PJ Smoothies Essay Example

PJ Smoothies Essay In the world of business we live in today, marketing has a crucial role. In the previous days, back in the first days of the industrial revolution, entrepreneurs believed that it only production that was important. All resources are dedicated to increase the capacity for producing good and services with little worries of whether the products were going to get sold. This sentiment lasted for decades because people in the past were still craving at the marvel of technology and mass production, which entrepreneurs have little care of the amount they produce, because generally, no matter how much they produce, the society absorbs.Of course, this is nothing like the present day. Today, mass production and technological advancements have become natural parts of people’s lives. There is no sense in producing without considering how much the market would be willing to absorb. There are times when people are easier to influence using many kinds of marketing efforts and ‘tricksâ⠂¬â„¢. However, people of the day have seemed to go pass that stage. Marketing jargons and propaganda can no longer dictate what people want. Consumes are more critical and selective. Today, marketers must be sensitive of where the market’s interest are growing today, and act upon it.Today, marketing should be the guide of any production decision. Moreover, marketing should be involved in almost all stages of product design and even pricing. This is important because in the end, only marketers have the most vivid idea of what consumers want and how much they will pay to obtain it. This concept is well known and there are many companies turn into market-based companies. However, there are those that get tangled-up in the complexity of their own businesses and deviate from their existing market niches.Within this paper, I will discuss the marketing strategy that is appropriate for smoothies, the new trend of drinking in United Kingdom. The paper will contain suggestions of stra tegic position and the appropriate marketing mix to support that strategic position.II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Product and Corporate BackgroundII.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Product BackgroundSmoothies are the new trend of drinks in United Kingdom. In simple definition it is a fruit drink. Some may refer to it as a fruit juice, but PJ refer to them as crushed fruit. There is a rather different understanding regarding the two definitions. The first is smoothies made of juiced fruit, which has more of a juice-flavor and nutrient contents. On the other hand PJ smoothies are made out of concentrated fruit juice, which is closer to the ‘crushed fruit’ definition and sets the differences between ordinary juice and smoothies. Other characteristics that created differences between smoothies and juices are that smoothies uses yogurt as a mixed ingredients along with the various fruits (‘Pulp Friction’, 2004).The drink became popula r because it has a recreational sense within it and it is in line with the health sentiment to have at least five portions of fruit and vegetables daily. Nevertheless, there are also analysts who stated that PJ Smoothies are rich with natural sugar and has a low proportion of fiber. In other words, other supplements of fruity vitamins are still necessary despite having a bottle of PJ Smoothies a day. The inventor, Harry Cragoe, stated in his defense that the drink is not meant to be an exclusive and expensive health drink, but rather an affordable healthy drink.As mentioned previously, the trend of Starbucks have gained new competition as the society looks for a healthier ‘fun’ in their drinking habit. The product has been around for a long time in the United States, but has recently been popular in United Kingdom. The UK smoothies market was created no longer than 12 years ago in 1994, when Harry Cragoe decided to import the products to UK markets because he was surpri sed not to find this delicious treat anywhere in UK. He had to sell his flat as a part of financing the business at first. Afterwards, in 1998 the company purchased a former bottling facility in an industrial estate in Newark, and began to make smoothies in the United Kingdom (‘How to Make’, 2004).The smoothies industry has developed from zero to a  £ 33 million business in just 10 years. PJ are still the market leader in respect of volumes in 2002, but sometimes, their tight competitors, Innocence, took over for several months. The competition is tight as both has controlling shares of the UK smoothies market (about 40% each)II.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Corporate Background ‘Pete and Johny Smoothies’In its first years of production, the company gained tremendous profit because of the lack of competition. However, after the year 2000, the prices have come down to a competitive level, leaving the company with decreasing profitability. The decreasing profitabil ity continued as competition gets tighter with Innocence. By 2003, the company already reported losses instead of profits, despite its increase in sales number (John, 2005).In early 2005, the company sells itself in efforts of gaining capital to repair and develop the business. The buyer was Pepsi, who has similar market segment with the brand named Tropicana and Copella. Many considered this as a good step to restructures and further develop the business. Nevertheless, Innocent was pessimistic toward the deal. They doubt if the combination could help enhance a business with such a low profit margin (John, 2005). However, they are also taking the positive side that the deal would help the UK smoothies market to grow (‘PJ Smoothies Sells’, 2005). After the purchase, Pepsi sent its representative to help develop the product personality of the brand (‘Landor’, 2006).III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strategic Positioning SuggestionsIn or der to provide this paper with a more analytical structure, I am using the Porter’s five forces analysis and the SWOT analysis to help develop a deeper understanding of the smoothies industry and what competitive advantages doe PJ Smoothies have. The results of this analysis are suggestions of what PJ Smoothies should do or should be aware of in the near future. The final suggestion will be made in the four Ps marketing mix form.III.