Challenges In Developing A Product For Advanced Mobile Market
Case study
Discuss about the Challenges in Developing Product for Advance Mobile Market.
The case study is about the communication software company named as SASKEN situated in India. It is working on developing a multimedia player for the mobile of Japanese market. The project team of Sasken faces number of problems in satisfying the requirement of the customers. The expectation of the client is to get high quality and product on time. The expertise of the company was working on the developing communication software with semiconductor vendors, network equipment manufacturer, terminal device vendors, and operators. Sasken is the innovative company which utilizes 21 US patent for wireless communication. The Japan mobile market is looking forward for iMode mobile platform. It has given an order of multimedia player to the Sasken. The demand of the client is to get quality and customise product which carries all the features of the customer demand and also capable of providing post deployment support.
The expertise of the company was working hard to develop the product which carries full featured and function according to the demand of the customers. The “Remote codec interface” is the technology used for providing interoperability between associated operating system which is integrated on the chip architecture. The team members are working on developing the code which is suitable for chipsets and helps in optimising the performance of the Linux operating system. The codec algorithms are designed by the Linux expertise for optimising the target platform. The flexible RCI are used for getting defined specification into the required products.
The company is focusing on encouraging process discipline with respect to the time and quality expected by the clients. The client emphasised on the maturity of the product, quality and modularity, customisation efforts, and others. The maturity of the product can be achieved on time by increasing the time and efforts of the project team. The corresponding changes can be brought in the components to achieve defined specification. The effort and the cycle time can be increased according to the delay in maturity plan. In the project development life cycle, the requirement of the customers get changes and wants the project should be delivered on time without any delay. This may result into the deviation of the flow of process and changes the process discipline. The elimination of reviewing and testing phase helps in reducing the product cycle time. The modification in the original design helps in reducing the maintenance phase, reusability, and portability of the software. The robust practices are used for managing processes in the completion of project life cycle. The configuration management system makes use of set of tools for resolving centralised bug repository. The corrective actions make use of appropriate set of metrics. The Sasken project manager is looking forward for checking the critical obstacle in the field of market requirement.
Strategic Perspective
The new product for the Japanese company is developed by evolving ambiguous requirement. The active participation of the vendors is included in the product development phase for launching the product on time. The new technology of mobiles is launched by the Japanese to remain ahead of their competitors. The active participation of the stakeholders helps in removing the obscure requirement of the products. Sasken has to develop the multimedia player by operating in the dynamic competitive environment to improve the life expectancy of the product.
The company is looking forward on methods to satisfy the demand of quality by the conscious customers of Japan. “The exponential growth of in Japan depends on the improvement in quality and innovations in technology” (Suchanek, 2014). The Sasken has to pass the quality standards designed by the customers of Japan. The “Test defects” are the software bugs which are detected in the lab testing phase. The problems reported by the customers are known as “Field defects” which are analysed on the operational site. The reliability of the software should be addressed from the customer point of view. The testing cycle time should be increased for knowing the validity of the product meets the client requirement or not. The Sasken has sent its small team to Japan to work as liaisons. The testing facilities are provided to the testing engineers of japan. The bug sheet is prepared by the testing team if bug found in the new product developed by the team Sasken. The revision of the code takes place by the team of Sasken according to the bug sheet sent by the Japan engineers. The conference call plays a medium of communication to resolve the issues. Sometimes it is hard for the project team to understand the bug encountered by the Japan team which increases the documentation.
The problem of communication can be resolved by implementing the video conferencing between the participating units. “The language difference is another major issue for the company. Lack of tools and platform is another major issue for the company” (Nataraj, 2011). A committee should be organised for developing tasks and equipment for better utilization of processes. The team is facing the problem of cultural difference. There is a risks associated with the investment on the product while working with Japanese because they sign the contract only before the release of the product which is quite risky. The good return on investment can be collected by investing with the Japanese clients.
Analysis of issues
On the analysis of company working structure, it has been concluded that the well-designed training program should be organised for the company. “The project team members should learn basics of Japanese language because the free-flow communication helps in overcoming the issues in the product development cycle” (Persson, 2011). The policies and procedures should be followed by the team members for the successful development of the project. The changes in the working structure should be done by taking active participation of the team members
(Source: Google Images).
The key performance indicators should be used for determining the bugs in the product and the team members. The focus should be given on the process not on the people. The weekly meetings and conferences should be arranged for getting the root cause of problem in the product to be accepted by the client. The quality chart should be prepared to analyse the increment or decrement of the bugs.
The coordination and communication between the team members can be improved by designing the culture canvas which helps in overcoming the problem faced due to cultural differences in the following way
(Source: Kim, 2014. The impact of language barrier and cultural differences: A grounded theory approach).
