Operations Planning for an Online Tourism Business - Sanrina - Essay Example

Running Head: SANRINA: OPERATIONS PLAN Name: Institution: Date: Operations Plan for an Online Tourism Business 1.0 Introduction The main selling point of Sanrina will be the selling of destinations. Destinations are viewed by the tourist as the externally facing element of the tourism service which is where the main selling points of the tourism products occur (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2004). This will be the core business of Sabrina. At a global scale, growth of domestic and international tourism in Australia has led to the exponential increase of places seeking to create and develop their tourist potential. Sabrina will focus on the principle of online development of destination information. 2.0 Operations 2.1 Headquarters / Office Location While gathering the research on the online segment of the Tourism businesses nationwide, we found out that customers are seeking an experience. Australian key motivations and needs for the experience seeker are: 1. Aboriginal Australia 2. Australian Nature - Unique plants and exciting wildlife), outback Australia (gigantic open spaces). 3. Aussie Coastal Lifestyle - Diverse not crowded and coastal experiences). 4. Food and wine - Australian fabulous foods and wines served by friendly Aussies in fabulous locations) 5. Australian major cities - the Australian way of life and culture) and 6. Australian Journeys - Diversity, the wonders, the towns, the people and their lifestyle) (South Australian Tourism Commission, 2004). We also discovered that the easiest way of addressing this issue is not only through locating the business online but also by locating our facilities and sales staff in technology centers such as; Australian Technology Park. Major cities such as Sydney. Outlying areas such as; Cairns, Gold Coast, Fraiser island, Magnetic island, Whitsundays, Ayers Rocks, Great ocean road, Kakadu National Park and Tasmania (Portal Oceania, 2001) The Sydney financial District and Industrial parks which have a high population of youthful and technology savvy gamers. (Queensland Government, 2010). These will not necessarily be offices for running the business since it is mainly an online venture. They will act as centers where business customers and online travel enthusiasts will be able to meet both online and face to face to talk about business agreements, drop in for tours and demos and connect by phone with the support team. These will also act as centers for product development. We also discovered other items that are of importance to the prospective tourism customer in Australia such as; entertainment, the shopping experiences that a location can offer and the nightlife. we plan to offer optimum environmental conditions, as well as incorporate necessary space for our online operations and also offer easy freeway exit and return for customers arriving from airports (Pike, 2008). This is important for our customers since it will ease the worries that come with travelling to new places. It will also be a way of coordinating the activities of the venture. Future offices will be designed to provide the same convenience, access as well as low overhead and space to meet the growing demand that we anticipate will continue to provide prospective customers the type of experience they will be expecting. 3.0 Rental Agreement Office space will be rented. It will be retrofitted to support our online activities and requirements for; system expansions, broadband connections availability, 24 hours guaranteed environmental control, proximity to other businesses that are of importance to Sanrina, as well as telecommunications connectivity (DFID Caribbean, 2011). This will be vital to our customers since they will be expecting us to provide high availability, balance and be accessible. Building or office space will be a significant part of the products we will be offering customers. Therefore, we will work closely with a designer who is familiar with the market that we will be serving and the clientele that we want to attract and hold. We intend to create an environment that has a strong appeal to potential customers and which will make them feel comfortable and relaxed while conducting business with Sanrina as well as for staff (www.Sustainable Tourism Online.com, 2010). We recommend that the main headquarter be based at the Business Centre Sydney 201 Sussex Street. A short term leasing of the business Premises will be done and an Agreement signed to ensure that we can always renew the lease for a predefined span of time and rental charges. This will give the business time for sufficient growth and in order to determine whether the business has gained any reasonable profit margins. The following are Estimates of leasing a shop at 201 Sussex: -Total rental area 50 meters square -$ 2880 per square meter per year -$220 per square per year (electricity). 4.0 Local Government Zonings and Regulations Sanrina’s premise will be a commercially zoned business premise (201 Sussex). The zoning of the Business Center is; “Outlet Mall” as per the Local Environmental Plan (LEP). It consists largely of commercial business premises’. Street address: 201 Sussex, Australia. 