Evaluating Decisions of Monet Group †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Evaluating Decisions of Monet Group. Answer: Introduction Information Systems (IS) connects the rent areas of knowledge of computers with different sections of a firms operations. IS comprise of people, processes and information related to organization of digital information and its analysis. For a business to be competitive in a changing environment, businesses need to change their objectives from time to time in order to meet the appropriate goals. Therefore, businesses need to encourage a learning environment. When the environment changes, a company also needs to adjust its goals accordingly in order to prevent any severe actions. They need to learn from past mistakes and associate their actions with the same accordingly. With the digitalization of marketing and administrative operations, companies now look forward to upgrade their systems from time to time and apply technology accordingly. This is applicable to almost any sector. In industries which require marketing across the borders, IT can be of great use as it helps the company rea ch customers at any corner of the world. There are various benefits that customers of a business applications of technology can enjoy. First, customers can stay updated about new products and services. People can now access the internet in any place with their tablets, smartphones and ipods. Second, customers can easily compare the price of products they want to buy between different brands. It is not necessary for customers to visit different retail stores but can compare the price from the comfort of their homes by visiting different company websites. A group of holiday resorts decided to merge their operations in order to deliver better and faster service to the customers. The Money Group therefore undertakes a wide range of operations in Australia. The living quarters include backpacker, bed and breakfast homes to luxurious suites. The group also provides alternatives to different holiday booking sites like booking.com, travel.com.au. Hence customers can book directly. This way bookings can be done through one outlet or website with a mobile app. Prices usually differ as per demand and seasonal factors. To make the most of IT applications for betterment of business the management undertook two important decisions. Firstly, he announced a customer loyalty scheme, MonetLoyalty which attempted to reward customers with free tours, free meals ad airport transfers. Secondly, he initiated interactive tools which could allow customers to make their choices regarding their tours. Now both these decisions intend to make most of technology and offer best value to customers. These decisions are evaluated extensively in the current report with respect to effectiveness of internet marketing or applications of IT. Significance and Contribution A firm usually begins by collecting data. First it determines the likeliness of the outcomes after identifying the uncertainties around it. The environment in which the firm operates comprise its internal and external conditions, state of technology used by the firm and its competitors. The businesses need to remember the consequences of their actions in the past, take lessons from there and store in memory accordingly. Such connections are achieved through their experiences, experiments, standards of benchmarking, grafting etc. In the second stage of learning, data is usually interpreted and some likely or expected outcome are listed. These can be compared with actual outcomes. In case the actual outcome does not meet expectations, the process is repeated. When feedbacks are generated, it becomes convenient for the firms to incorporate the same and generate results accordingly (York University 2010). So the main concept of information systems is like maintaining a system of informat ion and circulating the same effectively. Now all these will require a technology which can be upgraded from time to time. On other hand Information Technology does come under Information Systems theory but deals with technology which run the systems. It involves study, design, implementation and management of computer oriented information systems. IT comprises of hardware, software, databases and networks. With advent of the Internet almost all key operations in a company have become IT enabled. So one can safely say that in order to maintain an effective information system, IT can be used and applied. In the travel, hospitality and tourism industry, marketing and catering to tourists involve creation and distribution of information related to the sector. Stakeholders who need to access this information are consumers, tourism agencies and tour operators who can therefore use them to understand associated products and services. The information related to this industry includes potential activities related to tourism, the sights and ways of reaching various destinations. Every destination of tourism is marked by information which can be distributed in forms of brochures or pamphlets. Now, these require high cost of printing which can be avoided via low cost Internet marketing is used. Internet has brought a dynamic change in the shopping behavior of customers. With a wide range of products easily available and facilities to compare the price and quality of products, customers have become more discerning. There are also distinct websites that exclusively allow price comparisons betwee n different brands of similar products so that customers can make their choice within their financial budget. Third, customers can get detailed information about any product/services from the internet and does not have to depend on the knowledge of salespersons. Fourth, customers can always remain aware of price changes and discount offers since internet can be accessible 24x7 (Dave, 2009). Thus, now customers do not have to visit retail stores to stay informed about any ongoing discount schemes. Fifth, online shopping also has the facility by which customers can choose the date, time and place of delivery. They can also keep track of the orders they have placed that can make them feel they are getting good service (Michie, 2006). The first decision of MonetGroup should definitely imbibe brand loyalty and surely affect choices of customers. For marketing in tourism to be successful, the operator needs to have a strategic outlook for understanding changes in the market from material to virtual side coupled with forces of demand and supply. Companies are more interested in using ecommerce for their interests. Social media tools and blog sites can be used to use audio and visuals for appealing to potential customer base. Pictures and personal stories can make these websites very interactive. Websites like Goibobo.com and MakemyTrip.com have made access to hotels and booking of flights much less costly. Online booking of hotels and flights involve the facility of availing cash