Creating Business Value with IT Template

Apply the Creating Business Value with IT Framework to the case using the provided template.
Scenario/Case: Trevor’s Tree Lopping Service

Trevor owns a tree lopping business. Services offered to clients include:

1. Assessment/Quote – involves visiting on-site and assessing the job (i.e., working out what’s involved, what equipment will be required, how long the job will take, what risks (to Trevor and his team) are involved, and how much the job will cost). All of these assessments are used to determine whether a job will go ahead.
2. Tree Pruning and/or tree removal service – involves sawing of large or high tree-branches or whole trees and, where required, on-site removal of all cuts and branches using a wood chipper and truck supplied by Trevor’s Tree Lopping Service
3. Wood-chip delivery for gardens – this uses the accumulated wood chips that Trevor’s Tree Lopping Service gathers over time as they chop down trees and remove the cut branches, trunks, etc.

Over time it has become apparent that the assessment/quote process is time-consuming and inefficient in terms of hours spent for any return on investment. That is, an assessment doesn’t always lead to a job being booked for his team of tree-loppers.  The assessment, however, is the basic start of any job booking. It involves a qualified and highly experienced arborist to go on-site, examine a tree – at times requiring equipment to climb it – to produce a record of the job including doing a detailed risk assessment, a log of how many staff and equipment will be needed, and estimating a price/quote for the job. This can be an inexact science and is can also be very time consuming, particularly if the tree-removal is an emergency and other jobs are being put on-hold. It can also be risky when the assessment/quote requires the arborist to climb up the tree. Climbing trees requires a second arborist/assessor to be present, so more time can be wasted while the original arborist waits for back-up to arrive. Trevor needs to find a way to do quotes without requiring a second arborist as back-up, while still keeping his arborist safe, as this will make the assessment/quote process more efficient.

Trevor already uses ICT for Point-of-sale invoice/payment for the Tree Pruning and Wood-chip delivery aspects of his business, and has begun to consider what ICTs and/or mobile and portable technologies he might use to vastly improve the assessment/quote aspects of his business. He needs technologies to survey trees in detail and safely – without tree-climbing and/or a second arborist being needed, as well as providing quotes directly/in-real-time – without having to take the information back to a laptop/office and sending via email. These types of changes would allow all the processes involved in an assessment/quote to be done as they occur on-site, and a decision made on tree-maintenance or removal made close to immediately.

Use the CBVwIT framework to develop and recommend what ICT could be purchased and implemented by Trevor’s Tree Lopping to improve their assessment/quote business process.

Contents

Step 1: Value Chain Analysis

Step 2. Recommended Business Strategy

Step 3. Information System(s) Needed

Step 4. ICT Infrastructure Requirements

End.