Reference no: EM13308980

Trusty Carpets:

Background:  Jerry Montgomery has been selling carpets for 20 years from his store, Trusty Carpets, that is located in a strip mall that recently has become a busy shopping center.  While he has been able to make a good living, Jerry believes that he could significantly expand his business by using some of the newer technologies.  Since he has no technology in the store today and he knows he has many options, Jerry has hired you to recommend which technologies he should acquire and to develop the Business Case for those you recommend.  He will use the Business Case to decide whether he should invest in the technologies and to obtain the necessary funding from his bank.

The current business model:  Since he opened his carpet store, Jerry has advertised in the local paper and done all of his business in his showroom where he has the carpet samples on display.  Jerry employs two sales people to serve customers in the store and he has an accountant (who has other customers and does his work at his own office) to keep track of his finances, pay bills, sends\ invoices, collect payment and do payroll. Jerry's inventory is limited to overstock, end pieces from installations and samples.  He uses paper catalogs from his suppliers to determine what is available, in what colors and at what cost to him.  When a customer makes a selection, Jerry has to call the manufacturer to check the availability and the current price.  Jerry's brother-in-law, Mike Baker, is a carpet installer and manages that end of the business for him.  Mike and Jerry reach agreement as to what installation will cost and the accountant distributes the payments accordingly.  Jerry's sales staff coordinates installation with the customer.  Jerry and Mike have discussed combining their businesses into one, but have not yet made that decision.  All of his invoices and customer records are currently on paper.

Recently Jerry learned that that the Metro Carpet Store across town was up for sale.  Metro Carpet has a large display room and a warehouse.  In his investigation of this opportunity, Jerry has learned that it is up for sale because the owner, Bill Hartworth, is retiring and leaving the area.  Although he had a relatively large store, Bill was not well organized and has all his customer records and carpet inventory in ledgers.  Jerry would like to buy Metro Carpets and retain the sales staff, and he wants to continue to expand his sales in his current store.

The opportunities:  Jerry has seen that his competitors advertise on television (which he believes is too expensive for his small business).  He believes that in his area he could reach more customers if he had a few salespeople that could go to customers' homes, take measurements and obtain orders.  He also thinks he could use the Internet, but he is not sure how, exactly.  He also sees that since the shopping center has expanded there are a lot more customers passing by his store.  He just wishes he could reach out to them and let them know about his special sales, etc.  He has heard there are ways to do that using some of the new technology too.  Jerry hopes you can help bring his business into the 21^st century and give him some new ways to reach customers.  He recognizes that in order to grow, he must improve his profit margins and hopes the appropriate technology can help with this.  He is sure that if you can come up with some good ideas and a good Business Case for them, that he can get funding from the bank to acquire the technologies.  In addition to improving the use of technology for his current store, Jerry wants to include the same capabilities for his new location, support a mobile sales force and obtain funding for all of his IT support at one time.  He also believes that a good IT plan will support his overall business strategy of acquiring Metro Carpets and creating a single business that takes advantage of current information technology solutions.  However, he has to be able to demonstrate to the bank loan officers that he has a well thought-out plan that meets his objectives and has the potential of increasing sales so he can easily re-pay the loan.

The assignment:  Your team is to come up with some specific business objectives that could be supported by technology solutions, and then identify some IT solutions that could benefit Jerry's carpet business.  As a team, you will decide which technology or combination of technologies would benefit his business the most.  Your team will develop a Business Case to explain the solution and how it would be implemented. 

Attachment:- 328435_2_495-ifsm-backgrown-and-need.docx