Research on

Developing A Marketing Plan For ACCESS INFOTECH LIMITED

REPORT ON
Developing A Marketing Plan For ACCESS INFOTECH LIMITED

Prepared for :

Ehsan Uddin Ahmed

Course Teacher Marketing Research

Prepared by :

Asadullah A.S.M

(04-05161-3)
50

Ferdous Rashed (04-05027-2) Faruque Bhuiyan Asif Adnan (04-05130-3) Afrin Sadia (04-05172-3)

Date: 27. 12. 07

American International University - Bangladesh Dhaka

December 27, 2007. Course Teacher Marketing Research Institute of Business Administration American International University - Bangladesh Dhaka. Sub : Submission of Marketing Research Report. Dear Sir, I am very pleased to submit my 'Marketing Research' report on ' Developing A Marketing Plan For ACCESS INFOTECH LIMITED' which was assigned for the requirement of the course. It is a great and worthwhile experience for me to work for such a enlighten issue of housing crisis in Bangladesh. The assigned work has given me an overall idea of the housing industry, status of housing finance requirement & availability and also of some possible solutions to the current housing crisis in Bangladesh particularly in the city of Dhaka. I would also like to thank you for your supportive suggestions and help for this report.

50

Thank You. Sincerely,

Asadullah A.S.M (04-05161-3) Ferdous Rashed (04-05027-2) Faruque Bhuiyan Asif Adnan (04-05130-3) Afrin Sadia (04-05172-3)

Acknowledgement
While conducting and preparing this report we were fortunate enough to get support and co-operation from Mrs.Sadia Sultana, Marketing manager of Access Infotech Limited, Mr. Mohammad Ali, Registration Dept, NSU, Rafiqul Hoque, Director, Tokio Super shop, Anamul Hoque, Senior Marketing Manager, Business Automation Limited, and all the employees and the people giving their precious time to fill our survey to whom we shall always remain grateful and we feel these words are insufficient for the same. We would also like to thank our colleagues who also helped us in completing this paper.

50

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Software Industry in our country is a very wide and competitive one today and is booming every day. In todays age of Information technology, when all are looking for simplicity with the aid of science and technology, the software industry plays a huge role in making ones life easier, simpler and efficient. We have quite a few software companies in our country. Among them one such company is Access InfoTech Ltd. Access InfoTech Ltd is formed with a vision to provide state-of-the-art IT solution to the corporate houses. They are aiming to be a leading software company in Bangladesh with a rich background in software development in a broad range of technologies. The company was set up in September 2006 with an employee number of 15 people. In this report we have tried to provide an overview of the software industry of our country, their operations, the market potential and have undertaken two types of interview. The first one, a questionnaire survey designed for the potential users of software products to understand their expectation, buying behaviour, and what they have to say for Access InfoTech Ltd. is making. We also took a few number of interviews with the top management and employees of some of the leading software companies of our country and also one of and International Software company

50

to make an analysis of their existing business and also we have portrayed their marketing mix. Finally we have gone through extensive interview and information gathering of Access Infotech ltd to judge their current market position, where they lack behind in comparison to their competitors, and what are the drawbacks. Finally, we have provided some recommendation in the form of a Market Access Plan for Access Info Tech Ltd which we believe if implemented successfully will definitely help them erase their current losses and emerge itself as one of the most successful Software company.

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.0 INTRODUCTION ( 07) 1.1 Problem Statement ( 07) 1.2 Research Objectives (09) 1.2.1 Broad Objectives ( 09) 1.2.2 Specific Objectives (09) 1.3 Limitation of the Study (10) 2.0 STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY (11) 2.1 Area of Investigation (11) 2.2 Techniques Used to Collect Data (11) 2.3 Sampling (12) 2.3.1 Population (12) 2.3.2 Sampling Unit (12) 2.3.3 Sample Frame (12) 2.3.4 Sample Extent (13) 2.3.5 Sample Design (13) 2.3.6 Sample Size (13) 2.3.7 Selecting the Sample (14) 3.0 RESULT SECTION (15) 3.1 Clients Part (15) 3.2 Executives & Owners Part (17) 4.O FINDINGS (29) 4.1 Current Industry Situation (29) 4.2 Government Legislation in Software Industry (35) 4.3 Marketing Environment Analysis(35) 4.4 Business Portfolio(37) 4.5 Clients Profile of the Concerned Segment (37)

50

4.6 Clients Expectation & Demand (38) 4.7 How the Price Fluctuations Effect Change in Clients Buying Behavior (39) 4.8 Competitors Analysis (40) 4.9 Current Brand & Image Position (42) 5.0 RECOMMENDATION (44) 5.1 Market Plan for ACCESS INFOTECH LTD (44) - Ansoff Matrix Analysis - Marketing Mix Analysis - Branding 6.0 CONCLUSION (48) Bibliography (49) Questionnaire (50)

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In a developing nation like Bangladesh having an economy which is very much dependent on primary agriculture and a full fledged manufacturing boom still eluding, the high-end knowledge industrysuch as software sector, cannot be generally expected to have lot of built-in driving forces to grow within. Demand side problems like low demand of software in the domestic market and supply side problems like lack of qualified programmers and institutional support are major factors have been keeping the growth path of the industry relatively flat. However, the recent trends depicts that despite all the odds - the industry has conceivably reached a formative stage and in the coming years, poised for high growth.

