Business venture - impact of IT System

Preparation of strategic analysis along with position of Footsteps Historical Tours within global tourist market

Introduction

Footsteps Historical Tours was found in the year of 1983 by Roger and Judith Ironridge. Basically, when the company was launched they both of them were already having the knowledge related to visiting battlefields and developing historical sites as well. If it is talked about both the partners then Roger and Judith met with each other when they were studying history and then both of them got the designation of teacher (Cosenz and Noto, 2018). This led them to open up their own business as they both were having good knowledge on the history subject. After that, both of these individuals recruited full time working staff, who also worked as part time tour guides. Both of these workers were doing PhD and started working as part time guide. This has raised number of benefits for the company, which has helped them in developing number of themed holiday packages for their potential customers.

Company Background

Footsteps Historical Tours was found by Roger and Judith Ironridge in 1983 and the basic reason behind opening or launching this business was their personal interest. Basically, joint venture which was opened by both of the owners named as Roger and Judith Ironridge, has given them satisfactory level based lifestyle through generating good income (Birley and Stockley, 2017). Including this, it is also found that during the period of operations, Roger looked forward to start PhD (topic) but he also abandoned just after eighteen months as well, because he was filled with high enthusiasm, which directly impacted upon writing anything in last time. But, it was found that organisation was not using IT system and needed for the company to update the same. This would led organisation to sustain within the market for a longer period of time. In present context, strategic analysis for Footsteps Historical Tours is mentioned underneath, which is going to be enclosed with the two major models and these are SWOT and PESTLE Analysis.

Swot Analysis

PEST ANALYSIS

Political: Present situation for Footsteps Historical Tours within London, United Kingdom is good enough. Basic reason behind this is that, organisation do not have to pay high taxes and due to Brexit as well, there is no modifications this organisation would require to make at the time because, there is no amendment has been given within the tourism industry of United Kingdom.

Economical: Financial condition of London, United Kingdom is quite good enough this has raised various opportunities and benefits as well for Footsteps Historical Tours. Including this, it is also said that if Footsteps Historical Tours will start working in e-commerce than it will sustain within the market of UK (Burns, 2017).

Social: Specifically, United Kingdom's people have developed their enthusiasm towards tourism, which has raised number of benefits for Footsteps Historical Tours (Stenholm and Renko, 2016). This would lead to sustain in the market for a longer period of time.

Technological: Footsteps Historical Tours, has effectively utilised number of technologies and techniques like Wi-Fi, Buffer Replay (Listening & Engagement), Buffer Analyse (Analytics & Reporting), advertising, diversifications through Usage of Social Media, automated Email Marketing Campaign and so on. This would lead firm to sustain within competitive business environment for a long period of time.  Order assignment help from our experts!

Formulation of IT based marketing plan which will enable firm to trade successfully travel business

Technology is evolving and it is crucial for firms to opt for them for being competitive within the market place. Marketing denotes activities of firm which are being undertaken for promotion of buying as well as selling of services or products which are being delivered. For this , different firms make use of distinct methodologies through which they can captivate maximum of individuals towards them (Fisher and et. al., 2017). Marketing plan refers to operational document that is liable fro outlining advertising strategies which firms executes for generation of leads as well as reach their target market. Basically, it renders a blueprint which provides details about overall activities which are being conducted by firms (Birley and Stockley, 2017). Articles on newspapers, leaflets and pamphlets are traditional ways through which firm advertise their services and allows individuals to know about them. This enable organisation to make people aware about what peculiar firm is doing and what all is being rendered by them. This leads them to have their benchmark within the market as people will know firm as well as their deliverables.

With evolving technology, social media can be utilised by  Footsteps Historical Tours for attracting ample number of individuals towards their services. Social media marketing (SMM) comprises of creation as well as sharing of content via social networking sites for attaining branding and marketing goals. This involves activities such as posting text, videos and updating images along with other content through which audiences can be engaged. Firms can also opt for paid social media advertising through which brand can be build, sales will be enhanced and traffic on website would be maintained. It  is essential for Footsteps Historical Tours to opt for mediums through which there can be overall affirmative impact on there business (Kuratko and Hornsby, 2017). The major social media platforms comprises of Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They can be used by  Footsteps Historical Tours to ensure that they have relevant profit for their business. For this, it is important to have understanding about five core pillars of social media marketing, they are illustrated below:

