Wireless Communication and the Athlete Shack

¶ … Wireless Technology in the Athlete's Shack As The Athlete Shack continues to grow, it needs room for expansion. The only way to really connect ten branches of the store is to provide them with a secure method for communication. The solution is a wireless strategy that secures strength within the wireless devices to help improve productivity. The business benefits of wireless connections are numerous. The primary goal for wireless connectivity is increased productivity at all levels within the organization.

Business processes are allowed to grow greater potential with this added productivity level. Moreover, "operational benefits include lower costs of management and lower capital expenditure" (Karpen, 2014). Yes, there is an initial upfront cost with WiFi, but it quickly redeems itself with the increased level of productivity and capabilities the individual branches will enjoy. Overall, a strong wireless strategy helps increase individual employee productivity through increased connection and communication between resources and thus produces "immediate productivity gains" (Karpen, 2014). TAS can benefit from such a boost in productivity.

The best strategy to link the ten stores would be to focus on employee capabilities, rather than customer engagement. This would mean the company would link all ten stores through a local wireless broadband service. A WLAN in each store would keep all branches cooperating and accessible. WiFi can be used as a primary communication tool, between employees at a single store, as well as other branches (Gupta, 2011). A majority of businesses employ WiFi capabilities, with an additional growth of a 20% increase (Mah, 2012).

It would be recommended that the WiFi on be set on the 5GH-z frequency. According to the research, "the larger amount of bandwidth available in the 5 GHz band makes it the preferred option in business environments" (Mah, 2012). TAS' strategy is to employee employees, not necessarily client needs through WiFi. Thus, 5GH-z is more appropriate because it is faster and compatible with the most modern versions of iPad. This will ultimately help provide better wireless capabilities and data transfers between branches.

Such a stronger connection would help get a strong and functioning network to support a number of iPad devices at each branch. It is true that a "wireless solution requires a combination of numerous wireless standards and technologies," (Gupta, 2011). iPads can serve as just one of the critical branches that provide better access from each user. Essentially, "most consumers expect associates to know more about products than they do, so not having a well-trained staff can be potentially detrimental for sales.

iPads are cost effective and they empower associates, with the right tools, to be highly effective" (Karpen, 2014). Yet, use and distribution of iPad devices requires its own consideration. The company must create and maintain a strong Mobile Device Management Plan. This is essentially a training focusing on "employee usage of the device, as well as security training for all levels of the organization (Karpen, 2014). Training and security on the device used would need to cover the entire ten branches (Gupta, 2011).

Doing so would also include "adopting proven security policies and procedures to address the security weaknesses of the wireless environment," as well as use of encryption as a tool to prevent security breaches of customer.