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As executives and key leaders of this organization, the future success of this organization as it relates to the Information Technology Department rests on your shoulders. Your decisions affect not only EndoChoice employees in their day to day operations and accomplishment of the mission you have defined, but also our customers. We are only as good as our last sale, customer service experience, or product enhancement. We are measured against our competitors in a rapidly expanding global healthcare device market every day. In order to maintain our competitive advantage and continue to grow in the future, the time to improve our infrastructure is now. Every member of the leadership team has influence into the direction of the IT Department through proposed enhancements, hardware requirements and software needs. Our business lives in the cloud, which requires a sizeable technology investment. Our business is growing, which also requires technology investments. Failure to improve our infrastructure now provides a window of opportunity for our competitors to pull ahead by leveraging technology against us. This analysis investigates where we should focus, and how we can improve our business solutions the most efficiently.

Target Audience This is a high level analysis meant to be reviewed and considered by key stakeholders within the EndoChoice leadership organization. This includes but is not limited to: Executives and Directors Information Technology Department Finance/Budgeting Department Operations Key Functional Area Managers Additionally, there is nothing secret or sensitive in this briefing. All points discussed are statement of fact and common knowledge easily acquired by all EndoChoice employees. Therefore while not necessary, it is acceptable to cascade this analysis to lower level employees for review. Any feedback, requests or concerns should be addressed to the Information Technology Department.

Analysis and Proposed Solutions By analyzing our current systems through the lens of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, we are able to better focus on crucial areas of attention. Strengths should not only be from an internal point of view, but should also include the customers perspective. Weaknesses should also be analyzed through the customers view of the organization as well. Consider areas that could be streamlined and improved. Opportunities are areas where we can grow and improve the organization, or in this case the IT Department. By capitalizing on these opportunities, we will in turn enhance the customer’s experience as well. Threats include factors outside of our control. What external components of the IT Department would hurt the business if it were lost, broken or hindered in any way? (Lee, Andrew, 2000) Strengths: u25cf Google Apps for Business (provides cloud based email, storage via Drive, and collaboration via Docs and more) u25cf Netsuite Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning solution u25cf Work from anywhere with internet connection u25cf BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Opportunities: u25cf Chance to “redesign” IT infrastructure to meet current/future needs u25cf Expansion into mobile device market u25cf Cloud computing ensures easy Global growth Weaknesses: u25cf Limited bandwidth (7Mbs) at main facility u25cf ShoreTel telephone switch at capacity (affects customers ability to reach customer support if lines are busy) u25cf Online conferencing (currently use free Join.me sessions) u25cf Limited Fax capabilities (single Fax line has caused missed orders and frustrating busy signals) Threats: u25cf Ability to provide service if connectivity is lost u25cf Systems maintained by other companies at their mercy for uptime u25cf Security is always a threat In addition to the SWOT analysis, the use of the Quality Function Deployment method provides the following benefits: 1. Improves processes, products, or services, 6 2. 3. 4. 5. Produces a faster outcome than other methods can Gives definition to the design process Helps team stay focused Allows for easy management and peer review of design activities (Johnson, 2003) A sample QFD Matrix has been started below. The horizontal rows list customer information to consider. The vertical columns contain possible technical considerations. This matrix is not complete, and only provided for informational purposes to show how this tool could help to design solutions to our IT needs while ensuring customer concerns and expectations are met. Web Page Maintenance (dynamic pricing updates) Access to UPS delivery software and systems Number of phone/fax lines Integration of Mobile Devices Ease of shopping on website Orders correct Delivery on Time Quality Customer Service Cost of Products Upon analysis of the SWOT and QFD matrices, it becomes clear where we should immediately improve infrastructure to address both future growth for the organization, as well as meeting and improving customer satisfaction.

Potential Benefits and Summary By purchasing an additional telephone switch, we can address access to sales and customer service, as well as adding additional fax capabilities for a small investment. Because the initial switch has already been purchased, an upgrade module is much less expensive. Additionally, due to our cloud business model and the growth of the company, the limited bandwidth stream must be expanded. A MetroE circuit will quickly solve this problem. It allows for scalable bandwidth based on cost, and can be scaled with an overthephone order with our data provider. If no other updates to the IT Department are made, these two solutions alone will pay huge dividends in the long run for the company. Once the immediate needs have been address and incorporated, a few key purchases of strategic applications will enable us to address remote conferencing issues, as well as helping to launch our product into the mobile marketplace. There are numerous solutions available for each, and would require indepth, individual analysis to determine which is most cost effective and conducive to our current business model, but considering our bandaid approach with the use of free products now, nearly anything would be an improvement. However these applications are much less timesensitive and can be addressed at a later date. By strategically focusing on customer expectations and expected growth, it became obvious that we must not only consider improving our existing Information Technology Infrastructure, but we must act. Free and trial solutions are no longer the answer. Continuing to grow our IT needs organically will only cause more headaches down the road. As we have addressed, a few crucial upgrades can be made immediately to provide some breathing room while less timesensitive solutions are researched, but we must act soon.

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