back on tickets. However, with the advent of Internet marketing tour operators are now restructuring the companies. Vertical integration became important in Great Britain for companies based on online sales. While the airline companies faced the threat of direct sales, the big business houses have moved forward to incorporate diversified products like hotels, renting of cars, cruises etc. The crucial role of the Internet in the tourism industry relates to direct reservation and dealing between the consumer and service provider. Direct marketing can help consumers and marketers gain more control and low cost of access (Kotler, 2008). Therefore the decision to integrate various related services crucial to the tourism industry is a boon to the MonetGroup. However success of the first decision depends a lot upon the extent to which the discounts and incentives are given. The scheme should be well designed as not to bring loss to the company. At the same time it should generate brand value and loyalty based on word of mouth and other forms of sharing information. The other decision is mainly about providing customers an interactive platform where they can give feedbacks and talk about their requirements. Once demand pattern is studied, it is possible to understand what price will maximize sales while at the same time will justify the cost. Traditional forms of direct marketing could involve talking one to one or sending email at most. With rigorous use of the internet, product promotion can be done by addressing the right target customers. Internet is also the most convenient place for marketing since it is interactive and user-friendly, and is accessible 24x7. The company website needs to be able to handle large volume of customers, should have an FAQ section, and other processes to attract customers. Since it is not possible to get physical evidence of a products usage, therefore it is necessary to have online communication with customers in the manner so as to convince them to buy the product. Images and video demos of the product can be h elpful. The marketing mix of tourism sector in the cyber space can be achieved as follows. The Product or service is available in the cyber space by a description of characteristics and visual representations of the service as per customers requirements. The price is known to all users who want to avail the service. While booking a hotel room rates are known and seat preferences of flights can be selected virtually through visual imagery. Online payment systems can use various kinds of currency. Personalized promotional offers by analyzing consumers behavior is another interesting and effective component. For instance special rates could be offered for a bus/air ticket to a person who frequently visits a certain place. Place or distribution works in cost effective manner by providing the relevant information to consumers. Promotion can be attained by direct communication between the client and the firm. Unlike traditional media, the platform offers various possibilities of exchangin g information (Mih?lcescu and Sion, 2011). Conclusion The acceptability of using IT for marketing among tourists are on the rise essentially because of large scale availability of valuable information. The Internet helps in building a database of information about consumers. This information is integrated by collecting data from the visitors of company websites. History of all online transactions could be the key source of marketing information for various companies in the tourism industry. Also the growing number of websites in travel and tourism sector have enabled one company get information about the marketing strategies and activities of its competitors by scanning their websites. Online marketing in tourism also involve creating a cyber-community comprising of tourists with common interests and behavior. Businesses are eventually applying technology such that online marketing can offer higher levels of safety and security. The idea therefore is to provide security. By second half of twenty first century this is attained and theref ore people are gradually availing more online dealings using tour operators websites and other platforms. (Niranjanamurthy Chahar, 2013). One of the purposes behind such transactions is a bent towards socialization and often the driving force is not material gain but providing goods at low cost, sharing opinions and ideas. The online platform also offers great means of sharing or exchanging products/services. This could even be applied to tourism sector. For instance, one person who has booked a hotel and wants to cancel his trip after exchanging or reselling his service to someone who can afford to visit the place at that time. Buyers and sellers leave reviews of various services and this offers predictability to the buyer regarding the quality of service. (Lou et al, 2013). For instance if some tourists give reviews on a certain hotels service and conditions, these will certainly benefit other tour planners. After entering the online platform or market any user has access to a wide range of choices from various providers of tourism services. Depending on his budget the person can compare features and conveniently depend on deal suggestions obtained from websites where various features are compared. Services like tourist packages, hotels, and flight bookings, product launches, service ratings, information is shared are accessed easily by all (Lou et al, 2013). There are certain auxiliary monetary benefits such as returning customers, positive brand impression, number of hits in a website etc. (Rifkin, 2014). The ecommerce platform can help MonetGroup to develop his brand. References Dave, C. (2009). E-Business and E-Commerce Management, 3rd ed., Delhi: Pearson Education Kotler, P. and G.M. Armstrong (2008). Principles of Marketing, London: Pearson Hall Lou, J., Fang, Y., Lim, K. H., Peng, J. Z. (2013). Contributing high quantity and quality knowledge to online QA communities.Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology,64(2), 356-371. Michie, J. (2006). Street Smart Internet Marketing, Performance Marketing Group Mih?lcescu, C. and B. Sion (2011), THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE INTERNET AS TOURISM MARKETING INSTRUMENT, Retrieved from: ftp://ftp.repec.org/opt/ReDIF/RePEc/rau/jisomg/SP11/JISOM-SP11-A7.pdf Niranjanamurthy, M. Chahar, D. (2013) The study of E-Commerce Security Issues and Solutions. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, 2(7), 2885-95. Rifkin, J. (2014).The zero marginal cost society: The internet of things, the collaborative commons, and the eclipse of capitalism. Palgrave Macmillan. York University (2010) Institutional Theory Retrieved from: https://www.fsc.yorku.ca/york/istheory/wiki/index.php/Institutional_theory York University (2010) Organizational Learning Theory, Retrieved from: https://www.fsc.yorku.ca/york/istheory/wiki/index.php/Organizational_learning_theory