• Strategy: With respect to this,  Footsteps Historical Tours need to identify goals like enhancing brand awareness for driving in customers. In addition to this, what content they have to share by which individuals are attracted to their offerings. As they provide their customers with travelling packages, then posting videos of just a few seconds will bring in curiosity among individuals that may lead them to attain what they are looking for. Furthermore, as per the results attained by making post, strategies can be altered accordingly (Cosenz, 2017). 
• Buffer Publish (Planning & Publishing): Around 3 billion people make use of social media platforms which usually begins with having a consistent existence. By having a presence on these mediums, firms like Footsteps Historical Tours will give opportunity to discover probable customers (Mullins, 2017). Publishing can be considered as posting a blog, video or an image. Here, appropriate planning has to be ensured before anything is posted on social media platform so that it do not create a negative impact on firm. It is important to identify right time along with frequency for making posts. For this scheduling tools like Buffer publish can be used which will publish content of Footsteps Historical Tours as per their preferred time (Futterer, Schmidt and Heidenreich, 2018).  
• Buffer Replay (Listening & Engagement): When business will grow up, the conversations related with brand will increase and people will start making comments on posts that are being by them as well as messages can be sent directly when there is positive response (What is Social Media Marketing?, 2019). It is crucial to monitor all the conversations which are being made so that in case negative comments are being made then they can be handled before situations get worse. This denotes that management of Footsteps Historical Tours needs to check all notifications which are being made around social media platforms. For this, it is important that firm opts for social media listening as well as engagement tools like Buffer reply which is liable for aggregating certain aspects like messages and mentions. This aids them to resolve problems if they takes place (Gattorna, 2016).
• Buffer Analyse (Analytics & Reporting): This comprises of way in which marketing can be carried out. For this analysis have to be carried out with respect to whether more number of individuals are reached with respect to previous month, number of positive mentions, hashtag of brands and many other (Ojala, Evers and Rialp, 2018). This will give overview of what is being done and impact that is being created through this. Here , tools like buffer analyse can be used within closed beta. Along with this, it will lead Footsteps Historical Tours to furnish decisions with respect to content. This will enable them to translate there efforts into probable sales (Kimiagari and Montreuil, 2018).
• Advertising: When firm possess good funds then they will be able to carry social media advertising which will assist to reach wider number of audiences. Along with this,  Footsteps Historical Tours can specify what they want to display and to whom they will be shown. This denotes that target audiences can be created depending on behaviours, interests, demographics and various other factors. With respect to this, tools can be utilised for making bulk alterations, automation of processes along with optimisation of advertisements (Cosenz and Noto, 2018).

This will allow them to attract probable number of customers towards their services. But along with this Footsteps Historical Tours can opt for making use of e-commerce to give impelling experience to their probable customers (Cummings and Vaaler, 2019). Electronic or internet commerce denotes buying and selling of services or goods via making use of internet, transferring money as well as execution of these transactions. With respect to Footsteps Historical Tours, Business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce will be apt for them. The reason behind this is that it will allow firm to directly furnish their services to customers. For this they (consumers) will browse website and look forward at pictures, products as well as read reviews which are being made. The e-commerce marketing can be carried out through this which can be done by Footsteps Historical Tours through usage of following steps:

• Planning of Content Marketing Strategies: This will enable firm to develop strategies which can be utilised for attracting customers via infographics, blogs or videos. This do not implies that policies which are being formulated by Footsteps Historical Tours have to be followed blindly (The importance of E-commerce in Modern Business, 2019). A regular update is needed for keeping up with latest trends that prevails within the market (Abor, 2017).
• Automated Email Marketing Campaign: Email acts as bets method through which notifications as well as updates can be sent to probable customers in terms of discounts or offers Footsteps Historical Tours are being providing. There is a higher probability that people will check email notifications instead of clicking on random advertisement which are shown (Ahamat and Chong, 2020).
• Diversifications through Usage of Social Media: This enables to gauge choices along with behaviours of consumers. Along with this, social networking channels can be accessed by individuals through the usage smart devices.
• Personalisation Strategy: In case if automated emails are being utilised for notifying their customers and probable customers then it is necessary to mention their names like “Hello John Willson”. This way will lead them to have a feeling that peculiar offer is only available for them (Ditizio and Smith, 2017). 
• Original Content: Suppose trip to America or Las Vegas is not carried out by  Footsteps Historical Tours then there is no use of posting photos or videos related with this as it is not a original content. This may mislead the customers and may create pessimistic impact on them.

From both the aspects it is evident that appropriate planning has to be carried out which will enable to ensure that the purpose behind making use of IT in marketing activities can be accomplished. Along with this, they must be tracked to ensure that impact created by them is affirmative.

