Assignment-10

1Q.List four areas in which Axon is demonstrating increased profitability through the use of the web?

Ans:
Axon Real-Time, Fully-Integrated Trucking Software is for trucking companies looking for improved
cash flow, greater profitability and more satisfied customers, drivers and staff. Axon is the only
trucking software that is totally integrated, in real-time, meaning information only needs to be entered
once to update all of your system automatically. Metrics are applied in four areas. Each of the four
areas are described briefly below,followed by some of the metrics Axon used to assess goal
achievement.
Web technologies can get profits by reducing or eliminating transaction costs. Cost avoidance and
reduction happens through activities such as improved access to information ,customer self-help and
error reduction.
The metrics which tells about the cost avoidance and reduction by axon:
selling costs were reduced by 40 percent for each dollar of margin generated.
call volume to sales support increased at less than 50 percent of the traditional rate.
warehouse space was reduced by 40 percent ,while volume increased by 40 percent.
obsolete stock write-offs as percentage of revenue were reduced by 93 percent.
Customer service enhancements:The service or product becomes helpful when it delivers the
information to the customer needs. Increased visibility generates increased value from a customer's
perspective. The enhancements of axon to customer service are :
Average days to delivery were reduced by 20 percent over 2 years.
satisfaction with the delivery process is consistently greater than 80 percent.
Most organizations need to offer standard customer service, but have the opportunity to offer higher
levels of customer service and charge for it This is generally a more advanced step for many companies
and for some product markets this won't make sense. The X is whatever basis will normalize the
number of issues in a way that the metric is a great indicator of the rate of issues truly going down over
time.
New market opportunities: It includes new services to existing clients,changing the value proposition
for existing clients,changing the value proposition for existing clients and targeting new markets.
Metrics demonstrated by axon:
product revenue increased over 40 percent in the first 12 months of full operation.
New customers were added at twice the rate that previously was being achieved.
New media options: new media includes improved communications,advertising,and marketing efforts
through lower collateral costs,improved target marketing and sold advertising space.
Metrics demonstrated the use of new media options by axon:
cost per item for e-mail is less than 1 percent of the cost per item for postal mail.
response rate to e-mail is five-times the response rate of postal mail.expenditures on brochure design
and production were reduced by 45 percent.
2Q. Describe the characteristics of the metrics listed here (e.g., financial,customer
service,quantitative ,time based)?

Ans)
Finance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance, personal
finance, and public finance. Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of
finance deals with the concepts of time, money, risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money
is spent and budgeted. A metric is a measure for quantitatively assessing, controlling or selecting a
person, process, event, or institution, along with the procedures to carry out measurements and the
procedures for the interpretation of the assessment in the light of previous or comparable assessments.
A metric measures and evaluates the effectiveness of IT service management processes.
Characteristics of metrics in :

1.Financial analysis : In financial analysis we have metric categories like

Liquid metric measures the firm's ability to meet its maturing short-term obligations.
Activity metrics measures how effectively the firm using its resources
Leverage metrics measure the extent to which the firm has been financed by debt.
Profitability metrics measures management's overall effectiveness in generating profits.
Market metric measure the firm's relationship to the broader stock market.
Growth measures the firm's ability to maintain its economic position in the growth of economy and
industry.

2.customer service: Number of issues per X. The X is whatever basis will normalize the number of
issues in a way that the metric is a great indicator of the rate of issues truly going down over time. For
example if issues mostly come from new customers, then X would be the number of new customers. If
issues are pretty constant across the number of seats, then X would be the number of seats. If the
number of issues relates to page views or a specific use case, then use that.

The number is probably the most important Customer Service number from a strategic perspective, as
Customer Service is one of the great places in the organization to get insights from customers on how
your product and service can be improved and it is up to customer service to get the information back
into the organization and prioritized in a way that the product and service are actually improved. If
things are improved, the number of issues per X should go down (at least until new issues are created).
Clearly, issues per X going down is a great indicator that things are working (it might still spike up with
new releases, but should mostly be showing a downward trend).

