What factors might you need to take into account beyond software selection? What issues might they have integrating the software into the business?  What plans can you devise to help with this? Each team will report back on their work to the rest of the class in the plenary

Microeconomics by Geoffrey

Activity One: Comparing Software Types (30 mins)

Review the different types of software introduced in the previous presentation.  Some useful resources have been curated for you on Moodle to help with this task, but please feel free to go beyond these to other reputable sources.

  1. Summarise the advantages and disadvantages of each for a business
  2. What factors should a company consider when choosing each broad category of software?

    Activity Two: Case Study (60 mins)

    Floggit and Scram Insurance are an SME with three local offices spread across the West Midlands region.  Their primary business is to act as an insurance broker, where they source and sell specialist insurance to businesses.  They make money based on commission from these sales.  Currently, their sales agents make use of various spreadsheets to track business and customers, but they are increasingly finding issues with sharing this data within the business.  The senior management have decided that they now need to invest in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.  The company has limited financial capital and only a small IT department with very limited software development/programming resource.   The company has approached your team as consultants to assist with the choice.

    1. For each software type covered in the presentation, explain why this type of software may or may not be suitable for this company.
    2. Can you identify specific, named, software packages? Are there any clear leaders you might suggest?  Why?
    3. What factors might you need to take into account beyond software selection? What issues might they have integrating the software into the business?  What plans can you devise to help with this?

    Each team will report back on their work to the rest of the class in the plenary