Recommendations of appropriate IT hardware and software by taking into consideration entrepreneurship theories

Inexperience denotes lack of practical experience with respect to peculiar field or area. Information technology involves development, maintenance as well as usage of computer systems, networks and software for carrying out processing along with distribution of data around the network. As per the case study, it is evident that Footsteps Historical Tours do not have any experience of IT systems (Cosenz, 2017). It do not implies that they cannot make use of systems but it simply denote that they do not make use of internet for carrying out their operations. With evolution of technology, it has became important for firms to make sure that they have IT based solutions through which there work can become smoother as well as easier. As per above, it is recommended that firm needs to make use of social media marketing along with e-commerce for carrying out their operations. But this is only possible when they have resources through which these aspects can be executed by them. They are basically classified into hardware and software, in context of Footsteps Historical Tours these resources are being illustrated beneath:

Hardware:The physical, tangible components or parts of a computer like CPU (Central Processing Unit), monitor, keyboard, data storage, motherboard, sound card, graphic card and many others. They are being directed by software through usage of instruction or commands. Without hardware, software cannot be used. Basically, it provides a platform on which all the operations are being executed by making use software. They are also divided into two external (which can be seen) and internal (that cannot be seen). External hardware comprises of gamepad, joystick, microphone, scanner, projector, speakers. On the other hand, internal contains CPU, drives (hard, floppy, SSD, Blu-ray, DVD and CD-ROM), motherboard, network interface card, RAM, sound card and many others. They all are comes within hardware. The different hardwraes which are needed by  Footsteps Historical Tours are mentioned below:

• Systems: They involves computers which must be possessed by Footsteps Historical Tours. This is as it will aid them to smooth-en their operations and make it quicker. But only desktops will not be enough for them. They also need to have laptop or a tablet, the reason behind this is that suppose their tourist guide asks something from them and they do not know about this then at that peculiar time tab will provide them details about it. Though same can be done by smartphones but if there are some visualisations or images then there will be a clear view in tab. Along with this, the battery life of tablets is also high which denotes it will be less expensive. There will be a more productivity in terms of split screen means multiple windows can be opened and display is also bigger which makes it easy read information. The processor within system of Footsteps Historical Tours must be i5 or i7 so that the speed of operations can be enhanced and quick results may be attained (Muñoz-Bullón, Sanchez-Bueno,  and Nordqvist, 2019).
• Wi-Fi Devices: The wireless network technology which assists computers as well as other devices for communicating via a wireless signal is referred to as Wi-Fi devices. It makes use of radio waves for rendering wireless high speed internet. Basically, they do not possess any kind wired links among sender and receiver. For an instance, as  Footsteps Historical Tours provides their customers with travelling packages, then through usage of internet they can explore new places and identify what is significance or popularity of peculiar city which will enable them to grab people towards their services. All the crucial details can be attained by making use of these devices.
• Hard Disk: The electro-mechanical data storage devices which utilises magnetic storage for retrieving digital data by making use of one or more quickly rotating platters (disks) that are coated with magnetic material is referred to as hard disk. As per above Wi-Fi devices can be used by Footsteps Historical Tours this means that they do have lots of data which must be stored and for this storage space is required. For this they can have systems whose RAM & ROM can be 32gb (Gigabyte) and 64gb. But if there is lots of data then external hard disks can also be utilised by them in fact pen drives also provides a storage space of 2TB. As per requirements they can have storage space accordingly. Struggling with your dissertation, get Law Dissertation Topics from our experts!

Software: The aggregation of instructions or data which assist  computer within its working is denoted by software. It is generic term which is being utilised for description of computer programs. Set of instructions, programs, applications and scripts are often used to define software. A simple instance can be taken, operating system is system software without which computer do not work. It is being recommended that  Footsteps Historical Tours can opt for Linux (Ubuntu, Red Hat or any other) operating system as it is considered as secured.  The different software which are mandatory for  Footsteps Historical Tours are mentioned below:

• Applications: The group of programs or program which are designed for end-users are referred to as applications. They comprises of word processors, database programs, spreadsheets and web browsers. As illustrated above,  Footsteps Historical Tours needs to opt for social media marketing. Then it is important that they have Facebook, twitter, Instagram or any other social media application for which they have opted. Reason behind this is that it will make it easy for carrying out their operations. For an instance, if page of  Footsteps Historical Tours is made of Facebook, then again and again entering the website and then filling up login credentials can be time consuming. Instead of this application can be used as notifications can also be attained if someone do something on their page (Futterer, Schmidt and Heidenreich, 2018).
• E-commerce site or website: This is a electronic business which involves sales as well as purchase of goods & services via electronic mediums such as internet. With respect to  Footsteps Historical Tours can develop their own website in which option can be given for their customers to make online bookings for particular trip. This should comprise everything like hotel in which stay will be given and payment for the whole trip. All the details must be transparent so that at the end there is no confusion and customers can be satisfied with what is being given to them.
• Cloud Storage: As technology is disrupting, storing information within the premises of Footsteps Historical Tours will not be appropriate as systems might be corrupted, there is security risk while giving or taking details of customers and even possibility of their systems might get corrupted. Furthermore, the maintenance cost will also be required and cost of devices like hard disk. This can be costly for this reason they can opt for other alternative like storage space from cloud. Cloud storage denotes storage of data online within cloud. Furthermore, this data is stored as well as accessible from various multiple distributed as well as connected resources which involves cloud. This denotes that whether its Roger or Judith, they can have access to information from anywhere. Moreover, cloud provider will be liable for security of data and  Footsteps Historical Tours only need to pay for services they are having from them. This denotes that extra hardware is not required and they can have services as per what is being paid by them.

