IFSM300 Stage 1 Strategic Use of Technology PDF

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Maryland Technology Consultants, Inc. Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology IFSM 300 6396 Fall 2020

Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology

Introduction Maryland Technology Consultants (MTC) is an Information Technology firm in the U.S. that provides consulting services to non-profit organizations, medium-size business as well as government agencies. MTC revenues stands at $95,000,000 annually and they currently employed 450 people. In order to be successful, MTC relies on consulting services in IT. As part of their commitment to their clients in the IT industry, they work on-site to provide direct hands on service. With that being said, MTC will need to hire an estimated 75 additional staff members to fulfill the newly awarded contracts. These new staff members will need to be trained and in place within 60 days of hire. The initial phase of this four-stage report will start with assessing the strategic use of technology within their hiring process. The remaining phases will explore the current business strategy, MTC’s opportunity for competitive advantage and strategic objectives as it relates to supporting the decision-making process.

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Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology

Stage I: Strategic Use of Technology

A. Business Strategy – MTC’s current strategy is to “provide extraordinary consulting services to its customers by employing highly skilled consultants and staying abreast of new business concepts and technology…” (Maryland Technology Consultants, 2018). MTC’s recruitment and hiring process is currently manual which negatively impacts the Human Resources Hiring Department’s ability to provide just in time effective and efficient hiring practices. MTC will need to update their current hiring process in order to expeditiously meet the recruiting needs of its client base. Implementing an advance technological system would allow MTC to speed up their hiring processes as well as expand their reach to a broader stage which would include a national as well as an international market place. According to Pandita (2019), advanced technology will make the hiring process much easier and accurate when compared to a manual process.

B. Competitive Advantage – MTC’s rival companies include both smaller and larger firms. MTC will have a stronger competitive advantage with the implementation of a newer hiring system in place. With proper human resource management and technology development, these two essential functions of a business will directly impact a company’s position against another (Competitive Advantage, 2014). A more effective and efficient hiring process, along with the proper technology will assist recruitment with identifying and selecting an experienced candidate pool to help the company grow while also improving on their quality of services. In order to implement a newer system, MTC will need to decide on how much to invest in order to have a top notch technology system. The technology would be geared 3

Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology

towards increasing the firm’s overall objective of product placement and market development. C. Strategic Objectives – Having a sustainable competitive advantage by leveraging on technology to acquire the best talent would help a firm increase its market share, meeting the demand of its clients, and face off with stronger competition from rival firms (Davis & Simpson, 2017). A new hiring system will make MTC’s hiring process more efficient and effective. Below is a table showcasing MTC’s new hiring system goals, along with the solutions that will be solved once in place. Strategic Goal Increase MTC business development by winning new contracts in the IT consulting arena

Objective Within the next 6 to 12 months, MTC needs to win at least 3 to 5 additional contracts.

Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote research and analysis support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U.S.

Increase international recruiting efforts and employ 5 research analysts in the next 12 months.

Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide higher quality consultants to awarded contracts to better serve the

Hire at least 75 top qualified candidates as quickly as possible

Explanation The awarding of new contracts will give MTC’s consultants the opportunity to manage multiple contracts with the goal of potentially cutting costs and lessen the need for any more additional staff. The new hiring system would allow applicants to apply on line globally which will increase the number of over all applicants including international. It would allow the recruiters to carefully monitor the application pool for these positions, identifying the necessary research and analysis skills required, and screen resumes for these specific skill sets. Recruiters can review just in time applicant while building pipeline candidates for quicker and easier consideration. The new hiring system will afford MTC the ability to hire larger numbers within a shorter period of time. This will allow MTC to constantly have 4

Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology

clients’ needs

Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT consulting marketplace by increasing its reputation for having highly skilled IT consultants whom are known for leading edge technology and innovative solutions for their client base.

qualified candidates available to meet the needs of newly awarded contracts. Increase hiring efforts in anticipation of the goal of additional contracts being awarded within the next 3-6 months.

It will be beneficial for MTC to increase hiring efforts in preparation for newer contracts being awarded. Having already initiated a more effective and efficient applicant assessment processes will speed up readiness of qualified candidates availability, while giving MTC the competitive advantage.

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Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology

Decision Making –The table below will showcase how a new hiring system will support each management role throughout the entire process.

Role

Level

Possible Decision Supported by Hiring System Solicit and obtain the decision to expand international as well as additional contracts, and the number of employees.

Information the Hiring System Could Provide Budgeting and accounting details, financial statements, decisions regarding employee statues and business development.

Receive and review applicants, evaluate assessments, along with interviewing. Forecasting staffing needs and hiring timelines i.e. monthly, quarterly, and annually. Operational Knowledge, skills, and abilities required to fill positions, and request additional staff as needed.

Applicant screening, ranking and selection along with hiring goals and onboarding time lines.

Senior/Executive Managers (Decisions made by the CEO and the CFO at MTC supported by the hiring system.)

Strategic

Middle Managers (Decisions made by the Director of HR and the Manager of Recruiting supported by the hiring system.)

Managerial

Operational Managers (Decisions made by the line managers in the organization who are hiring for their projects supported by the hiring system.)

Operation managers having access to applications and candidate profiles. Receiving and reviewing referrals quickly for qualified candidate selection to pass along to hiring authorities for review.

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Stage 1: Strategic Use of Technology

References

Bourgeois, D., 2014. Does IT Matter? Competitive Advantage. Adapted by UMUC and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Learning Resource, Business Strategy (n.d.). Adapted by UMUC and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Learning Resources, How Information Supports Decision-Making. Adapted by UMUC and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Maryland Technology Consultants Case Study, 2018. Adapted by UMUC and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Pandita, D. (2019). Talent Acquisition: Analysis of Digital Hiring in Organizations. SAMVAD, 18, 66-72.

Davis, P. J., & Simpson, E. (2017). Resource-based theory, competition and staff differentiation in Africa: Leveraging employees as a source of sustained competitive advantage. American journal of management, 17(1).

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