. I personally believe this is still an attractive
industry.

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3.3 Customers and Thei r Needs
The target markets are mainly farmers in the agricultural sectors. Farmers want to reduce
operation cost and time spent in growing plants, (Ron,S, February 2007) this is the reason
why they are just easily using more than enough pesticide and fertilizer. Furthermore,
Farmers are lack the knowledge and time to properly take care of their crops (R.B. Howarth,
2001)
3.4 The Product and Service
The product has a main system that can control and automate the amount of water,
concentration and dosage of pesticide and fertilizer for each area of field. This allows
farmers to concentrate on other tasks rather than having to concentrate on automatable
tasks, and hence increasing productivity.
The sprinkler system has sensors to measure the soil moisture level, PH level, and the
amount of nutrients in the soil. It also has water pipe underground across the field to
delivery water, fertilizer and diluted pesticide from main system. In the long run, the
product decreases the operation cost as less water, fertilizer and pesticide are used.
3.5 Suppliers and Partners
The companys potential suppliers would be companies that produce water pipe and
companies that produce sprinkler. As our companys competitive advantages are the unique
technologies, which are installed with the main systems, water pipes, sensors and sprinklers.
It is more convenient to outsource manufacturing water pipes and sprinklers to companies
such as AcwaPipe and Reliable Sprinkler.
The companys partners would be companies that produce pesticide such as Aimco
Pesticides Limited and companies that produce fertilizer such as Koch Fertilizer, LLC. Our
company is providing a product that makes it more convenient for users such as farmers to
use pesticide and fertilizer. Aimoco and Koch as our partners are not supplying products for
our company; however, our customers can buy products off them, which will compliment
our sprinkler system.

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3.6 Strategy: Focused High Cost
I believe the competitive scope for this company is narrow market as the company is only
targeting farmers in agriculture sector rather than other markets such as domestic
households.
The cost strategy would be high, as there are very high costs involved in researching and
developing the system. Furthermore, there are many cheaper way to irrigate and spray
pesticide such as manual labour.
The overall strategy is therefore Focused high cost.
3.7 Value Chain Activity: Service after the sal e
As the companys strategy is focused high cost, we are targeting a narrow market with high
cost and therefore customers satisfaction is most important for the company.
As the nature of the product relies heavily on maintenance of the product after the sale, a
high standard of customer service would add value to the company by building a good
relationship with customers and satisfying their needs even after the sale, which in turn will
improve the business reputation and conceivably more sales.
As part of the vision of the company is to put customer service as the first priority, the
most important value chain activity would therefore be service after sale.
3.8 Business Processes
3.8.1. AFTER-SALES MAINTENANCE PROCESS Sprinkler system is a long-term used product
unlike those traditional one-off traded product. Our product needs regular maintenance and
inspection. Once customer determines their needs, our employee will deliver and install the
system. Once installation has completed, initial inspection will ensure that the system runs
successfully. Regular routine inspection could be set up depending on customer needs.

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Figure 1: AFTER- SALES MAI NTENANCE PROCESS

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3.8.2. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND IMPROVEMENT PROCESS The process starts by asking
customers their feedback when sales are complete. Based on customer feedback, changes
will be made so that company can keep improving the product to better cater for the needs
of their customers.

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Figure 2: CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND I MPROVEMENT PROCESS

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3.9 Functionalities
3.9.1. AFTER-SALES MAINTENANCE PROCESS
Improve customer satisfaction by providing high quality after-sale
maintenance.
Ensure that the product is fault free and always user-friendly to customers.
3.9.2. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND IMPROVEMENT PROCESS
Build a good relationship by getting feedback on how customer feels after the
sale.
Improve business reputation by improving the product based on customer
feedback.
3.10 Systems

3.10. 1. FAULT LOGGING SYSTEM - This system records all the faults that occurs during initial
and routine inspection, it can help engineering team to improve product development and
even check the quality of raw materials such as water pipe and sprinkler.
This keeps all the information regarding faults synchronised between all teams in the
company, from customer service teams to engineering teams. By reducing these errors, it
would provide a better experience for the customers.
3.10. 2. CUSTOMER SERVI CE TRACKING SYSTEM This system logs the date and details of each
customer. The system automatically reminds the customer service them when the next
inspection is. So that when customer service team does the routine inspection, they can
refer to the profile in this tracking system. So that the employees will be well informed and
the customers will receive a better experience which meets the vision of putting the
customer as first priority.
3.10. 3. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK CAPTURING SYSTEM This is a system where customers can
place feedback about the product or business. The customer services team can record the
customers feedback into the system at any time and any place. All the information in the
system are protected by the department against the public, yet they can access the
information for product improvement or further analysis, to eventually provide the most

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effective sprinkler system for the customers. This is also a fundamental system that
supports the business vision: put customers in first priority .






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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)

Service
after the
sale
1. After-sales
maintenance
process
1. Improve customers satisfaction by providing
comprehensive after-sale maintenance.
2. Check the product is fault free and always
used well by customers.
Fault logging system

Customer service tracking
system
Decision Support System

Customer Relationship
Management System
2. Customer
feedback and
improvement
process
1. Check the product is fault free and always
used well by customers.
2. Improve business reputation by keep
implement customers feedback.


Customer feedback capturing
system

Customer Relationship
Management System

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CONCLUSION
The idea of the sprinkler system would be successful as it has unique technologies
supported by a high standard of customer service. The business has a clear vision, which is
to provide the most effective sprinkler system with customer as first priority as well as to
improve the environment. However, the information system acts as an extremely important
role in the business. Without the information systems, the business could not efficiently
analyse the customer feedback so more likely to fail in build a good relationship with the
customers. The information systems add value to the business by synchronizing the
workflow and resources around the business, which conforms to the vision statement of th
business.
REFERENCES

Brouwer, C. (2001). Irrigation Water Management: Irrigation Methods. Retrieved from
ftp://ftp.fao.org/agl/aglw/fwm/Manual5.pdf

PAMELA A. MATSON AND PETER M. VITOUSEK. (2006). Agricultural Intensification: Will Land Spared from
Farming be Land Spared for Nature? Conservation Biology. 20(3). Retrieved from
https://www.humboldt.edu/wildlife/faculty/johnson/431/readings/matson_vitousek_2006.pdf

R.B. Howarth. (2001). Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability
costs. Ecological Economics. 39(3), 449462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00238-5

Ron, S. (February 2007). Southwest Farm Press. Lower seeding rates reduce costs, increase rice yield for Ark.
farmer, 34(6), 9-9. Retrieved from Business Source Premier.

United States Environmental protection agency. (2010). Source Water Protection Practices Bulletin. Retrieved
from http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sourcewater/pubs/fs_swpp_fertilizer.pdf