Comprehensive IT Management Report: Free Fall Incorporated Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of IT management strategies for Free Fall Incorporated, addressing key challenges and opportunities. It begins by assessing the company's need for specific IT skill sets, including analytical, technical, and communication skills, and suggests effective recruitment and retention strategies. The report then recommends specific software solutions, including an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and multimedia software, detailing their strengths and weaknesses and how they align with the company's long-term goals. Furthermore, the report outlines a strategic planning and monitoring framework, emphasizing the roles of key stakeholders and risk management strategies. The report concludes with a discussion on the role of project managers and the importance of continuous monitoring to ensure successful implementation of the proposed IT solutions.

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Executive summary
The given report will help in understanding that how the Free Fall Incorporated will be able to
satisfy their long-term strategic aims by recruiting the information technology skill sets and will
retain them. Further, the software is given which will help the company to the system of security,
data management, and business intelligence. Then the strategic planning and monitoring of
systems are explained which will be beneficial for the board of the company. Further, the role of
information technology managers and the ITIL is given for the Free Fall Incorporated.
1. Recruitment and Retention
We have understood from the given case that Free Fall Incorporated is facing various issues in
order to achieve the strategic aim. The estimated budget of the company is not so high. The
board of the company wants to recruit people with various types of IT skill sets to achieve the
strategic objective (O'Meara, B. ed., 2013). Being an individual, I would like to advise the board
of the company to recruit people who have following types of IT skill sets to implement the
effective systems of information technology, security and data management and develop and
implement the strategy of business intelligence:
 Analytical and research skills-
People having analytical skills have the ability and capability to visualize, articulate, collect
information and solves the complicated problem with ease. They are familiar with the
programming of systems and in making the reports. They are in the habit of creating a set of
some steps in order to have no or yes outcome without any wastage of cost and resources. They
repair a problem before it becomes the major one and complex to handle.
 Computer and technical literacy-
People having technical literacy are more effective and efficient in handling computer programs
and systems. They have technical skills like analyzing the big data, programming and coding,
project management and they are also expert in handling social media. They know how to
convert the complicated thing into the understandable one. This reduces the chances of wastage
of resources and money as well.

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 Electronic communication skills-
The communication skills are very important which are to be considered. The company is not
having effective internal and external communication because the communication is done via e-
mails. People having good electronic communication skills will help the company to interact
with the clients more effectively and efficiently. Written communication is very important for the
Free Fall Incorporated because the clients and the instructors remain in contact via e-mails and
there is no centralized approach to the communication.
 Flexibility in managing multiple priorities-
The people having flexibility in managing multiple priorities should only be hired because the
company is facing various issues which are to be converted into their strengths. The people
should not be rigid in order to work in a particular area. They should be adaptable enough to
manage the various priorities to help the company in solving the issues.
 Proficiency in using software efficiently-
The people should be proficient enough in order to use the software effectively and efficiently
because Free Fall Incorporated wants to implement the system of information technology,
security and data management. People having proficiency will help in developing these systems
effectively without wasting the available resources and money.
The company can source the talent by posting jobs on the job portals like LinkedIn, career
builder, dice, monster, etc. The candidates will contact the company by themselves if they find
the profile suitable and then the company can conduct the interviews in order to select and hire
the best candidate. The job portals help in getting best candidates, and the procedure is cost
effective. The other way to source the talent is networking. This technique is very old and time-
consuming, but it gives the best results in terms of skill set and culture fit and helps in unfolding
the synergies and various opportunities to the candidates and the company as well. The process is
cost effective and helps in giving the tremendous results. The company will be able to save the
cost and resource in sourcing the talent. To avoid the issues of motivation and retain the
employees, the company should develop a positive working environment from the day of
joining, reward them for their right attitude and behavior, engage and involve them in the
decision-making process, provide them timely training according to the changes in competitive

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environment, etc. The company can identify and develop the leadership skills by looking beyond
the performance of an employee and focus more on their potential, differentiate between the
watcher and catalyst in order to improve the leadership skills of the watcher, identify the leaders
who have potential and unfold their abilities of multi-tasking by giving them more
responsibilities (RDI, 2012).
Therefore, the above given advise will help the Free Fall Incorporated in satisfying their strategic
aim with the cost effective method and the optimum utilization of resources.
2. Software
The board of the Free Fall Incorporated is not the specialists of the information technology. So
being an individual, I would like to advice the company to use the below given
software/application in order to satisfy the long-term goals and objectives to achieve the
competitive edge and maximize the business value.
 Enterprise resource planning system-

