Takeaway From 1-888-JUNK-VAN Consultants Presentation

Dear Mr. Kingo,

As a member of the Executive Board I would like to first and foremost apologize for my absence.  Unfortunately a very big opportunity for franchising the company has risen and 1-888-JUNK-VAN could not pass on it.  But in my absence, I would like to present you with my takeaway from the consultants’ presentation we attended yesterday in regards to our future operational system.

The consultants provided us with well thought out and very well analyzed solutions to our current predicament.  Are current problematic operational system could be corrected with the alternatives proposed to us by the consultants.  Let me start by how well they understood our current business model and were able to pinpoint the problems we have with complete accuracy allowing them to better understand our needs.  Diagrams provided allowed for visual flow of errors, as well as, the acknowledgement of where they are happening and what is causing them.  The provided alternative systems were, Microsoft Access local installation, Microsoft Access Server, Google Docs, a Custom Application, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and the Platform as a Service (PaaS).  As we were advised, local Microsoft Access and the Server were both systems in which we could potentially continue to encounter data entry errors.  Since that is one of our biggest problems, they were not offered as a solution, as well as, Google Docs.  Both the Custom Application and the ERP would have been too expensive for us to be able to maintain at the moment and the consultants took that into consideration as we are a start-up company.  So as a solution to our problem the PaaS was the best solution the consultants provided us.  It would decrease our data input errors as it would be error free, which in hand would make our customers satisfied and eliminating all the data having to flow back and forward between you, Mr. Kingo, and the data clerk.

There were also very well calculated amounts provided by the consultants, which we might have overlooked.  This program will allow for lost sales to be recovered, estimated to be $37,500, and for you Mr. Kingo it would allow for more productivity with your time towards franchising, which was estimated a productivity loss of $4,706, for a total loss of $42,206.  All though PaaS has a high cost associated into its implementation, the consultants were able to provide us with evidence on how we would be able to save costs to make up for it.  A data clerk could now be eliminated, the program will decrease the wear and tear on the trucks, as well as, gas used as the drivers will not have to return to the customers houses for payment.  We could potentially be increasing our yearly revenue by 35% due to this, and this will include the purchase of iPad’s with data plans which I must admit was a splendid idea overlooked previously.  Our future goals are to franchise and expand into different markets, when we asked the consultants if this was possible with the new system, we were advised it would adapt to any new city expansions.  Allowing us to grow our company into new markets, not only by being able to adapt but as well as saving us a significant amount of costs and producing additional revenue which could be applied to our Marketing budget.

I must say that the presentation was very well presented and I must change the alternative I had originally thought to be the best solution.  The alternative suggested by me was to go with the Microsoft Access Server, which had a lower cost.  But as it was pointed out, we will continue to have data entry errors and a substantial amount of training and customization will have to be done by an outside IT person, which will cost us even more.  The decision to implement PaaS as a program for our Operational current problems was and is the best solution put forward.

With this I must thank you for your understanding of my absence today and for taking my review into consideration when making your final decision today.

If you have any questions, please advise me as I will be more than happy to answer them.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

The Impact The iPad Would Have On Amrahp LLC

Dear Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Wolfson,

I would like to thank you for the opportunity given to me to analyze the impact iPad implementation amongst the detailers could have on Amrahp LLC.  As a new member of the Amrahp’s business analyst group I am truly honored to be given the chance to demonstrate my analytic abilities.

Mr. Wolfson has requested that I perform an analysis on how profitable and feasible would it be to implement the usage of iPad’s amongst the detailers, as a new method to be used when performing their sales calls, or in other words, medical office visit sales presentations.

The analysis performed proved the following.  If iPad’s were to be implemented new software, customer service support and new procedures would have to be created.  The iPad could provide the detailers with an edge when performing their sales calls by allowing them to perform presentations in a quicker and noteworthy manner.  However, at what cost would this be for Amrahp.  We currently have 2,500 detailers, and at a cost of $550 dollars per iPad, a total cost would be $1,375,000.  New software would have to be downloaded to allow for migration of documents between our internal PC’s and iPad’s.  For this, Adobe Reader is a free app provided in the iTunes store.  Customer service and new procedures will have to be created and will be costly and time consuming, respectfully.  In order to discover any other implications with this the launch of iPad’s, I spent a day replicating the current files we provide the detailers and converting them to PDF’s in order to estimate the amount of time it would take our analysts to perform these daily duties.  On average it takes an additional half hour to 1 hour to convert the reports, as we currently would send out an excel version to the details so that they could make their own customization to the data provided.  Since the analysts make on average $30 an hour, this means Amrahp’s will be allocating $37.50 to $75 per week per analyst or $1,762.5 to $3,525 per year per analyst solely on file conversions that currently are not necessary.

