Network Assessment and Solutions for TechTitans – Addressing Current Issues and Planning for Future Growth

Network Assessment and Solutions for TechTitans – Addressing Current Issues and Planning for Future Growth

Week 1: Network Architecture Assessment

TechTitans, a medium-sized retail store, is having a major networking problem. The current issue is affecting work and customer satisfaction. TechTitans has recently been taken over by a new owner named Michael and aims to enhance network infrastructure to help with business goals. This assessment will cover the network infrastructure in detail, identify the existing problem, and give recommendations to align with the owner’s objective towards TechTitans.

General Business Environment

TechTitans is located in a competitive retail market. Currently, there are 30 employees who use numerous computational devices and five sales assistants, each depending on network utilization for the company’s operations. The business is striving to implement more modern services. However, only recently did the network stop working properly. The clients are getting dissatisfied with the slower and slower services we provide. The working and service processes slowed: TechTitans should have fast access to data, quicker order processing, and faster communication (Brown & Grant, 2015). All of this is not available anymore due to network performance issues.

Network Goals and Objectives

The primary goals for TechTitans’ network include:

• Reliable and Fast Network Performance: The network needs to meet the needs of daily operations without frequent downtime or slow speeds to make the workplace more productive and increase customer satisfaction.
• Reinforcing IT Muscle: Training and developing IT expertise to enable its team to adequately manage and maintain the network.
• Cutting Telecommunication Costs: Ensuring that the telecommunication costs are within the budget range allows us to use the saved money for other, more profitable ventures.
• Increasing Customer Satisfaction: Resolving network-related service issues to improve customer interactions and service delivery.
• Leveraging Technology: Utilizing the most modern and sophisticated technologies to increase the number of customers and reduce operating costs, including secure remote access and cloud solutions (Laudon & Laudon, 2014).

Current State of the Network Architecture

The sheer increase in operations requires TechTitans to upgrade from its current technological setup. The current network is not sophisticated enough to support the store’s requirements. Its speed is low, there are frequent downtimes, and the telecommunication cost is high due to using an outdated PBX system. This has had cascading effects on the ability of the store to serve customers optimally and maintain competitiveness in sales.

Network Components

The network architecture consists of old routers and switches that cannot support high-speed data transfer and thus offer slow network performance. It uses basic software for network management that essentially offers minimal monitoring and does not offer protective solutions if the network has problems. The old PBX system for managing voice and fax lines occupies more space and costs more than modern telecommunication.

IT Support

The in-house IT support (Matt) lacks advanced IT skills or networking knowledge. His lack of knowledge is a huge bottleneck in diagnosing and fixing complex networking issues. He is willing to learn, but currently, his knowledge is insufficient to manage this network, which requires better training. A possible solution is networking classes and certification.

Assessment of Current Network Support for Business Goals

TechTitans’ network infrastructure is insufficient to reach the company’s business goals. Slow internet speeds and system downtime are daily occurrences that greatly impact daily operations, reduce the efficiency of order processing, and can even cause delays in servicing customers. This will have an important impact on the sales reps and the customer service specialists, who will be unable to perform their jobs as effectively. This will also degrade their satisfaction; consequently, the employee’semployees’ productivity will be negatively impacted. Moreover, the high cost of telecommunications services will stretch the company’s tight budgets. Resources could be allocated towards improving the network or enhancing the customer servicing efforts.

As the sales rep, Joe notes how the network issues are preventing him from generating quotes that he needs to provide to customers before he can finalize the sale (and get his commissions). Similarly, as a customer care rep, Sue describes how the network issues keep her from getting back to customers as they want, causing blowback and possible loss of business. For customers, the impact of these network problems is reflected in their feedback, such as that given by Sara, who is experiencing delays in timely receipt of invoice paperwork she needs.

These operational inefficiencies stand in the way of TechTitans reaching its growth objectives of increasing its customer base and processing orders in real time. The network is not performing in a way that helps the company provide outstanding customer service. If the network does not perform well, the company will not be able to achieve its goals of expanding into new markets and providing excellent customer service.

Identification of Networking Problems

Network Performance Issues

The primary issue is TechTitans’ network’s poor performance, which is due to its aging routers and switches. Users’ constant downtime means they cannot access information quickly and, therefore, cannot complete their tasks. Joe and Sue testify about how long it takes for stores to search TechTitans’ data to fulfill orders.

IT Support Limitations

A second crucial problem is that they lack good in-house networking skills. Matt is their in-house IT support, and he is quite good at the basic details of IT, but he is not at all well-equipped to deal with the full range of network challenges the business faces. This means he takes on only the easiest networking problems and often delays or fumbles at solving the many more complex network problems. This leads to higher levels and duration of performance problems – and the longer-term disruptions arising from operations getting halted or severely hampered.