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Enterprise resource planning is a software of business process management that enables the
company to use an integrated application system in order to manage the activities of the business
effectively and efficiently (Kurbel, K.E., 2013).
The strengths of the implementation of ERP system are:
 It will provide the visibility to all activities and the processes of the Free Fall
Incorporated.
 It will ensure the automatic and consequent workflow of activities, and they will be
tracked as well.
 The internal and external interface can be secured by using cloud computing in the
system of ERP.
 ERP system will help in getting the functionality of business intelligence which will
show the insights and will help in identifying the areas of improvement and problem.
 The ERP system comprises the various modules like finance, HRM, CRM, SCM,
marketing, etc. The ERP system will help the company to remain in contact with
customers and keep their data protected.
 ERP system will help in integrating e-commerce because the company wants to remain
in touch with customers via-emails.
 ERP system will allow the centralized storage of the data of the company.
 The customers will be able to select their own dates and instructors with the help of ERP
system
Therefore, the implementation of ERP system will help in streamlining and unifying the
operational and support functions of the Free Fall Incorporated, and the data can be centrally
aggregated by extracting the strategic insights.
The weaknesses of the implementation of ERP system are:
 The cost of implementing a system of enterprise resource planning is high and is time-
consuming, but it gives the best results.
 The customization has to be balanced like it should not be too less because it will create a
problem in integration and it should not be too much as it will reduce the process of the
project.

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 It may also cause the additional cost of the indirect expenses like the up gradation of the
WAN.
The diagram shows the role of effective implementation of enterprise resource planning system.
 Multimedia software-
Multimedia software uses the amalgamation of the various forms of the content like images, text,
audio, videos, animations, etc. The software contrasts with the type of media which use
rudimentary displays of the computer like text or the printed traditional forms and the various
materials which are hand produced (Obrador et al., 2013).
The strengths of the implementation of multi-media software are:
 This will help the instructors to post videos as well for the customers.
 The software is easy to purchase and implement and offers the best results.

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 The software is user-friendly as it can be easily used to make the interaction session with
the clients.
 The usage of the multimedia software is very flexible as it can be easily transformed
according to the situation and the size of customers.
 The software can be used for a broad variety of customers.
Therefore, the multimedia software will help the Free Fall Incorporated to use latest and rich
content of multimedia like videos on their websites. This will help the website to look more
attractive and the company will be able to attract more customers and will retain the existing
ones.
The weaknesses of the implementation of multimedia software are:
 As the software is easy to use, so the information sometimes becomes overloaded.
 As the software is flexible, it takes some time to put the original draft at the place.
 The software is little expensive as it requires a broad variety of resources.
 If too many files are added then, the process becomes slow and unpractical.
 It sometimes becomes difficult to keep the abilities and capabilities of the end users in
mind while making the use of multimedia software.
Therefore, the above-given software/application will help the Free Fall Incorporated in order to
satisfy their long-term aims and the company will be able to achieve competitive advantage and
will maximize the business value.
3. Strategic Planning and Monitoring
The implementation of the proposed solution of the unified information technology will help the
Free Fall Incorporated in order to satisfy the long-term strategic aims. Being an individual, I
would like to advice the board of the company by necessitating the substantial roll-out project.
Further, the role-out of substantial projects is explained below individually.
 Enterprise resource planning system-
The key stakeholders will be government, employees, customers, creditors, suppliers, investors,
and owners. The role of government will be to check that no unethical means are used in the
implementation, and it will ensure that the rules and regulations are completely followed. The

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role of employees will be to follow the rules of the management and perform the tasks
effectively because they cannot afford to waste the resources and material. The role of customers
will be to remain engaged in the process of implementation in order to tell the company about
their demands so that they can get the desired benefits. The creditors have to keep a check on the
process as they are the ones who get the advantage from the company. The suppliers will provide
the raw materials and resources according to the demands of the company in order to implement
the effective ERP system. The investors will be keeping a check on the process of ERP system as
they will be investing the money in the company. The owners will be having the complete
responsibility of implementing the ERP system as they will be taking every decision. The Free
Fall Incorporated can use the flexible budget because it will be easy to control and can be altered
easily if there will be the requirement of the change in the implementation of effective ERP
system (RDI, 2012).
There are some risks which are associated with the implementation of ERP system and they can
easily manage (Maditinos et al., 2011):
 Timelines and scheduling of projects- this risk can be managed by developing milestones
by the team of the project for every step in order to meet the timelines and the risk of
contingency and scheduling will be reduced.
 Involvement of functional area- in order to manage this problem, the authority should lie
within the hands of the permanent managers.
 The risk of data management- in order to solve this problem the company should test the
various programs and should assess the risks of the data continuously.
The project manager will ensure that the systems are timely tested so that no major problem
takes place. He can monitor the progress report by getting the regular updates and reports form
the employees, and he can keep the decision-making authority in hands so that no mistake can
take place. He can conduct regular meetings in order to know the progress of the project.
 Multimedia software-
The stakeholders of the company will be employees and they will responsible for developing the
effective software, customers as they will responsible to tell the company about their needs so
that the software can be developed accordingly, investors as their role will be to provide