1.1 Problem Statement

Access InfoTech Ltd is formed with a vision to provide state-of-the-art IT solution to the corporate houses. They are aiming to be a leading software company in Bangladesh with a rich background in software

50

development in a broad range of technologies. The company started its journey in September 2006. The company is proud of its capability to provide the right solution at the right time. Access InfoTech Ltd. is a one stop outsourcing model that transparent and streamlined. Access InfoTech Ltd. also offers hardware solution to the clients through its in-house experts. Their goal is to provide global standard, cost-effective, user-friendly, optimized and reliable solutions to their clients. Software engineering is the practice of using selected process techniques to improve the quality of a software development effort. They believe a methodical approach to software development results in fewer defects and, therefore provides shorter delivery times and better value. At present Access InfoTech Ltd. is marketing five types of Product. They are:

Access POS System Access University Management System Access Human Resource Management System Access Track and Trace Solution Access Web Development Solution

The software industry in our country is a growing one. And due to the demand of automation and IT implementation, many software companies are emerging into this market every now and then. Access InfoTech Ltd. is one such company who has a mission to prosper in this sector and gain major market share. Today, its been over one years of operation of Access InfoTech Ltd., and are now operating with the above discussed products and services. But now this company is facing some serious problems. One of the main problems that

50

are company is facing is failing to capture the market share. The company hasnt yet been able to reach its break even point. And it is continuing to suffer loss. Some of the major causes for this continuous loss for the company is not being able to create a brand image of their products, and hence the company itself. They failed to create required level of awareness to their target consumers about their product and the existence of the company. Another important factor is that there is no specific standard pricing strategy for the particular software product in the software market; as a result the fluctuating price rates of their products often confuse the customers. marketplace. The purpose of the study is to further investigate what are the exact factors behind the continuous loss of this company, an in depth study on the present software industry of our country as well as to recommend some strategies on how they can be a profitable company and create a brand image in the market. And finally the existence of their strong competitors in the market makes them overshadowed in the

1.2 Research Objectives

1.2.1 Broad Objective:
The broad objective of the study is to develop a successful market plan for Access InfoTech Ltd.

1.2.2 Specific Objectives:

The specific objectives of the study are:-

50

i) To know the current industry situation. ii) To know about the Government legislation in software. iii) Competitor analysis. iv) To know the clients expectation and demand. v) To asses the change in consumers buying behavior and their attitude toward the price fluctuation of Software products. (vi) To estimate the market mix. vii) To create a strong brand image and position in the market.

1.3 Limitation of the study

The market size of Software Industry is very large and also diversified to cover within the limited time and resources. In the study only Dhaka city is considered as the sample extent. As a result it is not possible to judge the overall situation from the result of the study. Sometimes Clients are confused what they are asking for, so its difficult to sort out the clear answer from them. To collect the information we have relied on both primary and secondary data. as a result in case of interviewing process, some people were not so cooperative and we were not able to get all the required information. In case of secondary data also, some company didnt have enough information about their operational activities. Sample size for the study was determined by the limitation of time and resources. This was another limitation to obtain more accurate result.

50

2.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Area of investigation
The market size of Access InfoTech Ltd. was very large to cover within the limited time and resources. For this limitation as well as per the instruction of the organization the study was performed only within Dhaka city.

2.2 Techniques used to collect data

Questionnaire: An open ended Questionnaire was developed to
collect information from the potential clients.

Interview: Top executives of the software companies were

interviewed on the basis of a structured interview format.

Observation: To understand the buying behaviour and the

demand of the clients, more accurately observation was used as a helping tool for overall perception.

50

Secondary information: Secondary information was collected

by reviewing reports, newspapers, journals, relevant documents and from the official websites.

2.3 Sampling
2.3.1 Population:
Our population considered for the study comprises of people owning companies as well as private organizations such as Banks, Universities, Freight forwarding companies and many other small companies looking or going for automation. As we already know the software industry is a huge one and well diversified, so the buying behaviour is not only restricted to the pricing factor. Rather the amount of benefit that the clients are getting is of more importance to them. The second group of population comprises of the producers. That is the people owning software companies. In other words the competitors of Access Info Tech ltd.

2.3.2 Sampling Units:

Small organizations: small retail shops, as well as privately owned small companies like Buying House.

50

Medium

organizations: fashion

Super

shops, and

freight many

forwarding such

companies, organizations.

houses

other

Large organizations: Banks, Universities, hospitals, Ngos etc. Competitors organizations: South tech ltd., Business

Automation ltd, and Synesis IT.

2.3.3 Sample Frame :

The study was performed through selection from the above discussed four segments. We have chosen some companies from each segment, and all the companies from the competitors company.

2.3.4 Sample Extent:

Dhaka metropolitan city.

2.3.5 Sample Design:

Potential clients (small / med / large organization) --Systematic Random Sampling. Competitors (other software companies) ---Random Sampling. Systematic

2.3.6 Sample Size:

50

The population size for the study was very large and for that the determination of sample size was based on the time limitation and resource constraints. For Potential clients: There are many potential clients within Dhaka metropolitan city. So, covering all of these clients was not possible, from our systematic random sampling method, the number of clients that we have chosen, from each class is 4. so the total number of clients taken was 12. The time allocated to cover these clients was 7 days. For competitors: software Industry is a big competitive market. So the total time duration for the field study of these competitors took was 5 days. It was not possible to cover all the major competitors industry. We just concentrated on the big names in the software industry.

2.3.7 Selecting the sample:

Clients from mid to higher income group are most likely to be the potential clients for software products and services.

QUESTIONAIRE To understand the buying behavior of the potential clients we have made an open ended question and went to a survey of 12 different organizations. The questions also provided scopes to fill in about their respective company overview, their reaction towards automation and their perception towards Access Info tech ltd.

INTERVIEW We have also taken some extensive interviews with some of the top executives of other software companies such as South Tech, 50

Synesis It, Business Automation Ltd. and BASIS. Also we have conducted an in-depth interview with Access InfoTech Ltd. to know their present condition and competitive position in the software industry.

To develop our market plan for Access InfoTech Ltd. we needed to collect as much as information and data as possible from its competitors company. As a result while interviewing with the above mentioned companies, we have queried about their products and services, the strategies that they follow, their promotional activities, and the overall companys performances. In case of Access InfoTech Ltd., our interview comprised of their products and services, all of their existing strategies, their promotional activities, their future vision and objectives and all the other relevant information required to develop the Market plan for this company.