5.0 Equipment 5.1 Information Technology Since Sanrina is a technology based business, technology stack will vary from storage devices to databases to application servers for e commerce, e-mail and back – office services. IT Infrastructure will consist of a system that will be used to manage accounting, inventory, customer database, the company’s website and graphics development. The subject matter will be ways and means of efficiently providing services that rely on technology. The fundamental technology focus is on computers on which the records of the business will be kept and on which the business website will be hosted at www.sanrina.com, the databases that we will use to carry out services and the state of the art technology that will be used to maintain a front runner position among competing services. The company plans to make use of open source technology to build its Ecommerce system and IT infrastructure. We are planning to a LAN of Macintosh desktop PCs connected through a Cisco wireless router system. Sanrina’s data will be backed up on a daily basis to the business’s server as well as its backup online storage systems. The website will serve as a marketing, sales, information and collaboration and communication tool more than anything else. Customers will be able to get apply for services, view their details in their accounts, request for information and order for instructions concerning services online. Sabrina will also build a transaction payment mechanism as online sales will be representative of a significant portion of the business (Tourism Australia, 2010). We recommend that the business must take advantage of hosting a website as it will provide a significant part of Sabrina’s business model. The most valuable part of Sabrina’s online segment is that most of functions such as bookings and payments can be by the done by the individual customers. To the above effect, Sanrina will require the following startup equipment: -Mac OS Pcs -Fax Machines -MYOB (Accounting software) -Printers -Backup Storage 6.0 Staffing Sanrina will be a sole proprietorship. Therefore, the owner will have the sole responsibility of managing the business since he has had previous experience in Tourism products. We recommend that the business should employ the services of other employees to assist him in the day to day running of the business. An initial possible minimum number of employees will ensure a controlled budget and minimum expenses. 6.1 Special Skills and Qualifications The manager and staff must have exceptional customer care service skills. The IT manager and his team will be required to have maximum knowledge of IT since the business will be online based. 6.2Award Conditions Salaries and compensation of staff should be in line with sales and profits. 6.3 Staffing 6.3.1 Number of staff -Owner / Manager – 1 -IT Manager – 1 -IT Personnel -Salespersons (permanent) - 5 6.3.2 Roles and Duties 6.3.3 Owner/Manager/IT Manager The owner/Manager together with the IT Manager will be in charge of; -Putting in place rules and regulations governing the running of Sanrina. -Overseeing product development and production by; Making sure that all the products needed for the smooth running of the business are available. -All Administrative functions including public relations and managing of websites -Recruiting, hiring and training of employees, development of staff, monitoring staff performance, salaries and remuneration, work schedules and accounting structures. -Scheduling staff duties, supervision of casual staff, monitoring sales targets, staff training, merchandising and ensuring occupational health and safety. 6.3.4 IT Personnel -They will manage all the online activities of the business -They will ensure that the websites are updated from time to time -They will monitor all customer related activities online as well as payments -They will be in charge of designing the websites -They will perform any other technical duties that require IT knowledge as assigned by their respective managers -They will be in charge of Record Keeping. 6.3.5 Salespersons -Marketing goods and serving customers. -Familiarizing potential buyers with products by the IT staff by ensuring that they explain the difference in products to the IT staff. They should maintain a solid knowledge of all products and others matters pertaining to customer care. -They will be the link between the business and buyers by the IT staff. -Below the line advertising and making the business known to the public. They should be; efficient courteous and reliable at all times. 6.3.6 Salaries and Wages The following are based on 38 working hours per week for fulltime workers and 18 working hours per week for Sales personnel (Australian Taxation Office, 2006) Job description $ per hour $ per week Fulltime $ 19.80 $ 752.40 Junior Employees Fulltime Weekly Rate (38 hours) Hourly rate Casual hourly rate $ per week $ per hour $ per hour 16 Years and Below $ 242.90 $ 6.40 $ 7.67 16 Years $ 303.60 $ 7.99 $ 9.59 17 Years $ 364.30 $ 9.59 $ 11.51 18 Years $ 425 $ 11.19 $ 13.43 19 Years $ 485.70 $ 12.79 $ 15.34 20 Years $ 546.40 $ 14.38 $ 17.26 Adult (21 Years or more $ 607.10 $ 15.98 $ 19.18 Weekly Tax withholding Table (extract) (Australian Taxation Office, 2006) Weekly earnings Amount to be withheld With tax – free threshold With leave loading With tax - free threshold no leave loading No tax – free threshold $ 325 $ 34 $ 33 $ 78 $ 425 $ 54 $ 54 $ 110 $ 525 $ 79 $ 77 $ 141 $ 625 $110 $ 108 $ 173 $ 725 $ 142 $ 140 $ 204 Pay – as – you go tax withholding Sanrina will be registered under Australian laws and needs to register for Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding. This is a legal regulation that requires that employers withhold amounts from their staff’s paychecks for income tax purposes and give them to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The amount will reflect in every employee’s group certificate under tax-with-held. (Australian Taxation Office, 2006) Leave loading PAYG is inclusive of leave loading, holiday allowances or pay, leave payment and long service payments, as well as untaken annual leave (Australian Taxation Office, 2006). Tax free threshold If your total Annual income is in the lowest income and/or tax bracket, you pay no tax. If you move out of the lowest bracket and into the next one you are required to pay at least the lowest tax rate (Australian Taxation Office, 2006) 7.0 Risk Management Businesses face numerous risk factors. Therefore, risk management should be part of any business’s strategy. Risk management helps a business identify and take charge of risks thereby enabling the success of the business and achievement of the business’s objectives. We recommend that a number of insurance companies be contacted in order to ensure that Sanrina gets the value for money spent. When choosing a business policy the following factors be put to consideration; Tax audits, workers, burglary, personal illnesses and accidents, business disruptions, fire and other defined events, money compensation, machine breakdowns electronics, public liability, etc. This will ensure that a proper insurance cover is put in place. 