Designing a Technology Solution for Trusty Carpets' Expansion and Sustainability

The Trusty Carpets company, owned by Jerry, has been successful in selling carpet and padding for a profit. Jerry has recently acquired Metro Carpets, which has expanded his business to two locations with separate showrooms and warehouses. He plans to integrate the two businesses and wants to explore technology solutions to manage the expanded operations efficiently. The goal is to increase profits while remaining environmentally responsible. Jerry's objective is to create an upscale community by attracting 'clean' businesses, which will improve quality of life and tax base. The team needs to develop a business case for recommended technology solutions that meet these objectives.

Business Problem:
The core business problem facing Trusty Carpets is how to effectively merge all sales and customer
components of the business into one united operation with aligned strategies and goals. There are
three primary components of the business: the Trusty Carpets store, the Metro Carpets store, and
Mike’s carpet installation business. All components have separate sales, customer services, and
customers.
Reasons as to why this problem exists include the following:
 There is no core communication or an IT system connecting these components together.
 Metro Carpets is a new acquisition and, as such, is still undergoing renovation.
 Mike’s carpet installation business is still a completely separate business with a different
business model.
 There is no defined vision on how to unite these separate components.
The business strategy greatly depends on how these components work together in unison to generate
the most revenue. In order to create a successful business strategy, all critical components of the
business must be known; otherwise, the new business strategy will have no real direction for
implementation.
The elements of this problem include the following:
 IT infrastructure
 Communication networks
 The CEO – Jerry Montgomery: his decisions on budgetary allowance and business strategy
 The bottom line of the business
 The distance between the Trusty Carpets store and the Metro Carpets store
 Mike’s business strategy vs. Jerry’s business strategy
 The needs of the customer base
 The carpet supplier
 IT maintenance personnel
The problem of having the three identified business components not working as a single unit has a
significant impact on the business’s bottom line, culture, and overall operational efficiency. With no core
system in place, the 3 components may be using incompatible hardware or software. This would have
serious operational problems, for it could interfere with overall communication efforts and data
analysis. Culturally, the effect of no core system impacts the employees’ awareness of their role in the
overall business chain. The most consequential impact of having no core system regards the bottom line,
so with no such system in operation, the business lacks the ability to track its total growth, process sales
across the two stores, and manage its operations efficiently.
The timeframe in which this problem can be solved depends on the amount of commitment from Mr.
Montgomery and the time it takes to complete a business operations review, analysis, and installation of

the system. If full buy-in is obtained from Mr. Montgomery, the timeframe for solving the problem
would likely range from 60 days to 120 days.
The reason why this problem was selected is because it is the most critical problem facing the business
right now. It is also the one that, if solved, will result in the biggest gain in productivity which translates
into more revenue. Unifying the different business components with a CRM solution will resolve several
other issues simultaneously, such as, the company’s inventory management, sales processing, and profit
margins.
Proposed Solution:
The proposed solution for Mr. Montgomery’s business is the customer relationship management
(CRM) software known as SalesforceIQ CRM. This software is cloud based solution, and it
should be applied to all three businesses uniformly in order to unify them under one solution.
Using this solution will help Mr. Montgomery and his team to gain control of sales and
profitability of all the newly acquired businesses simultaneously. The solution affords Mr.
Montgomery’s staff a massive collaborative tool, but it is recommended to apply this solution to
all three businesses as early as possible to increase collaboration between the separate business
components. One of the major advantages of the salesforce application is the ability for it to be
accessed from any device which simplifies the salespeople’s process to record order information
instantaneously on cellphones/tablets. Since Trusty Carpets is a growing business, SalesforceIQ
CRM is perfect because of its ability to handle unlimited workflows and integrations.
SalesforceIQ focuses on building good customer relationships by allowing business to use
thousands of applications quickly and efficiently via the AppExchange. Lastly, the leverage to
use the proposed solution without the need of additional IT staff is best for Trust Carpet’s
scenario (Salesforce.com, inc., 2017). Trusty Carpet can solely focus on achieving sales and
business goals leaving the IT issues behind to 3rd party, Salesforce.
Case Study:
Background: Jerry Montgomery has been selling carpets for 20 years from his store, Trusty
Carpets, which is located in a strip mall that, over the past few years, has become a busy
shopping center. The location is in what had been a quiet town near a large city, but recent area
growth has resulted in many new homes being built and the town council has started to consider
ordinances to create zones to protect unique architecture, improve overall property condition, and
protect the environment. Their focus is on creating an up-scale community attracting “clean”
businesses to improve the quality of life and its tax base.
The current business model: Since he opened his Trusty Carpets store, Jerry has advertised in the
local paper and done all of his business in his showroom where he has carpet samples on display.
Jerry employs two sales people to serve customers in the store. One is his daughter Ann who he
would like to take over the business when he retires. Since he has little storage space, Jerry’s
inventory has been limited to overstock, end pieces from installations, and samples. When a
customer makes a selection from the samples, the salesman checks the manufacturer's
information to determine the availability of the selected carpet and the current price. Jerry’s

