Dynamic Processed Analysis
The definition of dynamic process is defined as the change, adaptation, or variations in the response to changing needs within the company, customer expectations, or the shifting of company goals. Home Depot’s dynamic process with Marketing and Collaboration includes addressing different areas within the company's functions and analyzing change in these groups. I want to mainly focus on the marketing aspect of their dynamic process, which includes the customer-facing aspects of all their business processes. Some of these business processes would include Market Research, Target Audience, Pricing Strategy, Promotion, Distribution, Sales, and Customer Service. Separating these subjects will help define many of the details of this process. In market research, it aids in analyzing the trends of the market and identifies many of the current shifts in the market as a whole. The analysis of the target market is essential in the marketing process because it allows for the product as well as advertising to be better tailored to its intended demographic. The pricing strategy is similar to the target audience in the way that it helps better target the types of customers the product will attract as well as help better predict the quantity of sales. Promotion is a necessary aspect of marketing, where the product or service is advertised to its intended target market and helps inform and persuade the audience to participate in the product or service. Distribution is the means by which the company can ensure that the product is made readily available for the customers who are looking to or need to purchase it. While sales and customer service is not only the amount of sales, but also the feedback on the product with any necessary issues addressed after buying the product. Now that market processes are defined let's look to the dynamic processes implemented by Home Depot to help maintain and alter these marketing principles. Some characteristics that Home Depot has adopted are adaptability, innovation, and technological innovation. Adaptability in Home Depot’s dynamic strategy includes the ability to change its processes in regard to the needs of the market, customer behavior, and competition. Innovation is a broad topic that addresses the introduction of new products, services, marketing perspectives, or company practices. Finally, technological innovation addresses the use of technology in everyday business processes, marketing techniques, and informational systems.
The information system aids Home Depot in ensuring that many of the aspects within its dynamic process include the implementation of several systems at a time. Having this influx of knowledge readily available for both consumers and employees allows for a more efficient system supporting these processes. Another benefit of the use of technology in several areas is that much of the user infrastructure is based on the nature of the task being performed. May it be a customer using the customer service desk or an employee taking inventory to help monitor sales, having a series of differentiating services within its supporting information system allows for all parties to be satisfied and further promotes their dynamic process of adaptability, innovation, and technological implementation.
The process within the existing system currently promotes the use of technology, therefore allowing adaptability and innovation to be increased. After such analysis, I found that many of the technological uses of this process within this company and its supporting system have reaped benefits not only in terms of effectiveness and efficiency but also in convenience and integration within the organization’s everyday efforts. This is an example of how many corporations should further find supporting systems to help simplify and streamline many of their tasks to utilize the full extent of their strategy to dynamic processes.
In the following section we will dive into The Home Depot’s social media information system (SMIS). We highlight the platforms currently used and expand on the use of Instagram. Home Depot is a leader in the home improvement sector. The brand continues to grow and use every “tool” available at their disposal to attract new customers and keep their existing customers coming back. They were on the forefront of using mobile platforms when first introduced and social media is no different.
According to the textbook , “SMIS is an information system that supports the sharing of content among networks of users” (Kroenke & Boyle, 2021, p 338). For companies to stay up to date with marketing they must use social media platforms to leverage their product. Home Depot currently uses Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Several brands use influencers to promote their products. Home Depot uses influencers also, but their asset is using their associates to manage social media content. What better way to bring what is going on in the store to the screens of the various platforms. Using the associates is a genius way to get additional value from their employees without having to spend more money on content creators.
Home Depot’s Instagram has 1.4 million followers. The platform is used to post Do-it-yourself projects and tutorials, ideas to decorate for the holidays and seasons. The strategy keeps the site fresh and relevant, which is important to bring customers into the store. Instagram not only helps to bring customers together by sharing ideas, but the associates also respond quickly to concerns and questions.
