swift-comm business plan - dcu school of computingasmeaton/mecpracticums2005/swift-comm.pdf ·...

Swift-Comm Business Plan

MEC Practicum August 2005

Kader Mula MECT 50321320

Diane Hayes MECT 54152500

John Maher MECB 54157561

Ciaran Levingston MECT 50064882

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the following people for their assistance with this practicum:

Our supervisors, Dr. Malcolm Brady and Dr. Stephen Blott, for their guidance and input.

Gordon McConnell, for his advice and direction.

Ciaran Byrne, of Insero, for his insight into the mobile communication industry.

Sean Hayes for his sponsorship of the iPaq PDA.

Sean Haran for supplying the necessary software.

We’d also like to the participants of our market research survey and particularly Brian Tierney of Sigma Wireless for his time and honest feedback.


Executive Summary

Introduction

This report examines whether a fast, intelligent and fully integrated mobile communications

service would form the basis of a successful business start-up.

Background Research

There is an explosion and divergence in the mobile communications industry. There is a

plethora of mobile devices available today which are becoming more and more critical for

effective business communications. There has been phenomenal growth in mobile device

penetration worldwide, particularly in Ireland. Currently there exits, no fully integrated

mobile messaging service.

Marketing

Our market research, comprising of both questionnaires and in-depth interviews showed

positive interest in our product as mobile group communications was seen by all companies

surveyed as being extremely important to their business. Improvement to existing systems

would be welcomed. Our service will be highly competitive especially on price.

Product

The service will comprise a web portal and software tools available for a variety of mobile

devices such as laptops and PDAs. These tools will enable users to compose messages and

organise their contacts. Customers would sign up to the service and purchase credits.

Messages delivery type is determined by the user from a selection of email, text, voice,

multimedia or any combination of these. Messages will only be delivered according to contact

preferences “intelligent delivery”.

Financial Summary

© 2005 1

€ Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Revenue 115,500 450,500 970,000

Total Expenses 139,898 278,398 404,800

Net Profit -22,500 172,103 565,200

Total Profit -24,398 147,705 712,905

% Profit -21% 38% 58%


TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................................................................................................1

1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................4

EXISTING PROBLEMS ...........................................................................................................................4 OUR SOLUTION ...................................................................................................................................4 ENABLING TECHNOLOGY ...................................................................................................................5

2. BACKGROUND RESEARCH........................................................................................................6

KEY STATISTICS ...................................................................................................................................6 FUTURE BUSINESS INDICATIONS.......................................................................................................13 COMPETITION....................................................................................................................................14 PORTER’S FIVE FORCES .....................................................................................................................19 PRELIMINARY RESEARCH..................................................................................................................20 MARKET RESEARCH SURVEY ............................................................................................................20

3. MARKETING REPORT................................................................................................................25

PRODUCT...........................................................................................................................................25 SWIFT-COMM SERVICE ADVANTAGES:.............................................................................................25 PRICE .................................................................................................................................................30 PROMOTION ......................................................................................................................................31 SWOT ANALYSIS ..............................................................................................................................32

4. TECHNICAL REPORT..................................................................................................................33

PRODUCT...........................................................................................................................................33 PRODUCT DESIGN .............................................................................................................................33 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE....................................................................................................................34 HEURISTIC EVALUATION ..................................................................................................................35 THE WEBSITE.....................................................................................................................................35 THE PDA APPLICATION...................................................................................................................39 FUTURE DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................................................41

5. FINANCIAL REPORT...................................................................................................................42

START UP COSTS, YEAR 1...................................................................................................................42 INCOME EXPENDITURE YEARS 2 AND 3............................................................................................43

6. MANAGEMENT TEAM ...............................................................................................................44

© 2005 2


APPENDIX I - QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................................................47

APPENDIX II – IN DEPTH INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ............................................................49

APPENDIX III – PORTER’S FIVE FORCES..................................................................................50

APPENDIX IV – ARCHITECTURE LAYERS ...............................................................................51

APPENDIX V – WEBSITE HEURISTIC EVALUATION............................................................52

APPENDIX VI – PDA GUI SCREENSHOTS................................................................................54

APPENDIX VII – FINANCIAL REPORTS ....................................................................................55

© 2005 3


1. Introduction

Existing Problems

Communication between work colleagues is a frequent problem in large corporations. Not all

employees are always present at the office, for example drivers are in their cars, sales reps

meet customers and managers attend meetings. You can email people but can’t be sure that

they can access it. You may need to tell something very important to a sales team or to a

manager, you have to try to reach his or her mobile, which can be busy, out of coverage or

switched off. If several people need to be contacted you could spend hours trying to reach

them all.

There are also other problems such as how to notify all employees of an important event?

What if you have to arrange a meeting for 9am tomorrow, and it is now 6pm and almost all

your employees have left the office? The meeting will be most likely postponed, or you will

see only half of your employees at it.

Our Solution

All these problems are easy to solve. Our communication service provides an effective way of

communicating with business colleagues via SMS, MMS, voice and email. It can also be used

for clients, customers, or any large group of contacts.

Communication via SMS using our services has several advantages over phone calls:

SMS costs less than a minute of a phone call.

Group SMS messages are significantly cheaper and less time consuming that several

phone calls.

In some situations a phone call may be impossible or inconvenient for an employee,

e.g. while driving or at a meeting. Some people switch off their mobiles in such cases and

other people prefer not to answer calls. An SMS would not bother or distract the person,

and you can still be sure that the information will be delivered.

© 2005 4


It is also flexible, in that messages can be sent via email, MMS or voice instead of or in

conjunction with SMS. Messages can be sent to individuals and/or groups, at the click of one

button.

Our simple web interface allows the set up and management of contact details and groups. It

also incorporates intelligent routing, taking into consideration users preferred method or

methods of contact at different times when sending messages.

We will provide specific message templates through consultation with our customers to

facilitate the speedy composition of messages while on the move. Users will also be able to

create and store their own message templates.

Enabling Technology Our company is partnered with the South African based company Clickatell.1

Clickatell is a leading end-to-end mobile data solutions provider (including, but not limited

to, applications, services, API's and an SMS Gateway), delivering services to clients in more

than 180 countries. Clickatell utilises its carrier-grade technology platform for the deployment

of consumer (alerts, interactive content, gaming, etc.) and business (Info on demand,

Subscriber data) SMS messaging solutions.

Clickatell provides true mobile data aggregation services to its clients in a greatly diversified

mobile landscape, simplifying the deployment of inter carrier mobile data delivery solutions.

© 2005 5

1 www.clickatell.com

http://www.clickatell.com/


2. Background Research

Key Statistics

Mobile Device Industry

The mobile device industry has been and is currently experiencing both rapid change and

growth as market leader’s fight to capture a lucrative share of this new and evolving market.

Although the market for handhelds has fallen slightly, the market for smart phones and

wireless handhelds has grown considerably.

The convergence patterns within the industry highlights the fact that market players are

eager to use and build on their technological prowess in order try and stay one step ahead in

this relatively nascent industry. The table below illustrates some other relevant key statistics.

© 2005 6

Global shipments of smart mobile devices up 82% year on year in Q1 2005

Handhelds down 6%, but converged devices (smart phones and wireless handhelds)

up 137%

Nokia ships 5.4 million smart phones to give it 50% market share

PalmOne growth slows to 1%, lead over RIM and HP shrinks

Fujitsu becomes second largest provider of Symbian-based handsets

Motorola (world’s second mobile phone manufacturer) plans to go head-to-head with

Research in Motion (RIM), maker of Blackberry with the release in January 2006 of the


‘Moto Q’ mobile that can access email.

