analysis

ANALYSIS

INFORMATION SILOS

An information silo is defined as a system that doesn’t communicate with the other systems. Information silos can have a devastating impact on a business. If information is not shared equally the business may give out wrong information or lose money. An advantage Morris Ave Auto Sales has over its competitors is the fact that they face little to no information silos. They solely focus on auto sales. Their main goal is to sell the customer a car and nothing else. This leads to little room for silos to occur. Most car dealerships face an information silos between the sales department and the services department. A salesperson who is making the sale may not relay information to a mechanic who needs to make repairs on the car. MAAS is a two person operation so there is not much information to withhold.

HARDWARE

Hardware is defined as  the physical components of a computer. The hardware Morris Ave uses includes:

1. Dell Latitude 11 3000 series laptop with Intel® Pentium® Processor N3540 (2M Cache, up to 2.66 GHz), 4GB (1x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3L Memory, 11.6” HD (1366x768), Anti-Glare LCD, Camera, WLAN support, and 2.5 inch 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive.

2. Desktop computer Dell Optiplex 755 Tower with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz,  8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, WiFi, DVD-ROM, and Dell 24" Monitor.

3. Two iPhones 5 16 GB with 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display, A6 chip, iCloud, and 8.0MP iSight camera.

SOFTWARE

MAAS uses a number of software for the business to use. They primarily use Windows 7 and iOS as the operating systems. The iOS 9.1 is used on the Apple iPhones 5. Windows 7 Professional 64bit English is used for the Dell Latitude laptop and Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit is used for the Dell Optiplex desktop computer. The business also uses a number of Microsoft Office programs to help run efficiently. The company uses Microsoft Word 2011 version to create memos and letters for the business. The business uses Microsoft Excel 2011 version to track the inventory and for business reporting calculation.

PROCEDURES

MAAS follows a simple procedure for operating their business. The sole purpose of the business is to acquire cars and trucks from a private auction and sell them. This auction is only open to other car dealerships. First the MAAS researches the cars available on various auctions. Then they select cars they are most interested in and conduct further research about cars damage, history, possible market value when refurbished. Next MAAS finds out when the auctions for selected cars are conducted. Then the company must bid on a particular car against other auto dealers in order to win the car. Once their bid is finalized the purchase transaction can be made and then the transport is arranged for the purchased cars to be delivered to the dealership. Then the cars are detailed and offered for sale, or repaired by outsourced repair shop and then offered for sale.

SOCIAL MEDIA

MAAS’s social media is integrated on their web site and run by Carsforsale.com. The company website includes Inventory tab where potential customer can view cars available for sale, find

out details about the cars offered, file a loan application, and submit questions.

http://www.morrisaveautosales.com

The tab Car Finder allows customers to search for a specific car without spending too much time browsing the entire inventory.

Under the tab Special are current cars listed at a discounted price. Financing tab is a convenient application for a car loan in case the customer decide to apply while browsing the MAAS site. Directions with a map and form for submitting a question are the last two tabs on the site.

On the Home tab are links to social media Facebook and YouTube, were potential and existing customers can connect with the company, view videos, post comments, ask questions, and read the company’s reviews. Visitors are invited to follow Morris Ave Auto Sales on Facebook and YouTube.

Current situation on the Facebook page is that there are only 8 likes, two comments, and one recommendation. The company does not have enough social capital coming from social media.