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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS: DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION SUMMER 2014 Name NetID Group Number: Website Link: Tutorial Details Time Spent on Assignment: Saskia Williams Swil773 35 http://groupthirty-five.blogspot.co.nz/ Tutor: Day: Yvonne Hong Tues/Fri 25 hours

Time: 3pm

Word Count: 1457

SMART FRIDGE
INTRODUCTION

Technology is to thank for improving many problems of a global and local scale. Its responsible for improving the lives of people in the smallest ways which can then contribute to a global scale. Approximately one third of the food produced for human consumption evey year is wasted and effects our planet financaially but also environmentally to help eliminate food wastage we have to start at the heart of the problem which are households who are misinformed of refrigerator contents or ability to store correctly. We can start to solve this problem directly in the households with Smart friges with the technology to understand groceries and the needs of the household.
3. BUSINESS SECTION 3.1 Vision

To be an innovator in Smart Fridge technology and deliver a quality product to our customers which improves their day to day life as well as the addressing the global problem of food wastage.
3.2 Industry Analysis: Fridge Industry

Industry: Fridge Industry.

Force:

High/Low:

Justification:

Buyer power:

High

There is a lot of selection of fridges in the industry therefore buyer have a lot of choice of different types to different companies.Reference.

Supplier power:

Low

Low as there are many supplier of fridge parts to the industry.

Threat of new entrants:

Low

Because there is are significant cost barriers when entering the market as the products arent cheap to make.

Threat of substitutes:

Low

There are no substitutes for a fridge.

Rivalry among existing High competitors:

High as there are many competitors in the fridge market such as Samsung, LG and fisher and paykle.

Overall attractiveness of the industry: Overall attractiveness is high as there is a low supplier power therefore can get materials cheaper to produce the fridge. Also the threat of new entrant is low making it a less desireable market to enter because of high barriers such as cost. Also the threat of substitutes is low which is good for the company.
3.3 Customers and Their Needs

The customers who would utilise the Smart Fridge are middle to upperclass households who have smart devices such as a smart phone of a tablet. An average UK household wastes nearly 60 a month, almost an entire meal a day (Smithers, 2013) therefore an average household needs a fridge with the ability to understand its contents, ability to aknowledge what is in the fridge and how much there is in order to minimise food wastage. Customers need to be able to know what is in there fridge anywhere and anytime, this information means good decsions can be made in reguards to there purchases.
3.4 The Product and Service

Our product is a Smart Fridge which is a refrigerator that uses technology to understand the contents in your fridge. It has the ability to acknowledge the individual contents in the fridge and determine how much of a product there is. It connects to an application on a smartphone or tablet which allows users to see the inventory of their fridge anywhere and anytime. The smart fridge also has the ability to identify the ingredients in the fridge and access the internet to look for recipes which utilize the ingredients. Its able to acknowledge
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when food is going to expire and remind the user to make best use of the ingredient before it does to avoid wastage.

3.5 Suppliers and Partners

A supplier for the Smart Fridge would be the company Barcoding Inc. they sell barcode reading technology which will be installed in our fridge so it is able to indentify the contents inside. Another supplier for the Smart Fridge would be the company Sensortronic Scales who specialise in all types of scales and also custom make scales with computer software. The scales would imbedded in the shelves of the fridge so it can weigh each product and knows has an up to date weigh system to know how much there is of a product at each point. A key partnership for our Smart Fridge would be with tablet or smartphone companies such as Apple or Samsung as these companies devices will have to be used in order to fully experience the capabilities of the Smart Fridge. For intance the Apple iPhone would be used to connect to the fridge through application software and then the user can get information directly from there fridge anywhere and anytime. Another key partnership for the Smart Fridge would be an Online recipe website such as allrecipes.com to which the fridge can connect with to and then gather recipes using ingredients that are already in the fridge.
3.6 Strategy: Differentiation

Our Smart Fridge would be in a broad market as the everyone in society needs a fridge as they are a kitchen neccessity therefore the market is relatively large. The cost strategy for our business would be high as the technology used in the fridge for barcode reading, weight management and the ability to connect to the internet and smart devices is very expensive, making production costly. The overall strategy is therefore Differentiation
3.7 Value Chain Activity:

The most important value chain activity for this business is Service after sale
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This is the most valuable value chain activity for the Smart Fridge as its about continually providing for your customer after the transaction has taken place and making improvements on your product for future customers. This is important for Smart Fridge as it relies on customer feedback and the update in application software to make the Smart Fridge better and a more efficient tool.