Extracting data from social media platforms has provided important information for Home Depot’s marketing department. Consumer age, gender, location along with interaction metrics and sales data allows Home Depot to customize social media content and understand their target audience. Who is The Home Depot customer? The perfect customer is EVERYONE. Home improvement stores were once for the contractors or men fixing something in the home. Today the home improvement store is for the professional contractor, Do-it-Yourself, women, men, mom, dad, and kids. The value that Home Depot provides is expertise, assistance and aisles full of products.
Customer Engagement and Interaction on social media is measured by analyzing likes, comments, shares, and click-through rates (CTR). Instagram analytics provides important data on how the content posted resonates with the followers. The number of likes lets you see the number of followers who found the content interesting. The number of shares shows you if the content was interesting or important enough to share with someone. A click-through rate according to Investopedia.com is the percentage of individuals viewing a web page who view and click on a specific advertisement that appears on the page. The higher the click rate the better.
Nan Lin defines social capital as an investment in social relations with the expectation of returns in the marketplace. Additionally, he states it adds value in four ways: Information, Influence, Social Credentials and Personal Reinforcement. (Kroenke & Boyle, 2021, p 345). Relationships are important socially and in the workforce. It provides connections, communications, trust, and access to resources. Home Depot associates use social capital to meet and work with managers. The managers can help associates grow within the organization and make the right connections. Education and experience are important, however, connections will facilitate moving up in the company. Lastly, getting to know the vendors and suppliers is another avenue in social capital. Building relationships with them can provide an employment opportunity down the road.
An enterprise social network (ESN) is a software platform used internally within a company. Examples include communications with each other, looking up internal information such as policies, sharing pictures of team building at different locations and much more. Enterprise 2.0 is the use of enterprise social networks inside an organization. Andrew McAfee, defined ESN using the acronym SLATES (Kroenke & Boyle, 2021, p 356).
The SLATES model shows the simplicity of an ESN. The network must be easy to use, have the ability to post content, and search for information quickly. Home Depot has a voluntary associate engagement platform - Viva Engage. The platform is a way for associates to build community within the organization. More than 450,000 associates have access to the platform. This is impressive because the organization has locations in the U.S. and Canada. At any time you can communicate and interact with an employee in another location or country. The platform provides information on values, promotes company news, and cultivates connections between employees at any level. The Home Depot has a code of conduct by which employees must abide. Social media is not called out. The associates who manage the social media platforms are hand picked to handle social media. They post and manage comments and content.
Hardware:
In the context of a firm
such as The Home Depot, hardware refers to the tangible tools and equipment
that support the organization's numerous business and sales activities. These
hardware elements are essential for sustaining general business operations,
handling transactions, helping customers, and preserving inventories. When
looking back at the Point of Sales, it is evident that there is certain
hardware that ensures this system is efficient and user-friendly for not only
the cashier but the customer as well. The POS Systems include cash registers or
computer terminals that are equipped with hardware for processing payments,
receipt printers, and barcode scanners to enable sales transactions.
In the workplace, mobile
devices are crucial for giving customers a quick, easy, and productive buying
experience. To help customers, monitor stock levels, and complete transactions
on the sales floor, associates may utilize tablets or mobile devices loaded
with inventory and sales management programs. You frequently come across
security cameras and other technologies that track your every move when you
walk into a store. These hardware elements support theft prevention and shop
security monitoring. You'll also notice printed tags for the products on the
shelf as you walk around the store, up and down the aisles. These tags are on
the shelf due to label printers for price tags and signage that hangs
throughout the store. Finally, a customer kiosk is the ideal solution to
provide an excellent experience for customers. In order to ensure that a
customer's shopping experience is beneficial, interactive kiosks or
self-service stations can be utilized by the customer for self-checkout, price
checking, or product information.