3.0 Result Section

The study was conducted through two types of interview

procedures. One was a survey for the clients of the software products & services while the other was a direct one to interview with the executives and owners of different software companies along with Access Infotech Ltd itself. Systematic random sampling was used for surveying the potential clients. One questionnaire was developed according to the required objectives of the study. For the unavailability of any complete list of the sample as well as considering time and resource constraints a degree of confidence level was not possible to implement in the study. Throughout survey

50

period a total of 12 clients could be covered and a total number of 5 software firms were screened for the result section.

3.1 Clients Part

A) Respondents' Name, occupation, age, was asked in
question 1,2 & 3. The main reasons for asking those questions were to know the consumers profile of the concerned segment. After observing question: 2, we can see that 8 of the respondents do business, 4 are in service. The majority of the respondents are self employed. After observing question: 3, we can see 3 of the respondents are below 30 years and 9 of the respondent are above 30 years old. This is a good indication for the future prospect of the Organization.

B) Question 4 to 9 were asked to know the

Company size Company approach towards automation The benefits they seek from automation Their preference in comparison between domestic & international software products. After analyzing in Question: 4 we see that 2 among the selected Clients related with retail business, 2 of them related with buying

50

house business, 2 of the respondents are involved in freight forwarding business, 2 of the respondents are involved in super shops, Another 2 of the respondents are working in Banking Sector and the remaining 2 respondents are working in Private universities. For the reason of occupation pattern and income level it is quite natural for this segment to have possibilities to purchase software products.

C) Question 10 and 11 are asked to know the clients

knowledge about Access Infotech Ltd Company and its products. After analyzing the 2 Questions: we see that 8 among the selected Clients were not aware about the company name & its products. Rest of them heard about the company & its products from Newspaper, Brochure and Magazine advertisements. So we can see that a majority of the sample population is not aware of this company.

D) Question 12 to 15 was asked to know the clients need &

want as well as expectation towards automation of their respected organization. This portion comprises of the price that they are willing to provide to the software company, while the expectation level varies from clients to clients, while the after sales service was most important issue for all the clients.

E) Question 16 and 17 were asked to find out the clients

suggestions about Access Infotech Limited & its products. Since the majority of our survey sample was not aware of the company so specific company oriented feedbacks was not available. Rather general recommendations were put up by them. While the remaining ones who are aware of this company raised questions about the reliability of Access that InfoTech they Ltd.s products. was to One common the recommendation products. provided increase

advertisement of their products as the market is not aware of their

50

3.2 executives and owners part

Here the interview were taken to some of the major competing companies of Access InfoTech Ltd. the interview was an elaborate one comprising of all the relevant information about their respective companies, company overview, an in depth analysis of their marketing mix, the strategies that they undergo, while Synesis IT, an international company operating in our country, we also went there to understand the worldwide potential of this industry in respect to our own and what will be the possibilities and scopes if Access InfoTech Ltd. wants to extend in near future. The last part of our interview was with Access InfoTech Ltd. in this segment we have tried to cover all of their sectors. Our interview was not only limited to the executives and top management, but also we took interviews with their employees such as programmers, developers, animators as well as the marketing department officers.

Southtech Limited
Southtech is a consulting house and an ICT solution provider. Their customers typically engage to analyze their business processes and thereafter assist them in their technology-driven business transformations. They have proven domain knowledge in areas of banking and finance, enterprise resource planning, web-based application development, retail and wholesale

50

management, human resources management, hospital management and restaurant management. Southtech is the largest ISO 9001:2000 Certified software house in Bangladesh for software design, development, maintenance and sales. They are a Gold Certified Partner of Microsoft, an Oracle Partner, and an IBM Business Partner. Their approach is to have specialized multi-disciplinary resources available to their clients on a dedicated or on a need basis. They have experienced project managers, solutions architects and developers that can help to attain clients short or long term business objectives.

Marketing Mix:
Solutions:
o o o o o o o

Enterprise Resource Planning Solution Retail Management Solution Integrated Online Banking Solution Micro Finance Management Solution Restaurant Management Solution Human Resource Management Solution Health Care Management Solution

Services: Their in-depth technical expertise, mature process management model and pragmatic delivery oriented approach help clients achieve flexibility and meet tight scheduling demands. Having gained years of experience from different industry verticals and expertise in cutting edge technology, Southtech delivers high impact solutions that best fit their clients unique business needs. They offer software development services such as:

50

Prototype Design and Development Application Development and Customization Web Applications Design and Development Web Services Pocket PC and Smart Phone Application Design and Development Interface and Component Design, Development and Integration SWIFT Interface Development Relational Database Design and Development Documentation Development Software Maintenances

Price
This means that the software project in question is described in the available documentation in sufficient detail, thus enabling them to estimate the scope and complexity of the project and to provide a fixed price. In this case, the technical documentation, the project delivery schedule and the final price are stipulated in the contract.

When the project scope cannot be identified precisely at the moment (for instance, due to the very complex nature of the project or when a project is expected to last several years), another mutually agreed up model is used. Southtech provides cost-effective offshore software development services to partners around the globe. Projects delivered by the company can yield up to 65% of cost related savings when compared to similar jobs done by the firms in North America or Western Europe, without compromising quality.

Place
Southtech Limited specializes in customized enterprise software application development that is tailored to meet our clients business needs in niche verticals such as: banking, microfinance, retail, hospitality service management. Our clients benefit from our seamless coordination of business strategy with technology realization and from our expertise

50

in focused industries, emphasis on quality, cost-efficiency and crosstechnology capabilities. In particular, we have provided comprehensive solutions for clients such as:

BRAC Development Program Nandan Mega Shop Dhaka Sheraton Hotel European Union Sonali Bank Bangladesh Shilpa Bank AB Bank Limited Banco Trans World Limited Uttara Bank Southtech Limited

Promotion
The company believes in corporate selling since they already have a good bunch of established Bangladeshi Companies under their belt, so they are happy serving their respected clients. So they dont undergo massive promotions. Rather their promotion involves giving offers and discounts to the corporate clients.