“The availability of the tools and technology on the cloud is the best option for managing the platform for testing the product” (Kim, 2014). It helps in managing tools asynchronously in the real time environment. The files on the cloud can be easily stored, accessed and edited according to the requirement. The virtual whiteboard and video recordings can also play an important role in overcoming the language problem. The use of cloud computing is very cost effective technique for managing availability of resources on time so that the product can be delivered to the Japanese client on scheduled time. The bugs can be removed easily by checking the requirement on the same platform. “The understanding of the bugs can be improved by the project manager” (Heller, 2010). It is flexible so it helps in improving the productivity of the Sasken organization.
The strategic business plan should be prepared to overcome the risks associated with the investment on the product with the Japanese client. Expenditure associated with the project should be justified with the project requirement. The proper communication plan should be developed to compel the Japanese to sign the contract before the start-up of the project.
The cloud computing is the recommended solution for the Sasken organization to increase the effectiveness in the working of the project. The cloud computing technology is capable of overcoming the issues of the company such as availability of equipment, availability of the data, auditability of data, bottlenecks in data transfer, unpredictability of the performance, scalability in storage, bugs in the product, quick scaling, management of quality, coordination and communication problem, lacking of tools and technologies, and other.
Environmental and root cause analysis
“The implementation of cloud computing involves the definition of business use case, the reference architecture is defined for neutral cloud computing to facilitate communication within the frame, and others” (Ran, 2016). The activities involves in the roadmap of cloud computing technology includes iterative translation of activities, defining and tracking priorities for matching requirements, identification of gaps in the standards, resolution standard process, prototyping for research and development, cost governance, and etc. The following figure shows the roadmap for the implementation of the cloud computing in the working of the organization
(Source: Ran, 2016. The effects of Ambiguity on project task structure in the new product development).
“The cloud computing program involves the correlation between strategic program and tactical program” (Batra, 2011). The following diagram shows the working procedure of the strategic program and the tactical program
(Source: Ran, 2016. The effects of Ambiguity on project task structure in the new product development).
“The investigation should be carried out for checking the feasibility of the ICT solution implemented by the organization” (Garbis, 2015). The cloud security is the major monitoring and control area. The cloud security required the implementation of the service oriented architecture for the secure relocation of the components. “The data is centralised managed for further updating of the product according to the changes required by the Japanese engineer mentioned in the bug sheet” (Sliger, 2014).
Conclusion:
Sasken has to develop the multimedia player by operating in the dynamic competitive environment to improve the life expectancy of the product. The problem of delays in the product delivery can be resolved by implementing the concept of cloud computing in the working structure of the Sanken enterprise.
References:
Batra, S. (2011). Improving quality using testing strategies. Retrieved from https://www.rroij.com/open-access/improving-quality-using-testing-strategies-113-117.pdf
Garbis, C. (2015). Team communication and coordination as distributed cognition. Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:479674/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Heller, R. (2010). Global teams: Trends, challenges, and solutions. Retrieved from https://est05.esalestrack.com/eSalesTrack/Content/Content.ashx?file=4578f59e-21b3-4a2c-bbfe-63e53af3f5dc.pdf
Kim, E. (2014). The impact of language barrier and cultural differences: A grounded theory approach. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1175&context=gradconf_hospitality&sei-redir=1&referer=https://www.google.co.in/url%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dhow%2520the%2520problem%2520of%2520language%2520difference%2520can%2520be%2520solved%2520in%2520the%2520organization%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26cad%3Drja%26uact%3D8%26ved%3D0ahUKEwiq08m2wczVAhXJOI8KHQwFAdcQFggrMAE%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarworks.umass.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1175%2526context%253Dgradconf_hospitality%26usg%3DAFQjCNF19CQ98kn5w2VnNG_g-l1pCCbIzw#search=%22how%20problem%20language%20difference%20can%20solved%20organization%22
Nataraj, M. (2011). Defect control analysis for improving quality: An innovative six sigma case study. Retrieved from https://www.ugcfrp.ac.in/images/userfiles/34042-IJQI010305%20SHANMUGARAJA.pdf
Persson, J. (2011). A process for managing risks in distributed teams. Retrieved from https://www.infoq.com/articles/managing-risks-dist-teams
Ran, B. (2016). The effects of Ambiguity on project task structure in the new product development. Retrieved from https://test.scripts.psu.edu/faculty/b/u/bur12/index_files/KPM.pdf
Sliger, M. (2014). Effectively managing distributed teams with cloud tools. Retrieved from https://www.educause.edu/visuals/shared/pd/Agile_project_management.pdf
Suchanek, P. (2014). Customer satisfaction, product quality, and performance of companies. Retrieved from https://is.muni.cz/do/econ/soubory/aktivity/obzor/6182612/52576851/2014_4_02_SuchanekRichterKralova.pdf