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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS: DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION

2014

Name Owen Jin

NetID ojin338

Group Number:

206

Website Link:D1:http://infosys1102014s1group206.blogspot.co.nz/p/d1.html

D2: http://infosys1102014s1group206.blogspot.co.nz/p/d2.html

Tutorial Details

Tutor: Day: Time:

Yvonne Hong Wednesday 11am

Time Spent on Assignment:

16 hours Word Count:

1634 (not including title page and reference list)

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NZ HOUSING DATABASE INTRODUCTION

Our core problem was a lack of easily accessible and readable information

on housing. This is a relatively large problem due to the leaky homes

scandal, it would be in people’s best interest to avoid living in these

houses by being more informed about the property. Furthermore, with

rising property demand means rising property information demand. Our

solution is a user friendly housing database which is easily accessible to

provide that information.

3. BUSINESS SECTION

3.1 Vision

To improve people’s wellbeing by providing meaningful, convenient and

readable information to allow for better decisions when it comes to

housing.

3.2 Industry Analysis:

Industry: Housing Database Industry

Force: High/Low: Justification:

Buyer power: High There are some choices for

consumers like Terranet (Terranet,

n.d) and councils for housing

databases. (Auckland Council, n.d)

Supplier power: Low There are many software developers

to help make the software.

(IndexNZ, 2014) (Workhere, n.d)

There are some property surveyors

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for inspections needed to input the

information to the database

(IndexNZ, 2014).

Threat of new

entrants:

Low It is difficult and expensive to obtain

all the housing information needed

to develop an effective database.

Currently a full leaky homes

assessment report, costs at least

$511.11. (Consumer Build, n.d)

Threat of

substitutes:

High With 34% of houses purchased

being discovered with a real estate

agent, this means for home buyers,

the substitute of open homes are

still a relatively popular choice.

(Stone, B, 2013). Also there is a few

individual licensed building

surveyors that can be hired for the

property information. (Westpac,

n.d).

Rivalry among

existing

competitors:

Low Mainly just Terranet and Council

databases currently so there is only

a few competitors. Also there is little

innovation hence competition.

(Terranet, n.d), (Auckland Council,

n.d)

Overall attractiveness of the industry: It is a relatively attractive

industry as it can be profitable and sustainable because of: Low monopoly

power with suppliers since supplier power is low, it is difficult to enter

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since threat of entrants is low, and there is little competition within the

industry since there is low rivalry amongst competitors. Even with high

buyer power, there is still relatively little choice so buyer power is not

extremely high and we can reduce it by having the competitive advantage

of 3D modelling and real life maps. This means we increase switching

costs. People have started favouring digital research as evidenced (Stone,

B, 2013) in more people discovering their homes they purchased on

computers so the threat of substitutes may decrease over time with the

modern age.

3.3 Customers and Their Needs

Our target customers are home buyers and real estate agents (REA). For

home buyers, Westpac says that “the house-hunting process can be a

long one… but with such an important decision to make, it pays to check a

place out thoroughly.” (Westpac, n.d). So home buyers should do some

research for ‘house-hunting’ before making a decision on which house to

buy. Part of a REA’s job is to “organise building inspections and reports”

(CareersNZ, n.d) from property surveyors. Although they may operate less

open homes because of the NZHD, their main role is an intermediary for

buyers and sellers and as such, they can focus on giving other property

services like price and terms of sales negotiations (Stone, B, 2013) (which

they still get paid for), hence they need to gather the property information

in order to make decisions on these services (may even benefit from more

buyers asking for these services). For home buyers and REAs these tasks

can be time consuming, costly and complicated.

3.4 The Product and Service

Our product, will provide home buyers and REAs with convenient property

information, since it can be viewed remotely, anytime. This saves time

and money since home buyers will not need to visit and REAs won’t need

surveyors for every house. Also for home buyers, it may provide more

information than visiting the house. For example, wiring and insulation

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and wiring in the walls which is not in plain sight. We also provide

simplified reports to reduce complexity (but details are provided if they

are wanted). Our functionalities of 3D modelling and real life maps can

provide meaningful insights to the property, helps our database be more

convenient and less complicated compared to traditional long reports.

3.5 Suppliers and Partners

Our suppliers are software developers and the government. Software

developers like Datacom and Commarc, are needed to help make our

application and database. The government (both local and national) can

provide the housing source documents for the database. Our partners are

housing surveyors and REAs. Housing surveyors like

TheSurveyingCompany are needed for continuous housing inspections to

add more information to our database. REA companies like Harcourts and

Ray White, require property information regularly so we can collaborate

with them on what information we should provide.

3.6 Strategy: Differentiation

Our product is usable for every home buyer and REA since the information

is not complex; hence a broad market.

Premium services like 3D modelling, real life maps and providing constant

updates to our database means our pricing will be high; hence high cost

The overall strategy is therefore Differentiation

3.7 Value Chain Activity: Service after sale

After purchasing our license, we need to retain customers with extra

services like more content and smooth software performance, especially

considering when more content may cause bugs. For our vision, more

content provides more meaningful information for home buyers’

purchasing decisions and REA’s servicing decisions. Smooth performance

provides less inconvenience. For our broad market strategy, we want

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more information so to be more relevant to more people i.e. Wellington

buyers will not find Christchurch property information relevant so we need

to expand our market to Wellington. With high costs, we want a quality,

bug free database with plenty of content. So the VCA of service after sale

is crucial to our vision and strategy

3.8 Business Processes

3.8.1. Maintenance management process – This runs tests and checks

customer complaints on our application to figure out problems.