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Porter’s Five Forces AnalysisIII.1.1. RivalryAs revealed previously, the company –which has been a separate company owned by Pepsi- currently in tight competition with Innocent, its only worthy rival. The UK Smoothies industry has a highly concentrated market with only two large companies holding up to 80 % of the entire market share. However, the competition between these two is tight. In early years, PJ, who had the first start, led the way by 70% of the market. However, the last development reveals that the company i s losing in terms of market share to Innocent. The latest available information revealed that innocent now has 46% of the market, while Smoothies has only 33%.I believe that rivalry is the most important factor that will influence the condition of PJ Smoothies in years to come. Although some stated that harsh competition might scare away customers, but acknowledging the threat is necessary nonetheless. Competition should not be sees as a way to knock each other down; rather it is a way of learning from each other. I believe that PJ Smoothies have a lot to learn from this competitive atmosphere.III.1.2. Threats of SubstitutesSubstitutes are products of another industry or from the smoothies industry itself that consumers could use as a replacement of the original smoothies. The substitutes generally have lower level of quality and smaller cost structure that allow cheaper prices. However, it might not contain all the nutrients that are offered by the original smoothies. Regarding the smoothies’ product, substitutes come from fruit juice drinks products.The low cost of production allows just about anyone to produce fruit juice by themselves. The threat of substitutes does not necessarily come from companies of PJ’s scale. Rather, a small-scale stores or restaurant that sold good blend of fruit juice could take away market share from the company. There are many shops in UK that provided such fruit juice, and they have daily basis customers. In respect of this condition, it is largely necessary to differentiate the product in prices and flavors. I believe distinctive flavors and product personality are crucial for PJ Smoothies to gain a place in the market.III.1.3. Buyer PowerThis factor represents the threat that comes from consumers that overpowers producers. In some industries, due to the small amount or concentrated consumers, they posses a strong influence to the producers. Regarding the smoothies product however, such threats do not exist becau se consumers are from various level of social and economic stature. They are many and fragmented in nature. There is no sense in thinking that customers would integrate themselves and pose as a new threat to PJ Smoothies.III.1.4. Supplier PowerSupplier powers are the extent of influence possessed by providers of materials and equipment of the company’s production facility. They would have considerable influence if they are small or concentrated in number, or the materials are unique in nature. This factor also hold no threat toward the company. The business has simple ingredients structure and there are many providers. The type of tools and equipment necessary to produce also has numerous providers in such market as the United Kingdom. Thus, the supplier holds little influence.III.1.5 Barriers to EntryThis factor, on the other hand, has significant influence in the business. There are considerably small factors that could prevent anyone form entering the industry. The cost of capital to start the business is comparatively small and there are no restrictions form the government or patents that pose as a significant barrier. Technological issues pose some but insufficient barrier to keep competitors away. In other words, there is little reason to think that competitions would not appear out of nowhere and take portions of the market share. If PJ smoothies prefer a room for growth in the UK markets for the future, it must move fast to create a brand that has the capacity to obtain stronger consumer basis in most of the markets in UK.III.2  Ã‚  Ã‚   SWOT AnalysisIII.2.1 StrengthsOne of the strengths of the product came from the fact that there are few, or even non of similar products in United Kingdom. However, this advantage has passed away as innocent enters the market. Furthermore, due to the lack of notable barriers to enter the business, there is no reason to rely on the non-existence of competition. Other strength of the company is its place as the original smoothie maker in United Kingdom. PJ brings the product to the country and redesign them in its Newark production facility.The most powerful competitive advantage of the product is its promotion toward healthy living. The product is a way of creating joyful as well as healthy lives at the same time. In the middle of a society, that has grown great consciousness toward health and a healthy life, the product has found a good place in people’s heart. The company has taken advantage of this fact by inserting the health image into the product personality designIII.2.2 WeaknessesOne of the weaknesses of the product is related to its strength. The drink is fill with natural ingredients. Harry Cragoe, the inventor, is proud of the fact that the drink does not have any preservatives as a part of its ingredients. However, fresh fruit means shorter life span, and shorter life span could only lead to shorter shelf time. The company should have rather precise market estimation be cause a short estimation will cause customers to loose trust over the product and a long estimation will cause the products to be unproductive expenses.Other type of weakness that I would like to underline is the weak differentiation strategy of the product. As mentioned previously, the product would receive considerable competition from its surrounding environment and the only way to face such threat is by developing a strong differentiation strategy. The product must be distinctive and deliver unparalleled value to consumers (Doyle, 2000).Currently, the strategy of the company is not to be an elitist drink. In a way, the company directed its product to foster simplicity that would create the image of everyone’s drink. Concerning the importance of having a differentiation strategy as mentioned above, this simplicity image is not a good idea at all. People would see it as another drink in the market and they will go for competitor’s product who manages to deliver a hig h class and attractive image with competitive prices.The third weakness is the fact that the industry seem to have a very low selling price and a considerably high cost structure. The profit margin within the business has apparently been lower than expected. This could pose as a great threat as the product expands to larger volume of production.III.2.3 OpportunitiesOpportunities for the company come from its reputation and its new market all around the United Kingdom. Articles of various newspaper stated that smoothies is the new trend after Starbucks. This type of publication will keep people curious of how the product really taste. If the company manages to provide new consumers with quality that fulfill their expectations, the company will gain new daily customer as a result.The second opportunity is the children market. There is a great chance that the product will receive a good welcome by the children market because of its healthy traits. Parents would be glad to give their ch ildren a healthier drink compare to soft drinks or any other lack-of-nutrition drinks. However, this would only work if the company is able to insert some element within the product personality that is appealing to children. The sense of fun, friendly and cheerful in the products is important to obtain such achievement.III.2.4 ThreatsOne of the most apparent threats seems to attack the strength of the product itself. Some analysts claim that PJ smoothies have a high content of natural sugar and low fiber, which means that the health-promoting role is not as dominant as the company might want. The second threat comes from competitors like Innocent. If the company fails to deliver the right product image and make a worthy distinction out of itself, there is little chance that PJ will be able to maintain its 30% share of the smoothies market.IV.