Business Automation Limited

Business Automation, since inception in December 1998, has delivered number of successful quality solutions for global companies, SME and Government agencies for improving their business operation. Recognition of their deployed solutions has been marked by receiving 6 awards from BASIS and BCS. With these inspirations, the company is committed to deliver more quality solutions to the clients.

50

The company has acquired domain knowledge of solution development for several industry verticals (e.g. Financial Institution, FMCG and Telecom) and development platforms. It is flexible in designing the solution for achieving clients needs. The company has talented technical professionals who are working under a challenge to develop international standard solutions. The team has proved their efficiency in meeting the quality and cost effective needs of the international companies and capable to serve overseas clients.

Product and Services

With long term presence in the market, Business Automation has developed many solutions for international companies operating in Bangladesh, large corporate and Government agencies. The company has acquired domain knowledge of solution development for several industry verticals (e.g. Financial Institute, FMCG and Telecom) and development platforms. The company is flexible in achieving clients needs. The company has talented technical professionals who are working under a challenge to develop international standard solutions. The team has proved their efficiency in meeting the quality and cost effective needs of the international companies and capable to serve overseas clients. Recognition of companys implemented solutions has been marked by receiving 6 awards from BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services) and BCS (Bangladesh Computer Society).

Price
They do not have any fixed price rate. Being a renowned and award wining company they usually charge high for their products and services. Their pricing varies upon the requirements and customization of each individual client.

Place
50

Business Automation is Member, Intel Communications Alliance, Authorized reseller of Envox & Adobe, Solution partner of Grameen Phone (Telenor Bangladesh) for corporate SMS solution. It is member of BASIS. With long term presence in the market, Business Automation has developed many solutions for international companies operating in Bangladesh, large corporate and Government agencies. The company has acquired domain knowledge of solution development for several industry verticals (e.g. Financial Institute, FMCG and Telecom) and development platforms. The company is flexible in achieving clients needs. The company has talented technical professionals who are working under a challenge to develop international standard solutions. The team has proved their efficiency in meeting the quality and cost effective needs of the international companies and capable to serve overseas clients.

Promotion
Their promotional strategies includes event participation, charity work, etc. other than that they use promotional tools like brochures, magazines, pamphlets, etc. Like South tech ltd. Business Automation Ltd. also doesnt believe in mass advertising, rather they focus on satisfying their existing clients. And the promotions that they make are target oriented to this group of clients mainly.

Synesis IT
At Synesis IT ("Synesis"), our mission is simple: to help you achieve the results that define business and technological success on your terms. For many years, Synesis has enabled our clients' to achieve success through industry-specific

50

expertise, quality services and collaborative relationships based on core business values. All of this, with professional integrity right at the center. From their corporate leaders to their New York and worldwide network of associates, they are dedicated to helping corporate and public sector enterprises achieve and sustain measurable results.

Products
Synesis IT ("Synesis") is the global leader in developing cost-effective, web-based Business Technology Optimization (BTO) software and services. Our low cost Just-in-Time Business Software - including the industry-focused Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Office Management System (OMS) applications and other industry specific software - as well as our IT governance and implementation, support and training services are used by public sector entities as well as a wide array of Fortune 100 and mid-sized companies to maximize their IT value. Customers buy our products and services for two reasons: Firstly, to ensure that they work on the right priorities, with the right processes and the right people. Secondly, to optimize the quality, performance and availability of their existing applications, or to replace them with lower costing, scalable alternatives thereby ensuring they deliver the value expected by their business for its growth. Our unique, flexible, customer-centric delivery model helps us deliver the right solutions to each customer at the right price. And our financial and development resources, proven vision and ability to execute ensure that those solutions yield meaningful business value.

Price
Since they are an International company operating all over the world so they are set up charge when compared to the other regional software

50

companies is very high. As a result, they also charge very high and in dollars. Apart from that, the company did not provide us any more specific information.

Place
Being a global company, they have clients all over the place. So they are focused on covering all the major cities around the world like New York, Dhaka, Toronto, Bombay, and other countries in the Middle East.

Promotion
Since their operation is globalize, so instead of regional promotions, they focus on standard promotional tools that will be applied to every country. Their promotional activities are conducted by an advertisement firm who takes care of their advertisements.

Access InfoTech Ltd.

Access Info Tech Ltd. is a emerging software company in Bangladesh. Access InfoTech Ltd. focuses on meeting the business world's rapidly changing web enabled software and automation requirements. They have top management having years of experience working on software and web development and with a team of skilled developers working technologies from database to total business automation solution. The company is proud of its capability to provide the right solution at the right time. Access InfoTech Ltd. is a one stop outsourcing model that is transparent and streamlined. Access InfoTech Ltd. also offers hardware solution to the

50

clients through its in-house experts. Their goal is to provide global standard, cost-effective, user-friendly, optimized and reliable solutions to our clients. Software engineering is the practice of using selected process techniques to improve the quality of a software development effort. They believe a methodical approach to software development results in fewer defects and, therefore provides shorter delivery times and better value.

Product and Services

Their mission is to provide customized automation solution to their clients. They shall strive to grow this business through consistently exceeding their clients expectations and moving up the value chain in their own spheres of businesses. They shall make the ICT meaningful to all. Access InfoTech Ltd. currently has various lines of customized softwares developed on the demands of their wide range of clients. Some of their primary products include web development, e- commerce, software development, hardware solutions, etc. Access Web Development Solution A truly well designed website can turn into a strong marketing tool, the primary objective of which is to accentuate company's identity, thus enabling to differentiate from competition and making business succeed in the highly competitive biz world. By addressing their highly-qualified team of professionals will attain a full spectrum of website services. Deploying the most advanced technological tools, their team of professionals is equipped to provide fresh and creative design and graphic solutions, giving the website a distinctive and eye-catching look. Their designs are user-focused and easy to navigate. They aim at the creation of well-balanced websites, which presupposes harmonious combination of many essential constituents. Access E-Commerce Solution

