Reference no: EM132886063

Prepare a SWOT analysis of Alpha Testing and also find and explain the main issues of Alpha Testing (Blood testing company)

Alpha Testing

Founded in 2000, Alpha Testing established the UK's first direct-to-consumer blood testing service. The aim of the company is to make it possible for anyone to purchase a blood test online and obtain the personal health insights they want. Since its establishment, the range of tests available has increased substantially. The process of ordering the test for the consumer has also become much easier and results are now received within 5 working days.

In order to conduct the tests, Alpha Testing uses The Doctor's Laboratory (TDL), located in central London. TDL is the largest private diagnostic service in the UK and is well regarded for accuracy and efficiency.

Alpha Testing is, therefore, only responsible for the issuing of the tests, the collation of specimens, delivery of specimens to TDL, and releasing results to customers.

The company is based in Brentford, West London. They currently employ 200 people. Since the start of the pandemic, all but a small group of employees have been working from home. This has not caused the company an issue because most of the work involves record-keeping and managing the customer relationship. However, the company now wishes to expand.

Alpha Testing has been inundated with requests for Covid tests and antibody testing. They have decided this an opportunity to expand their tests to include Covid related tests. Whilst the antibody test is not far removed from the blood tests they normally offer, the Covid test is very different.

The Covid test they intend to use is a new type of test that involves instant analysis. Customers will need to send in a sample of their spittle for testing rather than blood. The specimen is then placed in a new machine that determines the presence of the virus in 60 seconds. This means that rather than sending the specimens to The Doctor's Laboratory, Alpha Testing could carry out the tests themselves.

They have acquired a laboratory to conduct the tests and employed accredited staff who are qualified to conduct the tests. They have also obtained the necessary licenses to start offering the service to the public. However, they need to resource all the support services relating to the new laboratory. This includes employees to collate the specimen, record keeper, and employees to manage the release of results to customers. All of these roles exist in the current offices, but these staffs are currently working from home and wish to continue working from home. The new laboratory needs staff to be present at the workplace rather than work from home. There is also an issue of accessibility. The new laboratory is only 20 minutes drive from the existing offices, but it is not well connected by public transport and many existing employees would struggle to reach the new location because they do not currently have a car because they mainly live in London.

This leaves the organization in a quandary; they have seen a downturn in demand for other tests to the extent that they do not know how much longer they can sustain current levels of employment if they do not take advantage of this expansion possibility. To take advantage they ideally need to move employees to the new laboratory, but they know that if they force employees to stop working from home, they are likely to be demotivated, unsatisfied and the quality of work, as a result, may be low.

There is a further issue for the company; to deal with the demand for the Covid tests they are planning, Alpha Testing has decided to update the website and platform currently used. They have also been required to do this in order to obtain the license to conduct the test. Since the company started, they have employed from the local labor market. Few of these employees hold degree-level qualifications or have any digital experience other than with Alpha Testing. They have received very good firm-specific training such that they are very knowledgeable on the current systems but there is doubt over how successfully digital change can be carried out in the organization as a result.

The company acknowledges that they have more than one issue to tackle but they are unsure of the order of priority or how they can ensure that employees remain motivated. They are a customer-facing medical service, so it is imperative that the quality of service does not decline at any point.

The owners of Lab Testing have put a tender out asking for advice on their current situation and how best they can manage their employees through this period change. They are aware that difficult decisions need to be made but need a third party who is not emotionally invested to advise them.