By taking into consideration above mentioned recommendations perspectives of entrepreneurship will be changed entirely (Cosenz, 2017). For an instance Footsteps Historical Tours will opt for technology instead of making use of traditional methods for communicating and giving manual copies of information. With respect to this, through usage of internet interaction will become easy and quick. This implies that the working standards will be altered like online bookings will be made instead of offline which will lead them to be competitive within market for more years.

Conclusion & recommendations for implementation of IT project

Conclusion

With the help of above mentioned report, it is being concluded that IT system effectively delivers number of benefits to the business organisations, where they could promote themselves, perform business online, save the information and data over online portals and so on. On the other hand, it is also summarised that implementation of IT within the business organisation would lead to reduce cost of extra expenses on traditional approaches that were utilised by company. Away with this, developing number of goals and objectives in relation to different offerings of travelling packages like posting videos over social media websites (Facebook, YouTube and more) for a few minutes will directly lead to enhance cognitive state of existing customers or the individuals who are looking forward to planning to visit a whole new place.

Including this, it is also summarised that considering hard disks (for bulk storage), Wi-Fi devices and with the help of company's own application, organisation would easily sustain within the market for a longer period of time. This will directly lead company to gain number of competitive advantages, where they may reach to an all new level as well. On the other hand, data is effectively be stored within a range of data where information will be shared and stored, without purchasing a hard disk. Through this, interactions among company and customers will become easy and quick. With the help of this, organisation would directly improve it's brand image, productivity and profitability as well. Get Assignment Examples.Talk to our Experts!

Recommendations

Considering the given information, it is recommended to the business organisation that at the time of implementing the whole new IT system at workplace there are some considerations that are required by the company to implement and these are given underneath:

• Primal recommendation that is given to Footsteps Historical Tours is that they would need to have appropriate funds to bring right amount of changes within the company like IT system and so on. Through having right funds in correct time, Footsteps Historical Tours will directly become able to enhance their productivity and profitability, because many of their functions like marketing and more will be done online. This will also reduce the cost as well of traditional approaches that organisation has already utilised.
• The second recommendation, that can be given to Footsteps Historical Tours is that organisation would need to buy number of laptops and Personal computers as well, which would aid organisation in smoothing the overall operations, tasks and will also aid in taking quick decisions as well. Through this, tourist guide would directly become able to enhance the performance level of their own while presenting themselves in front of clients (at the time of giving information to clients of a particular monument).
• Another implementation related recommendation that is given to Footsteps Historical Tours is that company would directly need to directly develop and launch own website, that may aid both employer and consumers to store information, get information in relation to online bookings of a particular trip and so on. On the other hand, it is also recommended that the online application need appropriate detailed and clear information of various elements like options for payment, fare and so on in regards to the trip or the package that Footsteps Historical Tours is offering to the potential customers. This will lead Footsteps Historical Tours to communicate with customers in a much more transparent and clear way. With the help of this, customers engagement and loyalty will directly improve.
• Apart from the above recommendations, another one that is given to Footsteps Historical Tours is to imply Wi-Fi devices along with the fibre line as well for high speed internet. Through this, Footsteps Historical Tours would directly become able to enhance the information in relation to travel packages offered by rivals in relation to travelling packages. It has been found that after some time, travelling trends gets changes in all over the world. This is where, high speed internet along with utilising it to promote holiday packages in front of the world, would lead to enhance the performance level and brand image as well, in front of the customers. Away with this, it is also said that considering Wi-Fi, Footsteps Historical Tours would also become able to make right modifications without taking help of consultancy business organisations who asks for huge pays to deliver number of suggestions.

Henceforth, these are said to be some of the important recommendations that will directly put positive impact upon Footsteps Historical Tours or on any other business company that is dealing within the same sector in which Footsteps Historical Tours is performing. Through this, high modifications among productivity and profitability could be made.

Also read- Managing a Successful Business Project Diversity

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