The mobile devise industry consists of Smart Phones, PDA’s, HandHeld PC’s, Tablet PC’s

and Laptops. The following analysis will focus on all devices except for laptops as they have

been around for a much longer period of time.

Irish Mobile Market

Mobile phone penetration in Ireland is still on the increase, and by the end of Q1 2005 it stood

at 96%. The number of mobile phone subscribers in Ireland is now approaching 4 million.

Ireland has one of the highest levels of average monthly SMS sent per subscriber in the EU.

There were over 1 billion SMS or text messages sent during the first quarter of 2005. This

equates to an average of 92 SMS messages per Irish mobile subscriber per month.1

The success of SMS has exceeded all expectations. It has proven to be one of the most

explosive and successful data applications in the world of mobile communication. SMS is

surpassing all other forms of communication and has spawn a whole new generation of

users, with its own brand of text language and culture.

The success of SMS is due mainly to its use as a simple person-to-person messaging system. It

is reported that 75% of people who receive a text message instantly open it compared with

10% of people who receive email.

Market for Smart Phones

Two reports released last month paint a rosy picture for smartphones, also known as

converged mobile devices. According to figures from Strategy Analytics, smartphone sales at

17.5 million units in 2004 accounted for 3% of the worldwide sales of 684 million handsets.

However, this represents a significant jump from the 8.2 million units sold in 2003, and it is

clear that this small market segment is destined for big things.

Canalys says an increasing number of enterprises are buying smartphones and PDAs, and are

looking for devices which can give access to applications like customer relationship

management (CRM) packages or fleet management tools.

© 2005 7

1 ComReg Irish Communications Market: Quarterly Key Data - June 2005


Sales of smartphones are predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent

through 2009. This growth should allow smartphones to account for 9.3 percent of the mobile

phone market by 2009, up from 3.7 percent in 20041.

Another sign that smartphones are being targeted by consumer electronics firms also came

from Microsoft, which said that it has teamed up with Flextronics to launch a mobile phone

platform, codenamed Peabody, which will run on the Windows Mobile operating system and

will be marketed at mobile handset manufacturers. The platform is essentially a blueprint

from which a range of smartphones can be designed.

Marketed as a low-cost solution, Peabody phones will include cameras for video and still

images, a Windows media player that handles a wide range of formats and "seamless

integration with Outlook applications, calendar, e-mail, tasks, contacts - all wirelessly,"

Microsoft said.

Market for PDA’s

While traditional PDAs - even those with wireless functionality - saw double-figure big year-

on-year growth, it failed to match the increased interest buyers saw in smartphones. Overall,

the PDA - what Canalys terms 'data-centric devices' - market grew 33 per cent year on year. 2

Consumers and businesspeople can expect a growing number of PDAs with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,

and cellular wireless capabilities, making the handsets more like their smartphone rivals,

which have proven to be hugely popular.

Worldwide PDA Shipment Forecast (Thousands of Units)3

2002 2003 2004 2005

12,094 11,452 11,367 11,251

1 Jupiter Research 2004 2 Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/20/euro_q1_pda_sales/

© 2005 8

3 Source: Gartner Dataquest (March 2004)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/20/euro_q1_pda_sales/


Worldwide PDA Vendor Shipment Estimates, 2003 vs. 2002 (Units) 1

2003 Share (%) 2003 2002 Share (%) 2002

palmOne2 4,164,790 36.4 5,144,890 42.5

HP 2,274,835 19.9 1,621,317 13.4

Sony 1,401,090 12.2 1,328,555 11

RIM 603,175 5.3 272,450 2.3

Dell 582,500 5.1 77,000 0.6

Toshiba 341,669 3 439,153 3.6

Others 2,087,718 18.2 3,210,394 26.5

Total Market 11,455,777 100 12,093,759 100

Worldwide personal digital assistant (PDA) shipments exceeded 2.8 million units, as

Microsoft Windows CE operating system licensees surpassed the Palm OS for the first time in

the third quarter of 2004, according to Gartner, Inc.

The Microsoft Windows CE operating system accounted for 48.1 percent of worldwide PDA

shipments in third quarter of 2004. Palm OS units represented 29.8 percent of the market,

down from 46.9 percent market share in the same period last year.

"The robust Microsoft Windows CE market has been driven in part by the wide choice of

vendors," said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide

group. "Business customers tend to steer clear of markets dominated by a single supplier,

which is where the Palm OS market stands today."

1 Source: Gartner Dataquest (January 2004)

© 2005 9

2 palmOne results include results of Handspring.


Preliminary Worldwide PDA Shipment Estimates by Operating System for 3Q04 (Units)1

Company

3Q04 Shipments

3Q04 Market Share (%)

3Q03 Shipments

3Q03 Market Share (%) Growth (%)

Windows CE 1,375,866 48.1 1,037,874 41.2 32.6

Palm OS 850,821 29.8 1,181,202 46.9 -28.0

Research In Motion

565,000 19.8 123,775 4.9 356.5

Linux 24,500 0.9 48,550 1.9 -49.5

Others 42,620 1.5 125,745 5.0 -66.1

Total 2,858,807 100.0 2,517,146 100.0 13.6

Note: Totals do not include smartphones such as the Treo 600 or BlackBerry 7100 but include wireless

PDAs such as the iPAQ 6315.

"Demand for wireless e-mail continues to increase as the primary driver of new PDA

deployments. The shipment growth of Research In Motion nearly balances the decline of

Palm OS, Linux, Symbian and proprietary PDAs," Mr. Kort said. "We expect worldwide PDA

shipments to total 11.9 million units in 2004, up approximately 4 percent from 2003."

Symbian and Microsoft

Symbian is clearly one of the prime beneficiaries of the rise in smartphone sales at the

expense of PDA shipments. Around 2.68 million handsets based on Symbian technology

shipped during the first half of the year, up more than 1000 per cent from the 230,000 that

shipped in the first half of 2002. Q2 saw a 27 per cent increase in Symbian-based handset

shipments over the 1.18 million devices that shipped in Q1.

Symbian isn't a true standard, of course, it's simply the market leader, though Microsoft is

likely to be challenging that role with its new Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones

offering. Palm, too, is steering in that direction.

© 2005 10

1 Source: Gartner Dataquest (November 2004)


Although Symbian Ltd. currently dominates the cellular operating systems market, ABI

Research says the company could see its share dwindle to less than 50 percent with Microsoft

picking up most of the balance. "The problem for Symbian," said analyst Brian Pellegrini, "is

that they're only targeting higher-end phones, which form a tiny part of the market."1

HandHeld PC Sales

The global market for handheld computer fell by 21pc in the first quarter of this year, which

attributed the major decline to sluggish demand from businesses

and consumers alike.

IDC’s Worldwide Handheld Qview revealed that worldwide

handheld device shipments fell by 21.3pc year-on-year in the first quarter of 2003 and

dropped sequentially by 26.5pc to 2.45 million units.

The main anticipated reason for this decline is that clear consumption patterns for handheld

devices have yet to emerge among enterprises and consumers. As most enterprise customers

do not regard handheld devices as a key component of their IT infrastructure, demand

softens quickly as corporate IT budgets are cut. In the consumer market, handhelds are

viewed primarily as luxury items. As a result, declines in consumer confidence and

disposable income negatively impact consumer demand.

