Final Project: Club IT, Part 3
There is no much that you have to take into consideration before you can open up a business and so much you have to maintain after it opens up. Club IT is a nightclub that has been open for a few months now and it seems to be very successful. To have a successful nightclub, you must make sure that you are offering you cliental what they want, so that they keep coming back and bring their friends and family with them. Owing a nightclub can be very expensive and risky, but sometimes you have to take chances like the owners of Club IT did. In this paper you will be reading about the technology plan that Club IT has.
Organization Description and Demographic Information
Both Ruben Keys and Lisa Tejada, in 2005, graduated from college and they both earned their degrees in business administration. While they were taking courses in college, Lisa and Ruben worked as musicians, Lisa on the jazz violin and Ruben on the drums, this allowed them to work at different nightclubs and also helped them earn money to get through school. While working in these different nightclubs they were able to learn and get firsthand experience on how to own and operate a nightclub. There is nothing wrong with getting the experience you need on someone else’s dime because this would be considered trial and error, when you are able to do this you really get to see if this is the kind of business that you want to get into, especially when you have to use your own money. From the looks of things, it seems like Lisa and Ruben have the skills that it takes to get this business up and running.
The club is about 6,000 square feet and can hold up to 220 people. For the most part, the club will be open every day excluding Sundays. Club IT will have all different types of music genres to choose from (rap, live bands, techno, etc) because not everybody will want to listen to the same thing and with a mixed crowd they do not want to leave anyone out. Instead of having a full menu, they will only serve drinks and some appetizers. Club IT, is fully staffed to meet the needs of their cliental; they have four bartenders, six wait staff, two stewards, two short order cooks, four security guards, and one assistant manager.
Goals and Strategies
With any business you want to make sure that you have short and long term goals set, so that you can keep up with the swing of things. One short term goal that Club IT has would be to get a more efficient type of internet. With a dial up connection, they are going to be sending and receiving information at a slow pace and this could hurt the business because what could only possibly take a few seconds, it can take hours when you are trying to make orders or receive vital information. Another short term goal they have is to get a website. When they establish a website, more people could possibly know about the club and want to come visit, which in return will put more money in their pockets, allowing them to make a high profit instead of a loss.
There is so much information that you have to stay on top of when you have your own business. With the club owners or Club IT, once they get a high speed internet connection they will be able to stay on top of things. They would not have to wait all day to get the information that they need or they would not have to do anywhere else to use the internet also. It seems like anymore you need the internet for your business to stay afloat. With having a website their customers can leave comments on how the club is, their likes and dislikes. They can show what they of music or bands will be playing that particular night, even what type of specials that they may be having for that particular evening.
Once they have a secure information system, this will allow them to branch out more and be more connected with their cliental base. They will be able to stay connected with the latest trends (music, foods, drinks). Lisa and Ruben will be able to keep their staff trained so that they are more efficient when times change and know how to properly handle a situation in case one was to arise. Having an information system can help out with solving problems in a faster way and probably logical way, than a human. Information systems can either you out for the good, if you use it like out are supposed to or for the bad, not using one at all.
Profession development. Not everyone is technology literate, so here at the club we are going to be having paid trainings, so that they employees can get used to how to work the new technology in integrate it into their everyday work. However, when dealing with a large number of people with varying work schedules, coordinating regular training sessions that everyone can attend can be a real hassle (http://www.techrepublic.com). So, where there are times that we all cannot get together for these trainings, Lisa and Ruben will put together a PowerPoint presentation and send it to everyone via email, so that when they return to work they will know how use the new technology. Not everyone is going to get how to use it first thing, but with trainings and trial and error, they will succeed at mastering the new system.
At the times that Lisa and Ruben can get everyone together, they will be holding monthly trainings, so that everyone is being refreshed with all this new technology. If something urgent comes up they will send out emails or text messages about anything new that may be happening. These trainings will be offered every time that the system has been upgraded or on a personal basis according to your job. If an employee feels as if they need extra training, Lisa and/or Ruben will set up a day and time that suits best for the employee and them to get that employee the extra one on one training that they need.
During the times of the scheduled trainings, Lisa and Ruben will be providing the trainings. There will be times that the assistant manager will be holding trainings for the times that Lisa and Ruben cannot attend them. For the individuals that need some extra training for the software, it will really depend on how has an open schedule between Ruben and Lisa or the assistant manager. The staff along with the management team will familiarize themselves with the appropriate technology according to their position will log on each day to the system to make sure that nothing has updated. If anything has updated within their position, the employee can request a one on one or they can follow the prompts and do the online trainings themselves.
Assessment of Needs. The current technology environment at Club It is pretty much tense and difficult. Quantities and costs for food and beverage operations, payroll, concert events, and marketing campaigns are difficult to compile with their current information systems. They realize they must first implement a transaction processing system (TPS) before they can expect to receive high-quality data from an MIS (management information system) (Appendix E, Club IT, Part 3). There is too much that they have to do before they can get the information that they need to complete a task. In my own opinion, I feel that they should pursue the computer-aided software engineering (CASE). CASE is a development approach that uses specialized tools to automate many of the tasks in the SDLC (Rainer & Turban, 2009, p. 307). Case can also help speed up the development process; with a new club Lisa and Ruben are going to have to be able to keep up with the latest trends in music, styles, food, and drinks.
The Budget. From the looks of things, it appears that the club is bringing in good money. With the money that they make from the profit, it needs to be invested into the purchasing of the new hardware and software to make things easier at the club. Once they have the right tools (IT system) to run the club correctly, they should make sure that they have some money put up in the budget to make sure that if anything goes wrong they can call the people that they need to come out and fix the problem in a timely manner. Once everything is installed correctly, they should hold a business meeting and/or training with a hired professional that has expertise in the system that was installed, so that everyone can learn how to run and work the equipment correctly.
The Evaluation. For the evaluation, it will be held at the club and it will be conducted by Lisa and Ruben. They will evaluate each employee on how they are coming along with their trainings with the new equipment and test to see what they actually know and what they do not know. Lisa and Ruben will bring in a professional to evaluate on how they are coming along with the new equipment and train them on anything new that may have upgraded. Evaluations will be held once a month and times will vary depending on the staff’s schedules. The evaluations will be more of a test just to see what the staff knows and the owners. If you pass your evaluation you will not be required to take anymore trainings until the system upgrades and if more training’s are needed. Conclusion. It seems as if Club IT is a great hit, besides the minor telecommunication problems and software problems that they were having, but it seems that they have gotten it together within the two months that they were open. After we sat down and meet we came to the conclusion that in order to meet the needs of the club, it was determined that they were going to make a website, get a high speed internet connection, and maintain a IT system that best suits the club and what it is trying to accomplish. Although CASE is more expensive to build and maintain, I feel that between club owners Lisa and Ruben and their background, they will be able to come up with the funds to get it installed and keep it maintained. Club IT shows that it has the input that it needs to stay afloat in the nightclub business world.