Case: - A & S Software

Group Number-3 Roll Number

12P134 12P136 12P137 12P138 12P145 12P148

Name
Faiz Shamsul Haque Gaurav Gaba Gautam Hariharan Himanshu Gupta Lucky Sharma Mansi Singhal

Question 1) How do you describe ASGs product strategy for their flagship product - ERP software for educational institutes? Answer 1) ERP software for educational institutes was the flagship product of ASG. ERP product of ASG evolved from Custom-Developed Solution -> Standard Product -> Client Server Technology -> WebEnabled Technology Initially, ASG developed customer-centric software free-of-cost for first set of clients and charged them only for the subsequent maintenance of the custom-built application. Successful engagement with the client under this model enabled ASG to create a software framework which consisted of generic business processes and functions relevant to BSchools. For his next set of customers, Jain took this framework as an already existing platform and proposed additional customization services as per client requirements. In his next step, Jain created a generic ERP software product with a core set of features and functionality. Jain designed this application as a multi-user software application based on the client-server technology and offered it to a number of B-Schools. Jain offered this standardized ERP solution based on perpetual licensing model. This enabled Jain to establish ERP software for educational institutes as the flagship product of ASG driving steady business growth. At this stage Jain started looking at the next phases in the roadmap for the flagship product i.e. web-enabled modular architecture and eventually into services-model. The key strategy for this approach was to have sustained engagement with each of their customers. ASG strategy at this stage was customer retention by offering them additional value in terms of functional enhancements and/or improvements. These customization scenarios made Jain realize that architecting the core ERP software as a set of functional modules would give ASG more flexibility to address the market demand. Gradually, ASG re-designed this ERP software into a set of standard application modules for

delivering business functionality in areas like student admissions, online testing and evaluation, grading system, placement, leave management and payroll, financial accounting, stores-inventory, complaints management, document management, and also administration and maintenance. This way, the software acquired the shape of a modular product. The ERP software acquired the shape of a set of modules catering to the requirements of the three distinct set of stakeholders in an educational institute viz. Students, faculty and administration

Student Interface: - The functionality offered facilities for Individual profiles including personal information, course selection and registration Virtual classroom with the features to aid the teaching/learning process Submissions of assignments, facility to take online test Access to academic calendar, time-table/schedule Attendance, results, online fee payment, feedback and complaints management Summer internship, placement activities and alumni activities

Faculty Interface: - The functionality consisted of Individual profiles Course outline, circulation of study material, giving tests, grading Academic calendar, time tables, payrolls, leave management

Administration Interface: - The functionality consisted of Managing admissions and registrations Creating academic calendars, timetables Financial Accounting, stores management

By 2005, ASG had acquired a broad customer base for this product but the issues was that different variant and versions of this product was installed on customers server infrastructure. As software was based on client-server technology maintenance became a challenging task because this required ASG personnel to visit client sites to provide these services. This impacted operational cost and proved less efficient and less profitable. This triggered Jain to explore the option of converting this software product into a webenabled set of modules. This strategy would enable remote maintenance and support.

Question 2) Devise at least three pricing strategies for flagship product-ERP software for educational Institutes Answer 2) The three pricing strategies for flagship product-ERP software for educational institutes can be 1. Fixed Price + Variable (Based on the number of users or academic programmes): - A&S software can charge a base price for a module from client and then charge additional fees per user or academic program. This pricing model is based on business metrics rather than technical metrics. 2. Fixed Price + Maintenance fees: - An initial onetime fee can be charged from clients for a module and then annual fees for maintenance and support activity 3. Software as a service (SaaS) through cloud computing: - In this users can access functionality of software using a thin client via a web client. Using this pricing strategy many customers can avail these services as this is cheaper since it requires less capital investment.