Abstract on Marketing Intelligence System for a Media Company

grocery storeing Intelligence Database Management at Manipal Media Network Limited A project by * Abhishek Gupta * Aishwarya Shetty * Nikhil Modi * Nikita Patel * Pritish Prabhu * Rahul Dara * Reshma R * Rishi Gupta * Sudip Ray * Vaibhav Goswami OVERVIEW OF MMNL Manipal Media Network Limited is a subsidiary of Manipal Group which special(a)izes in printing and proceedss. Udayavani, the flagship publication of the MMNL is a leading no.chalant Kannada invigoratedspaper. Its subscriptions reach most cities of Karnataka including Mangalore, Bangalore and Gulbarga.Its first issue was in 1971 and it continues to grow daily reaching more than 300,000 houses. BUSINESS STRATEGY MMNL has always tried to maintain the values of its shareholders and nodes against its competition. MMNL strives to be a Multi-media Corporation, making its presence felt across several platforms including print, e-papers among others delivering local spick-and-spans and entertainment solutions. IT STRATEGY The dodge of the IT aggroup of MMNL is consistently aligned with the over all dodge of the beau monde.This is d champion by the higher management who confide that IT plays an integral part in proving a competitive advantage. The IT team has endured MMNL with various solutions onwards of its time such as iTunes first Kannada Application, the first Kannada news information Android App and has entered into partnerships with media leaders such as Yahoo and Newshunt. The IT team has also ensured that MMNL is a leader in delivering news on online platforms such as Android, IOS and Web. Along with this, it has certain internal MIS agreements and also worked hand in hand with companies like 4CPlus for successful ERP implementations in numerous athletic fields.By implementing Market Intelligence Database System which allow for assistance us in storing the info in a incorporate format and providing management with quality information which bequeath give them a better insight for competent decision making. Strategic concurrence Model * Alignment of business and IT dodging * The overall business strategy of MMNL is to be a multi media corporation with presence across platforms delivering hyper local news and entertainment solutions. The IT team whole works in alignment with this overall strategy and strives to provide cutting edge technology solutions that are ahead in time, however keeping the cost aspect in perspective. Some of the results of their effort is ITunes first Kannada App, set-back Kannada News App on Android, Partnership with global leaders like Yahoo and Newshunt. Since m whatsoever readers today view nettle to internet and spend a lot of time on it, the industry feels that there qualification be a shift from traditional newspaper to online platforms. * However, this should take a decades time or so. MMNL be a leader in coastal in Karnataka sees this as an opportunity to be leader on online platforms as well like Android, IOS, Web. Ali gnment of business and IT capabilities * In order to align the business capabilities with IT capabilities, we abide provided a suggestion to use IT capabilities in order to improve business touches and using IT tools to promote customer loyalty. The commercializeing intelligence placement proposed by us is a step towards accomplishing this objective. * Alignment of business strategy and business capabilities * In order to align the business strategy with business capabilities, social architecture tools digest be formulated.The existing resources and capabilities should be encompassingy utilized in order to implement the business strategy. * rearing and motivating the workforce and incentivizing the workforce on successful completion of strategic objectives and goals are the means towards achieving it. * Alignment of IT strategy and IT capabilities * When it comes to internal strategy, the IT team has developed internal MIS organization and also engaged with an external menta l representation for ERP implementation which has been d one(a) successfully in many areas.This proves that the current IT capabilities are quite robust and undersurface be further utilized to drive business growth. * Alignment of IT strategy and capabilities tail assembly be achieved by having a cross-functional team of managers with expertise is IT knowledge and business knowledge so as to leverage the full potential of its IT capabilities. COMPETITION The major competitors to Udayavani are Prajavani, Vijay Karnataka, Kannada Prabha, Sanjevani among others. This leads to major emphasis being placed on collect and use of market intelligence as the competition is cut throat.MARKET INTELLIGENCE Marketing Intelligence includes perfunctory information relevant to a fellowship, collate and analyze the obtained information for subsequent decision making in determining market opportunities, jeopardizes and strategies. The system is to be designed for example by the management of th e fraternity and thunder mug be viewed by all the employees of the social club. This specifically enables the management to see current key performance factors in real time and analyze trends, rather than wait for analysts to deliver periodic reports.Market Intelligence is a subset of line of reasoning Intelligence which is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw info into meaningful and useful information. training conference Market related info reaches the phoner done various sources. The lower level of the organisation consists of executives and trainees who enforce distributors on a daily basis. The sources of information could be by a