“Abacus Company System” – An Example Paper

Abacus Business Systems SWOT

Strengths

The company has a strong human resources base, and harnesses it to accentuate its competitive advantage. It also applies strategic human resource practices to bolster it performance. It is keen in the recruitment and selection processes to ensure that it attracts the most qualified candidates. This strategy is in line with the fact that the Aloha POS system, which it deals in, has to undergo periodic upgrades every 5-7 years, and it has to provide exemplary customer service to retain its loyal clients. It also applies diverse rewards schemes and compensation programs to motivate and retain the best employees. The company moreover ensures that there is synchrony between workers and the need. As an example, it has presently attached the bulk of its workers in the Southern Florida area to cater to its consumers needs, because most are presently in the process of upgrading and improving their POS systems (Radiant Systems).

Another strength the company manifests is innovativeness. Through its collaboration with NCR, it has continually bolstered the value of its products by enhancing their existing capabilities and adding new ones. These have increased customer benefits variously. Installation of Point of sale terminals and ATM services for example enables them to serve themselves and reduces waiting times. POS systems, for example, have added capabilities and restaurateurs can authorize credit card payments beforehand and monitor all deliveries of supplies, has heightened safety features, and enable managers track sales transactions with customers, enhancing visibility and employee transparency. Product improvements not only improve customer utility, they provide additional income streams for the organization, because customers can pay more for better products. The systems moreover improve its internal efficiency, because it can keep records of its operational performance alongside customer data (NCR).

The company has an organizational culture that supports its internal success. Rich Peterson, the company CEO strongly encourages continuous employee training to ensure that both the clients and the company grow. He also encourages employee diversity and inclusiveness. This has the upshots that the company enjoys a highly competent workforce. The company is also amenable to gradual improvement, and employees further a collective culture, supporting one another when the need arises. Employee diversity contributes to role sharing depending on geographical areas and other parameters, to ensure the most suitable employees serve its diverse clients (Marc).

The company has a sustainable business model, built upon bolstering client satisfaction. The company goes beyond making product sales, and seeks to inculcate a paradigm shift in clients, so that they have a holistic view of the value chain. it seeks to provide them entire solutions encompassing software, hardware and the required training to ensure success in implementing and gaining from the system. The company seeks to ensure that customers achieve gradual but sustainable improvements, aiming for their long term as opposed to expedient gains. The model also depends on need identification, customization, and system upgrades (NCR).

ABS has a unique and effective marketing strategy. It seeks to benefit from its consumers by enabling them with value added services that enable them make productivity gains and cost savings in the course of their businesses. The company also seeks to increase it brand equity by fostering collaborations with customers that would optimize the benefits they accrue through initiatives like training and hastened responsiveness. The company has succeeded in differentiating itself, so that loyal customers would continually make return purchases even if it charges it products at a premium. This has increased its customer’s lifetime value (NCR).

Finally, the company has a strong financial base, which gives it an opportunity to expand and to undertake improvements that would enhance its operational effectiveness and customer value (Aaker 345).

Weaknesses

Because of prior agreements with its parent company NCR, ABS has limited geographical spread, and can only deal with clients in some regions. It misses on opportunities to increase its earnings through increased sales volumes in wider areas, while it is also not able to optimize the application of its resources because of its constrained scale of operations (Wheelen and Hunger 45).

By choosing to pursue a differentiation strategy, ABS would suffer some drawbacks. Because it seeks to grow by eating into Micros, the choice would backfire albeit in the short run, because Micros pursues a price focus. While it would convince its clients that they stood to gain more over the longer run, fewer would accept to accede to the higher initial capital outlays. In addition, the system would largely remain beyond the reach of small restaurateurs, because they would not afford them (NCR).

Thirdly, the Aloha POS system manifests some rigidity, and users would not be able to adapt them with rival POS’s. Introducing the system would require a complete overhaul of their prior systems. Another weakness is that the Aloha POS offers broad services, and, and competitors with specialized POS systems would be more amenable to specific the needs expressed by clients with particularized requirements. Aloha POS systems are not portable, and the subsequent lack of mobility would act as a downside (Radian Systems).

Opportunities

The increasing success in the restaurant industry creates an opportunity for increased sales and enhanced revenues for the company, through increased demand. The company moreover spots weaknesses that restaurateurs encounter in the course of their business and can capitalize on its strengths, manifested in its ability to collaborate with NCR to create solutions, which would address emerging needs. The company enjoys a good reputation and has a good financial standing, which would enable it market its products aggressively through advertisements, to increase its market share. The company’s product is versatile and integrates diverse operational aspects that restaurants must fulfill such as revenue management, HRM management, and inventory management. It gives it an opportunity to increase the value of its existing customers and subsequently its revenues through identifying new needs and offering solutions through subsequent versions of its upgraded products. Because of product characteristics such as being perishable, client needs such as the need for short waiting times, and operational requirements such as employee management and forecasting, there is a seemingly endless list of needs that POS systems can fulfill. This indicates that the company has a high potential and opportunity for future growth (NCR).

Threats

The company operates in a dynamic industry, with an omnipresent potential for new entrants. The company also faces strong competition from its main competitors, among them Micro, which offers a cheaper substitute product. Clients can also express changes in preferences in the longer term, especially because of the high likelihood of innovations in the electronic and computing industry. There is also likelihood that the company will not remain competitive for long under the present model, unless it comes up with cheaper products, which would increase its appeal to the lower end consumers, who form the bulk of the restaurant industry (Wheelen and Hunger 110).

Table: Abacus Business Solutions SWOT