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Marketing MixIn spite of the various factors of strategic positioning mentioned above, marketing decision eventually comes down to four types of decisions. They are called the marketing mix. They are tools to help marketers implement their strategic considerations into more actionable forms (Borden, 1994. Lauterborn, 1990). It is considered the final step of designing a marketing plan. In this paper, these four aspects of marketing strategy are the outcomes of the considerations mentioned in previous chapters.IV.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   ProductThere are several aspects of the product’s characteristics. The first is the name. Pete and Johny are not real names. They are fictional character created by Harry Cragoe to create the image of simplicity toward the product. He wanted the product to provide the sense of closeness to its consumers, away from exclusiveness and anything that will cause consumer to feel not at home. Prior to the buyout with Pepsi, the packaging and styling of the product is designed with similar intention. It was design to be simple and away from any i mage of an elitist drink.In a review of the competition between PJ and Innocent, Innocent stated that instead of mixing yogurt with pure fruit juice, PJ mixed concentrated juice as the primary ingredients. Many considered this would reduce the flavor of the drink, but Harry Cragoe said that it suit his statement that he is selling crushed fruit instead of fruit juice. This unpopular choice is also a part of Cragoe’s plan to maintain a certain image simplicity of the product.As a part of my conclusion within this paper, I believe that the simplicity and the ‘drink for all’ image is not working as good as Harry Cragoe might have expected. As said in several magazine articles, the company never performs adequate marketing research prior to determining the product strategy. The product strategy started the moment PJ Smoothies open their producing facility in Newark. The strategy worked for several years because their competition, Innocent, has not fully developed the ir strategy yet. After Innocent revealed their ‘more exclusive’ strategy, the market seemed to turn to Innocent instead of PJ.Therefore, as a part of the new marketing strategy for PJ Smoothies after the acquisition by Tropicana, I believe that the company should design a bolder strategy. One that would involve a much more recognizable, attractive and outgoing packaging. This could also work with the new children market. The image of simplicity is unattractive and rather boring. The image should turn from simplicity to fun and popular, an image that make people see PJ Smoothies as what the newspapers said about them these days, the new drinking trend that replaced Starbucks.IV.2  Ã‚  Ã‚   PriceAs mentioned previously, the product seemed to have a much smaller profit margin than expected. The profit margin stumbles as a result of the tight competition with Innocent. Harry Cragoe stated that the company was trying to deliver consumers with the drink-for-all smoothies. T his unavoidably means cheaper prices as well. Nevertheless, in spite of having cheaper prices than Innocent has, the competitor still took away market leadership by 2003. This revealed the fact that price was not the sole factor that contributes to sales number.As a part of the new and bolder strategy, I believe that the company should focus on changing the image of the product first. If the change is performed with adequate marketing research and consumer behavior considerations then the price of PJ Smoothies will rise along with market share (Culliton 1968).IV.3  Ã‚  Ã‚   PromotionDue to the new nature of the product and the wide range of ‘untouch’ market available, promotion has a crucial role in the development of PJ Smoothies, especially to target the upcoming children market. By experience, the most effective method to introduce such product is by giving free trials to people. Beside free sales promotions, aggressive marketing using billboards and advertisements is also important to keep the product in people’s mind (Frey, 1961).IV.4  Ã‚  Ã‚   PlacementSince there are many people in Britain that have not had a taste of PJ Smoothies, the product has a wide range of area to cover. Moreover, as stated previously, it is important to develop presence in most market of the United Kingdom to ensure brad loyalty and make it easier for future expansion of the brand. The company has only 25 days of shelf time, which demanded a quick delivery system to prevent deterioration. The product also need to be frozen in delivery, thus, the delivery system will cost the company a little more than other companies.To safe money and shelf time, the product should be delivered directly from the Newark factory to retailer’s stores rather than converging them into distribution warehouses in each area. Therefore, transportation is an important element of PJ Smoothies’ distribution system. There are two choices of distribution model. A private distribution model, which requires the company to have its own delivery fleet, and an outsourcing distribution model, which involves external transportation services in delivering the products. In a small scale, outsourcing would be a preferable distribution strategy. However, after the merger with Pepsi, the smoothies segment would most likely collaborate with distribution system of other Pepsi brands (Klinger, 2005).

Competitive Strategies Example

Competitive Strategies Example Competitive Strategies – Coursework Example Competitive Advantages Competitive Advantages The selection of cost leadership as the competitive advantage that Riordan has to adopt is based on the fact that the company has adequate resources to ensure that it benefits from this strategy. As such, pricing of the company products in a unique manner will ensure that Riordan has the potential of attracting new, as well as retaining its customers (Khurana, 2002). This is because in every market, customers are sensitive on the price of the products and they focus on having value for their money. Effective pricing of the company products will ensure that long-term performance of the company is stable. Such will occur since the company will increase its market share and have sufficient financing for acquiring more resources for the production process. Innovation and sustainability is another competitive advantage that the company should embrace. This is essential since innovation aids in improving the performance level of the processes o f the company in the production of goods and services. Further, innovation contributes in the reduction of the production cost of the company and ensuring that sustainability is achieved. Embracement of sustainability in the company will contribute in ensuring that the production process of the company does not suffer from technological changes and it is able to last for a long time. Hence, the company has room for adopting lean manufacturing, which is an innovative and sustainable strategy, which will contribute in the attainment of the competitive advantage for the company. Such includes having a stable long term performance of the company. ReferencesKhurana, R. (2002). Searching for a corporate savior: The irrational quest for charismatic CEOs. Princeton, NJ7 Princeton University Press.

