Business Management with Marketing

COVER PAGE

ASSESED REPORT

STUDENT: Haider Bilal

Student I.D: 1234567

COURSE:

BA (HONS) BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (FT) (4680) YEAR 1

MODULE:

MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

MODULE REFERENCE: BBS_4_MIS_2021

SUBJECT OF REPORT:

ANALYSIS OF A BUSINESS CASE STUDY, UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE OF THE BUSINESS, CHALANGES THE BUSINESS IS FACING AND PROPOSITION OF AN IS SOLUTION AND ITS IMPACT

CONTENT PAGE

Page Number

Introduction of The Business (SmSiHealth) 3-4

· The Business

· Services

· Organisational Structure

The Challenge 4

· The Challenge SmSiHealth is facing

· Effects and impact of the above challenge

· Importance of an Information System

IS Solution proposal 5

· Introduction to the IS solution (Facebook advertisement)

· Purpose of IS solution

Important benefits of Facebook marketing 6

Impact and limitations of the IS solution on SmSiHealth 7

Ethical and Social Compliance and its Non-compliance Issues 8-9

-Ethical issues

-Social issues

Cyber-security Threats and Their Impact 9-10

-Internal Threats

-External Threats

Human and technological cybersecurity safeguards 10-11

-Technological safeguards

-Human safeguards

Reference list 12-13

Introduction of The Business (SmSiHealth)

The business

SmSiHealth services is a business operating in the healthcare industry. It’s a private sector organisation which was founded by Dr. Smith and Dr. Singh in the year of 2010. The facilities within the business consist of a 500-bed hospital and a medical centre.

Services

Private healthcare businesses in UK, such as SmSiHealth operate independently of the NHS. They provide a variety of treatments that can be covered by the patient’s medical insurance policies or by direct payments for the required treatment (Ramsay Health Care UK, 2021). SmSiHealth provide most of the same services as the public hospitals and medical centres. Those include nursing, laboratory and diagnostic care, physical therapy, treatment of a given health condition, support in managing long-term healthcare, nutritional support and more (Bergstresser, 2021).

Organisational Structure

Mintzberg’s classification looks at 5 way in which an organisation can be structured:

· Entrepreneurial: controlling managing, decision making is based on one or a few leaders. Promotes enthusiasm but inefficient and limited structure

· Machine bureaucracy: well-organised and strict roles, policies and guidelines. Lack of creativity and interdepartmental communication

· Divisional bureaucracy: centralised control, where different sectors in the business operating independently but have one designated controller

· Professional bureaucracy: decentralised decision making, where multiple experts are working together in order to reach the expected goals

· Adhocracy/Innovative: Decentralised control, effective sharing of authority is promoted based on skills and competence of experts that are often hired temporarily in order to work on new projects

(Milano, 2021).

SmSiHealth operates under the divisional bureaucracy and centralised control. The business is divided into two sectors, those are the hospital and the medical centre. With both having their own resources and different tasks.

The Challenge

The challenge SmSiHealth is facing

The business recently witnessed a tremendous growth, which lead to an increasing demand for their services. Therefroe, SmSiHealth is currently aiming to become more innovative, be able to engage with their audience and focus on promoting their brand and services through the use of digital marketing. The business is also aiming to start operating digitally in order to become paperless, scripless and chartless. Managing growth can be very challenging as the traditional ways of how SmSiHealth currently operates aren’t efficient enough.

Effects and impact of the above challenge

The growth of SmSiHealth has a significant impact on the business. As reported, the increasing demand for the services that business provides responsively led to an increasing pressure on the processes and the staff of the company. This would mean that the business is starting to struggle with managing its limited human resources and completing its day-to-day operations.

Importance of an Information System

Information system (IS) is an integrated set of components that is used for collecting, storing and processing data that can be used for the provision of required information (Zwass, 2020). Use of IS would be important for SmSiHealth as it can be relied on to carry out and manage many tasks within the company. Including, interaction with customers and suppliers. The use of IS would minimise the need of staff physically completing many of the day-to-day operations withing the company. Which would allow SmSiHealth to manage the growth of the increasing demand, by optimising the aspects of customer service, ordering supplies and marketing within the business.

IS solution proposal

Introduction to the IS solution - Facebook page/advertising

In today’s society, social media is one of the most commonly used forms of digital marketing. The main reason for that is the enormously large audience that can be reached within seconds. Statistics show that there are currently 4.2 billion active global social media users as of February 2021 (Tankovska, 2021).

Focusing on digital marketing on multiple social media platforms can often be difficult to manage and not as efficient as focusing on one. Therefore, recognising and the most suitable platform with the greatest reach is crucial. The most recent available data goes to show that Facebook has the highest number of 2,740 million monthly users as of January 2021 (Datareportal, 2021). This is why I am proposing Facebook advertisement as the IS solution for SmSiHealth.