50

Their e-business solutions are built for companies that plan to grow and profit from the Internet. They have modern business applications tailored precisely for their clients. At Access InfoTech Ltd., they take into consideration the clients current requirements and use existing technologies e.g. XML Web services, .NET, databases and networks to provide these clients with the most effective business presence whilst maintaining a robust improvement program to identify areas for continued improvement. Whether it is Web Applications or Turnkey Ecommerce Solutions, Access InfoTech Ltd. has the expertise and experience to perform skillfully and professionally. Software Development Access InfoTech Ltd follows designed a process to oriented project development risks and

methodology

specially

minimize

development time. They design, develop, deploy and maintain enterprise-level web applications from the ground up that have consistently enhanced bottom line results for their clients. Their main focus is to create business solutions that address specific business goals rather than merely providing technical solutions. Under this service the products that they offer are as follows: Access POS System Access University Management System Access Human Resource Management System Access Track and Trace Solution

Place
Access InfoTech have segmented their major customers and users into 4 categories. On the basis of their respective demand as to what type of softwares they need. For example the softwares required for educational institutions will vary from that of freight forwarding companies. The following table gives us a clear picture of their classification of their major customers and users.

50

Government Organizations: Dhaka Customs Agents Association (DCAA) Educational Institutions: North South University Bir Shreshtha Noor Mohammad Rifles Public School and College Freight Forwarding Companies: Association of Cargo Agents of Bangladesh (ACAB) All-trans Cargo Services Ltd. Xpress Intl Bangladesh Ltd Exclusive Trading International Ltd. Others: Hatil Complex Ltd. Organ Developments Limited. Official Web Partner of National Furniture Fair 2007 Guide Tours Ltd. Paradise Garden Hotel Limited Bangladesh Automobile Distributors Association OSCAR Nominated Movie Matir Moina Paradise Cables. Excel Socks Industries Ltd. TheDailyJobs.Com South Asian Tourism And lots more

Price
In case of pricing, their pricing format varies according to the needs and demands of the respective customers. For example the set up of POS itself will be cheap if it is being set at only one point. But if a big superstore like Agora or Nandan requires POS set up, the pricing will be very high. As a result, like their competitors, Access InfoTech Ltd. also has customized pricing strategy.

Promotion
Their promotion strategy is indefinite and weak in nature. They do not undergo extensive marketing and promotional activities. It is very limited on only a few amounts of promotional tools such as, a) Direct Selling Strategy b) Newspapers, magazines, pamphlets.

50

c) Online advertising like in the websites, etc. Due to their poor promotional activities, they were not successful enough to create an awareness and identity of their companys existence and about their product also. So this segment needs to be seriously considered as to undergo complete reengineering.

4.0 FINDINGS
4.1 CURRENT INDUSTRY SITUATION:
Domestic Software Market The market size of software and IT enabled service industry within the country is estimated to be more than Tk. 300 crore/ year. With hardware (PC, Server, Network equipment) and Internet & other network services, the total ICT industry size would be roughly Tk 1,000 crore/year. Of the total industry, the size of software segment (mainly comprising customized and packaged software- not including different types of IT enabled services like multimedia, animation, digitization etc.) is estimated to be around Tk. 150 crore/year. The lion share of the packaged/licensed (off-the-shelf)

software market segment is catered by the international software giants (Microsoft, Oracle, Sun etc.). Local software companies mainly cater to the customized software development and maintenance segment of the market- though some international software vendors have significant market presence in this segment (particularly in banking sector,

50

MNCs, telecom companies and some large donor funded government projects). There are more than 300 registered software companies in the country -employing around 4,000 technical professionals. As a part of information collection for Bangladesh Software & ITES Directory 2005 , BASIS has done a business focus survey across all the participating companies (more than 150 software companies including both BASIS member and non member companies) to identify the nature of products/services and client types of the local software industry. The following table (Table 1) shows the business application nature of software services/products of the surveyed software companies. Table 1: Products/Service Range of Local Software

Companies
Products/Services Category % of companies offering services in the particular category 69% 59% 58% 57% 48% 46% 43% 38% 37% 36% 34% 32% 29% 27% 23% 22%

50

Accounting & Financial Management Inventory Management HR Software Web Site/ Web Application Development ERP ( Enterprise Resource Planning) Software Implementation & Integration Billing Asset Management POS (Point of Sales) E-Commerce Data Entry/Data Conversion CRM (Customer Relationship Management) E-Governance Application SCM (Supply Chain Management) Data Warehousing Access Control Mobile/Wireless Application Development E-Learning Data Security Gaming Software

18% 17% 14% 6%

The gathered statistics shows very clearly that the demand for software services for the back-office automation (like Accounting/Finance, HR, Inventory, Billing) is working as the main driving force for the software industry. This is not uncommon for the early development stage of the software industry in any country. However, what is encouraging is that a lot of companies have been involved in development high value customized applications like of ERP, CRM, SCM etc. This underlines the gradual maturing process of the software development companies as well as the client requirements. The high demand for front-end business applications (web applications, e-governance application, e-commerce, POS) demonstrates the high co-relation of increasing Internet access and use of software application in the country. It is not surprising that two dominant sectors in the economygarments/textile and pharmaceutical, that represents a significant portion of investment and employment in the formal sector of national economy, are the biggest buyers of software services. What is interesting, however, is the fact that service sector enterprises are becoming more interested for their process automation. Among them, the financial sector is the leading buyer (almost all of the banks have gone or in the process of implementing online banking). A number of software companies are also developing specialized software (billing, SMS based application etc.) for telecommunication companies.