Service Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Service Marketing - Research Paper Example Commonwealth Bank has become the leading mortgage lender in Australia. Positioning strategy is a part of service marketing1. The organization has effectively gain believes and trust of the customers through their effective positioning strategy of services. The strategy and effective service process will be discussed later in the study. The literature review will give a clear idea that what is the positioning strategy and how this strategy helps organizations2. The positioning strategy only relates to the level of a particular service or a product. Major of the theories, academic studies and concepts revealed that a product or service can be positioned on the basis of its needs to satisfy, quality, specific service features and benefits to be delivered. In terms of services, market performance is computable implementing the behavioural objectives and deemed to be implementable and appropriate for banking services. Loyalty is considered as the intended behaviour that involved the depositions of users or the customers of bank in terms of intention and preference that play a key role in order to determine the market performance. It is a type of attitude that reflected in the eagerness in order to recommend the service provider to people or an actual observed behaviour in terms of repurchase. Strong positive connections between loyalty and image have been reported broadly in the area of service marketing. Moreover, it is reported that customer objectives to implement service encouraged by the advantages and benefits that they expect through the service. It is being embedded in the thoughts and believes about the service performance. People are more likely to consume or purchase a service or a product if it is perceived to have key attributes that deliver advantages and benefits3. However, several academics have found a positive relationship between the market performance and the perceived

Macroeconomics in Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Macroeconomics in Finance - Essay Example The model is taken to be equally influential as the Keynesian model that which was originally formulated by John Keynes in the 20th century. The model relates employment and aggregate demand to three exogenous quantities namely; the government spending, business expectations by the state and the total amount of money in circulation. The model can be understood in the general equilibrium theory. The model can be used in line with the Phillips curve to make prediction for example an increase in the general employment level would lead to increased inflation rate (the general price rise) the resultant increase in money supply would hence increase employment and the output level (Obstfeld, M. and Kenneth, R.(1996) Under the model a sustained fail in general prices (deflation) will be caused by a shift in the supply curve and more importantly the demand curve for goods and interest. This means a fall in how the prices of goods compared to how much the economy is willing to buy of. It brings the idea of benefit of unemployment, insurance and fluctuations costs. i.e. the unemployed exhibit significant heterogeneity in marginal propensity to consume the available income and in holding of wealth. (Obstfeld, and Kenneth, 1996) Aspects for example it has all the variables that are contained in the IS-LM model i.e. consumption interest rate, expected inflation, the gross domestic product, investment and government spending. (Uzawa, 1969) However, the two models have some differences in their basic setup. The IS curve is given as Y=C+I+G+NX Where NX= net exports While the LM curve is given as M/P=L (I, Y) Where M= money supply P= average price L= liquidity I= interest rate U=GDP Question Two IS -LM-FE Mundell Fleming model in comparing effect of an increase in public spending under fixed exchange rates Under a flexible exchange rate an increase in public spending will translate into an increase in the money supply in any given country. According to this model an increase in money supply will shift the LM curve to the right. The resultant effect will be reduced local interest rate thus

Information System In Allied Bank

Information System In Allied Bank Allied bank was the first bank to be established in Pakistan. It started out in Lahore by the name Australasia Bank before independence in 1942; was renamed Allied Bank of Pakistan Limited in 1974 and then Allied Bank Limited in 2005. Allied Bank was the first Muslim bank to have been established in Pakistan. Established in December 1942 as the Australasia Bank in Lahore with a paid-up share capital of Rs. 0.12 million under the Chairmanship of Khawaja Bashir Bux, the Bank attracted deposits equivalent to Rs. 0.431 million in its first eighteen months of business. Today, with its existence of over 60 years, the Bank has built itself a foundation with a strong equity, assets and deposit base. At the time, the Banks total assets amounted to Rs. 0.572 million. Today, Allied Banks paid up Capital Reserves amount to Rs. 10.5 billion, deposits exceed Rs. 143 billion and total assets equal Rs. 170 billion. It offers universal banking services, while placing major emphasis on retail banking. The Bank also has the largest network of over 800 online branches in Pakistan and offers various technology-based products and services to its diverse clientele. Vision: To become a dynamic and efficient bank providing integrated solutions and the first choice of bank for all customers. Mission: To provide high tech innovative solutions to meet customer requirements To create sustainable value through growth, efficiency and diversity for all stake holders To provide a challenging work environment, and reward dedicated team members To play a proactive role in contributing towards the society Values: Integrity Excellence in service High performance Innovation and growth Areas of Business: Allied bank is operating in all major cities of Pakistan. It has a network of 700 branches. Information Systems at Allied Bank Limited Information systems used at ABL differ from department to department and complete specifications of systems used in Customer Retail Banking Department will be mentioned in the later part of the report however, the IS used in Allied bank serves the common purpose of faster communication between all stake holders, updating of transactions process on daily basis, provision of better customer service, faster execution of data, easier access and communication to the central branch and other branches countrywide etc. However, Allied Bank used manual systems before 2002. The reasons for making the shift to automated information systems are summarized below: The need for converting from manual to automated systems: Personnel at Allied Bank are of the view that both manual and automated systems are effective ways of message entry and transmission but manual data systems have certain cons as compared to