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monetary help to the company, owners, as their role will be to handling each and every single
activity and have the authority to make decisions and the government as they will make sure that
the company doesn’t indulge in any unethical activity and follows the norms ethically. The
budgetary aspect can be planned by using the flexible budget because if there will be any change
in the activity or at any step then the budget can be altered accordingly and will remain in control
rather than exceeding the estimated budget. There are some risks which are associated with the
implementation of multimedia software like if the information is overloaded then the cost will
incur as it will require reloading the information in order to solve this issue the company should
make sure the data is updated timely to avoid the overloading of information (Ma et al., 2014).
The wide variety of resources are required, and if they get wasted, then the company will occur
huge losses. So, the company should keep a regular check on the process in order to reduce the
wastage of resources. The project manager can monitor the progress by keeping a regular check
on the process of implementation, he can also monitor the progress by getting the regular updates
from the employees.
4. IT Management and ITIL
Being an individual, I would like to help the board of the Free Fall Incorporated in order to know
the role of the information technology manager in the planning and execution of the information
technology roll-out. Some of the roles of IT manager are as follows (RDI, 2012):
 Planning and sequencing the activity- the IT manager plans the activities and their
sequence like which activity will be conducted firstly and which will be conducted after
that and so on.
 Planning of resources- the IT manager has the responsibility to plan the resources
according to the requirement of the software because being a technical person he will be
knowing the requirements better as the board of the company are not the specialists and
they don’t know about the technicality.
 Analyzing the risk- the role of IT manager will be to analyze the risk because he will be
knowing more about the risks as he will be responsible for planning the activities.
 Quality control- the role of IT manager, will be to keep a check on the quality control in
order to make sure the results are the assured ones with the best quality of products and
services.

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 Developing a budget- the role of IT manager will be to develop an estimated budget for
the effective implementation of the software.
The role of the management of the upgraded department of the information technology and new
systems of IT once the roll-out is completed is as follows (RDI, 2012):
 The management has to get the regular updates from the employees in order to see that
the systems are working efficiently without any problem.
 The management has to get the reports from the employers on a regular basis in order to
see that they are performing their work properly on the systems or not.
 The management has to guide the customers in order to use the software in order to
increase the efficiency and effectiveness.
 The management has to make sure that the company is able to attract more customers and
whether the customers are able to select their date with the instructor with ease or not.
 The management has to make sure that the data is not misused by the employees by using
the system of enterprise resource management unethically.
 The management has to provide timely training to the employees in order to expand and
grow the business and achieve the competitive edge for the Free Fall Incorporated.
The role of ITIL in the process is as follows:
 The developer of the software/application will be responsible in order to develop the
available systems which will provide the functionality of the services of information
technology.
 The configuration manager will be responsible for maintaining and managing the
information which will be required to deliver the services to the customers.
 The knowledge manager will make sure that the Free Fall Incorporated is able to collect,
analyze and store the knowledge effectively and efficiently.
 The test manager will make sure that the releases which are deployed and the output meet
the expectations of the client.
 The job of access manager will be to give the access to services to the authorized end
users.
 The facilities manager will be responsible for maintaining and managing the environment
where the infrastructure of information technology will be located.

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 The IT operations manager will be responsible for handling day-to-day activities during
the implementation of systems.
 The job of IT operator is to perform the operational activities during the implementation
of systems.
 The manager of continual service improvement is responsible for maintaining the various
improvements to the process of information technology service management.
Therefore, the above-given information will help the board of the company to understand the
role of the information technology management in the planning and executing the information
technology roll out and the role of the management of the upgraded information technology
department and the various systems of information technology after the completion of roll-out
and the role of ITIL in the procedure.

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REFERENCES
Kurbel, K.E., 2013. ERP System Implementation. In Enterprise Resource Planning and Supply
Chain Management (pp. 159-188). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Maditinos, D., Chatzoudes, D. and Tsairidis, C., 2011. Factors affecting ERP system
implementation effectiveness. Journal of Enterprise information management, 25(1), pp.60-78.
Obrador, P., Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP, 2013. Systems and methods of
authoring a multimedia file. U.S. Patent 8,392,834.
O'Meara, B. ed., 2013. The Handbook of Strategic Recruitment and Selection: A Systems
Approach. Emerald Group Publishing.
Ma, Y.W., Chen, J.L., Chou, C.H. and Lu, S.K., 2014. A power saving mechanism for
multimedia streaming services in cloud computing. IEEE Systems Journal, 8(1), pp.219-224.
RDI, (2012). Budget. P.7.
RDI, (2012). DIRECT RECRUITMENT. p.4.
RDI, (2012). INTRODUCTION. MANAGEMENT IN IT. p.4.
RDI, (2012). IT MANAGERS ROLE IN STRATEGIC PLANNING. p.4.
RDI, (2012). MANAGEMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE. p.3.