1. © 2002 IBM Corporation 1 BIT Final Year Project Business Context

2. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 2 Business Context – Early Questions  What Product, Service  Why Why Now, Why You?  Where Market, section of market

3. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 3 Business Context – Early Questions  Who will use, will you need to partner? Who will you approach for funding?  How How will this function? How will this fit in with other systems? How do the finances stack up?

4. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 4 Business Context – Early Issues  SWOT Analysis  Competitor Analysis  Potential success strategies  Justifications of Assumptions made

5. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 5 Assessing the Idea  Market Research – The next Step  Desk / Secondary Research Market Research Reports, Statistical Publications Trade Magazines, Press Cuttings, Internet  Resources - your Local Enterprise Agency; - Your Invest Northern Ireland regional office; - Your local library or Belfast Central Library; - European and Business Information Centre, Upper Galwally.

6. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 6 Assessing the Idea  Primary Research - Face to face interviews - Telephone interviews - Postal questionnaires - Discussion or 'focus' groups - Attending Conferences - Samplings.

7. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 7 Answers Required  what is the overall size of the market?  are there any trends which are noticeable? e.g. are sales increasing or decreasing?  who buys this product or service?  who uses this product or service?  who actually makes the decision to buy?  when and how do people buy?  where do they buy?

8. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 8 Answers Required  what essential features must the product or service have?  why do people buy?  what benefits are people buying?  are there any standards or regulations my product or service must observe?  who are my competitors?  what are their strengths and weaknesses?  what price should I charge?  what terms and conditions do buyers expect?

9. timetabling expertise with managed implementation training and consultancy © 2004 eventMAP Limited 9 Initial Answers  Essential Idea ‘flows’ from initial research  Clear evidence would be shown in Interim/final report of marketing effort made.  This should be revisited at all stages of the project  We will discuss these issues at next week business meetings / tutorials

10. © 2002 IBM Corporation 10 Questions?