their counterpart the automated data systems. Manual data systems are slow and tedious as compared to automated systems. Moreover, there are more chances of human error occurring in the usage of manual systems as compared to automated systems and this error removing is crucial to the efficient functioning of the Allied Bank. Moreover, manual data systems are less secure and tampering with data is possible via their use and to minimize that risk Allied bank shifted to the use of automated Data systems in 2002. Moreover, Mr. Shahzad Shahid, Product Manager-Liabilities, was of the view that this change will result in cost reduction in the long run. Management Information System used at ABL The MIS used at Allied bank Limited is Oracle Database 10g. Oracle Data base 10g has completely transformed the outlook and operations of ABL. It has transformed the structure such that now ABLs IS does not consist of fragmented machineries working individually to attain goals but they now function as a fused collection of servers, storage devices, and systems to meet the changing processing needs of ABL. This resulted in dramatic cost reduction, overall efficiency and enhancement in the quality of customer service. It has also reduced hardware costs by efficient networking and amalgamating of functions performed by various servers and systems. Cost reduction also took place because Oracle 10g eliminated the need for the purchases and upgrading of management softwares and tools and third party interventions as it was a complete management solution in itself. Oracle 10g also enabled Allied Bank Limited in efficient and wider data base storage, high and faster accessibility of data, faster performance, secure data transferring and cheaper application development. Salient features of Oracle 10g from which ABL is benefiting from are described below in great detail:  [1]   Oracle 10g served as a very attractive investment for Allied Bank Limited as it cut down significant costs of Allied Bank on hardware because Oracle 10g provide the technology of Oracle Real Application Clusters which enabled the creation of communication clusters via use of just 3-4 PCs which become more easier to administer and run and are more efficient as compared to functioning of sole systems. Oracle 10g also enabled Allied Bank to cut down its costs on storage devices which prove to be a big cost for banks to store humongous amounts of daily transactions and data. However, this problem was solved by the use of Oracles automatic storage management which not only enabled the pooling of PCs but also enabled pooling of storage devices to the communication cluster as per required. This choice of addition of storage devices to clusters made the data transformation, collection and storage cheaper, easier and efficient. Oracle 10g has enabled Allied bank to save on its database management costs as its database administration is either completely automatic or much uncomplicated. This has enabled Allied bank to save its costs on the training of new database managers. Oracle 10g has its own cluster administration softwares which monitor, manage the performance of clusters and thus eliminates the needs for extra utility and program softwares. Oracle uses Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control and Management Packs to monitor clusters performance efficiently. Oracle 10g uses GUI tools and utilities for increasing the power and efficiency of the clusters. Oracle 10g also introduces self-administration in the databases through use of programs such as Automatic Storage Management, Automatic Memory Management, Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection, Automatic Workload Repository, Automatic Database Diagnostics Monitor, Automatic SQL Tuning, Segment Advisor, Automatic Workload Management, Automatic Disk-Based Backup and Recovery to meet the changing processing, data transforming and storing demands. Thus, Allied Bank has benefited greatly from its shift from Manual systems to the automated Oracle 10g system. The benefits reaped are unparalleled in terms of cost reduction, efficiency, data disseminating and decision making. Allied Bank in addition to the use of Oracle 10g uses softwares such as Unibank, however it is planning to change its banking software from Unibank to Temenos t-24 in the mid of 2010. Shift from Unibank to Temenos T-24 When Allied bank shifted to automated Information Systems in 2002, it started using softwares such as UNIBANK .This software held answers to the management of all the chaos created by the use of manual systems.  [2]  Unibank was a branch centric cash management software which held answers to the banking problems of the time thus it was called the core banking solution. Unibank gave faster and safe electronic access to banking transactions and functions. Unibank enabled Allied Bank to: Evaluate the latest record of all account transactions taking place in the branch Exchange information with other departments of the branch such as finance and accounting Monitoring and management of deposits and withdrawals simultaneously Electronic transfer of data from one branch to another Provision of e-statements for the employees making their jobs easier. Secure data control and transfer. Electronic monitoring and management of employee payrolls Need for Temenos T-24 Although Unibank seemed to be the answer to all the banking problems at that time however due to changing technological trends, higher uncertainty in the environment, shift towards centralized functioning and policies, Allied Bank has decided to shift from Unibank to Temenos T-24. The reason being that, Unibank was branch centric software and due to this reason data could be lost or misplaced if server crashed at any particular branch. Moreover, considering the uncertain political situation in Pakistan, there was high possibility of raids and fires and due to this the threat of data loss was eminent thus a shift is being planned and implemented from Unibank to Temenos T-24 as we speak. This shift will be implemented in all the branches countrywide within a period of 6 months. The reason for shifting to Temenos T-24 is that it is centralized software with the central server in Kashmir Road Branch in Lahore. This central server acts as a hub and daily transmissions are not only recorded in branches but in the central hub too, thus making the information more secure. Moreover, designated user ids/passwords, bio-metric systems add to the security of information. All the transactions and operation take place in real time. Policies are designed at the central server in Lahore and are applicable to all the branches country wide thus making the operations uniform and consistent in all the branches.  [3]   Temenos T-24 in addition to providing all the functions that Unibank provided, offers a more secure platform and new and efficient data bases. Moreover, Temenos T-24 is partners with Microsoft and has adopted MS platform to make the functioning of the software more user-friendly and easy. Moreover, one of the reasons for adopting Temenos T24 by ABL is that its cost of owner ship is very cheap as compared to the benefits it provides. Moreover, it uses established programs such as HTTP, XML so that functioning it not an entirely new experience but adds on to the previous knowledge of the employees. Moreover, it has an edge over Unibank as it eliminates the need for end-of-day banking and is a true 24/7 banking system, which heaves away burden from the employees and enables employees and customers to access updated information at all times. Department: Commercial and Retail Banking Overview The Commercial Retail Banking Group (CRBG) offers a variety of asset and liability-based retail products to its customers. The Groups main focus has been on introducing various financing and investment products for its valuable clients, and contributing to the steady growth of the financial industry. CRBG consists of 4 geographic groups and is further divided across 27 regions in Pakistan. Each region is responsible for providing a quality service to its own customer-base. In recent years, the Group has been working to find alternate ways to bank for customers, and has installed more ATMs to its already strong and largest ATM network. The department offers the following product and services to its customers Internet Banking Online Banking Profit Rates ATM Network Unclaimed Deposits Deposit Account SME Agriculture Other Services Corporate Leasing The department has a total of 6000 employees all over Pakistan, the information flow and the data transfer rate thus is very high and poses a great challenge for the Information System of the department to maintain and keep it secure. Functional Hierarchy of the Department Technical specifications Allied Bank after its privatization has been following a pro I.T policy. The switch from the manual system to a more automated Information System requires certain infrastructure (PCs, Softwares etc) and ABL in this regard didnt compromise on quality; they have a contract with Digital World Pakistan Pvt. Ltd. (DWP) to provide state of the art computers with the best softwares to run the M.I.S system. The CRBG dept of ABL has the following I.T infrastructure: Hardware Specifications Personal computers- 14 in total Consisting of 9 desktop PCs and 5 laptops Desktop PCs Specs: Intel Pentium 4 2.5ghz, 512MB RAM, 80 GB hard-disk Laptop PCs Specifications: Intel Dual Core2 2Ghz, 2gb RAM, 160GB Hard-disk HP Printers 3 in total 2 HP LaserJet 1010 Colored Printers, 1 HP Desk-jet Black and white printer HP Digital Scanner IBM P5 Mainframe Server Specifications: Four 1.65GHz 64-bit POWER5 processors L2 cache: 1.9MB (2-way); 3.8MB (4-way) L3 cache: 36MB (2-way); 72MB (4-way) 32GB of 266MHz DDR1 memory Two 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports Optional 2 Gigabit Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 4x InfiniBand ® adapters Two USB, two HMC and two system ports Software Specifications Application Software CRBG department Employees uses the following application softwares; Microsoft Office 2007 2010 McAfee Anti-Virus 2010 Adobe Reader 8 System Software The departments computers were found to be using the following system softwares; Operating System: Windows XP for Desk-top PCs and Windows Vista for the Laptops. Windows NT server for mainframe server. Core Banking Solution The software currently in use is UNIBANK, however T24 has been introduced in one branch in LAHORE. Query Software ABL employees generate queries through these softwares, for example if I want to view a customers demographics I will put in a query in the Discoverer Viewer which will then seek the data from the Central Database Discoverer Viewer It is just for viewing of data, Discoverer PLUS The queries here can even be edited and employees have limited access to this software Network Type Allied bank is using the client/server network because the employees easily share the data and its cheaper than others and maintainable. All the data is saved in Central Database (CBS) and employees can easily access it. This type of computing system provides an easy access and efficient flow of data, which increase the functionality of organization. End-User and training In this era of cut-throat competition and diminishing profit margins Banks are becoming more lean, service oriented and efficient. As mentioned before Banks in order to keep this trend of efficiency going upward are adopting new information systems and updating the existing ones however one barrier to this are the employees, there is already a shortage of computer literate people in Pakistan and for this reason when new softwares or In our case a new CORE BANKNG SOLUTION is introduced it requires rigorous training session to train the employees so that they are able to use the software. The effectiveness of core banking systems is directly related to the skills and knowledge of those operating them; therefore training is an essential investment and not an expense. The training session have been divided into three stages When we talk of the end user its the employees themselves here, they use the information available and make different queries accordingly as mentioned before currently the Core Banking Solution (CBS) namely Unibank is being change to Temenos and this requires that the support and operations staff be trained to use this CBS. For this reason different training sessions have been organized by the Bank and the Temenos technical team itself. Apart from this Temenos, to support the contracted BANKS, also provides the following courses to their employees: Open Training Courses Bespoke Training courses End User Training (EUT) Training consultancy for design and development of EUT courses eLearning and Computer Based Training (CBT) The Train the Trainer approach The benefits of attending these training programs include dedicated premises and training equipment, and the added advantage of minimizing interruptions for the duration of training course. Information Intakes and Flow CRBG has information flow daily from all over Pakistan, the department has the responsibility to effectively manage the liabilities of the Bank. The information accessible by this department through the Information system includes: Daily Monitoring of Deposits The deposits intakes and off takes during the day Maintaining a minimum balance of funds ATM monitoring Monitoring the downtime of each ATM Monitoring which area has a consistent network/server issues Customer Demographics ABLs information system is linked to NADRAs system for verification of Customers IDs CRBG has access to all the information of its customers and employees as it is responsible for managing the liabilities section Account Opening Run Rate The accounts opened each day along with their balances Employee Check in Check out time Through monitoring of this data employee efficiency can also be measured. Query Regarding an Employee Employee Record Information Flow We