Maintenance can be contacted to resolve these problems. For a high cost

strategy, we should ensure a quality software performance by checking

for issues and making adjustments to resolve them, which is also

important to our vision since it provides convenience. For our VCA,

customers want minimal trouble in the software after their purchase.

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3.8.2. Inspection data management process– This checks our database for

gaps (missing or outdated information) and determines if we have

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permission and whether it is worthwhile to fill the gaps based upon

information like property inspection costs. If it is worthwhile, an inspection

order is created and issued (inspections can include both the surveyors

and photographers. Photographers for our 3D models and real life maps).

Then it collects the inspection data, categorises and stores it into the

database. For our broad market strategy, it makes more information

available in our database, which makes it relevant to more people. For our

high cost strategy, we have the premium service of an expanding

database. For our vision, more relevance and information provides more

meaning and better decisions. For our VCA, having constant updates is

important as customers want to access more information after their

purchase.

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3.9

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3.9.1. Maintenance management process

Detect issues in the software Analyse customer complaints Resolve any issues in the software

3.9.2. Inspection data management process

Check for gaps in the database Collect data for decisions on filling gaps Determine whether gaps should be filled up

3.10 Systems

3.10.1. REA communication management system– The functionality is “collect

data for decisions on filling gaps”. It allows collaboration with REA

companies to see what content they want. Then it sends that information

to our decision makers. For our vision, we want to ensure meaningfulness

in the information, so we need to check with our key customers what they

want.

3.10.2. Customer complaints management system – The functionalities are

“detect issues in the software” and “analyse customer complaints”. It will

collect customer complaints, categorise and determine the frequency of

that complaint category. The system will help provide recommendations

based upon the complaints for software adjustments. For our vision, we

want to ensure convenience with our product, so we need to address

customer issues and improve our product as such.

3.10.3. Database analysis system – The functionalities are “check for gaps in

the database” and “determine whether gaps should be filled up”. It

analyses the database inventory to find gaps. It then provides

recommendations on whether we should fill them based upon information

like owner’s permission and REA requests. For our vision, we have to

figure out which gaps are most troublesome to our customers so it’s most

meaningful when we add content to fill them up.

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3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain

Activity

Processes Functionalities Specific Information System(s)

Broad Information System(s)

Service

after

sale

1. Maintenance management process

1. Detect bugs/errors

2. Analyse customer complaints

3. Resolve any issues in the software

Customer complaints management system

CRM, TPS and DSS

2. Inspection

data

managemen

t process

4. Check for gaps in the database

5. Collect data for decisions on filling gaps

6. Determine whether gaps in the database should be filled up

REA communication management system

Database analysis system

Collaboration and CRM

TPS and DSS

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CONCLUSION

Our business idea is to develop a convenient housing database for home

buyers and REA to provide them with quality and convenient information

to make well informed decisions. Information systems helps add value by:

Customer complaints management systems increases productivity

since maintenance will waste less time figuring out the problems

and more time fixing them

Customer complaints management systems increases customer

satisfaction by reducing any issues with our software to allow for a

smoother software experience

Database analysis and REA communication management systems

increase customer satisfaction by helping to keep constant

meaningful/quality updates to the database which customers will

find relevant

REFERENCES

From D1

Stuff. (15/07/2012) Leaky home obligations 'overlooked'. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7280754/Leaky-home-obligations-overlooked

Consumer Build. (n.d) Background to the problem. Retrieved from http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/leaky/leaky-background.php

3 News. (22/12/2009). Leaky homes bill estimated at $11.3 billion. Retrieved from http://www.3news.co.nz/Leaky-homes-bill-estimated-at-113-billion/tabid/421/articleID/135163/Default.aspx

Consumer Build. (n.d). The Department of Building and Housing. Retrieved from http://www.3news.co.nz/Leaky-homes-bill-estimated-at-113-billion/tabid/421/articleID/135163/Default.aspx

Consumer Build. (n.d). Case study 3. Retrieved from http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/leaky/leaky-case_studies3.php

Consumer Build. (n.d). Health Risks. Retrieved from http://www.consumerbuild.org.nz/publish/leaky/leaky-health-risks.php

Auckland Council. (n.d). Property files and reports. Retrived from http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/propertyinformation/Pages/PropertyFilesReportshome.aspx

Stuff. (30/06/12). New Zealand’s worst real estate agents. Retrieved from http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/propertyinformation/Pages/PropertyFilesReportshome.aspx

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Terranet. (n.d). Terranet property information online. Retrieved from http://www.terranet.co.nz/terranet3/

From D2

Westpac. (n.d). House hunting, What to look for. Retrieved from http://www.westpac.co.nz/home-loans/home-buyers-and-sellers-guide/buying-a-home/house-hunting

Stone, B. (2013). Why Can't the Internet Replace Real Estate Brokers?. Bloomberg Businessweek, (4320), 58-63.

Workhere. (2014). Software Development Companies. Retrieved from http://www.workhere.co.nz/companies?company_industry=2

IndexNZ. (2014). Software Firms. Retrieved from http://www.indexnz.com/Top/Computers-and-Internet/Software/Software-Firms/1

IndexNZ. (2014). Surveyors. Retrieved from http://www.indexnz.com/Top/Business-and-Economy/Real-Estate/Surveyors

CareersNZ. (n.d). Real estate agent. Retrieved from http://www.careers.govt.nz/jobs/property-services/real-estate-agent/about-the-job

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