Tablet PC

Tablet PC’s were first launched two years ago and since then users are less than addicted. In

the second quarter of 2003, the UK industry watcher found that shipments for the tablet fell

by 23% for the three-month period. In total, less than 100,000 units have

been shipped since its launch.

Analysts believe that price may be causing the tablet to suffer by

comparison with its notebook PC siblings. Spec for spec Irish retailers

are marketing tablets for €500 more than the laptop. While the comparison is not exactly like

for like, passing shoppers are unlikely to want to part with half a grand extra for the privilege

of toting a laptop.

1 Source: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1651807,00.asp

© 2005 11


Wireless Networks

Wireless Networks or WLANs are becoming ubiquitous. They are no longer just within large

business premises but also in people’s homes and public places. Public Wireless LAN, “Hot

Spots” are areas where anyone with a WiFi enabled laptop or PDA can access the Internet

(sometimes charges may be involved). Public areas where people are frequently waiting (for

example airports and stations) or visiting for a short space of time (hotels, restaurants etc.) are

the main hotspot locations, see table below.

Public WLAN Hot Spot Locations Worldwide, by Type 1

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Airports 85 152 292 378 423 Hotels 569 2,274 11,687 22,021 23,663

Retail Outlets 474 11,109 50,287 82,149 85,567 Enterprise Guesting

Areas 84 624 1,762 3,708 5,413

Stations and Ports — 88 623 2,143 3,887

Community Hot Spots 2 266 5,637 20,561 30,659

Others — 240 790 1,526 2,156

Total Market 1,214 14,752 71,079 132,486 151,768

In Ireland, Eircom have public WiFi hotspots in Dublin city centre and Rathmines. The signal

is available within a 50 metre radius of the eircom hotspot payphones. They also provide

wireless Internet access in McDonalds restaurants and various hotels around the country.

Cork city has the first citywide WiFi network in Europe which was rolled out by Smart

Telecom and Cork City Council in March 2005. Unlike regular hotspots which allow users to

access high-speed internet services providing they are within a relatively short distance from

a base unit, this service covers a 1.5 sq kilometre area which means that users will be able to

roam within the whole of Cork city centre without losing their internet signal. This type of

services is already available in parts of the US and Asia. Smart Telecom is in discussion with

other councils and organizations about deploying similar wireless networks elsewhere. 2

1 Source: Gartner Dataquest (June 2003)

© 2005 12

2 Source: http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9595683

http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9595683


Future Business Indications "With 2004 being driven by a major uptake of notebook penetration, and in particular strong

desktop replacement trends in the SMB market, European businesses are clearly displaying a

far greater commitment to the integration of mobile solutions into their IT strategy," said Ian

Gibbs, senior research analyst with IDC's European Personal Computing team.

According to the study of 1,000 European decision makers, this year will also see a clear

acceleration of mobility as a fully integrated business solution.

"The share of notebooks continues to grow within business organisations -- from SMB to

corporate -- as an improved perception of the benefits in terms of productivity and flexibility

are placing mobile platforms, along with an uptake of wireless networks, at the heart of

business IT solutions," said Gibbs.

Wireless network installations increased in 2004, and further growth is expected in 2005 as

issues surrounding wireless standards and network security are steadily overcome.

Notebooks remain the main hardware component of business wireless strategies, but

standard PDAs and smart phones are increasingly acting as supplementary devices too.1

Spending on IT by Irish firms is expected to exceed €2.2 billion in 2005 (3% growth), driven

by a rise in expenditure on outsourcing, software and hardware infrastructure, according to a

report from research firm iReach. Spending on PCs, printers and PDAs is expected to amount

to over half a billion of that figure.

Mobile and wireless technologies are key elements needed to establish a real-time enterprise.

These technologies help decrease or even eliminate the time delay between responding to

customer or co-worker questions, such as signing off on a purchase order, or making and

delivering management decisions.

Gartner analysts have said that by 2007, only 50 percent of the people given mobile data will

actually benefit from it due to poor implementation, management and the high cost of

supporting services and technology. Enterprises need to consider three main technology

© 2005 13

1 Source: Electric News http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9603635



areas for mobile wireless — network services, mobile devices and mobile applications — and

assess its needs against the technical maturity, costs and capabilities of wireless technology.1

Competition

Clickatell

Clickatell is the worlds leading provider of Bulk SMS messaging

services and SMS Gateway connectivity with reliable coverage

to 180 countries worldwide. They offer customers access to a

secure, dependable, high capacity messaging platform. The products are available free of

charge, the customers only pays for sent messages.

Services they offer:

Clickatell offers two products that potentially will compete with our product offering.

Clickatell Communicator:

This is a simple and easy way to send individualized, bulk text messages globally. All one

does is select the recipient or group, type the message, and it will be sent immediately. It is a

service designed for businesses wanting to communicate or market to their customers and or

for organizations wanting to send group messages such as event notifications, promotions or

bulk SMS alerts. SMS messages are sent from a web interface (as shown) and contacts can be

imported to the online address book from MS Outlook or Excel.

1 Source: "Gartner Says Companies Need to Evaluate and Regulate their Wireless Telecom

Costs in a Better Fashion," October 7, 2002

© 2005 14


Messenger Pro:

Messenger-Pro is an SMS software tool for global text messaging direct from your computer.

Installation and testing are free, and sending a message to any mobile device is as easy as

sending an e-mail. A powerful merge facility allows automatic individualization of messages

to your whole database of contacts in one easy step. It also can integrate with Outlook’s

Address book.

Bulk Purchase Pricing

This pricing applies to Clickatell Communicator, MessengerPro and their SMS gateway.

Credit Volume Credit Price

1 - 9,999 € 0.044

10,000 - 49,999 € 0.042

50,000 - 99,999 € 0.039

100,000 - 249,999 € 0.037

250,000 - 499,999 € 0.034

500,000 + Price on application

BlackBerry

In Ireland, O2 and Vodafone offer a range of BlackBerry handhelds. With

BlackBerry, emails are automatically pushed to the device; there is no dial

up and no waiting. In addition to being able to read and reply to emails,

there is also the facility to make and receive calls send messages.

Services offered:

Synchronize email, calendar and address book while on the move

Provision devices wirelessly- allowing faster and easier rollout to end-users

Control email settings remotely- for example, allowing the update of out of office

details

Benefit from enhanced access to corporate data

Access to intranet and Internet facilities

Ability to read email attachments including GIFF, PNG and JPEG files

© 2005 15


MobiSMS

MobiSMS provides rich low-cost messaging

allowing users with a greater choice in who

delivers SMS from their phone. MobiSMS uses the

combination of GPRS technology and Java to bring a cheap, robust and useful solution for

SMSing from a mobile phone. In addition mobiSMS enables SMSing from your personal

computer via their website.


Accessible via web, WAP and java midlet

Cheap SMS (Current price .06 euro per credit)

SMS message history

Delivery reports

Searchable online contacts database

Importing/Exporting contacts

Synchonisation of contacts groups and messages

Predefined messages

Intelli Software

The IntelliSoftware SMS Gateway enables you to send and

receive SMS messages from your Web browser or Email

client. Their SMS Gateway service is reliable, fast, low-cost

and covers almost all operators in the world.


SMS Gateway

IntelliSoftware SMS Gateway is a reliable, fast and low cost messaging service. Their Internet

to SMS gateway offers coverage top almost all operators in the world. IntelliSoftware SMS

Gateway can be used in the following ways:

2- way SMS from web browsers, replies from the recipients can be viewed in the SMS

Inbox

2- way SMS from Email Client, such as Outlook or Notes. Replies from recipients will

be routed back into the email inbox.