observe TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM functional in this department apart from the Office Automation Systems, all the activities and transactions done throughout the chain of command in this department is recorded first at the Branch level then after EODs (End of Day) are Run all the data of that days transactions are transferred to the ORACLE CENTRAL DATABASE located in ABL HEAD-QUARTERS LAHORE. Real-time Monitoring is being done of this information flow by the department, once the days information is saved in the ORACLE CENTRAL DATABASE in their respected fields and tables, it can be accessed through the DISCOVERER VIEWER/PLUS Software the next day by creating a query for it. Issues with the Information System To function effectively as an interacting, interrelated, and interdependent feeDatabase Administratorck tool for management and staff, MIS must be useable. The five elements of a useable MIS system are: timeliness, accuracy, consistency, completeness, and relevance. The usefulness of MIS is hindered whenever one or more of these elements are compromised. The IS at Allied Bank, although effective to a great extent, has certain weaknesses as we found out: From a branch centered approach, the bank has moved to a centralized system. Transactions at the branches, previously used to be stored and processed at the branches only. It was only at the day end, that all data and information was relayed to the head office. Now, however, this practice has changed. Branches only facilitate interactions with customers, whereas the information is directly send to the head office and is processed there in real time. The problem with this is the time lag that results subsequently. Data flow from the point of transaction to the head office, back to the point of transaction is a longer and hence a slower process. Also the security procedures inbuilt in the new software, Temenos, make processing slower. In the new IS, cash transactions taking place go from a Temenos account head to a buffer account and then to the customers account. Previously, the cash transactions were directly debited/ credited to the customer account. Buffer accounts created, although increase the overall security; make the processing of data slower. Too much reliance on information systems also means that in the scenario when server crashes down, or gets hanged, banking transactions will be completely disrupted. Security Measures and Backup One of the major concerns of organizations using information technology to carry out their business processes is how to secure the data against internal and external threats. With modern advancements, mitigating information security threats has become an ongoing battle. Viruses, worms, hacker attacks, spam, phishing, and instant messaging attacks are just some of the problems. Data bank faces risk of security breaches not only at the hands of customers and outsiders, but also from the employees working within the organization. Therefore it is highly crucial to build security parameters to detect whatsoever threats there might be and also to ensure data safety. At Allied Bank, data security is the thing that cannot be compromised at all. For this reason, the MIS department has taken stringent measures to ensure data security. The Corporate and Retail Department which deals primarily in confidential data of bank customers has taken numerous steps to avert security threats. Employees have individual Ids and passwords that they use to log-in to the system database. But this does not mean that all the employees have same access to the data and information. There are proper hierarchy levels: which implies that there are gatekeepers at each level, supervising who access what data! Password protection is there to prevent just everybody from viewing confidential data. Moreover, Allied Bank uses SSL certified encryption to secure its data channels. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is an industry standard and is used in the protection of online transactions with customers. Encryption of data exchanged by customers and the bank ensures that data security, even if breached on its way, will make decrypting and understanding the data difficult. Anti-virus and anti-spam packages like McAfee Anti-Virus are also installed to secure data against viruses, spam, etc. There is also a Disaster Recovery System in place, in case of fire, raids, and other unforeseen and unexpected events. The backups are stored at both hot and cold sites. The head office in Lahore is the hot site. It is the central database of Allied Bank where all the transactions taking place in the eight hundred or so branches are recorded and updated on a real time basis. The cold sites are at the twenty seven regional offices all over Pakistan. These cold sites are updated at appropriate intervals, on a weekly basis sometimes. In accordance with the State Bank of Pakistan regulation, data and information of three years is stored and maintained at these cold sites. Also, USBs are widely used as potable storage devices. Future Plans Allied bank is planning to replace the current Core Business Solution Uni Bank with Temenos. This transformation is in its phase I. The software is being tested in one branch near the Head Office in Lahore. This testing phase will end on June 30th. Training of employees is being conducted and further more sessions are in the pipeline Allied bank plans to introduce Temenos in 107 branches out of the whole network of 800 braches within six months. Implementation in further branches is still unplanned. Allied Bank has opened its branch in Kashmir and plans to extend its network and reach in the remote areas of the country. Recommendations The disaster recovery system at Allied Bank is inappropriate to bear the load of 800 branches. There is one common hot site of all the branches at the Head Office and cold sites at the regional offices, 27 in number. But we feel that these backups are too less, keeping the current security scenario in view where banks have even been raided and burned by mobs. Therefore the backups should be set up at places other than the bank branches. The training period for a batch of 50 people is three weeks on average. We feel that this is insufficient as the new banking system Temenos has far complex procedures as the user interface is not friendly. Proper temperature controls are needed for the server to operate efficiently. We feel that the current infrastructure is insufficient to support the system. References http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/topics/0,295493,sid14_tax299811,00.html http://tldp.org/HOWTO/SSL-Certificates-HOWTO/x64.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_recovery http://info.ssl.com/article.aspx?id=10241 http://www.occ.treas.gov/handbook/mis.pdf http://www.temenos.com http://www.abl.com.pk http://www.oracle.com

Database Environment Paper Essay