50

One of the most encouraging facts from the Client Industry Focus Graph is - a lot of software companies (57% of the surveyed companies) have been building up their capability for Government sector IT projects. Given the fact that the government sector is potentially the biggest client for the software industry, this represents a good sign for the industry with regard to the long-term domestic industry capability to successfully meet the government sector IT requirements. For example, the national IT policy stipulates minimum allocation of 2% of ADP (Annual Development Program) in IT spending (this amounts to more than Tk. 400 crore per year), a large portion of which is supposed to be utilized for software and IT service procurement. Though at present the actual allocation is far less from the stipulated 2% amount, the high level of strategic importance of IT sector in national development has been inducing different Government Ministries & Agencies to automate their processes. Already there have been some signs of increased govt. procurements in recent times, particularly for some e-Governance projects. Support to ICT Task Force (SICT), Ministry of Planning (SICT), which is the implementing agency of action plans of National IT Task Force (headed by the Prime Minister), has spearheaded a number of e-Governance projects in different ministries (with an approved allocation of more than Tk. 60 crore, SICT has so far floated 17 e-Governance projects out of which 8 projects have been already awarded to same number of companies).

Export Front At present, more than fifty (50) software and IT service companies have been exporting their services to 30 countries in the world including USA , Canada , European countries, Middle East , Japan , Australia , South Africa and some of the South East Asian countries. 50

Table 2: Growth of Software Export During Last Four (4) years

2000- 2001- 2002- 20032001 2002 2003 2004 2004-2005 (till February, 2005 first eight months) 7.38

Export in US$ (in Million) Yearly Growth

2.24

2.8

4.2

7.2

25%

51%

71%

77% (over same period last year)

Source: Bangladesh Bank Software and IT service export, though started from a very low base, has been growing at a very good pace during the recent years. The export stands at 7.2 million US dollar in FY 2003/4, a growth rate of more than 70% over the previous year. In the first six months (July-Dec, 2004) of current fiscal year (FY 04/05), the growth rate has been more than 120%. In the coming years, there is every possibility that such high growth rate will prevail. In recent months, there have been a number of joint venture contracts between some Danish companies and Bangladeshi software firms for exporting software and IT services in European market. The local companies that are aiming exports are also focusing on process/quality improvements in line with international requirements (some companies are in the process of attaining

50

CMM certificates). These initiatives are expected to yield positive results in next few years.

Technical Skill Matrix of the Industry Recently BASIS has conducted a special survey on the technical skill sets of the software companies in the country. 55 software companies (employing more than 1,100 technical staffs) participated at the survey and the following information has been found. It shows that the percentage of technical professionals skilled in the particular technical area. Table 3: Skill Matrix of Local Software Industry ( % of total* technical staffs of the surveyed software firms skilled in particular area)

Programming Language Basic / VB C/C++/VC C# Java .Net HTML ASP PHP Javabean JSP CGI Perl Cold Fusion 50% 28% 16% 24% 22% 34% 21% 18% 18% 16% 5% 4%

Database MS SQL MS Acces/Foxpro Oracle PHP 40% 39% 27% 18%

Operating Systems MS NT/2000 Unix/ Linux/Solaris 58% 17%

Other Technical Skills XML UML Lotus Notes 21% 17% 4%

50

Total Surveyed staffs: 1,100 of 55 software companies The dominance of Microsoft platforms and application

development skills based on this platform is very prominent from the information presented in the above tables. However, the trend also shows that there are plenty of human resources available in the software firms who are capable of working in open source technologies.

4.2

GOVERNMENT

LEGISLATION

IN

SOFTWARE INDUSTRY
Generally all the laws & regulation of software companies is followed by company ACT 1994. When a company starts their business in Bangladesh market, that company has to specify their mode of operation in details. Then they have to submit it in a written form to the department of register of Joint Stock, Bangladesh. Then the Joint Stock carefully studies their operational activity, while Government rechecks & verifies those activities and after that they give authority to that company to start their operation in the market.

50

Any kind of modification of laws or creating a new law in software industry, are all done by BASIS.

4.3 MARKETING ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

The marketing environment analysis consists of micro and macro environment for the company. Micro Environment of Access InfoTech Limited consists of factors such as customers, competitors, etc. The big competitors name in this software industry are- South tech, Synesis It, Business Automation Limited. Although Access InfoTech Ltd. is comparatively a new name in this industry, but they are growing rapidly with increasing number of consumers to satisfy. The Macro Environment, on the other hand, deals with PSTEL model. Let us have a glimpse of the PSTEL model of Access InfoTech Ltd.: Political (P): One of the biggest drawbacks is because of the political systems of our country. Due to the political pressures, many companies and industries are discouraged to automation process. As a result, they are losing many potential customers. Also because of the political instability like strikes and riots, sometimes it is difficult to meet the deadlines of the clients and the satisfaction level of these consumer decreases. Social (S): In order to coupe up with the changing world and in this age of information technology, automation is a big factor. The software industry acts as a backbone in this automation process engaging in a social contribution and creating awareness among the people of how life can be easier with the use of software. Technological (T): A software company is always focused on utilizing the available technology in the best possible manner. Access InfoTech Ltd. is dedicated in using the most advanced technology that is available and implements modern programming platforms such as Php, SQL, Oracle,

50

Java, etc. to build up their softwares. As a result, the softwares created by them are simpler, i.e. easy to understand, and operate, user friendly. The softwares are also more secured and runs much longer than other softwares. Economical (E): There are increasing amount of shopping malls, super stores, Universities, hotels, etc. being set up in our country that is opting for automation and has got a high demand for softwares. Also other big organizations like multinational companies and banks are into automation and this gives huge scopes for companies like Access InfoTech Ltd. to contribute in the economy and bring welfare of the economic system itself in a small way of their own. Legal (L): As there is no such Law enforcement on the software market, specially some specific laws about anti piracy softwares, so there is a big threat of their softwares being pirated and released in the market.