With my analysis I have taken the initiative to look for other alternatives and have found one which I would like to bring to your attention at this time.  As all of our internal PC’s and detailers laptops run on Windows I took it upon myself to estimate the costs of implementing Windows new Surface Pro 3 devise.  The Surface Pro 3 device functions the same way at the detailers current laptops, it is lighter, provides more memory than the iPad, and has a port of a memory stick.  As this is a new product, a higher cost is to be expected.  The retail price for the Surface Pro 3 is currently $799 for a 12 inch, 64GB device and would cost Amrahp a total of $1,997,500, which is an additional $622,500 from the purchase of iPad’s.  However, new software, customer service support and new procedures will not have to be created as internal documents created using Microsoft Windows programs will be compatible with the Surface Pro 3.  Transitioning from laptop to this devise will not be lengthy or necessitate allocation of support.

As you can see, the cost of implementing iPad’s will be high for Amrahp and time consuming.  If alternative methods are applied, a smooth transition can be expected.

I hope my analysis has provided sufficient information in order to allow for a preferable executive decision.

If any questions arise, please let me know as I will be more than happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

Operational Complexities Of 1-888-JUNK-VAN

Like any start up company, Marcus Kingo, owner of 1-888-JUNK-VAN, found himself dealing with the complexities of his company’s operations.  Mr. Kingo had always been an entrepreneur and discovered a way of making money with the disposal of solid waste.  Being the most profitable segment of waste management, Kingo wanted to capitalize on this opportunity

As the company grew he found it more and more difficult to manage the company itself from home with the operational system being used.

Number of staff:

·         2 call center operators

·         1 data clerk

·         3 drivers

·         3 helpers

The data was all collected throughout the day and entered in two shifts.  The morning shift call center operator entered new orders into the database and at the shift would have to email the database to the second shift operator.  The second shift operator would continue to enter orders but would also send out to the drivers the orders for the following day, as well as, email the database and the end of the day to the data clerk.  The data clerk would receive all the invoice, payments etc… from the drivers and integrate both databases.  Once integration was complete and payments processed, the updated database would be forwarded to the morning call center operator in order to continue to operational cycle.

Operational Problems:

·         Human error on the part of the call center operator and data clerk

·         Missing required data for invoicing, for example, customer emails

·         Drivers did not use templates to issue invoices and receive payment

·         Incorrect database’s were forwarded creating inaccurate data usage

·         Time consuming in correcting and updating database

Kingo required an operational program to help him manage his data in a remote access way in order to continue to run his business as a home based company.  This allowed him to cut costs on a facility rental as the company was still a small company.

Alternatives to solve the Operational Issues:

·         Microsoft Access Database

o   Could be implemented in a timely matter

o   Small budget required

o   Remotely accessed through VPN

o   $179 license price per computer

o   Not familiarized with shared server set-up

o   Might need to hired extra help with technical information

·         Custom Application

o   Customized application

o   Web-based systems provide remote access

o   Price of $2,000

o   Maintenance charge $60 per hour, per developer

o   Data migration not included

o   Application cannot be review beforehand which could create delayed if not correct

·         Google Docs

o   Free accounts up to 10 users

o   $5 per user per month, or $50 per user, per year

o   Online applications

o   Users work simultaneously on the same file

o   User profile specifications, for example, read only, or full access

o   Quick and easy to use

o   Data spreadsheets do not allow for relationship creation among spreadsheets

o   Data saved in “Cloud”, might create confidentiality problems due to sensitive data

·         Platform as a Service

o   Cloud computing

o   Capability to create your own applications

o   $300-$600 per month costs, dependent on storage space required

o   Additional customization $180 per hour

o   Includes data migration

·         Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System

o   Centralized database

o   Small firms expected to have 20 to 25 users

o   $2,500 per user per year

o   Higher licensing budget required

o   One pack for 4 licenses $12,000

o   Too much financial modules provided which were not needed

Out of the 5 alternative options, we are able to see that and ERP System would not be considered as it is too costly and not required due to the size of the company.  As a start up company, cost plays a big fracture when making this decision, so with that Platform as a Service and Custom Application are also not suitable.  Leaving Google Docs and Microsoft Access Database as the only liable solutions.

