Club_It_Part_1

Club IT Part One Christopher Wright Bus/219 September 18, 2010 Dr. Terry Wyatt Club IT Part One Club IT is a nightclub opened by Ruben Keys and Lisa Tejada after completing their degrees in business administration in 2000. They based their operation on business principles they learned in their studies along with their experience as nightclub musicians and exposure to the scene. An extensive remodeling of Club IT has just concluded on the interior of the club and Ruben and Lisa are very excited with the results, but a businesses appearance is only part of the battle. They understand that they must invest in information resources and pursue different strategies for competitive advantages to give their club a competitive edge in the nightclub industry. Data management is also crucial to better enable their decision-making capabilities. Club IT’s mission statement is as follows: “We, Ruben and Lisa, offer you live music, DJs, dance space and refreshments that suit your lifestyle. You are our friends, and we seek to build a community that regularly meets at Club IT.” Their commitment to providing different styles of music throughout the calendar year allows music lovers of all types to enjoy the benefits of their establishment. With everything from Folk and Jazz to Hip-hop and Techno, it is apparent that they are targeting a wide range of clientele with a wide age range as well. The information listed currently on Club IT’s website supplies information to clientele regarding club food and drink menu, the schedule for types of music to be highlighted in any particular month, available Club IT merchandise, staff, and club floor plan. It also has a portal, Employee Information, where login is required. Here employees can view information such as year to date wages, sick leave and vacation accrual, personal, and emergency contact information. This portal also serves to keep employees abreast of upcoming events employee manuals, important forms, a directory, new employees, and employee of the month. More important are the links available to the managers and owners allowing them to run the club as efficiently as possible. Under Ordering Information, the manager can access a spread sheet allowing him or her to view all menu items and supplies required for club operations. The spread sheet is also broken down into quantities regarding how much product is on hand each week, what is ordered, what is left at the end of the week and how much product is used. Supplier and packaging information is also provided allowing the manager to make speedy and concise orders for each week. The spread sheet under Sales breaks down daily sales by quantity, cost and sales for menu and drink items and provides managers with weekly totals as well along with what percentage of each drink type was sold. This allows managers to keep track of food item and beverage inventory and determine what needs to be ordered for the following week’s business. This information could also serve the manager and owners well. If it is found that a particular item is not a strong seller a substitution might be required on the menu removing an item that does not sell well and replacing it with something that could sell better. Budget Information contains a spread sheet containing all financial information including total sales, total cost of sales, total income, total controllable expense, and net income. This is all crucial information that must be accessible at any time to allow managers and owners to adjust whatever is necessary to keep the club in the black and profitable. The role of the IT department is crucial in keeping all of the aforementioned data accessible and updated so that key decisions can be made based on reliable data. Without any part of the data being processed and available, the club could lose potential income and profits. The information resources appear to be well managed. All of the key ingredients necessary for supply of information to managers and owners for operation of club seem to be in place. Customer orientation is a strategy for competitive advantage that club management and owners might want to continue to pursue. Happy customers are repeat customers. Efforts have been made with the recent and extensive remodel on the interior of Club IT. With improvements made to ceiling heights and lighting, customers obtain that “high energy” feeling when they enter the club. Music choices of live bands on Fridays and Saturdays, along with a DJ spinning the tunes Tuesday through Thursday offers their customers a variation of music all week long. Ruben and Lisa may however want to review their choices for music to be highlighted each month. Reviewing their choices for highlighted music may be very important to their success as club owners. It is of concern that not all patrons will enjoy all the different types of music suggested for an entire month. To stay competitive with other clubs, they might find it better to focus on different genres one night a week in a particular month rather than every night of the month. Though the idea is great to focus on different genres and it is good to offer this to customers, it may detour a specific age group of customers from patronizing the club. By not following this recommendation, they might discover that they are limiting their customer base for that entire month, which could be catastrophic to Club IT’s overall profits. The IT department’s processing and managing of information required for key decisions by managers and owners and providing employees a portal to keep abreast of their personal information along with other pertinent company information appears to be consistent with good business management practices. Addressing customer orientation as a strategy for competitive advantage by following the aforementioned recommendation and reviewing its highlighted monthly music choice, may be a step in the successful direction for Club IT. References Student Companion Site Rainer,Turban. (2007) Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and Transforming Business 2nd Addition (2007)