© 2005 16


A range of interfaces are available to Integrate SMS functionality into in-house

systems.

SMS Server Software –Active SMS

Active SMS is a 2-way SMS messaging server for the Windows platform. It is designed to

integrate into email Systems and Bespoke Applications to provide 2-way SMS services.

Features:

2 -way messaging

2- way email gateway

COM component interface

.NET component interface

Message logging

Command line interface

Multiple SMS transports

Scripting support

SMSDriver.com

SMSDriver allows companies, businesses and

individuals to have their own ‘SMS Gateway’

providing the opportunity to create SMS messages

directly from a standard PC connected to the Internet. SMSDriver.com gives the chance to

promote and communicate different services, products or websites and to even resell SMS

messages.

© 2005 17



SMS Quantity Unit Cost (Euro Cents) Payment amount €

5,000 4.8 240

20,000 3.6 720

100,000 2.8 2,800

500,000 2.5 12,500

1,000,000 2.3 23,000

2,500,000 2.2 55,000

5,000,000 2.1 105,000

Oxygen SMS Gateway

Oxygen SMS Gateway allows uninterruptible

communication between people regardless of the

service used. Current version supports three services:

SMS, e-mail and ICQ. It means that people having at least one of these services can

communicate with each other. The main advantage of Oxygen SMS Gateway over all other

email-sms gating services is that the Oxygen SMS Gateway is bidirectional. Users can send

SMS to e-mail address, e-mail message to ICQ UIN and vice versa.


Supports email, SMS and ICQ protocols

Oxygen SMS is bidirectional with any services

Uninterruptible communication

Up to 3 mobile phones can be specified for each subscriber

Administrator can configure and turn on/off the services that twill be used for the

specific subscriber

© 2005 18


Porter’s Five Forces Threat of Substitute Products or Services

In general threat of substitute products or service in the technology arena is high, as technical

products and services are relatively easy to replicate by competitors. However, there is

currently no company on the market places that offers such a comprehensive mobile

communications service that we offer. Therefore we would aim to completely exploit our

first-mover advantage.

Our software architecture is designed to be adaptable. Should a new technology emerge that

threatens to be a substitute to email, SMS or MMS we will be able to integrate that technology

into our system.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Our suppliers in this case are Clickatell and other gateways. We would envisage the

bargaining power of suppliers to be relatively low. Several SMS gateway companies are in

existence and competition between them is high. New ‘gateway’ companies arrive on the

market place each year, eager for new business and are subsequently offering increased

product offerings at lower and lower prices.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

The buyers are the companies who we will be trying to sell our services to. We anticipate that

they will have a substantial amount of bargaining power. However, the onus lies with us to

tailor specific applications that will result in added value, in terms of cost saving and also

convenience, being passed onto the buyer.

Threat of New Entrants

In this industry there is a constant threat of new entrants. We envisage that our first-mover

advantage should lower this threat somewhat.

Rivalry Among Existing Competitors

© 2005 19

As our service is not yet being offered on the market, we have no direct competitors per say.

Therefore rivalry amongst competitors in our sector of the industry would currently be non-

existent. However, when we take a look at mobile device industry as a whole and the rapid

changes and developments that are being experienced by all competitors, then we can rightly

assume that there is intense rivalry within this industry. Once again, the onus will be on us to

continuously strive to offer a unique, cost and time effective service, while looking at ways

continuously improve service at the same time.


Preliminary Research

Our preliminary research involved an in-depth interview with Managing Director of Insero

Ltd.1 Based in DCU’s Invent Centre2, Insero is a provider of Mobile Business Intelligence

solutions, including PDA software. The MD saw the basic business model of our service as a

unique and useful product/service, with vast market potential.

From this interview, companies operating in the technology sector were decided as our initial

target market. Sales managers were chosen as the people to speak to within companies as

they would have the greatest use for our product and services.

Market Research Survey

Telephone Questionnaire

We surveyed Irish based companies, including large corporations and SME. The complete

questionnaire is in Appendix I.

Most of these companies were technology related, but a few were from other industries.

The survey was conducted over the phone and by email. Sales managers were the main

participants in our research.

Survey Analysis

All companies used multiple methods of communicating with their mobile employees. Phone

and text messaging were used by all companies, and e-mail was also used by the majority.

Each sales manager had six to ten employees under their supervision, with one respondent

having under six employees.

On average each manager would contact the sales team two to five times a day. They all rated

it as extremely important to be able to communicate with the entire sales team at once. One

even commented that at times it is crucial. The Accountancy consultancy firm surveyed were

the only ones that didn’t feel it very important to communicate with entire teams at once.

1 http://www.insero.ie2 http://www.invent.dcu.ie

© 2005 20

http://www.insero.ie/

http://www.invent.dcu.ie/


The main reasons for the need the need to communicate with the entire team were:

Coordinating meetings, and times

Informing of product shortages

Highlighting problems with products

Notification of promotional changes

Sharing of general company information

Broadcasting good news

Warning of expected important telephone call

Current factors restricting group communication were equally seen to be poor technology

(50%) and inconvenience (50%). Network coverage problems and mobile phones being

switched off were common complaints. Some companies desired group voice message and

conference call facilities as solutions.

The early morning was the main time when there was the need to communicate with the

group. With one respondent having a preference for the end of the working day.

There was mixed reactions to the question of the company favouring the use of mobile

technology by managers to communicate with the sales team. 40% strongly agreed, 40%

agreed with the remaining 20% neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Figure 1 Results of Company Favouring the use of Mobile Technology

Feedback regarding current communication processes improvement:

© 2005 21

Solve response latency, in particular with regard to e-mail response


Greater frequency and convenience

Availability of Blackberry devices on the Meteor network

Real time talking and messaging

Network coverage issues

There was mixed results for the order of importance for the most preferred means of

receiving messages. Voice messaging was rated number one 50%, Email was rated number

one by 25% and SMS rated number one by 25% of respondents.

Overall the complete ranking was:

1. Voice

2. E-mail

3. SMS

4. Instant Messaging

5. MMS

Survey Conclusion

Based on feedback from our survey there is a strong desire for sales managers to be able to

communicate with their sales team at once. The biggest barrier to communication is the

limitations of technology and the inconvenience. Several methods of group communication

are currently used. Any improvement to current facilities and the possible combination of the

different means of messaging would have a huge time saving benefit to them.

Several would like a means to send group voice messages, a feature that is not currently

available.

© 2005 22


In Depth Interview

It was decided to conduct a one-hour in depth interview with an Irish based technology

company called Sigma wireless. Both the sales manager and a sales representative took part

in the interview. There were two main reasons why we targeted Sigma to conduct our

interviews. Firstly they are a company whose core business is wireless technology and

secondly the sales manager, Barry Tierney, was extremely interested and receptive when he

was asked if he was willing to be interviewed.

The interview consisted of two areas, the mobile and telecommunication industries in general

and also topics relating directly to our product and service.

About the Company

The Sigma group is divided into three main divisions and all operate under the one umbrella.

Sigma Wireless Technologies, Sigma Wireless Communications and Sigma Telecom Ltd.

Interview Feedback

The future for mobile communications was seen to be the evolution of full colour email on a

small device. Fixed pricing was seen as a significant requirement for today’s businesses as

there is a high variance between different users mobile bills. The fixed pricing of a device like

the Blackberry allows for better financial planning and control.

The main factor seen to inhibit the progress of mobile communications in Ireland was price.

Other factors include the delay in arrival of next generation technology, despite high

promotion and ‘hype’ in the media prior to the launch.