connection employees or special agents and the mode of information is mainly by dint of phone calls, SMS, email or through other market sources.The bulk of the information is however gathered by these lower level executives from the distributors and hawkers usually during the early hours o f the morning. The information consists of competitors strategies with respect to * Advertising space, * Insertions of pamphlets, * Change of content in existing publications (page design) * Emergence of new newspapers (VRL publication) * Distributors margins * Expansion by competitors in new territories * Subscription rateManipal Institute of Communication conducts yearly market research on behalf of MMNL which gives them insight into the new trends and expectations from customers and distributors. STORAGE OF DATA MMNL presently maintains individual excel sheets for each of its competitors. The assistant managers are tasked with collating and compiling the data given to them by the executives. This data is maintained according to * Date and division * Edition * Geographic area and edition * Source of information and context * Findings * Employee entering data and * Employee validating the dataThe data is validated through multiple sources in different regions and also through cross verification. Example Data collected in Mangalore testament be cross checked with similar repeating data from Udupi and Manipal. Due to such different sources, data comes in various formats, due to which collation of data is actually difficult. Also, it is difficult to comprehend this data and bringing it into a common platform whitethorn distort it. Since information is non properly structured, it may get distorted while sharing between various departments and its interpretation could be different by different people.PROBLEM The problem faced by MMNL is on three levels. 1. Lack of structure- Data reaching the company is unstructured and in fragmented form. It makes the data difficult to comprehend. Since data is of strategic importance, it could have high usurpation on companys future strategy or decision. 2. Transfer of data The data leakage during the transfer of data is the biggest problem faced by MMNL. The executives at the lower level who pass the data to the manager ial level use their discretion and pass the data what they feel is important instead of all the data gathered.This leads to loss of data which may turn out to be important. 3. Accessibility MMNL has data of the chivalric 8-9 years which is stored using excel sheets. A separate excel sheet is maintained for every company. Whenever the company has to check some data it has to go through all the files which is a cumbersome process. 4. Acceptance When a new system is implemented people may not be ready to accept it. They may be anxious to the highest degree what the kind may lead to. RECOMMENDATIONS Few options that are present to speak the issue of data leakage faced by MMNL are 1.Toll-free number The company can rent a toll free number on which the executives volition call and/or SMS the data which provideing be recorded through an automated system. If this is implemented the executives depart not have to take unneeded efforts to pass on the data to their managers which i n turn it depart minimize any data leakage. The be associated are * BSNL follow is Rs. 1. 60/minute. * Initial Cost Rs. 13000 (Rs. jet0 refundable) * Fixed monthly cost Rs. 1000 * Tata Cost is Rs. 2. 39/minute * Initial Cost Rs. 30000 (Rs. 25000 refundable) Fixed monthly cost Rs. 3000 * Reliance Cost is Rs. 2. 20/minute * Initial Cost Rs 13000 (Rs. 10000 refundable) * Fixed monthly cost Depends on usage 2. Incentives Keeping the existing system of personally reporting the data to managers in place, incentives can be provided sporadically based on quantity and quality of data. This will ensure that executives are encouraged to pass on every piece of available information. If the toll-free system is implemented by MMNL then it can provide incentives to executives who report the data.The problem of unreliable data will not arise as the data will be validated from sources in different regions. 3. Training and schooling MMNL can perform training and development programs which are imperative to mould the staff in accordance with the companys strategy. A companys sales force is very crucial for the intelligence gathering activity as they can provide excellent data about the current trends in the market. They are also a very credible source for acquiring confidential data about competitors, consumers, suppliers etc.For sales force outside Manipal and Udupi, a trainer can be made to tour different parts of the country. 4. Network Externally In order to keep a tab on its competitors, measures should be taken to track how competitors are performing. For this, get the competitors products, checking their advertising campaigns, the press media coverage, reading their published reports, etc can be done. This process is called Competitive intelligence which is the broader field of operation of researching, analyzing and formulating data and information from the entire competitive environment of any organization. . Collect Competitive Intelligence through custom er feedback Customer feedback is an important aspect for any company as it is the customer who purchases the product. Online platforms like prattle rooms, blogs, discussion forums, customer review boards etc can be used to generate customer feedback. This enables the company to actualize its customers view about the product. For this, a structured system can be use by the company to obtain the relevant data. Manipal Institute of Communications does yearly surveys to find out ever-changing customer perceptions regarding MMNL. . For the issue of accessibility MMNL can implement a database. * The centralised database will be in the following format * The basic cost for a database system is around Rs. 1. 