Technology Paper
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Budget
The budget is projected over three quarters as indicated below. Additional monetary resources will budgeted in accordance with long-term phased implementation plan.
Quarter
Projected Budget
Projected Profit/Loss
Projected Website Rank
$90,000
($22,000)
$50,000
$210,000
$65,000
$407,000
Resources
Primus Securities will hire technology professionals. The technology team will initially include a system administrator, webmaster, and a maintenance programmer, and it should be expanded as necessary in the future. As new features are being implemented, the team would grow to potentially include more programmers, a system architect, a graphics designer, a database administrator, etc. A major benefit of in house development of projects is that the ability to customize features to the exact desired specifications and to continually fine tune the system.
If there is an aggressive timeline or a limited budget, an alternative would be to contract with an outside vendor to create the website but beware of the following risks involved:
Website Solution. There is often a tendency to get a more ÐŽ§cookie cutterÐŽÐ solution. The website would not be unique enough for customers to recognize the benefits versus those of its competitors.
Service Level Agreement. Vendor may fail to meet the companyÐŽ¦s requirements and expectations of SLA.
Rate Fluctuations. Negotiated rate may not be the same from project to project.
Security Risks. There may be security issues or concerns when outsourcing to a third-party company. The company might potentially expose some proprietary information, which might get to its competitors through the contractors.
Learning curve/training. It takes time to train a new set of people every time a new feature needs to be added to the website. You rarely have a dedicated team when outsourcing such effort.
Stability. Consulting companies can go out of business, sometimes on a rather short notice. If this happens Primus Securities overall strategy will be threatened.
Marketing Research
The company will use focus groups to help determine what type of features customers would like on a brokerage firm website or questionnaires and surveys. Focus groups will also give the company an insight into why customers have certain views. To increase the response rate of questionnaires and surveys they should be kept short and be user friendly. Incentives can also be given to potential customer completing the surveys such as a one month free trial period to the member-only area of the website once it goes live.
In addition, the company evaluate the number of hits on certain will website pages as well as look at the number of returning customers. The most frequently used pages will be analyzed to see what information the customers found attractive. The pages that are not visited as often also will be reevaluated to find ways to make them, or the information contained on them, more attractive.
CompetitorsÐŽ¦ data will also be closely looked at as well. If the competitors have already implemented the features similar to the ones the company has in the pipeline, the research must be conducted to figure out how their customers react to the new features, as well as how the implementation of those new features affected the overall performance of the competitors, their revenue, and profit.
Customer behaviors are constantly changing, so there is a risk if a marketing strategy is not implemented. These risks include:
Loss of new and/or existing customers.
Loss sales opportunities.
Unable to identify trends or spot current/upcoming market problems.
Hardware/Software
A co-hosted dedicated server will be used to increase site availability. The intranet site will be hosted on a different server. Backup servers will be in place to ensure business continuity. Data will be backed up on a daily basis. A catastrophe plan will also be developed in the event of a natural disaster.
Visual Basic, C++, Java, HTML, VBScript, DHMTL and .Net technology may be used to program Internet/Intranet site and applications. Other programming languages or off the shelf products will be evaluate as necessary for applicability.
Web Site Features
The following are the initial features that should be included on the website. Additional features will be implemented in a phased approach as part of the companyÐŽ¦s long-term e-marketing strategy discussed later in this document.
Quote.com Stock Ticker. Stock ticker will refresh every minute giving clients the most recent performance on stocks and exchanges.
Newsletter. Will give the latest company information such as coming features, enhancements, etc.
Portfolio Tracker. Allow clients to keep track of stocks they own.
Volume Based Trade Discounts. Customers will receive greater discounts if they trade in large quantities.
Moderated Discussion Board. Gives clients quick access to investment related questions.
SMS and Email Alert. Gives clients the latest stock information when they are not logged on the website.
Internet/Intranet/Extranet
As the Internet site is implemented, developers should ensure programming components used are reusable. This would include elements such as navigation, copyright statement, headers, graphics, etc. Site should use a highly readable font such as Verdana and font style and size should be consistent across the site. Other information to be included on the Internet site include the following:
Latest yield and rates on money market account, mortgages, home equity loans and credit cards.
Company philosophy and information.
Area where clients can purchase books on investing
Tutorials on basic investing concepts
Archive of expertsÐŽ¦ columns
Financial