8.0 HR Policies Employees are the main drivers of the success of a business be it a company, an Organization or even an outlet like Sanrina. In recognition to this fact, we also acknowledge that a staffing vision that clearly stipulates the commitment of the business which is to attract retain and advance high quality staff should be central to the achievement of the business goals. 8.1 Ohms and disability regulations These regulations will are per the general statutes of the Occupational Health and safety Act 2000 (NSW) and the national workers compensation and Occupational Health and Safety Frameworks, report no 27 (Productivity Commission, Canberra, 2004). They place a duty on a range of parties; employers, persons in charge of workplaces, self-employed persons, manufacturers, suppliers, employees etc, for the improvement of the workplace safety, and provision of a safe system of work and the reduction of any risks to staff, the public and any other parties (Johnstone, 2008) 8.2 Superannuation and workers compensation: The superannuation Guarantee stipulates that Employers are legally responsible for their employees’ superannuation and that they should provide the minimum level of superannuation support of 9% of an employee’s earning base for any qualified employee. This amount is not taxable (Australian Government, 2010) The amount should be paid to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Workers compensation is an Insurance cover covered by the state/territory laws which allow for Insurance benefits for employees or their families if the employee incurs work related injury, disease or even death. It is the duty of an employer to provide safe working conditions for his/her workers and to take care of a workers’ insurance compensation (Herz & Tilson, 2009). 8.3 Staff training and Development / Presentation The effectiveness of any organization lies in the hands and minds of the people that work within the organization. Employees need relevant skills and expertise in order to offer the much needed contribution to the growth and success of the org. 9.0 Advertising Sanrina will concentrate on marketing campaigns targeted at sports enthusiasts, the business entertainer/owner, the tourist as well as families dining out. We recommend that a variety of customers should be targeted to ensure that everybody enjoys the Sanrina products. The following promotional materials should be engaged in this campaign; -Wall posters -Raffles held online for customers for free holidays -Sponsorship held to promote local tourism. There will also be an advertisement on local media; -Direct mails containing photos of Sanrina’s products and an explanation of its concept. -Radio campaigns -Newspaper adverts -Cable Tv adverts -Website: This is the main segment of the business. The business will own various websites to give inbound tourists all over the world to access products, daily specials, weekly promotions, brand new products and even placing orders and bookings. These will target big population of International inbound tourists who are free to purchase from the internet. This campaign will have a flexible marketing budget of about five thousand per quarter that will allow advertisers adjust for different events. Estimate sample marketing budget (per quarter) Newspaper flyers - $ 1250 Web page - $ 1 Million Radio Advertisements - $ 100,000 Direct Mail - $ 50,000 Customer free trip vouchers - $ 500,000 Cable TV - $ 10, 000 Total - $ 1.75 Million The plan also involves free holiday gifts and promotional items, brochures, calendars and cards that will be given to customers during their shopping rounds around the premises. Sanrina will be committed to building of strong relationships with customers, other companies, suppliers, stakeholders and even vendors with and aim of benefiting all sectors of the business (Virginia Tourism Authority, 2012). The business should work hand in hand with all the stakeholders related in the industry to ensure that the business supplies the best quality products at affordable rates. 10.0 Financial Operations projections Use of Proceeds Minimum Maximum Website/Product Development $ 300,000 $ 600, 000 Inventory $ 1,200,000 $ 2,000,000 Advertising & Marketing Campaign $ 1,750.000 $ 2,500,000 Administrative expenses $ 250,000 $ 500,000 Working Capital $ 500,000 $ 1,500,000 TOTAL $ 4,000,000 $ 7,100,000 References Australian Government. (2010). The Fair Work Act 2009 - an overview. Australia's Fair Work System , 1-44. Australian Taxation Office. (2006). Schedule 2 - Pay-as-You-Go (PAYG) Withholding: Weekly tax table; Incorporating Medicare levy with and without leave loading. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. DFID Caribbean. (2011). Annex B Operational Plan 2011-2015. DFID , 7-8. Herz, E., & Tilson, S. (2009). Medicaid and Outpatient Hospital Services. Congressional Research Service , 1-10. Johnstone, R. (2008). HARMONISING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATION IN AUSTRALIA: THE FIRST REPORT OF THE NATIONAL OHS REVIEW. Journal of Applied Law and Policy , 8-14. Pike, S. (2008). Marketing Tourism destinations. In S. Pike, Destination Marketing (pp. 1-28). Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Portal Oceania. (2001, January 01). The 10+Tourists Destinations in Australia. Retrieved May 08, 2012, from Portal Oceania: www.portaloceania/au-tourism-10best-ing.htm Queensland Govennment. (2010). A step-by step guide to starting a Tour Operator Business. SmartGuide , 5-21. South Australian Tourism Commission. (2004). Your guide to developing Tourism Products & Experiences. South Australia , 1-9. Tourism Australia. (2010). Inbound Tourism - Where do you start? Planning for In,bound Success. Vol. 3 , 6-15. Virginia Tourism Authority. (2012). Operating Plan. Virginia: D/B/A Virginia Tourism Corporation. www.Sustainable Tourism Online.com. (2010). Sustainable Tourism - Business Operations. Sustainable Tourism Online , 33-34. Read More