University of Salford: CC Music Consultancy Report - OaIM Module

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of CC Music's current business processes, highlighting the band's use of technology for promotion and booking, while also identifying the need for improved customer relationship management (CRM). The report proposes a new business model incorporating a CRM system like Hubspot, detailing its advantages and strategic alignment. It conducts a SWOT analysis of CC Music, evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Furthermore, the report compares open-source CRM software options, including Odoo, Zoho, and Salesflare, to help CC Music choose the best CRM software. The report concludes with recommendations for CC Music to enhance its operations and information management, emphasizing the benefits of adopting the proposed changes and software solutions.

OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 1
OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
(Name)
Subject: Operations
(Professor)
(University)
(City)
(Date)

OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 2
PART A: ANALYSIS: Business Process Models and strategy analysis
1. business process models
1. The existing business process for CC Music
Business process Models and Notations can be explained as a standard that supports the
provision of business with the ability to comprehend and understand its internal procedures
through representations in a graphical manner. A quick look at the CC Music band reveals that
the band has realized the importance of technology in publicizing their business. This has been
achieved through the use of websites, mobile phones, and posts. This has been aimed at
facilitating their booking and payment. More time has now been relegated to the promotion and
network building since they play a minimum of twelve gigs every year (Mecredy, 2018, pp. 26).
Because the band still lacks appropriate software to help them manage their relationship
with customers they are yet to understand the type and nature of specific information technology
with the ability to support the band as a small and medium enterprise. Therefore more advice and
considerations are needed before they can select professional information technology and invest
their funds in it.

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Operations and Information Management
Figure 1: Existing Business Model (source developed by the author)
The current business model in place is very difficult to use because a large number of
activities are done through a manual approach. The coordination of different parties who are part
of this model is not easy. When it is looked at from the diagram, someone might be tempted to
believe that it is just a smooth process yet this is not the case. This is the main reason why there
is a proposed business model which brings in a customer relationship management software for
the band.
1.1.2: The proposed business model
The proposed business model inculcates a Customer Relationship Management System
into the equation. This is an approach that aids in the management of a company's interaction
with its current and potential clients. The system utilizes data analytics of data about customers'
past conduct with the organization to improve the way customer management is handled.

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Concerning this, the proposed model proposes the use of a Customer Management system called
Hubspot.
A recommendation to use Hubspot by CC Music was reached after consideration of
various aspects that matter to the band. This system will allow making it possible for the band to
witness successful inbound sales, do marketing and grow as a firm. This stems from the fact that
other firms that have used the system have been able to practically realize the mission of making
the world more and more inbound. The system allows someone to do marketing through
monitoring and publications on the internet, blogging, Search Engine Optimization, manage
website content, automate marketing, market through direct mails carry out analysis and generate
a report of everything done by the system and its interpretations. The system will, therefore,
make communication more efficient with customers, prospects, and leads.
The use of the proposed business model makes it possible for the band to create traffic
from which leads are generated. After the generation of leads, the leads are managed until the
sale is closed (Miörner, 2019, pp. 91,). The CRM makes it possible for one to connect the
marketing database with the sales database. Social media, website, SEO and content
management are done to ensure that the selling process is easy.

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Fig 2: Proposed Business Model (Source: Author Generated)
Advantages of using Hubspot
This is a free CRM and the firm will not incur some costs to acquire the CRM and
therefore aspects of cost cannot become an issue when it comes to Hubspot. It also doubles up as
a marketing hub that yields results because the CRM generates leads and an interested customer
will not get confused about what should be done. Automation of the sales process makes it easy
for an individual to properly attend to it most appropriately and therefore an individual will not
do a lot of tasks.
Strategic Analysis
The use of Open Source Software components is becoming a reliable option compared to
the traditional ingredients in the development of a product or a service. There are different
methods of analysis that can be adapted to specific parties in the CRM system. This strategic
analysis seeks to review the usage of Hubspot by CC Music (Sort, 2018, pp. 32).