4.4 BUSINESS PORTFOLIO

BCG MATRIX Market Growth Rate Market Share High High Low QUESTION MARK

STAR

Low

CASH COW

DOGS

50

Access InfoTech Ltd. at present has got 5 products in the market. Now classifying each of the above mentioned products according to the BCG Share Matrix, we have the following products: Access Web Solution: Star Access POS System: Star Access University Management System: Question Mark Access HRM System: Question Mark Access track & Trace Solution: Cash Cow

4.5 CLIENTS PROFILE OF THE CONCERNED SEGMENT

The people working or owing the small or medium sized business organizations are mainly the consumers of our concerned segment. Surprisingly, many people of this segment are also from big companies such as Pro VC from NSU, Tokyo superstore, etc. Both the age groups ( below 30 years and above 30 years ) are not equal in percentage. The group above 30 years has greater percentage. The majority of this segment is the employees of the

organizations and end users of the software products and services. They work in various organizations which are one way or the other related to automation and software industry. The last portion summarizes the type of operation activity that the persons company is involved with.

4.6 CLIENTS EXPECTATION AND DEMAND

50

A major part of the survey answers shows that the company of the interviewee in one way or the other is automated. The remaining ones who seeks for automation expects that the software and automation program, if implemented should save a lot of their daily operation time. The targeted group wishes to have easier transaction records, daily update of their working procedures and working itself should be very easy and comfortable. Their demand features reliability of the product, user friendly and understandable and should be customized as to provide a maximum efficiency for the company benefits. Almost all the people who attended the survey had their preference for international software products rather than domestic software products. The sectors which most people wants and for automation department is their management software department HRM and wants

solutions like HRM and Management systems. Other than that, the second most demand is web designing. in todays market, many companies have a website of their own. Undertaking this tradition, more and more companies are interested to have their own website. Thus web development solutions also have got massive demand among the potential clients.

4.7 HOW THE PRICE FLUCTUATIONS EFFECT CHANGE IN CLIENT'S BUYING BEHAVIOUR
As the software market is a diversified and complex one, the pricing factors plays a key role in the consumers buying behaviour. The initial variation among price level comes when contrasting the domestic software products to international products. Domestic ones are comparatively low in price than the international ones. Yet the demand for the International software is higher, where as in case of competition among the

50

domestic products, the demand is higher for the cheaper ones compared to the expensive ones. Setting up the automation system alone can be very expensive, so when asked about the initial set up cost the price margins had tremendous fluctuating rate starting from as low as Tk 50000 and rising up to over Tk 2000000. This huge variation is caused mainly because of the variation of the software products itself and also the size of the company. For example, if a company opts for only developing a web page it will cost them cheaper when compared to a company going for a complete automation process in their HRM department. In spite of all these factors, the clients are willing to pay high price if they can get the assurance of the products they are purchasing are reliable and can be easily adapted to their own convenience. Also it has been seen that similar products of two different software companies have got noticeable price variations. As a result it becomes confusing as to choosing which company to go for in case of automation for a new company that wants to be automated. Due to this confusing scenario, the demand for Access InfoTech Ltd. as a brand and its product gets declined. On the other hand, the purchase frequency of the software products is increasing, the competition level has also raised its bar and all the competitors are slowly starting to go for competitive pricing strategy in order to out compete the rivals.

4.8 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS:

50

6 5 4 South Tech 3 2 1 0 Product Price Place Promotion Bus. Automation Synesis IT Access Info Ltd

The table above gives us a clear view of the marketing mix of the 3 software companies in context to Access Info Tech Ltd. By in depth analysis of the marketing mix, by means of conducting the interview, we have classified all the data and tried to tabulate our results in the form of the table given above. Through this table, we can now know the current position of the above companies and in comparison with Access Info Tech ltd. where it lies.

Product: Synesis IT has got the maximum number of product lines since it is an International company with variety of products to

50

satisfy the needs of all the different types and clients of different countries. Access Info tech Ltd. and South Tech has got almost equal number of product lines targeted to meet the needs of local clients only. Where as Business Automations product lines are limited to Graphics and Design. So the product varieties are less compared to the other companies. Price: The price chart indicates the higher is the value block, the less is the price. Being a recognized international company, Synesis IT is most expensive. They charge very high and in dollars. Business Automation Ltd, on the other hand is the most economical one in terms of product pricing and has huge sales. South Tech products and services are moderately priced; they try to follow competitive pricing strategy. Access Info Tech Ltd. products & services are surprisingly found very expensive. Even more than that of the South Tech and Business Automation ones. The company states that the reason for such high pricing is that they dont want to compromise with quality of their products. Place: In context of place, we are considering the Bangladeshi market only. As a result, we have found out that South Tech being the oldest among the others has got maximum number of market coverage. They have got tremendous distributing channels, effective communication power and vision to expand further. Synesis IT falls in the second place as their focus is more towards the international market. Then comes Business Automation as their product lines are limited so they require their required market coverage. And in comparison with the remaining companies it bags up the third spot. Finally Access Info tech, being a comparatively new company in this industry has not yet been successful in capturing good market 50

coverage. Their sales are low, distribution remains constant, and has the lowest market position. Promotion Promotion is an important function for almost any business organization. Unfortunately, the majority of the software companies in our country do not go for extensive promotions. In this case, Synesis IT, with their international advertising campaigns and strategies leads our promotion table. Following closely behind are Business Automation and South Tech. And finally Access Info Tech, disappointingly follows very limited promotional strategies. Because of their continuous failure to create any brand image and awareness, they are the last in the table.

4.9 CURRENT BRAND IMAGE & POSITION

Since Access InfoTech Ltd. is comparatively a very new company in the software industry, so no such brand image has yet been formed for the company. One primary drawback of Access InfoTech Ltd. for failing to create their brand image is lack of proper promotional campaigns. So very few people are aware of the existence of the company. When compared with the other software companies, Access InfoTech Ltd. lacks far behind as a brand.

S OUTH TEC H Bus Autom . ation S ynes IT is Acces Info L s td Others 50

The market position has been taken into account considering the Bangladeshi market only. In this case, South Tech being the oldest software company has got the majority of share in the market. Business automation falls closely behind with its superb graphics and design products. In our country, a lot of graphics related work is done. So business automation capitalizing on that field has captured quite a lot of market position. Synesis IT, the USA company franchised in our country also was successful in capturing quite a decent market position. Access Info tech comparatively a new company, has failed to capture a decent amount of market position because of their drawbacks in different areas. While the remaining market position is occupied by the rest of the companies.