3.8 Business Processes

3.8.1. APPLICATION UPDATING PROCESS- This is one of the most important aspects for our

Smart Fridge as we focus on the value chain activity of service after sale. The application which works along side the fridge is a critical part of our product and the service that it delivers. For our product to be successful we need to ensure of application works well and constantly look for improvements in design and technology to keep up with the fast pace of the application industry. Application updating process involves customer feedback and determining whether changes should be made and then goes through the cycle of developing the update untill the implementation stage in which its ready for customer use.

3.8.2. MANAGING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK PROCESS -

Managing customer feedback is part of

the customer service department and is also an important process for our organisation as we depend on the feedback to continually make improvements in the Smart Fridge and increase the satisfaction of the customer by improving usability and efficiency of the product. It involves receiving feedback, processing it and storing it ready for use from managers who look for ways of future improvements to maintain competitive advantages.

3.9 Functionalities
3.9.1. APPLICATION UPDATING PROCESS

Designs application updates Tests application for errors

3.9.2. MANAGING FEEDBACK PROCESS

Stores customer feedback Filters feedback for the useful ones.

3.10 Systems
3.10.1. FEEDBACK FILERTING SYSTEM -

This system works through all the feedback received

by customers and filters each one determining which are useful for improving the product and which arent. Some feedback may be untrustworthy, have typos or come from dodgy sources. We need the best feedback so we can continue to improve and be the best and most efficient product on the market.
3.10.2. APPLICATION TESTING SYSTEM This

is also an important system and is part of our

application updating process. This is important as we need to test the application to ensure it is useable for our customers. It supports the functionality of testing the product for errors which has to be done to maintain the quality of our product.
3.10.3. APPLICATION DESIGN S YSTEM This

system supports the functionality of designing

the application updates. Which is important as the applications need to be designed to suit the customers needs and become easier and more efficient application which links into our vision of delivering a quality product to reduce food wastage in households.

3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain Activity

Processes 1. Application updating process 2. Managing feedback process.

Functionalities 1. Designs application updates. 2. Tests application for errors. 1. Stores customer feedback 2. Filters feedback for useful ones.

Specific Information System(s) Application design system. Application testing system. Feedback management system.

Broad Information System(s) Supply Chain Management Decisional Support System Customer Relationship Management. Decisional Support System

Bavarian bergkase fromage queso

Feedback filtering system.

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CONCLUSION

Today information systems and technology can improve global problems such as food wastage and create everyday solutions to decrease the food wastage one household at a time. The Smartfridge uses technology and system to function and without the processes and systems wouldnt be able to be a successful and quality product. Our infor mation systems improve customer satisfaction and create a competitve advantage for the company.

REFERENCES

1. Chilvers, Hannah. (2014). Problem of food waste: food for thought. http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/31182/problem-of-food-waste-foodfor-thought 2. Newcomer, Laura. (2013). 29 smart and easy tips to avoid food waste. http://greatist.com/health/how-to-ways-reduce-food-waste

3. Smithers, Rebecca. (2013). Food waste reports show UK families throw away 24 meals a month. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/07/ukhouseholds-food-waste 4. Unknown. (2013). UN report: one third of worlds food wasted annually, at great economic and environmental cost. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/h%3Cspan%20class='pullme'%3EIn%20sho rt,%20when%20you%20empower%20a%20woman,%20you%20change%20the%20w orld%3C/span%3Ettp:/www.unfpa.org/www.fao.org/html/html/story.asp?NewsID=4 5816&Cr=food+security&Cr1=#.UvX_SvmSzLN

5. Unknown. (2013) Food waste facts. http://www.unep.org/wed/quickfacts/

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