Identity Theft Corp (Itc) Is a New

Identity Theft Corp (ITC) is a new company specializing on the identity theft service. The company assists customers to monitor their credit report in order to identify any suspicious charge. The company will also provide the leg work to clean up the mess left behind because of the identity theft and assist customers to rebuild their credits.

The objective of this proposal is to provide strategic planning and implementation for Identity Theft Corp. The report uses SWOT model to analyze the internal and external environments that ITC will be operating.

SWOT model involves analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the ITC internal factors and using the opportunities and threats to asses the company external factors. The analysis will assist the company to formulate an effective strategy to achieve its mission.

Strength: The strength of the ITC is its technical and professional skills that the company has already possessed for the successful implementation. Typically, the identity theft service is a professional service that involves high level of technical skills to succeed. In the present business environment, criminals are increasingly using sophisticated IT tools to steal other people information in the United States. To beat the criminals and effectively monitor customer information while protecting their privacy, the company will need highly skilled professionals for the service. Typically, there is a shortage of people with technical skills to perform the job, and the technical skills already possessed by ITC staff will serve as strength for the organization. The company technical skills will assist in providing high quality service for the customers at affordable prices. Moreover, the ITC will use its financial capability as strength to start up the company. The company will seek for financial assistance from Small Business Administration (SBA) in case of shortage of fund.

Weakness: The weakness ITC is that it has not yet built a strong brand to differentiate itself in the industry. Typically, brand is a strategy that ITC could use to differentiate its service in the market and to educate customers in the market. Since ITC has not yet created a strong brand reputation for itself, the company will not be able to segment markets to identify potential markets. Essentially, having a strong brand will make repeat purchase very easy for customers, and since ITC has not yet created a strong brand for itself, ITC may not be able to retain many of its customers because some customers may switch to other identity theft service providers unknowingly.

Opportunities: The increase in the number of identity theft cases has made many people in the United States to look for the strategy to protect their information from the ID thieves. In the United States, there are increasing cases of online fraud where many people are losing their information to identity thieves. The problem has made many people to lose their live savings due to the identity theft. To protect their information, many people are eagerly seeking for the service of identity theft service making the markets to enjoy continuous growth. Apart from individual who are eager to protect their identities, many businesses are also using the Identity service providers to protect the identities of their employees and customer information. Tynan (2008) estimates that over 220 millions private records have been stolen between 2005 and 2008 in the United States. In addition, between 8 millions and 15 millions of American have their identity stolen in 2007. The estimate reveals that one out five American has their identity stolen in the past three years. Thus, identity theft has become a national. epidemic in the United States. With persistence problem of identity theft, and eagerness of the people and businesses to protect their identities, the market opportunity for the identity theft industry will be more than $4 billions within two years.

Threat: ITC will face competition in the industry. With persistence increase in the identity theft in the United States, many identity theft service providers have been established to take advantages of the market opportunities and the issue will make ITC to face still competition in the industry. Among the potential competitors of ITC are LifeLock, Identity Guard, TrustedID, ID protect, Privacy Guard, TransUnion, TrustedID, Intelius Inc., Intersections Inc., and Kroll Inc. Availability of the competitors will serve as a threat to ITC market advantages.

The identification of potential threats that ITC will face in the market makes the paper to provide comprehensive competitive market analysis.

Competitive Market Analysis

Competitive market analysis is an assessment of the strength and weakness of the current and potential competitors of ITC. The analysis provides strategy to identify the opportunities and threat facing ITC in the industry. Competitive market analysis is an essential component of market strategy, and this will assist ITC to develop strategy in order to be ahead of its competitors in the industry.

ITC will compete in the following industry:

1. Information Collection and Delivery

2. Information and Records Management Services

3. Media

4. Transportation Services Sector

5. Warehousing and Storage

The Identity theft industry revenue is more than $4.04 billions, and many individuals, banks, and other corporate organizations are increasingly seeking for the service of identity theft service providers to monitor employee information and protect customer information. In 2002, the identity theft and credit card fraud made the government and banks to secure over $47 billions losses. The identity theft, stolen of credit cards and other impostor scam cost consumers, businesses and government billions of dollars yearly. The only method to combat the crooks is to hire a competent security provider who will monitor people credit to identify the unauthorized charge.

Analysis of top Competitors

There are approximate more than 100 companies in the industry. These companies have established brand names and distribution patterns across all states in the United States. These companies also have distinct advantages in the identity theft arena. However, in the United States, new companies are succeeding on a regular basis based on the introduction of newer technology, cost saving innovation, and implementation advantages. The Identity Theft Corp will deliver faster performances to be successful in the market. Identity Theft Corp will succeed based on its unique solution and its more complex security platform. Identity Theft service has become a huge industry in the United States, and the ITC will differentiate itself from the competitors by providing scalable solution both at the retail and internet levels at affordable prices.

Main Competitors

There are approximately 5 top competitors in the identity theft industry. ITC is seeking to penetrate the Identity Theft industry and compete with direct competitors. The direct competitors of ITC are Identity Guard, LifeLock, TrustedID, ID protect and Privacy Guard. These competitors operate online and have network in virtually all states in the United States.