Google Docs meets all requirements with a small issue in regards to confidentiality.  Information entered into the spreadsheets will include payment details, for example credit card information.  This could present itself as a risk for the company decreasing orders as customers might find this non acceptable.

Microsoft Access Database is the way to go with a start up company.  With its small cost of $179 per computer costs can be cut here.  All requirements are met as long as additional technical skills are added to the personnel.  In this case the best solution would be for Marcus Kingo to invest in a Microsoft course at his local community college in order to familiarize himself with the product.  Except the additional purchase of SharePoint would have to be made.

Alternative Recommendation:

·         Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard

o   Provides small startup business’ with all the operational essentials

o   Provides crucial remote access through a VPN “SharePoint”

o   $1,347.95 onetime purchase cost on Amazon

o   Allows all users to connect to the company’s networking using VPN

o   Can be setup easily by accessing the Network and Sharing Center in the Start button on Windows 7 PC

Conclusion on Electronic Data Capturing (EDC) Implementation At P&G

Dear Executive Board Members,

I would like to begin with apologizing for my absence; I fully understand the importance of today’s meeting and have prepared my conclusion on the presentation made to us yesterday.  The presentation was in regards to the implementation of a new method to be put forward in P&G’s clinical trial process.

The consultants have given us three alternatives to solve the existing issues in our current process involving the clinical trials.  The first alternative, was to improve P&G’s current paper based process by improving the current forms to be user friendly, as well as, use daily shipping in order to receive the forms and have them entered into the system in a timely matter.  The second alternative, would be to have all the forms faxed to our data entry department which then would scan all the forms and save them digitally.  This would make it easier on the trials sites and could possible increase P&G’s number of clinical trial sites.  The last alternative was slightly more radical, it involved the implementation of Electronic Data Capturing.  EDC would allow for accurate data capturing, as well as, the clinical trial process time being cut by half.

With these alternatives there are both pros and cons involving each one of them and the consultants were very adamant on making sure we fully understood them.  So I would like to point out the some pros and cons that were would best suit us on our decision.

The improvement on our current paper based process by creating easier forms to be used will for certain keep P&G’s costs stable.  As the clinical trial sites are all trained on this method the cost to us will remain the same we are currently paying.  Which as of now we incur an expense of $785,000 for 20 sites, with 10 patients for a period of 12 months, as the consultants pointed out.  However, the time it takes for products to go through the clinical trial stage and for the data to be entered and locked up for analysis in the systems is still lengthy as would not be solved with this improvement.

With the digitized format, P&G could potentially receive more interest from trial sites which are not involved in our clinical testing, since they will be attracted by the simpler process.  However, the forms remain the same, but additional pressure is place on us internally as now we have to scan the data into the system instead of entering the data.  This would increase our costs as the process at the trial sites would remain the same, our internal personnel would still be required to enter the data, though now we would have to invest in additional storage memory to all for all the forms to be saved as an image.  Another cost to be added will be the cost of paying someone to store our data at their facility as backup.  We will have to find a third party who will enter into a contract with us, allowing us to store our data at their facility in case of any natural or non-natural disasters which could occur.

Lastly but not least, the use of electronic data capturing.  This is the alternative put forward by the consultants as the best alternative since they believe it would be more costly at the beginning of implementation but would decrease the clinical trial time associated to the launching of new medical products.  All data received would be entered into the program which we will have to provide, teach the trial sites and maintain.  This would allow us to cut costs associated to the double data entry, as well as, costs associated to human error done at the trial sites level.  However, the savings from those cuts, in the beginning of the implementation only, will have to be put towards additional personnel to be used in training and system maintenance.  Trial sites will also require internet access and computers, which in some cases P&G might have to provide them with or we will start losing trial sites.  The consultants provided us with a predicted expense of $573,400 for using EDC, which is an estimated savings of $211,600 from the paper based expense of $785,000. 

There might have been a few things overlooked when estimating the expense of implementing EDC in the beginning stages before it stabilizes.  But in the long run, the expenses will become even less than indicated by the consultants.

Overall they have presented us with a great presentation and made it a difficult decision to make.  From the beginning our goal was to minimize the time it took one of our medical products to be launched into the market in order to decrease the loss of potential sales.  With this being our goal, I would have to recommend the implementation of EDC.  The initial costs with EDC will be greater, but will be compensated by the additional sales of the product, which we have all heard that the $1 million in lost sales is estimated for each day the launch of a drug is delayed. 