Sigma’s current method of communication with mobile employees is emails for standard

information, text messaging for important information, and a telephone call for critical

matters.

© 2005 23

When asked about developments in the voice messaging market, the company Mobile

Tornado was cited as an example. They offer a service called ‘Push to Talk’ where by a voice


message can instantly be sent to multiple users at any given time, somewhat like a one-way

‘walkie talkie’. This was seen as an exciting development, with widespread applications.

The ideal device chosen by the sales manager was a cross between the Blackberry (mobile

office email) and the XDA (phone/PDA), which would combine the instant email push

feature of the former with the pocket windows applications on the latter. Together this would

provide great advancements in mobile computing and communication.

When discussing our product they felt that there would be more of a use for this service in

larger companies, as they only had six people on their sales team. They believe that

companies would find the product useful for communicating with suppliers, partners and

customers. The delivery preference feature could be very useful when catering

communication method types to different customers needs to keep them happy and maintain

their custom.

A potential improvement suggested was further customisation to each company’s particular

needs, as this would add value to the product.

Conclusion

Based on this interview marketing should be targeted at specific groups of companys,

particularly those that would be more likely to pay extra for features. Larger business would

have more of a need for such a service. Other target markets would be those with specific

communication requirements, where we could customise our service to exactly to fit their

needs.

© 2005 24


3. Marketing Report

Product 96% of the Irish population own a mobile phone – this equates to practically everyone of

working age having one. Some business people, particularly mobile employees, would have a

company provided mobile phone.

Notebook computers are increasingly replacing the traditional desktop computer as mobility

is becoming evermore important in today fast moving business environment.

Communication is becoming more and more important. The rise of devices like the

Blackberry, fulfils peoples need to be always in contact with their office and business

contacts.

Our product provides the facility to send email, SMS, MMS and voice messages to

individuals or groups. The service is extremely flexible and can be used via a range of devices

– including desktop PCs, notebooks, PDA, smart phones and mobile phones.

A customisable interface allows users to set preferences for methods of communication for

different times.

Swift-Comm Service Advantages:

Speed – The fastest underlying data network will be harnessed using the technique of

info fuelling. Multiple messages will be transmitted as one data stream thus greatly

increasing transmission as opposed to group text messages for example that are sent one

at a time.

Ease of use – The interface to send messages will be simple and easy to use with

intuitive uncomplicated options and tabbing. Users will not be bombarded with

superfluous menu options or distracted with fancy graphics.

© 2005 25

Intelligent Delivery – Critically people respond to messages when and how they like

to get them. Through the each contact’s preferences entered in the service will only


deliver if it is according to these preferences. Typically this might be a person who prefers

to get voice messages during work hours and outside of this only email or text messages.

Fully Integrated – The service will be unlike anything else currently available in the

marketplace. It will meet all your messaging needs as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for email, text,

voice and multimedia messages.

Usability

The simple web interface is designed to be intuitive and user friendly, taking into account the

different levels of technical ability of potential users. The PDA interface was also designed

with the same functionality in mind.

Reliability

We tested several SMS gateways and found Clickatell to be the most reliable and cost

effective. We will continually monitor performance levels to ensure maximum customer

satisfaction. If the current gateway provider failed to meet our service level expectations we

will not hesitate to switch provider. As we realise the importance of reliability. There is the

facility to receive delivery receipts of all SMS messages for users peace of mind.

Our servers would be maintained to the highest level to ensure no unnecessary downtime,

delays or errors.

Privacy

As part of our contract with customers we would ensure the privacy of their data (contact

information, message data etc.) and not pass on any data to 3rd parties.

© 2005 26


Features

Web Site Edit Existing Group Page

Legend

1. Delete entire selected group

1. List of existing contacts in phonebook

2. Add and remove selected contacts from group

3. List of contacts currently in the group

© 2005 27

4. 3.

2.

1.


PDA Send Page

Legend 2. Text entry field for message composition

4. Menu tabs for different page access

5. Message delivery type selection

6. Contacts and groups that will receive the message

Future Development

Existing service and technology will be constantly monitored for the need to improve. Any

restrictive aspects may be removed or refined and other beneficial and complementary

features may be added. Any subsequently added features would have to be thoroughly tested

to ensure reliability with the existing working system.

The company has management personnel with wide ranging industry experience and will be

able to draw upon their business connections to establish relationships with potential

customers. Our expert engineers will regularly attend industry events and conferences in

order to keep up-to-date with trends and developments.

With an increasing customer base the infrastructure in place to handle the increased load will

have to be expanded and fault tested. This would typically involve additional and more

powerful application servers.

© 2005 28

1.

2.

3.

4.


The communications industry is moving at a rapid speed with new technologies constantly

being introduced and some forcing others to be obsolete. This can been seen with the

explosion of broadband Internet forcing dial-up onto the backburner.

With the diversity and saturation of existing technologies and data networks we are seeing

more merging and experimentation. One survey found, “around 30 percent of workers

regularly access their e-mail via their mobiles, with 22 percent using an alternative method

such as Wi-Fi hotspots.”1 Vodafone customers with 3G enabled mobiles use the older GPRS

(so called 2.5G) for short access duration connections and then use 3G for shorter bursts of

greater data loads.

Newer technologies are always emerging and we will have to test and analyse those that have

potential to be incorporated into our service and those that will not take-off. Crucially the

near future will see the emergence of WiMax, we may also see the proliferation of hotspots or

a levelling out.

More customers and usage will lead to greater cost savings that can be passed on to the

customer. This is especially important for our messaging gateway suppliers who will

provide greater savings with larger bulk purchases.

Market Segment

The main target market for our product and service is the corporate and SME market.

Our survey of both large and small Irish based companies showed that they did email and

text message to groups on a regular basis. There was interest overall from both sections in a

service that potentially could provide efficient and reliable group communication.

Primary Channel

The primary target is large businesses as they would be the ones to benefit most from our

service and also provide us with the most revenue.

1 Business looks forward to 3G: Survey, Tuesday, January 25 2005, Ralph Averbuch, ENN.ie,


© 2005 29

http://www.enn.ie/author.html?code=7343058



Potential Secondary Channel

A smaller possible target market would be Common Interest Groups, such as sport and

leisure activities that could benefit by using our service. For example sports clubs notifying

people about matches, competitions etc.

Price

There are several options available for selling our product – selling the software outright,

licensing or providing a tailored service to individual businesses.

Selling the software to a mobile phone operator would not be the most profitable option.

Licensing would protect our Intellectual Property by placing conditions on how the product

can be used by the customer. These conditions would include items such as the length of time

it can be used, circumstances for termination of the licence and the protection of IP. The

customers would then have to purchase text message credits from Clickatell themselves.

The third option of providing the product as a service was decided as the most viable. From

the users point of view it is the simplest as everything from a technical side is taken care of.

Customers will be charged a set up fee, and then a monthly maintenance fee after that.

Message costs to customers

E-mail Free

SMS 6c

MMS 30c

Voice 30c

Video 40c

© 2005 30


Pricing Structure

Standard Advanced Premium

Number of users 1-4 5-24 25+

Set up fee € 100 € 300 € 600

Monthly maintenance € 15 € 50 € 100

First year cost € 265 € 850 € 1,700

Future years € 180 € 600 € 1,200

Promotion

In order to promote our product successfully to large corporations and SMEs a one-to-one

relationships is required and will require a highly motivated and successful sales person. This

person must be capable of clearly communicating the service we provide, how are product

works and what benefits there are to them. To appeal to our primary channel it will be

necessary to customise the product in terms of its functionality and appearance.