The effectiveness of these
hardware elements and their potential for improvement will depend on a number
of variables, such as the particular hardware and software systems being used,
the demands of the company, and the rapid advancement of technology. It's
crucial to continually bear in mind that stores need to improve in every way in
order to guarantee that their business is expanding and keeping up with current
affairs. Hardware effectiveness is usually assessed by taking into account
aspects like cost-effectiveness, scalability, security, speed, and
dependability. In order to boost productivity and customer satisfaction,
hardware and software systems are frequently updated and improved in the retail
sector.
CPU refers to the Central Processing Unit and is considered hardware. Because it handles much of the processing and calculations required for a computer to run, it is frequently referred to as the brain of a computer. Data is transformed into digital signals by servers. The CPU reads information, interprets and carries out instructions from the computer’s memory.
There are several varieties of CPU’s with varying functions and performance levels.
- Multi-Core CPU’s- The chips
contain two or more computing cores. Performance can be increased by
using multi-core processors by handling several instructions at once.
- CPU’s with multiple threads-
Multiple threads can be run at once. The operating system treats
each physical core as two logical cores.
- Mobile CPU’s- Cell phones, tablets and other portable electronics all use mobile CPU’s. Their low power consumption design allows them to last longer on batteries while offering enough performance for daily use.
The amount of memory that
a computer’s CPU has available for processing and storing data is referred to
as CPU storage. A CPU’s performance on jobs requiring significant
processing power, such as operating complicated software applications improves
with the amount of storage. By adding more memory modules to the motherboard, a
computer’s CPU storage can be expanded.
The Home Depot powers the
majority of its self-checkout and in-store point-of-sale systems using Fujitsu
U-scan, NCR, and 360 Commerce. They have also made a large investment in
mobile technology. Home Depot introduced over 125,000 new hdPhones in
partnership with Zebra Technologies, HPE and Aruba,a Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Company. The goal of the hdPhone is to enhance the customer experience with
mobile technology in the store. Customers expect a frictionless experience in
stores and on their mobile devices. The new technology allows the
customer to find and purchase the materials they need to finish projects.
Associates can easily find products, check pricing, and verify inventory with the use of advanced-range barcode scanning and view it all on large screens by docking with Zebra’s Workstation Connect. Home Depot is committed to providing an excellent working environment for its associates and real-time information for its customers.
Virtualization
Additionally, Home Depot, among other enterprises, extensively harnesses virtualization technology within its IT framework. They employ it across diverse areas, including operating systems, servers, storage systems, and numerous other resources. Their usage spans various virtualization types, such as network virtualization, which consolidates networking elements like switches and routers. This streamlines administrative tasks, allowing centralized control without direct physical intervention. Moreover, application virtualization is integral, enabling specific application functions to operate on different operating systems, providing users with seamless accessibility without altering machine configurations.
Open Source Software
Home Depot like many other retailers maintains a useful combination implementing both native and web based applications within their open source software. This combines several different applications that are typically used store and consumer wide, providing tools to be utilized for their respective purpose. These tools vary from inventory trackers, POI points, to curbside pickup. These various systems offer an array of different abilities to employees and customers alike. The systems consist of GitHub Enterprise for the employee side of sale, and a multitude of other native softwares when customer facing. These native applications typically pertain to the Home Depot App on different computing networks and over various platforms, allowing for an increase in customer access and utilization. This benefit of having this duality in information systems allows either party to successfully and effectively pull the necessary information from either system and operate accordingly.
New Technologies
Operational technology is also a significant aspect of Home Depot's strategy, utilizing image recognition to assess product shelves. This technology identifies out-of-stock items and pinpoints their locations within stores, facilitating efficient inventory management. Furthermore, communication technology plays a pivotal role, notably through the use of chatbot systems on their website, ensuring seamless customer interactions and support.
However, while Home Depot hasn't heavily incorporated entertainment technology thus far, there's potential for integrating it through interactive displays and demonstrations. By introducing features that enable customers to virtually experiment with home improvement projects, the company could enhance engagement and provide an entertaining yet informative experience for users.
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