You are to read the case study "No Guessing: Dressing for Decisions" on pg. 382 and write at least a two page paper using APA format that answers the questions in "Thinking about the case". Do not just list the questions and answer them. If you do this you won't get credit.This is a research paper that will address the questions within the paper. You will need to do additional research and have more resources listed on your works cited page then your text book. I want detailed and well thought out information. You should review the rubric below for the exact criteria of how I will grade your papers.
Case Study Individual Assignment
No Guessing: Dressing for Decisions
The apparel company Guess?, Inc. is constantly striving to be on the forefront of the fashion world. This mission requires members from several branches of the company to have easy and immediate access to influential, decision-making information. To solve this issue, Guess used Apple iPads and mobile BI software from MicroStrategy to create a BI app that provided Guess buyers and executives with vital information from any location. The project, headed by the innovative director of BI, Bruce Yen, and his team, focused on content, ease-of-use, and the visual aspect of the app. Content is always the main focus when developing BI, but they also wanted their app to be easy to use and visually appealing.
Guess needed a better method to provide its buyers and executives with crucial information that could influence buying activities. Excel spreadsheets were too bulky and were not useful when trying to quickly locate specific details. Starting in 2008, Guess began using RIM Blackberry devices to provide info to executives and corporate directors at headquarters and to regional directors in the field. In 2009, they added dashboards to mobile BI offerings and supplied the information to nontraditional BI users such as buyers and planners. This was the first attempt at increasing the emphasis placed on visual layout. In 2010, Bruce Yen attended a MicroStrategy conference. Guess had already used some software from MicroStrategy, a BI company, but Yen noticed MicroStrategy's mobile app for the iPad and thought he could use it to solve existing business problems. The problem Yen aimed to solve with this technology was helping Guess buyers, who are constantly on the road traveling to retail locations, gain the information necessary to make purchasing decisions. The information-sharingpower and high degree of intuitiveness of the projectwould make it a tremendous asset to the company.
Software Application
Although Yen initially thought the app would be usedby buyers at Guess retail locations, it was discoveredthat some store locations did not have wirelessconnectivity. While traveling, buyers were using theiPad app more frequently before they arrived at thestore, at hotspots in hotels and restaurants wherethey would brief themselves for their upcomingmeetings. They would surf the app prior to arrivingat store locations to get up-to-date information onsales patterns and store management history. Theapp was also widely used in the office, as it wasmuch easier to snag specific snippets of informationvia the app than from a full-blown report.
They did run into many issues throughout thedesigning and launching process. Once, theysubmitted over 50 enhancements and issues toMicroStrategy to refine the software! The popularityand increasing use of the app spurred an inquiry ofhow Yen and management could access and use theBI app on personal iPads. This raised security risks forYen and his team. To solve the issue, Yen turned tothird-party mobile device management that can closeoff access to the app if the iPad is reported stolen orlost, in addition to using traditional security passcodes.The security system encourages app use on personaliPads without jeopardizing corporate assets.
It was no surprise that this fashion leader placedheavy focus on the design of the app. Every pixel onevery slide of every page was scrutinized. The appprovides users with so much different informationfrom so many different angles that it can be used bya wide range of users, from top-level executives tobuyers in the field. Besides the fact that the app runson an already intuitive device, the final result is an appthat can be picked up and used by almost anyone inthe company. Bruce Yen conducted informal test-runswith the software simply by asking some of hisdesign-savvy colleagues to play with it for tenminutes. Yen even followed buyers around as theyvisited Guess retail locations to see if they had anyvisible performance or connectivity problems. Mostlikely due to his arduous research and first-handtesting, he has not received any requests for formaltraining on how to use the app. While content was akey focus throughout the app's development,aesthetics and visual layout were a close second.Yen constructed a BI mobile app that is intuitive,visually appealing, and content efficient. Throughcollaboration, communication, and extreme finepointcritiquing, the app surpassed expectations andhas successfully aided Guess in maintaining itsleadership in the fashion industry, even in hard economic times. What started out as a solute on toexisting problems turned into a staple of Guess'stechnological assets.
Source: Briggs, L. L. (2011, Fourth Quarter). BI Case Study:Apparel Company App Melds Fashion, Mobile BI. BusinessIntelligence Journal, 16, 39-41.
Thinking About the Case
1. Some app planners may use second-handresearch to fuel their system planning. List at least three instances in which Yen used hands-onexperience to gain insight on how to alter theproduct. Why is that first-hand experience sovaluable? Explain how a buyer's access toreal-time sales patterns of a specific retail locationcan influence their purchasing decisions.
2. To what other branches of Guess?, Inc. could theapp be useful besides top-level executives and buyers?