Club_It

Club IT part one A nightclub sounds like a fun and exciting business to start. A nightclub owner should have a background in business and some experience with music. Club IT is a nightclub managed and owned by Ruben Keys and Lisa Tejada. Although the club is a hit with its current clientele, and the business end is going well, the owners believe that something is missing. Ruben and Lisa have hired an intern to assist in getting the business on track by analyzing the informational needs of the club. This paper will give a description of Club IT’s mission, primary clientele, current information resources, and what competitive advantage strategy that would best benefit the business. Club IT is a downtown nightclub that offers live bands on Friday and Saturday nights and a live DJ Tuesdays through Thursdays. Hip-hop, techno, electronic, and some Top 40’s that are a collection of MP3 playlists is what the DJ plays. The club resides in a 6000 square foot building. There is a 600 square foot dance floor, a bar with four pour stations, 14 booths, and 14 tables for the customers to relax and order drinks or food if they would like. Club IT has a menu with appetizers and beverages for the customers to order from. Club IT‘s mission statement is: "We, Ruben and Lisa, offer you live music, DJ's, dance space and refreshments that suit your lifestyle. You are our friends, and we seek to build a community that meets regularly at Club IT" (Rainer & Turban, 2006). The clientele of Club IT consists of people of various ages that are looking for a fun place to listen to music, drink and have a good time. Lisa and Ruben both have degrees in Business Administration, so between the two of them they run the office and maintain all financial and business related records. As of now they are using Microsoft Office 2003. Club IT information resources include intranet. An intranet is an Internal or private network of an organization based on internet technology (such as hypertext and TCP/IP protocols) and accessed over the internet. An intranet is meant for the exclusive use of the organization and its associates (customers, employees, members, suppliers, etc.) and is protected from unauthorized access with security systems such as firewalls. Intranets provide services such as email, data storage, and search and retrieval functions, and are employed in disseminating policy manuals and internal directories for the employees, price and product information for the customers, and requirements and specifications for the suppliers. Some intranets are confined to a building whereas others span continents (intranet, 2010). The Club IT website is an information resource for customers and employees. There is seven sections of the website that have little information. The website could use an overhaul by a professional web designer. There are five different strategies for competitive advantage. They are cost leadership, differentiation, innovation, operational effectiveness, and customer orientation. Club IT should focus on the customer orientation strategy. Customer orientation strategy is when a business concentrates on making the customers happy (Rainer & Turban, 2009). One way is by using a web-based system like a blog that allows customers to establish a relationship with the club as well as other customers who go to Club IT. To attain customer loyalty, customers must be happy and safe. To make Club IT a safe place to be, it requires the installation of cameras with facial software to track troublemakers. Metal detectors also need to be in place to monitor customers for weapons and to keep violence and violent people out of the club. When acquiring the above security measures, it will allow Club IT to retain its customers. However, to continue making existing customers happy and to attract new ones, the Club should use the blog and a jar. Incentives like winning free passes and drinks should be used to encourage blogging; in addition to a jar that people can drop off their business cards and fill out a card with their information. This would require a Database to keep customers information, but it will serve to send the customers information on special events at Club IT. This Database should be strictly private and to prevent any form of misuse and it should only be used for Club IT’s purposes. For Club IT to survive in today’s market and remain competitive, it should use information technology and its strategy should be to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors through customer orientation just like many organizations do. Web-based systems like the blog will allow the club to establish a personal relationship with its customers, and to attract other customers. When enhancing the necessary security measures, it will ensure the safety of the customers who will continual attend Club IT. Aside from the standard methods of safety, security and camera, new technological hardware will also be implemented. There should not be any safety related incidents with these new devices that will be used. Club IT will provide the necessary safety precautions techniques that will ensure a safer atmosphere. In conclusion, Club IT’s mission statement says they want to build a community that meets regularly. In order to accomplish this Club IT needs to upgrade their information resources and make accessibility easy for customers. Customer Orientation is the best strategy to use for competitive advantage. References Rainer, R. K., & Turban, E. (2006). Introduction to Information Systems. Supporting and Transforming Business, 2nd Edition. Retrieved from http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books'action=resource&bcsId=4176&itemId=0470169001&resourceId=12379 Rainer, R. K., & Turban, E. (2009). Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and Transforming Business (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. intranet. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved July 24, 2010, from BusinessDictionary.com website: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/intranet.html