¶ … business plan for a software company, Nerd Patrol. It contains an analysis of the company's ownership, business operations, and organizational structure, projects its revenues and costs of operations for the short run, and presents some important marketing strategies for the success of its business in the IT industry. Introduction and Brief Description of the Venture

This paper presents a business plan for a new software company, Nerd Patrol that provides a number of software and hardware products, technical services, and web solutions to individual and business customers. The plan constitutes all the major operational, personnel, financial, and marketing strategies which Nerd Patrol will pursue during its initial phase of business set up. The opening section introduces the business in brief and proceeds by explaining the organizational and key business players. The "Financial Analysis" section presents projected revenues and costs of operations for the company by highlighting the major investments and expenditures which it will have to make in the introductory phase. The next section, 'Marketing Strategies' explains the product, pricing, promotion, and placement/location strategies for Nerd Patrol and gives a brief snapshot of its competitive environment in the IT industry. The final sections explain the legal and environmental challenges which Nerd patrol may face in the long run and the actions which it can take to encounter these challenges.

Nature, Description, and Aspirations of the Business:

Nerd patrol is a software company that is specialized in developing business and utility software, providing technical solutions and training services, resolving hardware debugging issues, providing software and hardware troubleshooting services, and various other services. Nerd Patrol is being established as a private limited company by three experienced business professionals. The mission of the company is to provide innovative and cost effective software and hardware solutions to individuals and business customers from all over the country. The company aims to ensure regular business growth and superior financial performance over the years

Organization of the Business and Key Players

Ownership:

i. Technical Supervision:

The ownership of Nerd Patrol will be in the hands of three experienced and qualified business professionals; John Robbins, Mary Singh, and Nabil Quresh. These owners will operate the company as a partnership business in the initial phase; but transform it into a private limited company by inviting their friends, family, and relatives to make investment and contribute their professional skills for the growth of its business. Being fully certified professionals on Microsoft and Oracle software products, John Robbins and Mary Singh will head the technical operations of the company. For example, the Research and Development, technical services, training and workshops for employees, and procedural support to the individual and corporate clients will be supervised by both these certified professionals.

ii. Business Management Team:

On the other hand, Nabil Quresh will look after the business plans and strategies of the company for its competitive and sustainable future in the industry. He will be responsible to design the marketing and promotional plan of the company by focusing on its product, pricing, promotion, and placement strategies on individual basis. Nabil Quresh is a business graduate having vast exposure in the business world. He is capable of handling the business complexities and dealing with the environmental issues in an effective and efficient way. The supervision by John Robbins and Mary Singh along with the strategic direction by Nabil Quresh will greatly help Nerd Patrol in becoming a successful and competitive software company in the country.

Employees:

Nerd Patrol will need to hire individuals for different technical and non-technical positions at its office. The technical staff will be responsible to assist the clients in implementing and learning the new software systems developed by Nerd Patrol for them. They will physically visit the clients' premises to look over the performance of their software and train their staff to run it effectively (Attaran, 2004). In contrast to the technical staff, the company will also need to recruit sales and marketing staff which will develop its business in the potential target markets. The sales and marketing staff will perform under the supervision of Marketing Manager. The Marketing Manager will make every effort to achieve the sales targets for the company through its sales and marketing team. He will use different techniques and monetary and non-monetary rewards to motivate his team and achieve the assigned targets effectively and efficiently.

Contractors and Vendors:

The contractors and vendors for Nerd Patrol business will be the small scale industry participants that produce raw material for manufacturing hardware products. The company will have to build strong relationships with these vendors in order to get the raw material at discounted prices and ensure its continuous supply at its production unit (O'Brien & Marakas, 2007).

Financial Analysis

The major costs of revenues of the new business will include software licenses, maintenance and control, professional services, and amortization costs of acquired technology. In addition to these major costs of revenues, the company will also have to bear heavy operational costs. These costs include sales and marketing expenses; research and development expenses; general, administrative, payroll, and training expenses; amortization costs for intangible assets, restructuring, acquisition and other charges; goodwill impairment; etc. The interest expenses and loss on early extinguishment of debt will also put burden on the company's profitability.

The major investments required to start Nerd Patrol business will include furnishing facilities, inventory purchases, technological equipments, and employee training and development costs for the initial six to twelve month period (O'Brien & Marakas, 2007). The projected return on investment for Ned Patrol is $1,308,000. The anticipated revenues for Nerd Patrol for its first twelve months are as follows:

Projected Income Statement for Nerd Patrol

$ in '000

Months

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Revenues

Software Licenses

Maintenance and Control

Professional Services

43

25

28

30

35

39

43

48

50

53

55

50

Total Revenues

Costs of Revenues

Software Licenses

24

25

23

25

30

32

31

36

38

41

45

50

Maintenance and Control

60

58

70

70

75

78

78

78

80

85

80

82

Professional Services

89

75

66

64

63

67

65

63

65

70

75

76

Amortization...

Product/Service Strategies:
Nerd Patrol is going to operate in the Information Technology industry with a wide array of computers software and hardware products, networking, technical, and web-related services. The main services offered by the company include hardware and software upgrades, hardware repairs, debugging software problems, networking problems, technical solutions, maintenance and control, enterprise resource planners, etc. In its initial phase, Nerd Patrol will serve the individuals and businesses with technical solutions and upgrades; but with the passage of time, it will also develop its own software and hardware products and sell to a larger customer base.

2. Pricing Strategies:

The pricing of Nerd Patrol products and services will depend upon various factors; including licensing and registration fee, version of the software, upgrading costs, maintenance costs, and others. In order to attract customers from individuals and businesses segments, Nerd Patrol will keep the prices of its products and services lower as compared to other software companies in the country. This low pricing strategy will keep the company's profit margins low in the introductory stage; but at the same time, they will largely help in attracting the customers.

3. Promotional Strategies:

Nerd Patrol is a purely service oriented company in the Information Technology industry. In addition to a large number of potential individual customers, the significant portion of Nerd Patrol's target market constitutes high profile businesses from almost every type of industry. Therefore, it will have to promote its services in all the major promotional and advertising mediums to attract the largest number of customers from all over the country. First of all, Nerd Patrol should develop a comprehensive website as an introductory marketing medium for its business. This website will serve as the information agent for its customers as well as potential investors and other primary stakeholders from the country (Stair & Reynolds, 2010).

Nerd Patrol should ensure that its website contains all types of information which a customer, investor, employee, or a supply chain member may need from it. For example, it should provide information like: services offered by the company, buying and maintenance charges, discounts, technical solutions and training, and company profile, including location, ownership, investment opportunities, etc. The website must have different sections for every stakeholder of the company. For example, the customers can find all kinds of information in the 'customers' section and contact the company for their required product or services. Similarly, the investors can look over the financials of the company and make their investment decisions accordingly.

Another marketing strategy would be to promote the Nerd Patrol business on the social media networking sites. These sites will provide the cheapest and the most innovative marketing platform to the company. The owners can develop their business presence on the social media network in order to connect with other industry participants, potential business partners, and customers at large. In addition to these modern marketing mediums, Nerd Patrol business can also be promoted on newspapers and web or internet related publications (Havaldar, 2010).

4. Place/Location Strategies:

Nerd Patrol will set up its physical as well as online business…