Once business with our primary channel is established, our sales team will then have the

confidence and expertise to target the possible secondary markets. As these are more

fragmented, they will require more research and expenditure in order to effectively reach

them.

© 2005 31


SWOT analysis

Strengths

Unique service and software

Efficient, time saving service – email, SMS, MMS and voice message at the click of

one button

Intelligent routing of messages

Adaptable and customisable to customers needs

Extensive benefits to businesses, which are becoming increasingly mobile and reliant

on mobile communication

High penetration rate of mobile phones and related technology in Ireland

Price saving on bulk text message purchasing

Weaknesses

No established relationships

No other products in our portfolio

Reliant on one supplier for SMS gateway (Clickatell)

Reliant on customer’s phone networks

Opportunities

Future developments and expansion possible

Increasing demand for mobile technology, particularly smart phones

Increasing availability of wireless hotspots around the country

Threats

Imitation or similar products, particularly from mobile operators

Decreasing cost of text and multimedia messages

© 2005 32


4. Technical Report

Product Based on the market research data collected the company will provide a fast, intelligent and

fully integrated mobile communications solution. Business customers would sign up to the

service and purchase credit as and when needed. Customers will be primarily in the

managerial level of organisations needing to communicate quickly with staff on the move.

The service will comprise a web portal and software tools available for a variety of mobile

devices such as laptops and PDAs. These tools will enable users to compose messages and

organise their contacts.

Messages are determined by the user from a selection of email, text, voice, multimedia or any

combination of these. The message content is entered in manually and can be text, voice,

images and video using the standard tools available on the specific device such as keyboard,

voice recorder and camera.

User contacts will be central to the efficient use of the service. Contacts can be imported from

other services such as Outlook and Excel or entered in by the user. Each contact should have

their delivery preferences entered and this can be done through the tools provided.

Product Design

The Swift-Comm service will be a choice of software downloads and an online portal. Users

could pick and choose what options they would use. This idea of usage preferences and

customisation matches what users were saying from the market research. We know many

sales executives have access to the Internet and used mobile technology. The overlapping of

technologies and means of communication creates a gap in the market for a fully integrated

communications service.

© 2005 33


System Architecture

© 2005 34


Heuristic Evaluation

“Heuristic evaluation is a discount usability engineering method for quick, cheap, and easy evaluation

of a user interface design” Jakob Nielsen 1

A heuristic evaluation is usually carried out by an expert who will examine a website or any

interface based on its usability. Usually a set of rules or guidelines for the evaluation are

drawn up beforehand. We have chosen about ten of these usability guidelines for our

heuristic evaluation. Each element of the interface will be inspected to see if it adheres to the

set of accepted usability heuristics, and the results will illustrate the good and bad points of

the interface.

Research has shown that on average a single evaluator will only uncover approximately 35%

of the usability problems in an interface. This percentile is greatly increased when more

evaluators are introduced since, in general, different evaluators will find different problems.

The main benefits of this technique are that it provides quick and relatively cheap feedback to

designers. It is a rather short and simple style evaluation. There is no burden put on the user

in this method and so it is a less intrusive approach. The results generally tend to generate

good, innovative ideas for improving and enhancing the user interface. The development

team will also receive a good estimate of to what extent the user interface design can be

improved.

The heuristic evaluation aims to identify all the problems associated with a user interface, so

the results from such an assessment is a list or set of problems clearly described. This can lead

to the relatively fast generation of solutions to these problems.

The Website The website was designed in HTML with a CSS style sheet. The functionality was through

ASP .Net and VB .Net. Information on registered users and contacts were stored in a MS

Access database for the prototype. It is envisaged that a higher capacity, performance and

reliable database would be ascertained when the product is launched.

© 2005 35

1 http://www.useit.com

http://www.useit.com/


The Web server used was Microsoft IIS and the SMTP virtual server that comes with it was

used for incoming and outgoing email. Microsoft products were used since the development

was all in Microsoft VB .Net

Website Evaluation

The four members of the group acted as the design evaluators and each conducted the

heuristic evaluation independently preventing biased results.

The Heuristics, which were used, are listed below and they were decided upon as they

encompass all aspects of web usability and will highlight and problems or shortcomings of

the Swift-Comm web interface.

Information provided by web site - Is there plenty of relevant, useful

information?

Information Grouped and Prioritised - Are all the web pages grouped and

prioritised

Structure the site semantically - Related information is contained in the same

section

The writing style is appropriate for the web - Is the writing style consistent?

Non-textual elements - Are Images (jpg, gifs) used appropriately?

Colour scheme - Is the colour scheme used consistently?

Inform before action - Are all links consistent with good use of tool tips

Test on various web browsers - Does the site perform equally well on, Internet

Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Mozilla Firefox.

© 2005 36

Design for flexible layout - Do pages layout to fit the available window. Is there

good use of space?


Easy Reversal of user actions – The user must be able to reverse his actions easily

when he makes a mistake or becomes lost

Recommendations:

There are several aspects of the Swift-Comm web interface, which provide good usability

such as a semantic structure, consistent colour scheme, user is informed before an action is

taken using tool tips and good use if images. Despite these strengths there are some

weaknesses with the interface, which should be addressed in the next version of the interface.

Navigation within the member log-in area should be improved to include a side bar

containing links to every section of the member area. This would greatly reduce the

possibility of the user becoming lost and frustrated with the interface.

The content of the website should be improved to be more informative and possibly

structured in a hierarchical manner to provide the user with better information in a fashion

that is easier to read and understand. The Site is already well structured with related pages

being grouped together and it is important that and modification of the site content or

structure does not lead to cross over between sections which could confuse the user.

© 2005 37

The layout of the interface is very good any consistent but it does change when the user is

resizing the browser window which can make the pages look untidy. This issue should be

addressed ensuring the layout stays consistent during resizing and that it looks the same

when displayed on different browsers. To see a more detailed version of the evaluation

results see the appendix V.


Figure 2 Swift-Comm Web Site Map

Access Control & Authentication

It was important since this was to be a prepaid service (credit purchased in advance) that

there were secure mechanisms in place to ensure unauthorised users would not be able to

send free messages. User passwords and details would have to be stored safely and restricted

pages and tabs would have to be secure from unauthorised logins.

To do this passwords will not be directly stored in the database. The server for each password

will create a random salt value at storage time; this salt will be stored in the database tuple as

well as a hash of the password and the salt.

Sessions are used on the web site for access control. If a user has failed to login correctly or

login expiration has been reached then they will not be able to visit any page on the web site

apart from the login index page. Similarly for mobile devices a session is created when a

person first successfully logs in to the server. This session is known to the server and has a

record of its validity period. If someone’s session is not known to the server or has expired

they cannot continue past the login tab.

© 2005 38

Sending unprotected data out in the open would not be wise as personal details and

passwords could be captured in this way. To prevent this all data would be encrypted. For


the Internet Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) could be used while over other network standards the

data would be manually encrypted at one end of the connection and decrypted at the other.

Since a design consideration was taken to keep data rates low for connection speed

optimisation and cost savings this would also ensure that encryption would not greatly affect

the duration of the connection.

The PDA Application

We ourselves were the experts who employed the heuristic techniques in evaluating the PDA

user interface. All four members of the group examined and evaluated the interface

independently. We then met as a group and reported and discussed our findings. We also

came up with additional points through the discussion.

The interface was evaluated under the following headings:

Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

The PDA screen is 3.5 inches (240 x 320 pixels), so any design has to be minimalist to fit.