5 lakhs but depending on the different features needed by MMNL the cost can vary. * The database form can be opened at any time by the employees. A static link will be provided. * Our centralized database system will be decided into 2 main categories * intimate Data * External Data * Internal Data * The employees can enter the intelligence acquired on internal matters in this section. The data entered here will be like delivery problems, supply chain problems etc. * There will be a form asking them what are the issues and the department it relates to. * External Data * This section will again be divided into 2 parts * Competitor data * Advertising Data * Competitor Data * In this form the employee will have to enter intelligence pertaining to * Name of the company * News Acquired * Source of News * Advertising Data * In this form the employee will have to enter intelligence pertaining to * Name of the company * News Acquired Source of News * The database will also have a verification code. * Every employee will be given a unique code which he has to enter before submitting the intelligence data. * This will secure the database and will also eliminate the possibility of anyone entering data wrongly under the charge of any other person. * The problem of accepta nce can be addressed in the following air a) Involvement of employees (i) Executives Involving them in regards to the various incentives on offer will uphold reduce the anxiety to change this will also help in building loyalty. ii) Employees The employees can be involved through inputs about the functions needed by them in the database system. b) Workshops MMNL can conduct workshops in the initial months after the implementation of the database system and the toll free number. * Representation through GRIDS QUICK WIN SUSTAINABILITY RISK IMPLEMENTATION RISK still IDEA NEW SYSTEM at MMNL SIZE OF OPPORTUNITY ABILITY TO EXECUTE (PG. NO. 34, CHAPTER 1,CORPORATE INFORMATION & STRATEGY MANAGEMENT) MMNL has a very good track record in implementation of new expert systems.Whenever the company has implemented a new technology system the implementation took place glitch free. The company has implemented Kannada news app on android and also it has tie-ups with Yahoo and Newshunt. The compa ny is also in the process of implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The implementation of this is going smoothly. This leads us to believe that ability to execute a new system will be high at MMNL and thus the new system will fall in sustainability risk. But, whenever a new IT system is implemented there is always an implementation risk ecause there might be social and technological problems. Social problems which can arise are that employees may be anxious about the new system. They may be anxious about the fact whether they will be able to use that system properly or not and if not then will they be fired from their jobs. Technological problems that may arise are compatibility problems with the legacy systems and maintenance problems. Thus, we say that the new system will be in the implementation risk of the strategic grid. PROBABLE IMPACT ON STRATEGY PROBABLE IMPACT ON BUSINESS OPERATIONSCurrent business office Position after implementation (pg. no. 37,chapte r 1,Corporate Information & Strategy Management) The marketing intelligence gathered from various sources is currently passed around in the king informally through Word of Mouth and excel sheets. This leads to the data being fragmented, lost and getting distorted. As a result of this it is not accessible to everyone and does not provide the correct point of view. Due to this overlook of accessibility, management is not able to take any timely strategic decisions.This also does not help the company much in its business operations. We can say that current system of MMNL is in the buy at quadrant of the McFarlans Grid. This is because the system does not impact the business operations as well as its strategic decisions. After the Marketing Intelligence database system is implemented, the data will be stored in one centralized location. This will help in easy accessibility of the data. The company officials can then access this data at anytime and use it to take strategic decisions.S ince the data is about competitors and the market which will help in taking important strategic decisions. The implementation of the system will not lead to any change in the business operations of the company. Thus, the system, once implemented should move from the current support position to the TURNAROUND quadrant of the McFarlans Grid. * BENEFITS FROM DATABASE Implementation of Market Intelligence Database System at MMNL will not lead to any tangible benefits as the decisions taken by management on the market intelligence acquired cannot be known at the moment.The implementation of the system at MMNL will only lead to nonphysical benefits. The benefits that arise will be 1. The data will all be present in one place which will help the management to take better decisions. 2. The company employees will save a lot of time if the data is present in one place with options of search. 3. It will give company a competitive advantage as very few media networks have such a system present at the moment. 4. The storage of data will help the company in making a wide database which can be used for analytics in the future.