After 45 minutes of walking through the cummers museum and realizing that Jacksonville is home to four beautiful museums. These museums will not only captivate you but also tell you a story in history. By understanding this I walk through the commer museum in amazement but being from a IT background my mind soon begin to wonder how do they keep track all of these beautiful works of art. I mean there’s things that have to be taken into consideration. In example who is the artist, the location where the art is display, can it be or is it on loan, the year the artist created the artwork. After thinking about this for a few minutes a database popped in to my mind. A database management system can easily do all of these things and more. A museum can choose a variety of databases to complete this task but just for explanation purposes we’re going to use Microsoft access to help us understand how a database can complete the task of tracking the artwork and giving us an accurat e account and location. Let’s keep in mind while we are designing and building the database three words; real, conceptual, and representations if we keep these three keywords at the forefront of our design we will design a usable and efficient database. Simply put the design of a database is to define the structure of data that can be queried and give out meaningful information to the end-user. And will design database also allows for easy maintenance and upkeep. With over 5000 works of arts in the cummers museum there’s a lot of data that has to be enter into access on the front and ongoing in order for the museum to be able to used the software. But in order to do this we must first understand how the data or where the data is entered in Microsoft access. Data is stored in what is called a tables, each table consists of data about a specific subject in example; painters name, date art was created, location ,Address, zip code,  city. By putting data in a table that is specific it allows for changing of data in specific table and it will automatically populating throughout the whole database. This also allows for different types of queriers making the database efficient. Let also look at what is a query. A query is a search by the end users which displays usable information. A query can sometimes and most time often will also display subsets of data as well. The subsets of the table is referred to as A field or as an attribute. To understand this a little better you can think about the squares in Microsoft excel those squares are fields and/or attributes is a place with database tables used to store one piece of given data. When entering data into a table or A field is called an entry. An entry is data that needs to be tracked. Now the question how can all of this information help the museum track there artwork. When billing the initial database you can one can use the artwork name as the interest in the fields or attributes can be the artist name the date the artist created the piece of artwork artwork that exactly where the artwork is located inside the singing is the artwork being load out or is it all from another museum what does the museum that peace of artwork. After entering all of the fields and tables we can then run a ERD report to help us see how the database is coming along by doing so were able to see from it overview what tables relate to what and in sure that all of the tables that need to t alk to each other are doing so. It is easy to see if you museum created a database as explained above that you can effortlessly track each keys of work. References What is a Database. (2011). Retrieved from http://databases.about.com/od/specificproducts/a/whatisadatabase.htm What Is Database Architecture. (2003-2014). Retrieved from http://degreedirectory.org/articles/What_is_Database_Architecture.html Coronel, C., Morris, S., & Rob, P. (2013 ). Database Systems (10th ed.). : Cengage Learning

Before and After the Cellphone Essay

Cellphones have gradually become an imperative part of peoples lives today. 70% of the world’s population have cellphones. These days, people and their mobile phones seem to be inseparable. Texting or calling someone when we wake up has become a usual habit just like brushing our teeth in the morning. For many of us, it’s hard to imagine a time before cellphones. Having a cellphone has changed our manners, the way we communicate, and our safety. Before cellphones there seemed to be more peace and quite. People seemed to have manners. Today people don’t always remember their manners when using their cellphones. People constantly carrying on personal conversations in a public place can be very annoying. Some people talk really loud and don’t care that everyone around them can hear every word they are saying. It can be extremely disturbing to someone when they are walking in a mall or down a street and someone starts speaking right beside or behind them. They turn to respond, only to find out he or she beside them has an earbud active. Before we had cellphones people would actually write letters. During my elementary school days it was â€Å"cool† to pass notes. We actually used complete sentences and words that were in the dictionary. Also before cellphones if someone was to leave the house, they didn’t make a phone call unless they popped 10 cents into a pay phone. People never received any calls away from home. People actually had to be out of touch with friends and family when they weren’t at home. Now that we have cell phones letters are rarely sent. Today note passing is rare. If kids want to communicate during school they simply just shoot each other a text message. Also, today if someone is to leave the house, making a phone call is easy. With a quick dial on a cellphone people can make a call at any time. Cellphones have not only changed the way we communicate but they have changed our safety. Texting and driving has become common and has caused many deaths in the United States. It was reported in 2005 that cellphone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year. Another safety issue with cellphones is privacy. Say someone’s at an airport, or on the bus. Several people are on their cellphones, some talking business, and others talking about personal information. Any information shared has now become available to anyone else who might have been around to hear their phone call. Others may now know their address, information about their family, or financial records. Before cellphones life were more safe. Before cell phones people didn’t have to constantly worry about someone overhearing their conversation. Also people didn’t have to worry about others driving them off the road because of the careless mistake of texting while driving. The cellphone is loved by many and hated by the few for ruining society. Although cellphones have changed society I have a hard time imagining my life without one. Cellphones have had a major impact on our lives and have vastly changed our manners, the way we communicate and our safety. Many of these changes are apparent, while others we may not even be aware of.