How IS/IT has impacted Sales & Marketing as to be able to identify new potential sales off of EOS/EOL (End of Sale/End of Life) equipment
Introduction
The changing nature of business and the complexity of markets imply that businesses can no longer rely on traditional business models to survive in the ever increasing competitive market. The increasingly embraced concept of globalization and the evolutionary information technology are among some of the contributing factors towards the diversity of modern business communication, which has become an integral element of in facilitating the execution of organizational processes (Barker 5). It is becoming impractical to conduct business in the modern day market place without integrating information technology with the strategic plans of the business. This poses the need to assess the role the information technology and information systems play in enhancing the efficiency of the execution of the business operations across the functional units of the organization. The use of information system mainly involves the integration of information technology with the organizational activities, with the main objective of offering support and efficient execution of management and organizational operations. The nature of an information system deployed in an organization is determined by the manner through which individuals in an organization interact with the technology and the underlying data, with the principal aim of supporting business processes (Barker 3). This implies that information systems are becoming an important part of the organizational functions that can be used as a tool for establishing the competitive advantage in the present business context. In the modern business world, organizations are increasingly depending on the use of information systems to enhance business efficiency and address the challenges imposed by the complexity of the business environment. The significant contributions of information technology are with regard to the facilitation of sales and marketing activities. The main purpose of this research paper is to assess how information technology and information systems have impacted Sales and Marketing as to be able to identify new potential sales of End of Sale/End of Life (EOS/EOS) equipments. The paper proposes that that information technology can be used to enhance sales of products and services, which in this case is the selling of EOS/EOL equipment.
End of Life products refers to products that are offered to customers whose useful life has already ended and the vendors are no marketing or selling it. In addition, End of Life products usually have minimal service support from the vendor. End of Sale refers to specific cases whereby the vendor denotes the last production date, which is usually determined by the kind of product and the customer’s anticipation of the lifetime of that particular product. The useful life of products is susceptible to end due to the technological advancements that are likely to render the product useless in meeting the user requirements. The development of new products by competitors may also render a product useless after some time. Marketing and selling of end of sale products is usually difficult because consumers usually opt for newer products that can meet their demands. The basic inference from this observation is that effective marketing that goes beyond conventional marketing strategies is required in cases where the businesses needs to sale-off its end-of-life products. The underlying complexities in the supply chain of EOS products require the effective implementation of information technology in sale and marketing of such products (Blackford 100).
The primary goal of sales and marketing is to target products and services to consumers who are willing to buy. Conventionally, marketing end-of-sale products and services need extra push to convince customers to acquire obsolete products. The underlying fact is that there are diverse kinds of buyers in the market; the significant challenge is for the marketers to identify the potential opportunities to market such products. Barnes (54) asserts that information systems and technology come in handy in addressing the challenges associated with the identification of opportunities for the sale and marketing of end-of-sale products. Information systems and technology also play an integral in the assessment of the effectiveness of the marketing approaches deployed in the end-of-life products. The identification of customers that may opt to use obsolete products is a challenging tasks that requires the deployment of effective sales and marketing strategies that integrate information technology. This denotes the significance of information systems and technology in enhancing the effectiveness of the sales and marketing of the end-of-life products (Bridgewater and Egan 154).
The role of information systems and technology
Information technology and systems is increasingly becoming an important tool for business communications in the present world. Effective business communication is a core marketing requirement that businesses need in order to attain a sustainable competitive advantage in the present marketplace. Information technology communication additional opportunities through which businesses can exploit in order to connect with diverse audience in different ways according to their communication requirements, which can in turn enhance the effectiveness of sales and marketing of end-of-life products (Barnes 54).
The advent of the internet played an integral in transforming communication, especially in terms of speed and mobility. This was facilitated by the onset of electronic communication, which is increasingly becoming a vital tool for ensuring effective communication within and outside the organization. In the present organizational context, different functional units are in constant communication in order to facilitate the effective execution of organizational processes. This business approach can play an integral role in creating value for the business that the organization can exploit to increase its productivity. The fundamental argument that can be derived from this observation is that effective communication is a critical success factor for the present day organization. In fact, organizations can rely on effective business communication to establish sustainable competitive advantage by enhancing employee productivity and customer satisfaction. The use of electronic communication through avenues such as social networking and Skype does not only enhance the effectiveness of the communication process, but also provides new ways of real time interaction during communication (Barnes 54).
Information technology and systems can be used for streamlining all the activities pertaining to sales and to aid in the reduction of time that sales representatives need to spend on each of the steps of the sales process. The basic implication of this is that it allows business enterprises to make use of few sales representatives for the purposes of management of their customers. An example is the use of Contact Management System (CMS) during sales operations, which is used to follow and trace each of the phases in the sales process for each of the prospective client from the phase of first meeting to the last disposition. Most of the Sales CMS applications are also integrated to have insights to the opportunities, sales forecasting and the automation of workflow (Larsson and Lundberg 154).