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Strengths
CC Music has already established essential partnerships with different parties who are
needed for its success. This will make it be an easy task when connecting with people through
CRM. The band has also attempted to ensure that the quality of their services and products are
top-notch in the market. The maintained quality makes it easy for repeated purchase, unlike other
bands which keep on changing the quality of their products and services thereby increasing the
levels of uncertainty among the customers. CC Music has a well-functioning website and social
media sites which are being used to disseminate information. These sites will now be inculcated
in the CRM for the maximum benefit of the firm. The large numbers of followers and
connections on social media will now become potential clients because when a connection
between the social sites of the firm and the CRM are established it will become possible to see
the followers from the CRM hence convert them into leads and close the deals.
Weaknesses
CCM has a limited source of finance because the members of the band contribute the
money and they do not have an external source of income. This makes it almost impossible for
the band to undertake bigger projects since they lack the financial muscle to do so. The
insufficient funds have made it extremely difficult for the band to maintain high-quality products
because there are moments when there is no money to cater for their projects.
Opportunities
There is a rapid technological advancement which is making it possible for media,
business, and advertising to work together for better results. The band can now advertise through
media to enhance their business. The introduction of 3D viewing and opening up international
channels across the world is a source of hope to CC Music.
Threats

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The introduction of digital technology which is making it possible for people to watch
music from the comfort of their house is likely to make CC Music loose market because people
are no longer interested in concerts.
PART B: OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE COMPARISON TABLE
Open-Source software is computer software whose copyright holder has granted the user
rights to study, modify it and even share the software with other people for use. The development
of such software is done collaboratively with the public and aims at bringing in a diversity of
perspectives different from that of the original developer of the software. On the other hand, the
adoption of the open-source software has allowed many companies to save on expenditure
because they are no longer needed to purchase the software or even renew its license so that they
can continue using the software. This collaboration makes it possible for an individual to rectify
non-working parts and even improve the functionality of a given software for better results.
There are very many examples of open-source software programs and they are;
OpenCog, OpenCV, Trex, FreeCAD, KiCad, Odoo, Hubspot, Zoho and, Salesflare. The
comparison table below takes a look at the Odoo, HubSpot, Zoho and, sales fare because they
have the same purpose and are used as customer relationship management systems.
Strengths of the CRM system
Strength hubSpot Odoo Zoho Salesflare
Website integration √ √ √ √
Online ecosystem √ √ √ √
Simplicity and user friendly √ √ √ √
Reasonable financial value √ √ × ×
Quick time to value √ √ √ √
Strong management team √ × × ×
All in one platform √ √ × √
Available different versions online and × √ × ×

OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 8
offline
Integrated operations for efficiency √ √ √ √
Compatibility to other working environments × √ × ×
Budget friendly √ √ × √
Uses up to date technology √ √ √ √
Flexibility × √ × ×
Immense power under hood × × √ √
Long serving software × × √ ×
Smart charts √ √ √ √
Automated sales √ √ √ √
Integrated data analytics √ √ √ √
Weaknesses of CRM system
Weakness hubspot odoo zoho salesflare
Broad but not deep √ × × ×
Lack of advanced tools √ √ √ ×
Cloud risks √ √ √ √
Lack of global capabilities √ × √ √
Missing social media tools × × √ ×
Backward compatibility × √ √ √
Difficult in its use × √ × √
Poor documentation × √ √ ×
Weak flow of business process automation × × √ ×
From the above tables, it can be deduced that each of the four open-source software, there
are strengths and weaknesses and therefore a choice by a person will depend on what they want
to achieve with a given Customer Relationship Management System. This means that an
individual should have a proper understanding of what they want to achieve for instance
HubSpot can be used at no cost but it does not come with an offline version (MUFIDAH, 2017,
pp. 127). A person will be expected to use the web version. At the same time, Zoho comes with