Identity Guard is currently a top identity theft company in the United States. The company has large market in the United States. Currently, the Identity Guard is protecting 33 million consumers making some commentators to rank the company as the best in the industry. The company offer services such as monitoring of credit report, public record, credit card, social security numbers as well as providing internet security. The company offers ID protection service at 18% discount with 30 day free trial. The strength of Identity Guard is that the company has already built a strong brand for itself and currently enjoys market advantages in the industry. For $14.99, the company is able to provide wide range of service, and the company also provides $1 millions theft insurance for its customers. The weakness of the company is that it has been losing customers in the recent years because of the stiff competitions. Other companies are offering lower price for similar service.

Trust ID is the second largest identity theft service in the United States. The company is currently enjoying market advantages in the industry. The company offers wide range of service which includes monitoring of credit report, social security number, bank account, credit card and medical records. The company offers $9.38 for its service as well as 10% discount. The company also offers 14 day free trial. The strength of Trust ID is that it has built a strong brand for itself and has employed low price for its service to differentiate itself from the industry. The weakness of the Trust ID is that it is facing still competition from other identity theft companies.

LifeLock Inc. is another top direct competitor of ITC. The company was established in 2005 to provide identity theft service. From ITC website, the company offers identity theft service for $8.25 a month for credit and non-credit related services. The company also offers 30 free trials. The LifeLock Alert system can identify various fraudulent practices such as credit card fraud. LifeLock uses aggressive campaign to secure market for their service. The company is currently having more than 3 millions customers. The company has been able to instill confidence in the customer through different campaign strategies. LifeLock has been the fastest growing companies in the United State and has been nominated for multiple awards and the company has been listed by AlwaysOn as the Top 250 Global Company. Despite the success of the company in the first few years of its establishment, the company has secured a bad publicity in the recent year making the company to be sued and pay for damages.

ID protect is another top identity theft company in the United States and is the oldest identity theft service provider in the United States. Established under American Express in 1850, the company is ranked as having 22 most valuable brands globally. The company offers wide range of service such as monitoring of credit report, credit card and debit cards. The company also monitors social security numbers, email, phone number and addresses. Other services provided by the company are as follows:

• Internet Surveillance

• Lost Wallet Protection

• Public Records Monitoring

• Online Directory Scan

• Online Fraud Assistance

• Fraud Resolution & Support.

• Identity Theft Insurance for up to $25,000. (Best Identity Protection 2011).

The company offers $15.99 a month and 30 day free trial for its service. The strength of the company is that it has a very strong branding associated with the American Express. Its strong branding has made the company to enjoy market advantages. However, the company offers prices that are higher than the industry average.

Privacy Guard is the fifth on the list of the top identity theft companies. The company offers wide range of monitoring service such as credit report and internet security. The company charges $14.99 a month for its service. The company also offers 30 days free trial. Te strength of Privacy Guard is that it has been able to differentiate itself by offering internet security. However, Privacy Guard charges prices that are higher than the industry average. Its customers are likely to switch to other competitors offering lower prices.

Analysis of top five of ITC competitors reveals that they all focus on the monitoring of the credit reports, however, none of them has not integrated the cost effective ID platform in the potential markets. Failure on their part reveals their poor accuracy, and privacy issues have not yet being solved. Typically, there is a need to deal with privacy issue in identity theft industry. ITC will take advantages of their failures to exploit the markets. ITC will integrate sophisticated technology to render the technology of the competitors obsolete, and this will assist the ITC to become a leader in the Identity Theft industry.

Strategy and Competitive Edge

ITC will pursue specific market segments and the company competitive edge will be tailored to the new technology. The company new technology will be designed to eliminate identity and financial fraud while preserving customer privacy. ITC believes in the customer privacy and the customer's account information will be protected at all times. ITC will offer high quality and cost effective service that will be tailored to the customer's need.

Analysis of Geographical Location

ITC business location will be at Los Angeles (LA), California. The paper provides analysis of Los Angeles to provide the greater understanding of the company market potentials in the region. Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and second most populous city in the United States after New York City. According to the 2010 U.S. census, LA has the population of 3,792,621 people. Los Angeles is located in Southern California with 468.67 square miles, and Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County.

The paper uses PESTLE model to analyze Los Angeles which is the location of ITC

Political: Los Angeles is governed by a mayor-council system. There are currently 15 city council districts in the Los Angeles. The city attorney prosecutes suspected criminals and is in charge of felonies cases in the city. LA maintains four specialized police agencies that maintain law and order in the state.

Economic: Los Angeles is the world center of business and international trade. The city is ranked as the third richest city in the world. Behind New York, Los Angeles is ranked as the fifth most influential city in the world. As of 2008, the LA gross metropolitan product (GMP) was estimated to $831 billion making the city to be the third largest economic center in the world after New York and Tokyo. To compare Los Angeles with countries, LA ranks as the 15th largest economy in the world. Many companies use Los Angeles as their headquarters. Some of the big companies using LA as their headquarters are as follows:

California Pizza Kitchen,

Capital Group,

City National Bank

Far East National Bank,

Farmers Insurance Group,

Fox Entertainment Group,

J2 Global Communications,

Mercury Insurance Group,

United Online

Socio-Cultural: Hollywood in Los Angeles makes the city to be an entertainment capital of the world. The importance of entertainment has made many businesses to locate headquarters in Los Angeles. The city is a creative capital of the world because one out of six people in LA work in creative arts. Typically, there are more writers, film makers, actors and musicians living in LA than any other city in the history of mankind. Los Angeles is the home of Hollywood which is being recognized as the seat of the biggest motion industry in the world. The performing arts play critical roles in Los Angele where there are more than annual 1,100 theatrical productions. Typically, Los Angeles Music Center receives more than 1.3 millions visitors yearly.