With this, I would like to apologize for not being at the meeting today, and hope you take into consideration my conclusion of the consultants presentation and solution to the matter.

If there are any questions please let me know as I will be more than happy to answer them and provide additional feedback if required.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

Electronic Data Capturing (EDC) Movement

To All the Members of the R&D Leadership Team,

Before I begin, I would like to thank you all for being here and for giving me the opportunity to present my findings on whether or not to move forward with electronic data capturing (EDC) in order to minimize costs associated to the clinical trials related to the launching of a new drug.

We currently perform on clinical trials using a paper base method which takes a substantial amount of time to be finalized or in others words, entered into our database without any errors in order for final analysis to be performed.  Our investigator sites, medical offices who participate in our drug trials, have been entering all the patients’ medical history and outcomes/side effects of every visit on a paper form for years now.  However, has been proven to be lengthy as we must have a third party enter this data into an electronic form database, which is entered three times by three different entities, in order to very that all data is accurate to the tee. 

This is costly and very archaic when the move to electronic data has been moving at such as fast pace.  Our cost per case report form (CRF) entered manually is currently $6 to $9 dollars per page while if entered electronically the cost is only $3 to $4 dollars, meaning EDC is cutting our CRF costs in half. We have ran test trials in order to verify that the electronic data capturing would decrease the amount of time a drug take to go from its trial phase to being sold to patients.  The trial was conducted using participating sites whom some already have advanced skills using the internet and some did not even have a computer onsite.  The cost in purchasing computers for some sites was not substantial, however, the time it took to train them with the usage of computers was found to be tedious.  Overall, the time it takes to enter a patients full case from begin to end and then locking it up for analysis, error free I might add, has been cut by half.  This shows how it is instrumental that we move forward with this implementation and there are a few methods which can be used to help us with this.

The roles played by our clinical research associates (CRA’s) can be revamped in order to include usage facilitation, a customer service role addition to their job description.  They are able to perform this as they are now fully trained on our EDC program as they are the one who visit the clinics in order to verify that the data is entered correctly into the online web-based program.  They can offer full-time support if we create course materials and actual in person courses for all personnel. This may be lengthy in the beginning of implementation, however, in the long-run we predict a fully self-sufficient program which might decrease the number of personnel we currently require.   

Next, the creation of compliance training so that clinics can be reminded on why the data entered is so important, how it should be entered, what happens to the data after it is locked up, what they can do to help improve the process and finally their feedback.  Feedback will be very important as it will be our only method of understand what the sites require and how we can facilitate this process for them.

If well planned out EDC can improve our process in many ways, not only by decreasing costs associated to the clinical trial process but as well as increasing productivity in launching new medical drugs faster.  This will help us recover funds used in the creation and implementation of the medical drug as well as decrease the amount of sales lost due to launching time.

I hope this helps all the members in the R&D Leadership Team come to a concise decision on the implementation of electronic data capturing.

If you have any question, please let me know as I will be more than happy to answer them for you.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

The Utilization Of Microsoft Visio

Dear Mr. Pereira,

As you may know, I have been assigned a new project, which involves the usage of Microsoft Visio in our work environment.  Thank you for this opportunity and I hope my findings will be beneficial with your decision making.

Visio is a program offered by Microsoft to facilitate in the creation of interactive diagrams.  This allows users to create and share their diagrams with coworkers, as well as, allow their coworkers to make comments or changes to the diagram.  Visio diagrams can shared through SharePoint, which is the program which allows transparency throughout the company by sharing files with coworkers. 

The diagrams created through Vision can be a simple one layer diagram or a multiple layer diagram.  This multiple layer diagram can be data linked, which means, connected to a Microsoft Excel workbook or to an Access Database.  When linking the Visio diagram to Excel or Access the data numbers reflected within the diagram will be updated as the data is updated in Excel or Access.  This allows for real time data sharing throughout the whole corporation.

This program can be very beneficial for us on our daily tasks by improving how we display our Account Executives standings.  With Visio, we can create diagrams which show each Account Executive their weekly, monthly, quarterly and even yearly rankings when it comes to planned sales calls and actual performed sales calls.  These diagrams can be linked to the database, which we already have created, and will constantly be updating as the weekly sales reports are submitted by the Account Executives.  The diagrams can then be shared through SharePoint, which then we can either allow them to edit or read only.  By doing this we are allowing the Account Executives to comment on why their sales calls numbers have dropped or rise, or even just add any comments at all. 