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an assurance of long term service of up to 14 years. This means that after a company, firm or
organization has taken upon the software they can use it for 14 years but there is a small amount
of money they will have to pay. Even though this is the case but there is a need to appreciate the
fact that one who goes for it is assured to get the value for their money.
PART C: REPORT
Executive summary
CC Music is a business founded by experts in music and music technology namely Chris
and Clive. This study seeks to provide an overview of the current situation in the business after
which a roadmap will outline and suggest methods and changes to the business and the benefits
of embracing such changes. An individual assessment will be drawn from the suggested business
process. Various recommendations will be proposed regarding the usage of a suitable open-
source software solution.
Table of Contents
Executive summary...................................................................................................................................10
Introduction:..............................................................................................................................................12
Overview of the present situation at CC Music.........................................................................................12
Roadmap demonstrating how the suggested changes..............................................................................13
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................................15
Recommendations:....................................................................................................................................15
References.................................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction:
CC music was founded by a former music teacher and a music technologist and gave it a
business approach model. The two are responsible for marketing through social media, managing
business accounts and seeking for upgraded centers for different events hosted by CC music. A
keen look at the situation on the ground reveals that CC Music is in dire need of change which
should be implemented through a strategic change approach (Boons, 2013, pp. 7). The aim of
this report, therefore, is to provide an overview of the current situation on the ground, propose a
roadmap through which the suggested changes to the business can be attained and the benefits
which will accrue to the business thereafter.
This aims at ensuring that the strategy has been implemented appropriately after
considerations of all the concerns that might be seen as important and crucial to the business
(Bustinza, 2013, pp. 64).

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Overview of the present situation at CC Music
CC Music management has noticed that technology has a role to play in the success of
their business. This is why they can strike deals, sign contracts and receive payments from the
posts they make. This has been shown by their struggle to work as agents promoting every music
artist. At the same time, they need solid advice when it comes to technology on data management
before making an appropriate decision to invest in a given form of technology (Jenkins, 2015,
pp. 134). Each one of them appears to be holding a different opinion when it comes to open-
source software for customer relationship management (Robson, 2016, pp. 30).
When it comes to the choice of a customer relationship management system the business
has the option of going for commercial software or for going for open-source software. In case
an individual experiences difficulty when working with a given software they can report to the
community concerned with it and the issue will be sorted out (Rothaermel, 2016, pp. 214).
Because the business has a vested interest in going for a software to help them manage
the relationship between the business and customers then it is important to opt for an open-
source system because it is cheap to acquire and one can learn its functioning and use as time
goes by (Chang, 2016, pp. 39).
Roadmap demonstrating how the suggested changes
The business should adopt a customer relationship management tool which will help
them to manage the relationship between customers and the business. This will also enable them
to maintain current clients and convert more leads into customers. Various CRM systems can be
adopted and they include HubSpot, Odoo, Salesflare and, Zoho (Janakova, 2018, pp. 231). The
most common software and easy to use is HubSpot. Hubspot also allows one to integrate it with
their email, mobile phone and connect to the marketing database thereby making work easy
(Thompson, 2015, pp. 76). The buying process is always a circle which perfectly fits into the

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steps provided by HubSpot. In case issues are arising, they can also be solved amicably without
having to struggle and all shall be well with an individual. The figure below shows the
framework for HubSpot as a CRM system (Jeston, 2014, pp. 17).
.
Figure 1: “Framework for HubSpot”
(Source: Winterhalter et al. pp. 62-75, 2017)
Strangers: when the business sends out their marketing messages these messages
are received by people who are not known by the business and some of these people are even not
aware of the existence of such a business. When the marketing messages are well designed to
attract strangers they will make them interested in the business and once an interest has been
expressed they become prospects (Rosca, 2017, pp. 134).
Prospects: these are people who show signs of becoming customers by either asking for
more information about the product or the company. Hubspot will allow the business to manage
the prospects well so that they are converted into customers by appropriately engaging them.
Customers: these are individuals who make purchases from a business and use the
organization's products. After these customers feel satisfied they now start telling other people
how it feels nice to use a given set of products and therefore they become promoters. (Chiu,
2013, pp. 57).