Junk Van

Aleksey Bakshiyev

1-888-Junk-Van Case

Problem/Issue Statement

What is the problem?

The problem of the Junk-Van company is that it outgrew its own business model. Where Marcus Kingo had one car doing all the work and now he is operating in three Canadian cities. While this system had allowed 1-888-Junk-Van to grow initially, information errors and inefficiencies were now negatively impacting operations and increasing costs.

What is the distinction between the problems and the symptoms?

The symptoms were that the company grew to a half of million in profits but still operating like it’s a one man team. Simple talks like contacting helpers, going back to the customer’s site to collect money took up a lot of the drivers.

What is the scope of the problem?

The scope of the problem is that the driver’s data consolidation was very time consuming, customers service quality was suffering, which damaged the company’s reputation. Errors in customer contact information, forgotten emails, manual calculation and billing mistakes caused negative customer interactions.

Situation Assessment

What is the context of the problem?

On few occasions data clerk accidentally sent the wrong version of the database to the morning operator, and as a result some jobs that were already booked no longer showed in the database and did not make their way onto the spreadsheets.

What are the decision Criteria?

The price of the hiring a dedicated IT workers is very important since the company is virtual the process has to be very easy because not even Kingo has IT background.  The solutions also had to be flexible and robust enough to handle evolutionary changes in the market or the business. The vendor support was essential; Kingo wants someone to rely on for as long as the company used the system. And finally time is of the essence.  

List of plausible alternatives course of action

What are the alterative course of action?

There are five possible alternatives

1.       Microsoft access database

2.       Custom Application

3.       Google docs

4.       Platform as a Service

5.       Enterprise resource planning ERP System

How does each of them address the key problem?

Microsoft access database could be done in short time and on a small budget. Access could be installed locally on multiple computers or also can be installed on centralized server to be accessed remotely through the internet and a secure virtual private network. Costs are $179 per computer and could be implemented in a few weeks.

Custom Application having someone builds a completely customized application for the business. The wait time for building this process is four weeks and upfront prices is $2000 and maintenance is $60 dollars an hour.

Google Docs offered online applications that could be used to create text documents, spreadsheets, slide-based presentations and forms. The forms could be quickly created and shared with employees. Users could work simultaneously on the same file, in a collaborative system environment. Costs are $5 per user per month or $50 per user per year.

Platform as a service similar to Google docs in that it was delivered on clod computing infrastructure. PaaS differentiated itself through the fact that users could utilize common applications, as well as build their own unique applications, using a shared computing platform that was provided and hosted by a third party. Service package cost ranged from $300-600 per month, the implementation would take up few days.

Enterprise resource planning ERP system was built around a central database. They were designed to be accessible remotely, and claimed to integrate business processes by covering every aspect of the business, from purchasing, sales, and customer service, to finance, human resources and ecommerce.

Evaluation of Alternatives

Through what theoretical concept should one evaluation of the alternatives?

One of the most important theoretical concepts that Junk Van should consider when making the evaluation whether to make the change is should they completely change the system or expand it further. If they should not change anything they will lose a lot of sales including their customers. If they should change the system completely that will cost the most money.

How does the evaluation relate to the decision criteria developed?

I would choose solution four because gives the centralized database access needed and security and support.

How imaginative can/should the evaluation be?

The system that will be in place should consider all the options and tasks that the company performs almost as if it is programed to serve the business its working in.

Recommendation

What is a quality recommendation?

A quality recommendation would be custom application even though it will cost the most but it serve perfectly for the business its serving.

What is a logical recommendation?

I would say the logical recommendation would be Google Docs. Its seems that the company wouldn’t have to pay a lot of money and be able to do everything they want to. All the employees would be able to share change and evaluate all the docs on the site without much training.

Presentation

If I were presenting how would I sum up the case?

Should they change completely of just expand it.

What key visual aid would I present?

I would create a chart explaining all the solutions and the process it take to complete each solution. The business concept is never easy but at least the basics would be thought of beforehand.

How would I Sell the recommendation?

I would explain the different benefits my solution has and the benefits as the time pass’s and franchising come in effect because you want your business to be made for the long run.

What other delivery consideration should I keep in mind?

You always have to consider the bad and the good in the business concept. I would expaoin the money it would take up front and the benefit it will pay at the end.