High Telecommunication Costs

Reserving a separate PBX system for voice and fax lines causes a burden on the company’s operations cost. The system is outdated, has a high maintenance cost, and is not as efficient as modern telecommunication technologies like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or the platforms that come free along with the broadband internet. The cost of maintaining the PBX system is the main reason that stresses the company’s budget and deprives the company of investing in network hardware upgrades or other opportunities for strategic planning.

Customer Service Impact

Network problems adversely affect customer service. Customers like Sara must wait longer to get their orders processed and invoices prepared. Seeing that order information is not immediately accessible, customer care specialists start to seem inefficient and unprofessional. Consequently, disgruntled customers are liable to complain about service problems and consider taking their business elsewhere. This could result in the loss of good customers.

Analysis and Alignment with Business Mission

Network Performance Enhancement

Improving the network performance will equip TechTitans to achieve its sales goals. The company’s mission to ‘provide great service to the customers’ relies heavily on the ability of staff to work together and offer personal attention that will set it apart from the competition. If the network guarantees speed, it will allow the employees to process orders on time. This would lead to the issuance of timely invoices and immediate responses to customers’ queries – a milestone towards meeting the company’s goal of providing high-quality service and more efficient utilization of all resources.

IT Support Improvement

Once trained, this investment will allow the IT team to evolve from a reactive team to a proactive one, thereby preventing most problems as they arise instead of reacting after they have occurred. By reducing network outages, the company saves money. Training and hiring for this purpose will allow Matt to take a more substantial role as a network administrator. When he completes an advanced network course and receives his certification, he will be able to audit the network’s performance more effectively, enabling his colleagues to evolve from a reactive to a proactive IT team.

Cost Reduction Strategies

Adopting VoIP will greatly lower the amount of money spent on telecommunication (Fall & Stevens, 2012). The extra money can then be used to upgrade the networks to reduce the company’s telecommunication expenditure or channel it toward other strategic directions. The moderate cost associated with using VoIP facilitates the company’s desire to adopt new technology to enhance the company’s operations as well as boost the financial position of the company.

Customer Satisfaction

Addressing the network issues will also address the main source of customer dissatisfaction, as faster response times and more reliable service delivery will result in happier customers. By eliminating network performance issues, the employees delivering service will also be happier, leading to fewer delays in serving customers and fewer customer complaints. Happy customers are also more likely to remain loyal and recommend services to others, increasing the chances of serving new customers and reaching more markets.

Technology Utilization

Implementation of secure remote access and implementation and usage of cloud technology will make it easy for the company to process its orders in real-time, enabling it to reach more markets and increase productivity for the sales representatives (Ross et al., 2016). Cloud technology is scalable and offers flexibility. The company can scale up or down as required, which will mean smaller investments in infrastructure up-front. This is essential for the kind of growth the company plans in terms of sales and customer base, which is to offer the customers quality service – a part of the company’s vision.

Conclusion

The business goals of TechTitans are seriously hampered by network issues, with a careful assessment and strategic upgrades. The company will enjoy reliable network infrastructure that is efficient, effective, and cost-efficient. Additionally, the company will avoid network problems in the future and be positioned for growth and success. The recommendations laid out in the assessment are designed to improve network performance, provide IT support, reduce costs, and improve Pratt’s customer satisfaction. All of these issues are crucial for TechTitans to successfully harvest its mission and achieve its business objectives.

Week 2: Network Reference Model Comparison

TBD

Week 3: Network Design Diagram 

TBD

Week 4: Telecommunications Plan

TBD

Week 5: Remote Network Implementation Plan

TBD

References

Brown, A. E., & Grant, G. G. (2015). Framing the frameworks: A review of IT governance research. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 15(1), 38.

Fall, K. R., & Stevens, W. R. (2012). Tcp/ip illustrated (Vol. 1). Addison-Wesley Professional.

Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2014). Management information systems: Managing the digital firm. Pearson Educación.

Ross, J. W., Weill, P., & Robertson, D. (2016). Enterprise architecture as strategy: Creating a foundation for business execution. Harvard Business Press.

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The retail store (TechTitans) has hired you to assist in resolving the recent networking problems that have been occurring. The new owner needs you to address the issues so that his company can accomplish its mission and goals.

He thinks that the network needs to expand (or at least be fixed), but at this point, he has no idea what the current network has or what it needs. The owner needs you to assess the current network, come up with some conclusions about the next steps, and report the results to him. He wants to make sure that you have a good understanding of his goals and objectives as well as the presenting problems.