Purpose of the IS solution

Facebook is a perfect social media platform for fulfilling the main objectives of SmSiHealth which are: promoting its brand and services and also be able to engage with its audience. Facebook has the largest possible global market reach and allows the audience to engage and contact with business via comments and Messenger features

Important benefits of Facebook marketing

Targeting with multiple form of engagement. Facebook offers sponsored stories, video adds, and carousel adds that are good for building awareness as they aren’t very direct but are just enough to get a person’s attention. In addition, custom buttons can be added to adds with specific call actions that direct the user to where the business wants e.g., message, website, book an appointment etc.

Measurable marketing add performance. Facebook provides detailed reports on extensive set of metrics. Such as amount of views, clicks, and even actions taken. This is very important as it would allow SmSiHealth to see the audience’s behaviour and make improvements and decisions based on the performance.

Working with a budget. A Facebook add can be created for any set budget and run for as long as the business decides. Adds can be charged on different bases such as Cost Per Million, Cost Per Click or Cost Per Thousand views (Jhajharia, 2018). This would allow SmSiHealth to experiment and create a suitable timeline for the advertisement.

Impact and limitations of the IS solution on SmSiHealth

Proceeding with the IS solution is a big step for the business as it would change many aspects withing the company. Digitalising SmSiHealth current marketing strategies will impact both, the customers and the company.

The business will save a lot of time and physical resources. Facebook would eliminate the need for physical interaction and allow potential customers to engage, communicate and book appointments online as the business becomes more innovative and begins using modern marketing methods.

Furthermore, digital marketing allows SmSiHealth to stay competitive in the business environment and be able to reach the global marketplace. A study shows that adds create significant memories of a product or service (Dachis, 2011). Those memories are likely to come to the audience and make them try or buy the product or service that was advertised. This give SmSiHealth a competitive advantage over other businesses in the healthcare sector. As it provides the company with more exposure, increasing the chances of potential customers choosing SmSiHealth over their competitors.

Adapting to the new ways of marketing may present some limitations. SmSiHealth would have to hire new staff or provide training to the existing employees to manage the digital aspects and complete tasks such as creating and monitoring adds, communicating with potential customers online, making decisions and coming up with solutions to potential IT issues.

Financial factors also play a big role in how successful the marketing campaign is going to be. Facebook advertisement costs are based on the Cost Per Click or Cost Per Thousand views principle (Jhajharia, 2018). Which means that the number of consumers seeing the add and engaging is depended on the budget. The more the company spends; the higher the reach of their add is going to be. More people seeing the add increases the chances of potential consumers using SmSiHealth services. Therefore, SmSiHealth must have an appropriate budget for the advertisement.

Ethical and Social Compliance and its Non-compliance Issues

When it comes to advertising, it’s important that businesses take ethical and social factors into consideration in order not to cause harm and offence to the audience. By incorporating the presented IS solution SmSiHealth would have to deal with a number of ethical and social issues. Therefore, it’s important that the busines is ethically and socially compliant.

Ethical Issues:

· False advertising. Exaggerating the effectiveness of the products and services that are being advertised is a strategy that many businesses often use. However, it isn’t ethically right as it may make the customers feel mistreated.

· Drug marketing. Many businesses advertise non-prescription treatments with promises to improve a patient’s condition with little or no evidence to back up their claims (Ingram, 2019).

· Disparaging competitors. This refers to spreading false information or discrediting other businesses in the healthcare sector. E.g., claiming that other health centres’ treatments cause side effects or aren’t effective.

SmSiHealth can maintain their ethical compliance by simply being truthful about their products and services, prices, effectiveness and potential side effects. Ensuring that the customers receive what they expect. Failure to do so may result in SmSiHealth getting negative backlash, earning a bad reputation and losing customers.

Social issues:

· Racial discrimination. When advertising a product or service some businesses might only focus on and target one ethnic group. E.g., only use images of white people in their ads or target white audience over the ethnic minorities.

· Body image. Certain advertisements might make people feel insecure about their bodies e.g., negative spotlight on obesity could lower an overweight person’s self-esteem (Kinzl, 2016).

· Advertising to children. As a healthcare company, presenting graphic images as examples of consequences from not getting the treatment a person needs can be used to persuade people to book a check-up or proceed with a treatment. There are many young children and teenagers on Facebook who might come across those ads. Which could potentially cause traumatic effects.

SmSiHealth must not use any provocative or graphic images. Furthermore, ensuring that company’s advertisements aren’t discriminating or shaming any religions, races, sexual orientations and body types would make SmSiHealth socially compliant.

Cyber-Security Threats and their Impact

As SmSiHealth becomes dependent on the informational systems, it also makes the business more vulnerable to security breaches and cyber-attacks. All systems connected to a network are at risk. There are many internal and external cyber security threats that can affect businesses such as SmSiHealth.

Internal Threats

Internal threats based on unauthorised people gaining access to the data within the company. E.g.: looking through electronic data without the right to, peeking at monitors, intercepting electronic communication and physical theft of computers or storage media within the company. This poses a great threat as the stolen information can be shared with third party who intend to cause harm to the company and use the information against them.

