Executive Summary, Company Analysis have been already done.
1) Company History/Background Information/Problem/Issue with the company from Management Information Systems Perspective. NEEDS TO BE DONE
2) Information Technology Solution for the Company NEEDS TO BE DONE
At least 2 references(Peer-Reviewed Articles) in APA Style
Executive summary
Overview: Snapchat is a messaging and multimedia application where you can send “snaps” to the people you have on your friend’s list. The issue with Snapchat has been that these snaps are free to send which limits the revenue possibilities for the company. As highlighted in the case report from the textbook in an effort to boost user interaction Snapchat has added many features that offer opportunities for monetization. Furthermore with stringent competition and regulations in international markets has made it difficult to grow in Asian countries where similar apps have already filled that void.
Target Audience: In this 21st century everyone has a phone or device they use to connect with others. This means that there is a huge competition to be the company that users deem as supreme. WIthin the teenage to the young adult category, reports show that over 50% of Snapchat users are below the age of 25. However most of these users are based in the U.S and Europe, in the places where they haven’t gained much traction other tech companies have stepped in and made similar apps which make it even harder to get to these young adults across the world.
The problem: As previously stated Snapchat has limited sources of revenue and most of their income comes from ad revenue generated from ads that show in between watching Snapchat stories. One of the main concerns for the corporation is that without room to grow into the larger international market growth can be seriously halted and revenues will stagnant. In addition to that in the markets where they did hold a large portion of users like the U.S, other tech companies like Instagram and Facebook have remade these features that Snapchat was first introduced to the market. Facing all this competition in both the domestic as well as international markets is a serious threat to Snapchat’s future growth and revenue.
The solution: As they have seen with their previous new features they have a strong first-mover benefit. Their ‘my story’ feature has been crucial to their business success as it offered a chance to run ads and start generating revenue from the app. Other features that they added are things like ‘Geo-filters’ which you can buy and users who are in the geographical area can use the filter and share it with others. If Snapchat can continue to develop new ideas that boost user interactions then they can stay competitive in this tough market but once innovations start to stagnate then users will likely start to head towards other apps like Instagram and Facebook where they can use similar features.
Company analysis
Originally known as Snapchat Inc. this company is a camera company that offers the popular app Snapchat. In 2011 their multimedia sharing app was released and has since seen many new features added. On this app, users can send post various forms of multimedia to other users and after viewing the ‘snap’ it disappears. After a slow initial start-up for the first couple of years in 2014, they introduced a new feature where users could post into a “chronological storyline” now known as a story. The ‘My Story’’ function where users can add to their story for their friends to view and after 24 hours the story is deleted. Snapchat is free to download which means almost all the revenue gained from the company comes in the form of ads that are shown in between viewing your friend’s stories. After that innovation, Snapchat saw an increase of users from an average of 21 million daily active users in the fiscal year 2013 to 59 million in the year 2014 after they launched my story feature. Now Snapchat averages about 300 million daily active users and since 2014 they have consistently implemented new features over the past couple of years to keep users engaged and using the application. Some of these innovations are new information technologies that leverage the power of today’s technology to keep users engaged in the app and keep them from going over to other competitors’ apps like Facebook or Instagram. Snapchat was the first app to introduce augmented reality filters for the camera and now users can apply filters that can do almost anything that programmers can imagine. From a filter that makes rainbows pour out of your mouth to a filter that turns your face into an animal and as we’ve seen with many of Snapchat’s innovations competitors often see their success and remake those features for their own app.
Snapchat being one of the most popular apps used amongst the younger generation in the U.S has given it a significant advantage over some of their competitors as they are able to add new features that users can quickly learn and utilize. Each time Snapchat has introduced a new information technology they have seen an increase in userbase and also daily active users but competitors are becoming quicker at duplicating the new technologies that are produced. First seen with Instagram’s duplication of the ‘my story’ function now Instagram stories have grown more popular than Snapchat’s.