Similar information and options were grouped into sections, and displayed on different tabs.

The bar along the left side of each screen is simple yet decorative. Its’ width is exactly that off

the Windows start icon. On the main page there is a matching bar on the right side, making

the page visual symmetrical. Other pages don’t have this second bar as there wasn’t room.

The fact that only the main ‘Send’ page has it highlights its importance relative to the others.

For the same reason only the ‘Send’ and ‘About’ tabs have the Swift-Comm logo on the bar.

The different colours of this bar are used to enhance the pages. Each section has a different

colour decorative bar along the left of the screen – blue for ‘Send’, yellow for ‘Contacts’,

purple for ‘Groups’ and red for ‘About’. This enhances the aesthetics of the application, but it

does not ostracise any colour blind users as the current tab is highlighted as is the Windows

mobile standard.

Consistency and Standards

The same style, fonts and colours are used for each page (apart from the decorative bar along

the left side as already mentioned). The navigation tabs are also consistent for each section.

Windows mobile conventions are stuck to at all times.

© 2005 39


Visibility of system status

At the bottom of the screen there is a status section, advising users in simple dialogue of the

systems status and confirming their actions.

However the system does not confirm when recipients are removed from this list, this is to be

corrected. There are no status messages on the Add and Edit tabs for modifying Contacts and

Groups. This needs to be added at the bottom of the screen.

Recognition rather than recall

Navigation of the system is via tabs at the bottom, which is a standard Windows mobile

interface. Originally there were three tabs, one being for contacts. This contained a sub tab for

groups, which then contained further tabs of options. Three levels of tabbing was thought to

be a bit excessive, therefore ‘Contacts’ and ‘Groups’ were separated into two separate tabs.

Each of these has further tabs, such as ‘Add’ and ‘Edit’ but this is still intuitive to navigate.

User control and freedom

Users can navigate through the various options to test the application; any actions made by

mistake can easily be undone.

On relevant screens there is a ‘Clear’ button to undo or remove contacts from recipients and

group lists, so users can undo their actions. Check boxes and drop down menus can easily be

changed if an error is made, allowing the user the to freedom to explore.

Error Prevention and Recovery

The system status bar will inform users of any errors made. For example if the user tries to

add a contact to the recipients list, and he or she is already on the list the status bar will

advise them of this, while preventing the error.

Recovery from other user errors can be undone easily via relevant buttons such as ‘Clear’ and

‘Delete’. If the user has already saved something, they can easily delete it again on the edit

tab.

Help and Documentation

© 2005 40

No help or documentation is provided within the PDA GUI, it is a very intuitive design. Full

user guides and documentation are available on the website, with introductory guides for

new users who need assistance. The user will be able to learn how to use the interface

quickly. A small help section should be incorporated into future versions.


Future Development As communication and media move fully over to digital systems such as VOIP for telephony

and digital TV, users will expect to be more in control of their time. There will be a

presumption that the technology will allow them to be kept informed when and where they

want. There will be an expectation that it can be customised for delivery time and content.

This intelligent communication will be the basis for continued innovation in the company.

© 2005 41


5. Financial Report Full financial Reports can be viewed in Appendix VII.

Start up costs, Year 1

The four group members will contribute €16,000 between them, to provide funds for

the company’s initial start up costs.

Enterprise Ireland funding and or Venture Capital funding will be applied for at the

start of year 1 to assist in financing the initial start up costs by at least €30,000.

The company will be incubated within Invent1, Dublin City University’s enterprise

and innovation centre. For the first 18 months one of their smaller offices will be rented,

after which the company would move to a larger office space. The office rates listed are

Invent’s current rates, which include all service charges, use of their meeting rooms, AV

equipment, utility bills, cleaning and security.

Our domain will be registered with Hosting Ireland2 as their pricing is very

competitive - €70 for .ie domains, and €20 a year for .com and other non-Irish domains.

Hosting and maintenance of the domain will be handled in house. Initially we will

register Swift-Comm.com, which is currently available. We will reconsider Irish and

other domain names after the first year as the company expands. Future products and

service developments may require additional domain names.

We will purchase a server to host our Internet server and databases. Each member of

the team already has his or her own laptop and mobile phone so there is no need for us to

purchase additional equipment at start up.

Employee salary figures include PAYE and PRSI payments. Salaries are payable

monthly in arrears.

It is expected that we will obtain 5 contracts per month during months 3-12, resulting

in 50 contracts by the end of year 1 (25 Standard, 20 Advanced and 5 Premium). Each 1 http://www.invent.dcu.ie

© 2005 42

2 http://www.hostingireland.ie

http://www.invent.dcu.ie/

http://www.hostingireland.ie/


user will generate on average a profit of €12 in messaging, in addition to the monthly

maintenance fee.

Message Pricing and Margins

per month Av. per user User cost Total Our cost Our cost per

user Margin Total Margin

SMS 250 € 0.06 € 15.00 € 0.04 € 10.00 € 0.02 € 5.00

Voice 60 € 0.30 € 18.00 € 0.20 € 12.00 € 0.10 € 6.00

Others 10 € 0.30 € 3.00 € 0.20 € 2.00 € 0.10 € 1.00

€ 36.00 € 24.00 € 12.00

Income Expenditure Years 2 and 3

We expect our customer contracts to have grown to 200 by the end of year 2 (100

Standard, 75 Advanced and 25 Premium) and to 400 by the end of year 3 (250 Standard,

110 Advanced and 40 Premium).

As the number of users increases, resulting in the need to buy more messages in bulk,

we will be able to purchase the messages at a lower rate (SMS 3c approx). This discount

can be also passed on to our customers.

Should our messaging gateway lower their prices we will also lower our rates

accordingly.

During years 2 and 3 we will begin to invest in research and development to expand

our product and service portfolio.

Additional server and storage hardware will need to be purchased to cope with

increasing number of users.

Additional sales employees will need to be employed (estimated at one per year) to

cope with obtaining new and maintaining existing customers.

© 2005 43


6. Management Team Swift-Comm currently has a highly skilled workforce that will be intrinsic to the introduction

and further development of the service. Its industry relationships and support from Invent

will augment the company’s access to expertise and knowledge. The company hope to win

the Mallin Award for start-up funding and are in negotiations with another mobile business

intelligence company, Insero in order to establish a business partnership. A development

group along with a sales and marketing team will be incubated in DCU’s Invent Centre

initially.

John Maher BSc, Adv Diploma in Marketing Techniques

MECB

John Maher is a recent E-Business Commerce masters graduate of

DCU. Prior to completing his masters he accumulated four years broad

sales experience both in the IT hardware, software and services sector

in Ireland and also in the UK. He has an outstanding sales track record,

breaking company and personal sales records continuously in

companies such as Dell Computers and Esat BT. He also holds a degree

in Management from Trinity College Dublin and an advanced diploma in Marketing

Techniques from Dublin Institute of Technology.

Over the years John has built up numerous contacts in the Irish SME industry. We are very

confident that John will have the capacity to use his experience and contacts to formulate

whatever sales/marketing strategy necessary to grow and drive the business into the future.

John is also a real people’s person and has gathered wealth of experience in relationship

marketing. Not only does he have the capacity to develop new relationships with clients, he

also has the necessary soft skills to maintain those vital client relationships. He has also

worked in the IT recruitment arena for a year where he learnt the principal concepts in

acquiring perfect personnel. We envisage John taking an active role in the recruitment of sales

personnel when the time comes to increase the sales force.