External Threats

There are also numerous external cyber-security threats that are more complex and harder to spot. Those are usually carried out on a large scale by professionals. Some of the most common types of cyber-attacks are:

· Hacking is a way of illegally accessing the information stored in electronic devices or networks within the company (The Crown Prosecution Service, 2019). It can be used against the company to gather personal data, disable websites and launch denial of service attacks which can disable the network and prevent company from operating.

· Phishing. When fake emails are created to look like they are authentically sent from business associates such as banks, suppliers etc. Purpose of phishing is to trick companies to share their security information and personal details (National Crime Agency, 2021). The stolen information can then be used against business for unauthorised access, identity theft and more.

· Malicious software is often used by the criminals to disable access/lock or hijack important company files (National Crime Agency, 2021). Those files can then be held for ransom. In this way criminals take advantage of the companies and make them pay for the release of the files.

Human and technological cybersecurity safeguards

Considering the cyber-threats mentioned above, SmSiHealth must adapt cybersecurity safeguards in order to stay protected. Human and technological cybersecurity safeguards will decrease the chances of SmSiHealth being impacted by cyber-attacks. Bellow are the safeguards I would propose for SmSiHealth to use in order to use.

Technological

· Physical access restrictions and biometrics. SmSiHealth should use ID cards, fingerprint scanners, voice/facial recognition and passwords when accessing computers and any important documents. This way of authentication would limit the chances of unauthorised people being able to access the company files and information.

· Firewalls – Firewalls are used to filter threatening communications (Norton, 2021). SmSiHealth should use Firewalls as it restricts unauthorised access to the company’s network, which can often be unnoticeable.

· Security software such as anti-virus and anti-malware should be used by SmSiHealth as those programmes are designed to detect and remove malicious code if it happens to get into the company’s network.

Human

· Screening in the process of recruitment . As SmSiHealth hires new employees that are going to have access to company’s files and information, it’s important that the company chooses suitable.

· Educating employees. SmSiHealth must be willing to educate their employees on social engineering which is the use of media to trick a person into giving up confidential information (Ogedon, 2017). This would involve familiarising the employees with cybersecurity threats mentioned above and providing training on how to spot and avoid phishing and threats of that nature.

· Compliance . SmSiHealth should monitor their employees, ensuring that they are complying with the company’s procedures and aren’t putting the company at risks of cyberattacks.

·

Reference list:

Bergstresser, M. (2021) Health Services: Definition, Types & Providers. Available from:  https://study.com/academy/lesson/health-services-definition-types-providers.html [Accessed 18 March 2021].

Dachis, A. (2011) How Advertising Manipulates Your Choices and Spending Habits (and What to Do About It). Available from:  https://lifehacker.com/how-advertising-manipulates-your-choices-and-spending-h-30812671 [Accessed 3 April 2021].

Datareportal (2021) GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA STATS. Available from:  https://datareportal.com/social-media-users [Accessed 29 March 2021].

Ingram, D. (2019) List of Ethical & Legal Issues When Advertising. Available from:  https://smallbusiness.chron.com/list-ethical-legal-issues-advertising-11466.html [Accessed 6 April 2021].

Jhajharia, R. (2018) 6 Unbeatable Benefits Of Facebook Marketing Your Business Should Consider. Available from:  https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/benefits-of-facebook-marketing/ [Accessed 29 March 2021].

Kinzl, J. (2016) [Obesity: stigmatization, discrimination, body image]. Available from:  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26883770/ [Accessed 7 April 2021].

Milano, S. (2021) Mintzberg's Five Types of Organizational Structure. Available from:  https://smallbusiness.chron.com/human-resource-terms-definitions-organizational-structure-16660.html [Accessed 22 March 2021].

National Crime Agency (2021) Cyber crime. Available from:  https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/cyber-crime [Accessed 11 April 2021].

Norton (2021) How Do Firewalls Prevent Computer Viruses?. Available from:  https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-how-to-how-do-firewalls-prevent-computer-viruses.html [Accessed 12 April 2021].

Ogden, J. (2017) 3 Ways to Mitigate the Human Factors of Cyber Security. Available from:  https://www.cimcor.com/blog/3-ways-to-mitigate-the-human-factors-of-cyber-security [Accessed 14 April 2021].

Ramsay Health Care UK (2021) What to expect from a stay in a private hospital. Available from:  https://www.ramsayhealth.co.uk/blog/lifestyle/what-to-expect-from-a-stay-in-a-private-hospital [Accessed 18 March 2021].

Tankovska, H. (2021) Social media - Statistics & Facts. Available from:  https://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/ [Accessed 28 March 2021].

The Crown Prosecution Service (2019) Cybercrime - prosecution guidance. Available from:  https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/cybercrime-prosecution-guidance [Accessed 11 April 2021].

Zwass, V. (2020) Information system. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/information-system [Accessed 22 March 2021].

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