5.0 Recommendation
5.1 Market-Plan for ACCESS INFOTECH LTD

50

At present, Access InfoTech has a variety of products in their product line, to fulfill and satisfy the demand of their customer and software industry itself. After analyzing strategies their and existing competitors

position in the market, we have devised a new market plan for this company which we believe if implemented successfully, will help them to overcome their losses and be organization in the market. a successful and profitable

Ansoff Matrix Analysis

Existing products Existing market New products Product development

Market penetration

New market

Market development

Diversification

50

For Access Infotech Ltd they have already different kind of products line and those already exist in the Bangladesh market through other competitors. Since they only focus the domestic market, for them according to Ansoff matrix analysis they are in the Market Penetration stage.

Marketing Mix Analysis

The marketing mix consists of 4 Ps, namely product, place, price and promotion. For Access InfoTechs new market plan their marketing mix are as follows: Product: In case of Access Info techs products, they should follow the following principles: They should continue to focus on developing qualitative products and add some USPs so that their product can be easily distinguished from the competitors ones. While developing software, they should use software such as Oracle, SQL, Macro Media, and Flash etc. They should appoint more high skilled developers and programmers, because compared to their competitor companies, they lack in efficient number of work force. Another key feature that they should add is the user friendliness of their products as well work on improving the outlook of their products. They should give priority more on the clients need and customize their products so as to reach the satisfaction level of the desired clients. Their software products should be more secured, reliable and can be updated if necessary so that the softwares can easily adapt itself to the change in future. They should introduce training programs so as to educate the people on how to operate and make full use of their products. They should provide an effective after sales service so as to quench the problems or queries about their products.

50

Price: In case of pricing, they will be strictly following competitive pricing strategy. Yet their pricing format will vary according to the needs and demands of the respective customers. For example the set up of POS itself will be cheap if it is being set at only one point. But if a big superstore like Agora or Nandan requires POS set up, the pricing will be very high. Never the less they will still be following the pricing margin that their competitors are providing and will be focusing on a very competitive pricing strategy build up. Pricing Strategy In order to determine the pricing strategy of our product, after much analysis and comparison of the different pricing strategies, we have seen that the Access Infotechs product is very expensive. So the pricing strategy to be implemented for their product will be Premium Pricing Strategy. Also since the company has a huge investment, the price is also set so as to obtain a pre-specified rate of return on investment (capital) for the organization. So they should also undertake Return-OnInvestment (ROI) strategy on their products in combination to the premium pricing strategy.

Place:

In order to present their products to the potential consumers,

Access InfoTech should ensure the availability of their products first. The other key areas that they should improve are: Create and develop effective market channel. Retain the existing clients so as to create a dominant position in the market. Explore the unreached potential markets before your competitor does. Luxury Hotels, hospitals, super stores and media are some of the sectors that are booming in our country. So Access Info tech should concentrate on these fields and try to capture as much clients as possible from these fields.

50

Promotion:

One of the biggest flaws that the company possesses is

their promotion system. After analysis, it has been found that due to their haphazard promotional activities they have neither been able to create a brand image nor create awareness about their product and services let alone the existence of the company itself. As a result, their promotional activities needs to be planned, organized, focused and should convey the message to the target market effectively. From promotional tools they should follow: Direct Selling Strategy: Here they should concentrate on corporate selling. Direct marketing: Through personal contact channels one to one meetings, phone and mails. Online advertising like in the websites, etc. Event participation like taking part in the software fares for ex. SOFTEXPO and other such events.

Branding
For any company, branding is a very important issue. So for Access info Tec ltd, to establish their products and services as a brand, they should: develop positive brand awareness and name-product association Establish a brands meaning in the minds of consumers Elicit the proper consumer responses to a brands identity and meaning Create a consumer-brand resonance They should follow a single brand name that they are already using as it is easier to introduce new offerings when the brand name is familiar to buyers. For example, all of their products and services names starts with Access like Access POS, Access HRM, etc.

50

Since it is a new company but producing products which already exists in the market by their competitors, so the type of brand strategy that they should undertake will be Fighting/Flanker Brand Strategy It involves adding a new brand on the high or low end of a product line based on a price-quality continuum. and involves adding a new brand whose sole purpose is to confront competitive brands in a product class being served by an organization.

6.0 CONCLUSION
In the end, we can say that if Access InfoTech ltd undergoes the Market plan provided by us, it will serve as highly beneficial for the company. It is also very pleasing to see that today, our country has such a structure that it has the ability to purchase softwares from its own companies rather than buying softwares from the foreign companies at such a high price which is almost impossible to afford for many others. And we hope that more and more this kind of Software companies will emerge in our country coming up with more distinguished products to take our country a step ahead and even compete in the international market of Software industry.

50

Bibliography

www.synesisit.com www.southtechlimited.com www.batworld.com www.accessitbd.com www.basis.org.bd

50

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE CLIENTS

1. 2. 3. 4. Name : Occupation: Age ( Approx. ): Operational activity of your organization?

5. Size of your organization: Small medium large 6. Is your company seeking for automation or previously automated? 7. What sectors are you looking forward for automation?

8. What are the benefits you want to get, in case of automation? 9. In case of software products, which according to you is more preferable.

------------- Domestic

---------International

10. Are you aware of the software company Access InfoTech Ltd. and its products?

11. Which among the following products of Access InfoTech Ltd. best fits your organization (you can choose more than one) :

 Management System  HRM System  Track and Trace solution  Web development  Others:
POS System

12. How much are they willing to pay if they adapt to automation or how much have they already invested in case of their automated organization? 13. What kind of after sales service do you like to get from Access InfoTech Ltd. while purchasing their products? 14. According to you what are the drawbacks of Access InfoTech Ltd.s products and services? 15. What recommendation do you have for Access InfoTech Ltd. in order to improve their performance?

50

50