Oppurtunity Analysis Information Systems

Business Rationale

Shore Technologies' focus will primarily be on small to medium sized businesses. That being said, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland this particular market segment has been growing steadily for more then a decade and is in need of a solution to the technological issues associated with many growing businesses. The use of computers and other technological tools has become a necessity for any business to perform its daily functions in an effective and efficient manner. Many potential customers are not familiar with the tools available to help them succeed in business. Shore Technologies will analyze and design a custom technological solution so that business owners can spend more time running their business and less time concerned with technological issues. Now is a good time to launch an enterprise in this industry because the market has been continually growing, the barriers to entry are low and the industry is still in the growth stage of development.

Customers

The main focus of Shore Technologies will be small to medium sized businesses wishing to utilize technological resources to make their businesses more efficient and effective. On the Eastern Shore, which is comprised of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, there has been a sustained growth in the population and to match this growth new business have emerged. Many of the emerging businesses consist of startups and many of the owners of these startups lack experience in the use of technology and how it can be applied to their day to day business practices. Since the majority of emerging businesses are appearing close to already developed cities and towns they will be the target market. Cities such as Salisbury, Berlin, Ocean City/Pines, Easton, and the Dover area are key points of interest for business growth on the Eastern Shore. The ideal customer would own a business which employed fifty to two hundred people. This number represents a few key factors about the business. Businesses that can sustain fifty or more employees have shown that they have passed their initial embryonic stage of development and are expanding and now entering the growth stage of development. It also shows that they are generating the capital needed to support a larger number of employees. Also, within many of the businesses that fall in this range critical decisions are made by a sole proprietor or a small group of people.

With buying decisions being made by such a small group decisions will take far less time and marketing to these groups will be far easier then larger diverse groups of stakeholders. Employers who have grown larger then two hundred employees have generally already chosen and implemented a technological solution for their business and would be less likely to be interested in the services of Shore Technologies. The ideal customer will also have some knowledge of computers and at least a high school diploma if not college level training, but not enough computer experience to design a company wide solution. Customers existing in all industries are eligible for the services being provided, however; the main market segment will consist of businesses in Real Estate, Landscaping and Construction. These three industries are the most likely absorb proportional growth in comparison to the population. After contacting small businesses, such as, Captain Investments (real estate), DVS Photography and AYS Mobile Marine and speaking/surveying small business owners who frequent FedEx Kinko's there has been an expressed need for a service that can improve efficiency through technology.

Competition

Within any market there is bound to be competition. How the competitors within an industry are defined is a key part of understanding the organization itself. The competitors of Shore Technologies will be direct, such as, a business offering the same product or service or indirect, such as, a complimentary product or service. Because the business will be operating in multiple cities our number of competitors will be larger, but proportional to that number is the number of available customers. The competition will consist primarily of other local technology companies competing for the same market.

After doing some research and using YellowBook.com, Google.com, Yahoo.com, and a few other search engines the number of competitors in each region averages out to about 10 (see table).

SALISBURY OCEAN CITY & BERLIN EASTON (SURROUNDING AREA) DOVER (SURROUNDING AREA)

TECHNOLOGY CONTRACTING LLC

* SERVERS

* NETWORKING/CABLING

* BUSINESS SOLUTIONS JIGSAW SOLUTIONS

* WEB DESIGN

* CONSULTING

* DEVELOPMENT BCC IT (CAMBRIDGE)

* WEB DESIGN & HOSTING

* BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

* DATABASE PROGRAMS AMSOL INC

* IT STAFFIGN

* CONSULTING

* APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

* NETWORKING

INACOM

* TELECOM

* NETWORKING

* WEB DEVELOPMENT MAS TECH (DENTON)

* COMMUNICATION SYSTEM DESIGN

* INSTALLATION LINDEL COMPUTERS

* CONSULTING

* COMPUTER BULIDS

* NETWORKING

* DATA BACKUP

TECH SOLUTIONS

* WEB DESIGN

* PHONE SYSTEMS SURVELANCE

* NETWORKING TALBOT COMPUTERS PLUS

* CONSULTING

* DESIGN

* MAINTENANCE AFFINITY SOLUTIONS

* NETWORK SUPPORT

* CONSULTING

DIMENSION X

* WEB DESIGN

* HOSTING

* ENCRYPTOR SOFTWARE

BLACK OAK TECHNOLOGIES

* PROGRAMMING