MIS & IT Infrastructure Development To Assist Business Expansion

Assignment Taken

1. Developing a MIS system, 2. Developing Mobile application & website for order placements and payment, 3.Developing IT infrastructure to manage inventory, track orders and waste management system

Case Understanding

Fresh Growers is planning to expand its operations in new markets, currently its monthly expenses including operations cost, consulting charges and purchase costs are Rs 24,71,000 and revenue from business is Rs. 24,00,000 (considering current no. of subscribers i.e 400 and per household daily average buying of Rs 200/-). This means the company is incurring a loss of Rs. 71,000/month. Fresh Growers want to break even on expenses and revenue and have planned to step into at least 3 other cosmopolitan cities. Now problems facing the company from the IT and business analytics perspective are the following: 1. Building IT Infrastructure to manage internal process activities, accommodate increased traffic and security 2. Redesigning mobile app and website to add new features to attract and retain new customers, develop technology for inventory management and supply chain process 3. Developing MIS to effectively manage leads 4. Expanding Customer Base by stepping into new domains 5. Waste Management System to reduce losses due to order cancellation/return or due to inventory reaching its shelf life 6. Reduce supply time i.e Farm to Table time

BCS Solution Summary

Our solutions is to focused on 3 primary objectives: 1. Developing MIS to precisely identify potential leads, identify customers through different marketing channels, identify high in demand products, use data to build marketing strategies and more importantly to identify that loyal customer base which would generate 80% of revenue for the business (using 80-20 rule) 2. Increasing customer base and improving customer retention rates by redefining customer experience while engaging with Fresh Growers app or website by adding new features including live order tracking, virtual inventory, easy navigation, automated chat bot for queries, subscription model, payment gateway and more. 3.Develop an inventory management and waste management system to improve business operation and reduce losses We suggest use of cloud computing technology to build IT infrastructure to benefit from low-cost, improved security and enhanced collaboration potential of cloud computing, this infrastructure would be pocket friendly to build and maintain due to its pay as you go model.

Solution

To identify the problems facing the business in its current operation and to design strategies for expanding into new markets, we started by carrying out an Internal Analysis & External Analysis using MOST technique and PESTEL Analysis respectively.

Internal Analysis (MOST Technique)

Mission: Bring freshly grown organic seasonal produce to customers, reduce supply time i.e farm to table time

Objectives: To Expand into new cities, break even on expenses, increase customer base (No. of subscribers), improve customer retention rate (loyal customer base), Increase average purchase quantity by customers

Strategies:

• Using Cloud computing system to upscale IT Infrastructure

• Database management system to identify high value leads, plan offers, track revenues, spends, plan marketing strategies

• Adding new features in App

• Expanding customer base by supplying to corporates

• Reducing lead time by establishing warehouses easily accessible to cities residents

• Waste Management by selling to secondary markets

Tactics: 

• Identifying potential cities
• Hiring sales team to negotiate with corporates and Restaurants
• Selecting Distribution partners, getting warehouses on lease

External Analysis (PESTEL Technique)

Political: New markets we are stepping into has labour laws, taxes and other government policies similar to pune (current market) and hence no significant impact from political aspect is expected

Economic: Population in selected new markets we are expanding into should have  higher disposable income with around 35% of population falling under middle class & high class.

Social: Target customers who are health conscious and are willing to pay a premium for fresh organic produce, customers with a busy lifestyle and need of ready for table organic foods

Technological: Poor lead management will lead to loss in number of subscribers, poor IT infrastructure and lack of ease in using technology will affect customer experience and impact customer retention rates

Environmental: Sometimes seasonal produce quantity is affected shooting up the prices, changes in temperature/non-seasonal rains etc. can lower quality and quantity of produce

Legal: Food & safety laws and other legal aspects are similar to the existing market (Pune)

From the above analysis we found 3 key aspects to focus on 1. Developing an sophisticated MIS system for lead management 2. Inventory Management & Tracking for Internal Operations and Waste Management system to reduce losses from unsold products & ensure customers receive the fresh produce in line with business goals and food and safety laws and 3. Improving UI/UX design of App & website, add new features & capabilities to make it more user friendly. 

1. Developing an MIS system

An MIS system will help us keep track of both consumer side and supplier side data.

Advantages of an MIS system

- Identify loyal customer base: By Pareto principle also known as 80-20 rule, 80% of our revenues will come from 20% of loyal customer base and efficient tracking of that loyal base will help us design strategies and offers to retain existing customer base and ensure customer satisfaction.

