Term Paper: Information Technology Strategic Plan

Term Paper: Information Technology Strategic Plan

Name:

Number:

Course:

Lecturer:

1.0 Introduction

Millennium Group Company (MGC) is a recent company that deals with products in food and beverage industry. The company is located in the capital of South Africa, Johannesburg. It currently sells some of the best fruit drinks and other beverages which meet the preferences of the majority of South Africans. This places it in a stiff completion with other rival companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo which also have their branches in the same country. The company currently makes an annual sale of approximately $5 million which the management is trying to work extra hard to improve up to at most $20 million annually through the use of the current technology.

1.1 Vision and mission

Vision

The millennium Group company vision is to be the best selling fruit and beverage company that makes the highest possible annual returns.

Mission

The mission of this company is to use the current technology in order to produce the highest quality fruit drinks  and beverages in large amounts that will be appealing to the majority of consumers both in South Africa and the whole globe in future with an aim of achieving the target goal/vision.

2.0 The current situation of the company with regard to its technology and security aspects.

Given that the company is still fresh, it is partially automated as at present. This is to say that a number of operations are still carried out manually. The use of semi-automated system is still a major limitation on the amount of products produced at any given time. This implies that the company is not yet fully equipped with the necessary technology equipment like the information technology infrastructure.  The company thus uses few computers which are operated by very few IT staff in their attempts to produce printed adverts for the company products, designing of the products and for internet communication. In addition, the company employs the old computing technology for the automation of its IT operations.

The fact that the company is not well furnished with the necessary equipment for technology, and because of the few number of equipment used, the status of security is still very low. This means that hackers, if they want can illegally get the right of entry in to the company system and make the necessary alterations of data and information.  In summary, the current situation of security presents vulnerable conditions where by both the internal and external attackers can have unauthorized access of company sensitive information.  This may prove quiet risky especially in a case where by it will continue with its completion against the rivals which are already using the current technology infrastructure. Therefore, Millennium Company through its management will have to purchase and install the fresh technology of computers, its network infrastructure and other equipment if it has to continue with competition equally with other companies within the same industry.

The installation of the new computer and mobile network infrastructure will boost many company operations such as online marketing and advertisement. Moreover, it is expected that the installation of anew technology infrastructure will enhance the speed of operations hence high throughput along with improved quality of output. Therefore better ways of advertisement coupled with speed and quality of products is expected to improve customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction will also be ensured that the new technology installed tackles all issues to do with business continuity in the case of any downtime.

3.0 Information technology personnel / roles that would be in place in order to start the business venture of gaining better traction of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Some of the information technology personnel needed in this case include users, system analyst; web based mobile programmers, network administrators, the chief information officer (CIO) as well as computer security personnel.

System analyst

The system analyst will be responsible for examining the present status of the company system in order to record its weaknesses and flaws. He is also responsible for collecting data from users with an aim of determining new system requirements necessary for the development of the fresh company system. After data collection, the system analyst also analyzes the requirements already collected from users and other stakeholders of the expected system. Once the process of analysis is over, the analyst is responsible for the design of the new system which forms the blue print of the system to be implemented. In this case, he incorporates data design, algorithm design, component level design and interface design among others. In addition, the analyst also takes part in the testing process of the system.  The analyst is the major determinant of whether the business venture will gain improved grip of customer satisfaction and loyalty given that all implementation of the overall system relies on the design and its completeness in terms of system requirements.

Web based mobile programmer

The programmer in this case will use some programming languages and tools in order to implement the system already designed by the system analyst. The web languages to be employed here include JavaScript, Php, My sql for server, hypertext markup language (HTML) including CSS (crystallizing sheets). JavaScript will be useful for adding functionality to a given web page in a system while Php to be used for server side scripting in order to permit the server to communicate with the mobile client machines (computers). My sql for server will play the role of database design in the form of tables, queries and even reports. HTML will be used for designing of forms at the client side together with the inclusion of the associated text within the form and in the web page. The business venture will only gain better grip of customer contentment and loyalty if the programmer comes up with an accurate implementation of the system design that will be reliable and error free at all times.

Network administrator

The network administrator will be responsible configuration of all network devices and software. The devices to be configured comprises of firewalls, switches, routers, virtual private network (VPN), and server software among others. The network administrator is also responsible for assigning privileges to users at various levels in addition to managing their security logins. Since the customer is expected to use the company website to access adverts and various product designs after installation of fresh technology, this will only be possible if the network is well configured and managed. A well managed network will increase the chances of network availability even during down times. Consequently, the business venture can easily gain better traction of customer satisfaction and loyalty

Computer security personnel

The computer security personnel are responsible for the protection f sensitive company files and/or information and user names together with their passwords. Also part of his responsibilities is the installation and updation of antivirus software for maximum protection. The security in this case involves offering both logical and physical security. Logical security involves safeguarding against the internal or external software attack. On the other hand, physical security involves protecting hardware devices such as routers, firewalls, system unit among others. The Company relies on IT security personnel on the security of its information and the entire IT infrastructure. Therefore the business venture is expected to gain better grip of customer satisfaction and loyalty only if both company and customer information are well.............