The cost of adding Visio to our already existing contract with Microsoft will not be a substantial cost to us as we already have a Volume Licensing Agreement.  Our agreement allows for addition of other Microsoft products with a volume key in order to give us the capability of downloading Visio on multiple computers and laptops.  The cost of Visio for us will be $500 dollars due to the program being purchased as an add-on.  Our learning curve will also not effect out daily productivity as our Account Executives already know how to add comments to a Word document, which Visio works the same way.  The only person who will have to know how to link the data to diagrams and personalize each diagram with each Account Executive’s personal data will be me.  Due to the research I already have performed on this programs, I can honestly say, we could potentially begin the implementation of this program tomorrow without effecting my daily tasks.

As you can see, Visio could potentially increase our Account Executives productivity by providing them with real time statuses.  This can motivate them to achieve their goals and show them where their problematic areas are before their quarterly and yearly reviews with their manager.

I hope you take my finding into consideration when making your executive decision on whether or not to purchase and utilize Microsoft Visio.

If you have any question, please do not hesitate in letting me know.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

Ubuntu Operating System, To Program Or Not To Program

Dear Mr. Pereira,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to analyze the Ubuntu operating system in order to decrease internal programing costs.  This has been a great learning experience for me and I am pleased to announce a thorough analysis has been fully performed.  With this analysis I can say that programing costs will not be cut with this new program.  Unfortunately I must advise against the implementation of this program as it will not be suitable for our day to day tasks.

Ubuntu is an operating system which offers capability of running a virtual computer from your desktops and laptops.  This system can provide programs, free of charge, which in other cases would cost a substantial amount.  Ubuntu offers LibreOffice Write, which is very much so comparable to Microsoft Office Word and user friendly but there is one options we will find difficult living without.  Write offers spell check but it does not offer a definition section or even a thesaurus and synonyms in order to find alternative words to use when writing reports.  However, most of us here use Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access and Ubuntu offers LibreOffice Calc and LibreOffice Base.  Here is where the compatibility issues have been found.  Pivots in excel are created every single day by our employees by extracting the data directly from Access queries, and this becomes difficult when all our current queries have been created using Microsoft Access.  I have attempted to convert one of our Access databases into a LibreOffice Base database and ran into much difficulty, not only with the compatibility but with the size of the data.  This caused my laptop to freeze and took roughly 10 minutes to reboot the database.  The size of our internal data seems to be an issue here and would cause much delay in productivity.  Along with, if one of our Account Executives were to open one of our current Excel workbooks within Ubuntu, they would lose the data linked to the pivots within and would have to create new pivots themselves.  In order for them to do this, we will have to begin saving the raw data to the actual Excel workbook and could run into the actual raw data being compromised by the Account Executives, in error, which would subsequently cause them to produce inaccurate analysis.

Another issue found, other than unproductive runtime, is the agreement into which we would be going into with Ubuntu.  The agreement they have put forward clearly states that by accepting the terms they have the right to observe how the user is using Ubuntu along with the content.  Ubuntu has the right to do so as to protect themselves from criminating data or content being produced from their product.  However, due to the sensitivity of our internal data, this could cause legal issues, as well as, putting us at risk of data leakage.

The conclusion extracted from this is that the amount of cost we pay yearly towards programing could in the long-run be decrease dramatically by the usage of this operating system.  However, productivity will be effected, our ability to maintain our work rhythm will be effected and will cause major delays.  More employees will have to be hired in order to meet our daily tasks, which this will take even more time as they will have to be trained in both procedures.  Our customer and clients will lose faith in us and we cannot guarantee we will be able to come back from such a large implementation.

With this, I hope all your questions have been cleared with this analysis.  If further analysis is required or if you have any questions please let me know as I will a solution to any of your doubts.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

The Impacts Blogs Might Have On Our Company

Dear Mr. Pereira,

As per your request, I have fully researched the impacts blogs could have on our business.  My finds will prove to be surprising in some ways more than others.  With today’s trends on blogging about anything that is on your mind, business’ can be impacted in a positive and or negative way.  It can be a form of free advertisement and publicity even; however, at this time it might injure us more than we can withstand.

Blogging can lead to a reduction in productivity within a company.  Some bloggers might dedicate so much time to their blog which can affect their productivity at work.  With internet access, companies have to worry about how their employees dedicate their time while they are at work.  This can be costly for the company because they pay their employees and expect a certain amount of productivity per day as well as actual results.  When employees are not meeting these demands due to dedicating some of their time at work towards their blog, business’ are impacted.