The types of improvements that customer service can drive:

- Development improvements such as better QA to eliminate bugs before they reach the customer.

- User Experience issues (customers call because they can't figure things out...the UI is not intuitive
enough)

- Product Management Process improvement. Product feature/use case opportunities...customers call

because they think the product should be better in some way

- In product and on line help that make it easier for customers to find their own answers quickly and
easily

- Better training on the use of the product and service

- Better answers in Customer Service so that the customer doesn't need to open multiple tickets.

Customer Satisfaction with Customer Service issue resolution and customer satisfaction overall. The
first metric is all about getting better as indicated by issues per X going down. The metric can also go
down because the service gets harder to use and customers give up. The customer satisfaction metric
will help ensure that customers are satisfied (better yet, thrilled) with the service that they receive while
work is being done to eliminate the need for customer service.

Customer Service Profit Margin:Most organizations need to offer standard customer service, but have
the opportunity to offer higher levels of customer service and charge for it (working hours vs. 24/7
customer service is an example).This is generally a more advanced step for many companies and for
some product markets this won't make sense. In these instances Cost per X (using the same X as above)
or cost per resolved issue are good alternatives...

3.Quantitative: The common Quantitative metrics include

.Meeting financial targets

Meeting cost reduction targets

Benefits from improving products and processes

Results from effective and efficient use of resources

Improving customer and supplier satisfaction

Introducing new products

Reducing waste and rework

Fulfilling the requirements related to administration, direction, and leadership

Making judgments and decisions

Providing the resources and developing the infrastructure

Developing subordinate

The results from each of these activities can be measured. These metrics may change as the
organizational dynamic changes regarding what defines adequate performance.
4.Time based: Metrics, also called key performance indicators (KPIs), are designed for use as business
metrics, implementation metrics, or as time metrics. These are tools widely used for assessing and
evaluating the impact or effect of any project or activity to an employee's productivity. These metrics
may be given different labels depending on how they are used and what they are meant to measure.
Obviously, time management is a skill that positively affects employee productivity. Good employee
performance is often viewed as a manifestation of an employee's effectiveness in managing his or her
time at work. To measure this aspect of performance, many companies make use of time-driven
metrics. Naturally, these metrics would greatly depend on the nature and focus of the company's
operation.

3Q. What other metrics might apply?

Ans: A metric is a measure for quantitatively assessing, controlling or selecting a person, process,
event, or institution, along with the procedures to carry out measurements and the procedures for the
interpretation of the assessment in the light of previous or comparable assessments. Metrics are used to
describe costs,benefits,or the ratio between them. They are not only used for justification but also for
other economic activities.
metrics can :
-define the value preposition of business models.
-Communicate a business strategy to the work force through performance targets.
-increase accountability when metrics are linked with performance -appraisal programs.
-align the objectives of individuals,departments,and divisions to the enterprise's strategic objectives.
-Track the performance of EC systems,including usage,types of visitors,page visits,conversion rate etc.
-assess the health of companies by using tools such as balanced scorecards and performance dash
boards.
Any organization ,private or public can use metrics .Metrics are related to goals,objectives,vision,and
plans of the organization.
Measurements made using metrics:
1.More than one-third of consumers use the same password for on line banking as they do for other on
line activities.
2.Spam messages are considerably shorter than legitimate e-mails.
3.e bay tops the list of on line destinations on black Friday.
4.Spam takes up volume,but not bandwidth.
5.more than half of customers say they are less likely to respond to an e-mail from their bank because
of phishing threats.
6.two-thirds of the computer have spy-ware on them.
Metrics can produce very positive results in organizations by driving behavior in a number of ways.
An individual metric performs one of four functions. Metrics can help us Understand more about our
software products, processes, and services. Metrics can be used to Evaluate our software products,
processes, and services against established standards and goals. Metrics can provide the information
we need to Control resources and processes used to produce our software. Metrics can be used to

Predict attributes of software entities in the future. A comprehensive Software Metric

program would include metrics that perform all of these functions. Metrics act as a big spotlight
focusing attention on the area being measured.