- Identify Hot & Cold Leads: This will help us design promotional strategies for different target groups based on lead status

- Non converted leads for remarketing: This will help channel marketing activities to target customers already informed about our product but has not yet made a purchase

- To keep track to total business revenues

From consumer side MIS will track following:

• Leads & Subscribers from different marketing channels

• Spends & Returns from channels of customer acquisition. This will help us understand from which source are we generating potential customers and hence design marketing strategy accordingly

• Sales tracking: To track the no. of customers and No. of products sold on specific days and specific months. This will help us analyze how external factors can impact our business

• Non-converted leads management: This will contain information about two categories of customers (App/website users) 1. Those who have added items in the cart but didn't make a purchase and 2. Those who came to check out page but did not complete the order placement. This will help us in remarketing, making new offers for those specific category of customers, and take feedback on what is hindering them from completing the purchase  and make improvements in the business accordingly

• Converted Leads Management: This will contain data of current customer base (subscribers), this will help plan up-sell and cross-sell strategies

• Monthly/quarterly/annual forecasts: These forecasts will help us set competitive targets, understanding where company is headed and progress it can make over time and hence give holistic view of business performance and direction

From Supplier side MIS will track following:

From the supplier side the MIS will track the products acquired from suppliers, the volume supplied matched against the volume required, fixed costs and incentives associated with the purchase.

To Track Internal Operation:

To keep a track of no. of orders packed by Packing & cleaning staff and the no. of orders delivered by delivery agents

 

2. Inventory Management & Tracking for Internal operations and Waste Management System

End-to-End Inventory visibility using a cloud-based solution. Inventory management system & effective tracking of internal operations will help in reducing lead-supply time, focus on optimal inventory management based on market demand and having a quick response for order fulfillment.

Features of Inventory Management System:

1. Easy document details of warehouse and storage facilities including layouts, racks, and storage capacities

2. Consignment Inventory: To maintain visibility into inventory levels that are managed outside the warehouse

3. Perform inbound operations including PO receipt and putaway

4. Track details of Complete outbound operations including picking, packing and shipping

5. Access real-time inventory levels and transaction history at any location

6. Real-time inventory visibility from supplier to customer

7. Powerful visuals including drag and drop features, tree view and more

 

Waste Management System:

This system will be used to reduce losses due to customers returning the order and/or excesses in inventory reaching the shelf life of products. As we are dealing with perishable goods with less helf life, effective management becomes paramount

Here firstly, a shelf life is assigned to a all products based on their type and a alert time is set which indicates that the product cannot be used for regular market and has to be diverted to secondary markets

Our secondary markets will include a network of restaurants, fruits & vegetable juice makers, as for their businesses our produce will act as raw materials and they will change our products into finished products as required by their business.

This will open a secondary market for our business and help reduce wastage & losses due to products reaching their shelf life

3. Developing App & website with Advanced features:

With the ever increasing use of internet, accessibility, advancements and ease of use has led to large scale penetration of digital devices and has made them an incredibly important part of our daily activities from monitoring our morning workout activities to making purchase of day-to-day necessities to purchase of luxury items. 

And as our target base includes a health conscious, and digital savvy audience a user friendly and secure mobile app & website with advanced tracking features is imperative.

Fresh Growers mobile App & website will include the following features:

• Improvements in UI/UX : To make it attractive, user engaging and easy to use

• Live order tracking: For customers to be aware of order status

• Payment gateway integration: Payment options including netbanking, Credit/debit card payment and UPI payment integration

• Regular Notifications on order status: By sending SMS or app notification 

• Customer Feedback/complaints section: To help customers provide their feedback on products & services

• Wishlist: For customers to add and store their preferred products

• Automated chat bot: To answer to generic customer queries, help customers with basic information on how to place orders, contact us and more

• 360 degrees virtual farm tour: As part of our marketing strategy to ensure customers trust and engagement  

• Referral Option: In line with the marketing strategy, this will help us expand our customer base with our loyal customers referring other potential audience

• Subscription plans: In line with our marketing strategy, our subscription options will include Platinum, Gold and Silver Subscription

• Easy Returns: Option to return products in customer wants

• Order facility for corporates: As part of our business expansion strategy, in addition to household, we will supply fresh organic products to corporate employees for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here corporates can place bulk orders for their employees

• Security: As customers can add their preferences, payment and other details, we have to ensure app is secure against any malicious activity

Order Tracking mechanism:

We will develop an mobile application system and have it installed in cell phone of delivery agents and warehouse management teams who can update order acquisition status/scan QR codes to keep managers notified about the entire operations

 Step 1: When a order is placed by the customer, a unique order ID is generated and nearest warehouse is notified of the products order along with the order ID

Step 2:  Warehouse checks the inventory & contacts the nearest labour & farm contractors to check for availability of produce and a delivery agent is assigned with order fulfillment task

Step  3: Once delivery agent acquires the required produce he/she updates the status on their app and proceeds with shipping to the warehouse

Step 4: Once the order reaches the warehouse, the warehouse management team confirms the receival of order, and proceeds for sorting. Cleaning and packaging

Step 5: Once order is packed, it is assigned a unique QR code, status is updated and the order is loaded into delivery vans

Step 6: Once customer receives the order, the final status is updated and a confirmation message is send to the customer

Note: For Subscribers, daily a new order is auto generated and entire process is repeated

Conclusion

With MIS to manage leads, having granular level understanding of marketing returns, customer generating channels, improvements in customer retention and acquisition, effective management of inventory to ensure enough supplies are available to cater to customer needs and at the same time not to over store products leading to wastage and a waste management system to ensure losses are minimised will help Fresh Growers reach more customers, provide high quality service and grow the business

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