The internet has revolutionized the manner in which business is conducted in the current times. This is primarily due to its intrinsic ability to foster communication without geographic limitations. The use internet marketing helps addressing the variability associated with segmentation and positioning. The methodology used in the marketing of new products and services have been revolutionized due to the effective nature of the communication framework provided by the internet. Marketing by use of internet has brought a new concept to marketing in the sense that modern marketing has evolved to embrace the concept of connectedness as opposed to the conventional one-way approach to marketing, whereby companies would just pass their messages without taking into account the responses from the end users of the product. The internet revolutionized this marketing approach by providing an avenue for product reviews and two-way communication between the marketers and the consumers (Larsson and Lundberg 147). Effective marketing requires the deployment of the marketing mix, which comprises various elements aimed at fostering effective communication between the marketers and the consumers. The internet provides a platform for the development of new business potentials. This is because the internet has revolutionized the tactical and commercial platforms for conducting businesses over the internet. Conducting business on the internet requires an analysis of the needs of the internet users in order to adopt the most suitable revenue and marketing model for the business enterprise. The advent of the internet revolutionized the advertising strategies since it created various opportunities to deploy online marketing, for example Search Engine Optimization, e-business frameworks and other advertising opportunities such as email advertisements and pop ups. The new technological frameworks had a significant impact on the advertising trends deployed by marketers, especially due to the elimination of geographical limitations facilitated by the internet and other digital advertising frameworks.
Online transaction processing systems play a vital role in enhancing the effectiveness of the sale and marketing strategies adopted by the business. This are mainly used for data processing during the daily organizational activities that can range from the corporate to business level transactions such as customer payments, orders, corporate funds payments and other business activities. The transaction processing system can make use of the Online Transaction Processing, whereby customers can conduct business with the company via a web-based platform, the company tracks its customers using a Customer Relationship Management system that is web-based. Online Transaction Processing is an integral element of the organization because it can result to the expansion of its operations to a global platform; therefore, it eliminates the constraints imposed by geographical barriers when selling end-of-life product. The real time communication with its customers also helps in enhancing customer satisfaction, which is in accordance with the business strategy that aims at the realization of the goals and objectives. The use of online transaction processing systems helps in improving the business efficiency of the company. Enhanced business efficiency implies that there is improved employee productivity, which in turn transforms to customer satisfaction. The outcome of this is that the company develops a competitive advantage and increases its market share (Larsson and Lundberg 158).
Improved marketing
Effective marketing requires understanding the communication requirements of the target audiences prior to the development of a marketing plan. The case of end-of-life products is challenging due to the fact that identification of the potential customers who may need obsolete products is difficult, making it difficult to develop a marketing plan that can penetrate the target audience. Improved marketing also implies that the marketers should have a comprehensive understanding of the requirements of their target customers. The identification of customer insights is the key to effective marketing, which requires maintaining constant communication with the customers in order to have an understanding of their requirements. Effective communication in this information era is mainly determined by the speed of transmission.
Digital electronic communication provides interfaces like electronic mail, instant messaging service, social media and chat rooms, which are important in facilitating simultaneous communication to different people. For most organizations in the information age, electronic communication is a core requirement for business efficiency in the present day commerce. E-commerce has played an integral role in opening up diverse opportunities due to the fact that facilitates global collaboration within the organization and outside communication (Barker 5).
The effectiveness of marketing also lies on the ability to pass the message to a large number of target audiences. Information technology offers an opportunity through which the business can exploit to ensure simultaneous communication with their customers on a large scale. Social media marketing is a new approach to marketing that ensures that there is interaction between the marketers and the audience.
Interaction during social media networking implies that marketers can have an insight into the requirements of their customers. For instance, advertising in social media sites such as Facebook ensure participation of the customer through offering avenues for comments and reviews, which implies that marketers can have a better understanding of their customers. Social media networking also facilitates mass marketing due to the fact that the information posted on the website is usually visible to a larger number of internet users. This offers an opportunity that can be used to successfully market end-of-life products through ensuring that marketers interact with the potential customers, have their insights and adopt effective persuasion that can be used to increase the sale of end-of-life products. A notable characteristic of information systems and technology is that it creates a network of potential customers, which in turn creates a referral opportunity that marketers can use to sale off end-of-life products. The networks in the current information age can only exploited if the marketing strategies exploit appropriate information communication technologies (Barnes 3).
Conclusion
It is arguably evident that information technology and systems offers diverse opportunities that can be exploited to enhance the effectiveness of the sales and marketing of end-of-life products, which require extra efforts that entail the integration of information technologies during sales and marketing. Information technologies, especially the internet has transformed the manner in which business is being conducted through offering diverse opportunities that can be used for marketing of end-of –life products. The opportunities provided by the internet include electronic communication, e-commerce and social media networking, which help in eliminating the geographical constraints associated with marketing. Information technology can also be used in the streamlining of the sales and marketing operations aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of customer relationship marketing. From a holistic point of view, it can be concluded that information technologies provide diverse opportunities that businesses can exploit to enhance the effectiveness of the sale and marketing of end-of-life products.
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