I have conducted a survey within our small company of around 50 employees and here are my findings.  As you know, most of our employees are young and up to date on all new and upcoming technologies.  This obviously is a positive as we must keep up with new technologies if we plan on remaining successful.  The survey asked questions related to how our employees use their time at work.  I made the survey anonymous in order to receive a more accurate response from my fellow coworkers.  With a slight margin of error, employees are spending around 0.5 to 1 hour a day on blogging.  These hours are not hours spent during their lunch or break times but actual working hours.  The survey showed, as well, that the method of accessing their blogs is a mixture between their personal devices and their work PCs.

Given the 0.5 to 1 hour a day our employees spend on blogging I was able to compute what this means to us financially.  Our average hourly salary amount is $18.50, so with this we know that per employee the company is spending $46.25 to $92.50 per week, of the company’s money.  If we were to assume all our employees were partaking on this, we are looking at $2,312.50 to $4,625 on a weekly basis and $111,000 to $222,000 yearly.  The yearly amounts have been calculated using 48 weeks in a year due to vacation days and holidays.

Not only is this a costly expense to the company but we must also take other factors into consideration.  While our employees spend their time blogging at work, they are taking away their permitted daily hours to work on their day to day tasks.  Meaning, each employee loses 2.5 to 5 hours a week which is allocated to accomplishing their weekly tasks.  This creates backlogs and unmeet targets, as well as, loss of potential outcomes.

I understand it is hard to track exactly how much time is spend per employee doing unrelated work tasks via their PCs if they use their personal electronic devices.  We can only do so much with our web filters and PC monitoring software.  So as you can see, our company will be negatively impacted by blogs.  If we were to allow blogging we will be incurring additional expenses on top of the ones we are already incurring, it could possibly double or even triple. 

So with this I hope you take into consideration my findings when making your decision.  If you have any questions or would like to further discuss the matter, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto

Implementation of a new program

Dear Mr. Pereira,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to look into a different program which our company could use within our internal operations.  My finding might prove to be surprising and I hope you take my opinions into consideration.

We are a small company which consist of around 50 employees.  We currently operate using Microsoft Office programs and pay $15 per user on a monthly basis.  We use the higher service which would allow us for a max of 300 users, however, we have not reach the maximum and are nowhere near reaching it.  The second highest package offered if for $10 but it has a maximum of 25 users, which makes it not possible to use.  There is also no extra program we use from Microsoft which we must pay extra for.  The SharePoint program is used in order to share documents with our coworkers when they are out of the office; this costs us an additional $5 per user on a monthly basis.

During my research into Google, I have discovered all the features which they offer at a lower cost.  There are two plans which we could use; one for $5 per user a month which would give us access to all the programs which we would need to run our business.  However, this package does not offer Vault which provides a backup for audit access and activity as well as archiving all emails and being able to restore messages which have been deleted by error.  This package costs $10 per user a month. 

Google would have a large impact on our company if implemented.  We currently pay $1,000 a month in order to run our Microsoft programs.  With Google we would be looking at $500 a month and we would be able to run our business the same way we do now and not have to pay extra for SharePoint.  Google offers Cloud, which would allow us to back up all our documents and share them among our employees.  We can give them access to either read the documents only or read and write, this also allows the publisher to track all the changes made and by who.  This was not possible using SharePoint which made it difficult when deciding who would have access to publish documents there are they would be in charge of updating the documents.  But with Google Drive we can make this a possibility.  

I understand it can be scary to think of making all these changes and having to train everyone on this new program.  But during my search I have also conducted a mini survey amount our employees.  The survey was conducted in order to find out what programs our employees use in their personal lives.  Due to the demographics of our employees, mainly the fact that they are all young and very tech savvy; I have discovered 80% have a Gmail account, have used Drive, and also use Hangouts in their day to day activities.  This allows for the implementation of Google Drive to go smoothly.  The remaining 20% have agreed to take courses online which are offered by many institutions and even Google tutorials.  In my opinion the transition would not be difficult, time consuming, or costly.  I would also offer my expertise on the matter and can create procedures on different scenarios in case of errors.  Our IT personnel are also up to date on Google and will require no training.

As you can see the transition from Microsoft to Google will be beneficiary to our long term success by cutting costs by 50% and allowing for a significant increase in productivity.  It will allow our company to become transparent between all our employees, increasing moral and self-worthiness within the company.  We can change our internal attitude and make them feel like we are a big family just by bring connected through Google.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Couto