© 2005 44


Diane Hayes B.A., B.A.I.

MECT

Diane Hayes is a recent graduate from DCU’s Masters in E-Commerce

course. He undergraduate studies were in Trinity College Dublin

where she graduated in 2002 with an honours degree in Computer

Engineering. Prior to completing the in DCU, she has 2 years

experience in a range of technical roles within Dell Computers,

including hardware and software support for SME and corporate users

in Ireland, the UK and South Africa. Diane also trained new

employees, and managed existing teams. She is trained in customer handling and is a

Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) in Windows 2003 server.

Diane will deal with any technical problems or queries that customers may have. She will

also support the initial set up of account and provide any training on systems usage. We are

confident that she has the necessary skills and experience for this role. Within the company

she will be the systems administrator to the servers and systems, ensuring treliability,

dependability and security.

Kader Mula BA(Mod), MIEI

MECT

Since graduating from his degree in Computer Science in Trinity

College, Kader worked as a trainee with a CSR NGO in India. He

helped them improve their office IT efficiency and created their new

web portal. He has previous work experience in web design and

database administration. He has extensive knowledge of web

technologies and the e-Commerce industry through university projects and presentations. He

will work on optimising and improving the current system and be particularly involved in

the R&D of future features development. He will also be involved in the business planning

and strategy of the company.

© 2005 45


Ciaran Levingston BA(Mod)

MECT

Ciaran graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Trinity College

Dublin in 2004. From doing various projects during his college career he has

developed technical skills ranging from networking to web authoring. His role

in the Swift-Comm team is in the design and maintenance of Swift-Comm's

Web interface and in PDA application development. He also participates in

Usability studies, which are carried out on Swift-Comm's products.

© 2005 46


Appendix I - Questionnaire 1) What technologies do you use to communicate with mobile sales people/employees?

Phone [ ] Text [ ] Email [ ] PDA [ ] Other [ ]

2) How many people are in the field sales team?

0-5 [ ] 6-10 [ ] 11-15 [ ] 16-20 [ ] 21 + [ ]

3) How many times do you communicate with members of the sales team when they

are out of office?

Once a day [ ] Between 2-5 times a day [ ] More than 5 times a day [ ]

4) How important is it to you to be able to communicate to the entire team all at once?

Not at all important _ _ _ _ _ Extremely important

5) Please list some of the reasons why you may need to communicate with the group all

at once

6) What factors currently restrict you from communicating with a group all at once?

Poor technology [ ] cost [ ] inconvenience [ ] other [ ]

7) During what period in the day would it be most of benefit to you to communicate

with the group?

© 2005 47

Early morning [ ] Mid morning [ ] Pre Lunch [ ]


During Lunch [ ] Directly After Lunch [ ] Afternoon [ ]

Evening [ ]

8) Please tick the appropriate box, indicating to what extent you agree or disagree with

this statement

Our company favours positively the use of mobile technology by managers to

communicate with the sales team

Strongly Disagree _ _ _ _ _ Strongly Agree

9) What is the current process for communicating with the sales team?

10) How do you feel your current communication process with the sales team could be

improved upon?

11) Please list other instances where the cheap and efficient means of sending group

messages could benefit the company.

© 2005 48

12) Please rank in order of importance the most preferred means of receiving a message.

1 = most preferred 5 = least preferred

MMS [ ] Voice [ ] SMS [ ] E Mail [ ]

Instant Messaging [ ]


Appendix II – In Depth Interview

Questions 1. Where do you see the future of mobile communications?

2. What factors to you see as slowing down or inhibiting the progress of mobile

communications in Ireland?

3. What do you see as being the ideal communications device?

4. Can you elaborate on how you currently communicate to a group either via email or texting?

5. Do you use PDAs or smartphones – give reasons? 6. Do you see any developments in the voice messaging market? 7. Do you think digital TV and broadband will effect communications in the long term

and how? i.e. checking your email on TV 8. How do you see other technologies like voice IP and WiMax effecting

communications? 9. What do you think of our concept? 10. Where do you think it could be improved upon? 11. How realistic is the concept in today’s working environment? 12. How strong a business model do we have and what suggestions would you make to

improve on it?

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13. What sort of device/software would be useful to you as a sales manager in the IT arena?


Appendix V – Website Heuristic

Evaluation

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Heuristic Issue Comment

Information provided by web site

The Site provides related to the company and provides the user with the ability to do further reading on the company by providing press releases and other articles. There is little description of the products offered, technical or otherwise.

A solution to this problem would be to include a more detailed technical description of the products and more detailed information regarding the purchase of the products.

Information Grouped and Prioritised

The Website has two distinct areas, one provides information for potential customers and the other is a restricted access area for existing customers. This grouping prevents unauthorised users from accessing restricted facilities while allowing interested parties to freely navigate the rest of the web site

While related pages are grouped together well there is little prioritisation of information leading to user frustration this can be solved by hierarchically structuring pages with increasingly detailed information the further the user navigates.

Structure the site semantically

All related information is grouped together well on the website within the main sections of Products, News etc. The user can easily navigate to these sections using the navigation bar at the top of the screen.

Despite the grouping related information within sections there is a certain amount of crossover between sections, which could confuse a user leading them to become lost. To solve this problem the user should be provided with a facility to easily reverse his actions.

The writing style is appropriate for the web

The writing style of the text on the Site is concise while conveying quality formation which is optimal for the internet as users tend to scan text on web sites

Some of the text is too concise and its lack of detail is a problem. A balance must be achieved between brevity and quality of content in the text content.

Non-textual elements Many if the web pages contain images, which serve to distinguish different navigational possibilities from each other.

Colour scheme The colour scheme used for the Website is consistent through out with each page having the same heading and side bar layout and colours.

Inform before action The navigation bar at the top of h t i li k hi h

Although the user receives f d b k i f i th


each page contains links, which change colour when the user passes the mouse cursor over them, which informs the user that clicking on that area will initiate an action. There are tool tips on each button and check box in the member area where the pages provide functionality to the user. The tips inform the user of what each button and check box does.

feed back informing them what action will take place on a mouse button click it would be useful if the user received continuous feedback once he has taken a particular action, which could be provided by the use of a status bar on the page which would inform the user of the progress of the execution of actions

Test on various web browsers

The layout and dimensions of some of the elements of the pages appear differently on Mozilla Firefox especially the ASP.net components

This problem can be resolved by specifying the positions and dimensions using absolute values which will ensure that all pages appear the same on every browser

Design for flexible layout The Layout of the web interface is flexible so that maximising the window does not leave a large area of white space in the window

Although the page expands to fill a maximised window if the user reduces the size of the window then some of the links in the navigation bar become bunched together. This problem should be solved by specifying absolute dimensions

Easy reversal of actions There are links at the top of each page which link directly to the start of each main section, which provides for easy reversal of user actions preventing them from becoming lost within the site. Also in the member area the forms contain a means to reverse actions such as clearing contacts selected for a new Group.

Within the Member area there is only one link on the side of each page, which allows the user to return to the index of member services. This is not an ideal means of navigation ands better linking facilities should be provided

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Appendix VI – PDA GUI Screenshots

User Login Screen User Compose and Message sending page

Edit contacts Preferences Add or Remove Contacts from a Group

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Income and Expenditure, Years 1 - 3

Profit and Loss, Years 1- 3

Profit and loss tables don’t include start up funding as revenue.

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Cost of sales is the message credit purchasing and marketing and advertising costs

combined. All other expenditure (Salaries, Office, Tax etc.) is included in the Operating

Expenses figure.

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