brother-in-law, Mike Baker, has a carpet installation business and has been sub-contracting the
installation of the carpets sold by Trusty Carpets. The sales staff coordinates installation with the
customer and with Mike.
Jerry employs an accountant (who has other customers and does his work at his own office) to
keep track of his finances, pay bills, send invoices, collect payment and do payroll. Jerry's
finances are very straight-forward, and he uses the accountant only because he does not like to
do the paperwork.
Jerry’s company sells about 250,000 square feet of carpet a year (70% of it is mid-grade carpet
and padding) for sales of about $1.2 million. This results in a net profit of about $100,000. His
current costs are in line with industry averages but his profits are below the averages. He
attributes this to the fact that he keeps his prices low to be more competitive and grow his
business.
Technology support: The Trusty Carpets store has a basic information technology (IT)
infrastructure with an internet connection. There is a computer with a multi-purpose printer
(scanner/fax/printer) in Jerry's office. It is connected to a router supplied by the Internet Service
Provider. The router also provides a wireless network within the store, and the 2 salesmen have
tablet computers that they use to check carpet availability and price, and to enter and check
orders. Order forms are simple Google document forms that are stored in the Google cloud and
are shared among the employees and with the installer and the accountant. Jerry and his salesmen
each have a Gmail account. One of the salesmen, Ben (who has been with Jerry 6 years), is
studying IT at the community college. He set up the current technology in the store just six
months ago. Jerry expects Ben to learn about any new technology that gets installed and help
solve minor in-store IT problems.
Recent changes: Jerry has been quite successful and has recently acquired Metro Carpets, a store
on the other side of town. Metro Carpets has a large showroom and an adjoining 20,000 square
foot warehouse. The showroom contains two room displays, one a living room with their top line
carpet and one a family room with mid-line carpet. The remaining display space is for samples
and remnants, including a small area for closeouts. The warehouse is about 50% utilized. It
contains rolls of the top line carpet in a wide range of popular colors for immediate installation.
Although it is a relatively large business, the previous owner was not well organized and kept all
of his customer records and carpet inventory in hand-written ledgers. Jerry plans to retain the
three sales staff and two warehouse people at Metro, and he wants to continue to expand sales in
his original store. Metro generates about $3 million in annual sales at a 12% profit. Costs are in
line with industry averages. Carpet sold at Metro breaks down as follows: 10% bottom grade,
50% mid-grade and 40% top-of-the-line.
In addition, Jerry and Mike (the installer) have decided to combine their businesses into one
carpet sales and installation business. They will do this after they have reviewed the impact of an
EPA initiative, the WARM Program, to improve the rate of carpet recycling to lower greenhouse
gas emissions. A description of the WARM Program is posted with the Case Study under Course
Resources or at HYPERLINK "https://www3.epa.gov/warm/pdfs/Carpet.pdf"
https://www3.epa.gov/warm/pdfs/Carpet.pdf Jerry feels recycling is important and wants to be

able to make the appropriate business accommodations. Mike runs his business out of his home
since all of the work is done in customers’ homes. He has two installation teams (2 people each)
and installation equipment is stored in the trucks. Mike expects to increase the number of
installation teams since Jerry acquired Metro Carpets. Mike’s wife Carol handles the
bookkeeping, and while all of their work is paper-based, they are well organized. He earns about
$1.50/square foot for his services.
The opportunities: With the expansion of his business, Jerry needs a way to be able to manage
the two separate locations and the installation operation as one business. He is also looking at
ways to increase his business through internet sales, establishing relationships with new home
builders, and in-home sales where he believes that he could reach more customers if his
salespeople could go to customers’ homes, take measurements and obtain orders. Jerry’s
daughter Ann is studying interior decorating in college and he wants to reach out to the interior
decorating community to expand sales as well. Additionally, Jerry wants to be environmentally
responsible. To do this he will need to allocate warehouse space to accommodate recyclable
carpet. The installers would bring the used carpet to the warehouse, and the carpet would then be
picked up by a recycler monthly at no cost.
How your team will help: Jerry's primary business objective is to continue to increase his profit
margins, and he believes appropriate technology can help with managing his expanding business.
He has hired your team to evaluate his needs and recommend which technologies he should
acquire and to develop the Business Case for those you recommend. He will use the Business
Case to decide whether he should invest in the technology solution your team is proposing.
Through the Business Case, your team must convince Jerry that you have a well thought-out plan
that meets his objectives and has the potential of increasing sales and profitability; your objective
is to get Jerry to hire your team to develop and implement the solution you are proposing.
The assignment: Your team is to develop and explain a proposed technology solution for Jerry's
business. You will come up with some specific business objectives that could be supported by
technology solutions, and then identify some IT solutions that could benefit Jerry’s carpet
business. As a team, you will decide which technology or combination of technologies would
benefit his business the most and should be implemented first. Your team will develop a
Business Case to explain the solution and how it would be implemented.
The Business Case must be well written and be able to be understood by Jerry, with his limited
technical understanding. It is to be written as a proposal to Jerry that explains and defends the
solution your team is putting forward.
Your team will develop the Business Case, section by section, as we proceed through the class.
The Business Case will be done as a series of documents prepared by your team that together
form the full Business Case. The specifics for each section are in the weekly group project
assignments, beginning with the Week 1 Group Assignment. The complete business case
assignment is in the "Building the Business Case" document posted in the classroom.