IFSM-300 Case Study, Stage 4: IT Solution and Next Steps

Overview of IT Solution and Next Steps for Kelly's Salon

Alex

10/09/2016

I.

Introduction

The case talks about Kellys Salon which has been in business since 1995 and has only
recently started facing stiff competition from a variety of competitors like Hair Cutterys.
Kelly has identified that scheduling her employees and her customers as her major challenge
and wants to address it immediately as it is fundamental to her business. This paper consists
of the IT solution, the vendor requirement based on the relevant data inputs and the outputs,
hardware and telecommunications requirements, configuration, data migration and
maintenance with the corresponding explanation for each.
Generic Strategy for Competitive Advantage: Cost Leadership Strategy
Business Process to Be Improved: Appointment Process

II.

Proposed IT Solution

Cloud based solution refers to application, services and distribution model in which the
resources are made available to the customers online via internet. Companies typically use
these applications to provide their customers with a wide range of features including those
needed for Kellys Salon in particular i.e. Usability, Maintainability, Portability, high level of
data accuracy with the generic features of any Enterprise resource planning and customer
management solution. The solution being proposed here is SETMORE. It is a powerful
scheduling solution which is available for managing appointments for staff and customers
alike and manages scheduling based on the real-time basis. The reasons for selecting this
particular system as IT solution over others for Kellys Salon are as follows: Flexibility: Being a cloud based service, SETMORE is ideal for businesses such as
Kellys which are not only growing at a rapid pace but also have fluctuating
bandwidth.

 Accessibility : As seen in Stage 2 and Stage 3, Kellys is a growing business which

means often teams working in parallel would need access to editable and sharable
documents, anytime and anywhere together to do it better.
Competitiveness: moving to the cloud gives access to enterprise-class technology, for
everyone. It also allows smaller businesses like that of Kellys to act swiftly and in a
better way than established competitors. Pay-as-you-go service and cloud business
applications means Kellys salon can run with the big boys, and disrupt the market,
while remaining lean and nimble.
With SETMORE, Kelly can extend the functionalities beyond web application by integrating
it with popular web services like Facebook, Google Calendar, Answerconnect, Mail Chimp
and PayPal etc, all at ZERO cost. It provides a plethora of services apart from scheduling
like SMS reminders, Email Reminders, iOS App, Android App, Payments and Booking etc all
in one box.

III. Implementation Steps

Being a cloud based solution is good not only in terms of the features it provides but also in
terms of the implementation being easy. You dont have to be an expert in systems to go
ahead and implement this solution. With everything online and managed by third party, it is
ready to use at just a click. This is essential since it makes it easier for Kelly to train her staff
and also acquaint customers about the same.
Vendor Agreement: Gone are the days when you had to setup software on your
desktop to be able to run an application of this sort. All Kelly has to do is sign-up on
SETMORE website (https://www.setmore.com) and get started. It provides unlimited
appointments, manages scheduling for up to 20 staff members, unlimited services for
unlimited customers all for NO CHARGE. Yes, its absolutely free for this with no

hidden conditions. You have to pay $25 a month if you want to avail premium
services.

Hardware and Telecommunications: In terms of hardware, Kelly has to install

absolutely none in order to get running with this application. All Kelly has to do is
have an internet connection at the Salons so be online all the time. Internet access
would of course involve getting a router and a connection for the salon. No hardware
necessary.

Configuration: Since it is a cloud-based system and no hardware requirements are

necessary, it is auto-configured online. It will be managed completely by experts at
SETMORE.

Testing: Since it is a cloud-based system, Kelly can test this system at any one of the
Salons for as long as it meets their business requirements absolutely free. All
information regarding how to handle the system will be provided by the staff at
SETMORE and 24*7 support services are available in case of any emergency.

Employee preparation: There is an online blog on SETMORE website for new users
which has small self explanatory videos on describing each feature and how to use it.
The staff with even limited technology background can understand and start using it.

Data Migration: Current schedules would need to be updated by the staff onto
SETMORE. Once that is done everything will be managed by SETMORE right from
sending notifications, updated scheduling etc by them. The customers can avail this
from their mobile phones using an iOS or android app on the go.

System use: The system will be available for use to the staff members and customers
apart from the administration at Kellys Salon. If any user has any queries they want
addressed, they can ping a support staff from SETMORE available online right away.

Apart from that SETMORE has a huge knowledge repository for new users which has
all the frequently asked questions and queries answered.

Maintenance: SETMORE will take care of all maintenance and scheduled updates.
No need for external staff member at Kelly to work on it.

IV.

Conclusion

The project began with Porters five force analysis followed by identification of the
functional requirements needed to improve the IT process. Following analysis of the business
environment and the business and IT requirements, a solution was cloud-based solution was
proposed. The solution is in line with the exact requirements identified and addresses all
possible issues that can appear in the future. Considering the choice of strategy taken by
Kelly for competitive advantage and business process to be improved, the solution proposed
is a perfect blend of vendor-provided and operated cloud solution and lowering operational
costs.

V.

References

https://www.setmore.com
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/cloud_based.html
http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Software-as-a-Service
http://www.smallbizcrm.com/vertical-market-crm/crm-beauty-wellness/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensibility
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_management