MIS782.4 Emerging Opportunities and Business Communication futurelearn.com/courses/mis782-fl4/1/steps/167774 Identify and analyse alternative approaches to reaching a business goal. © Getty Images Outlining alternate solutions provides decision makers with the flexibility to select the best solution under different business conditions. ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS Step 3: Identify Alternatives With any business initiative, it is paramount that necessary groundwork is done in exploring various approaches of getting the job done. The purpose of this step is to suspend judgement temporarily and generate a list of options or alternative courses of action. Examples of such alternatives typically include: Minimum of functionality vs. full scale functionality Off-the-shelf software vs. in-house developed software In-house IT maintenance department or outsourcing The next step, often overlooked by business case developers, is gathering input from stakeholders: What do various stakeholders – employees, suppliers, customers, business partners – think of our 1/2initiative? How is what they value going to be affected? How much credence should our organisation put on their opinions/values? For example, if an organisation has one large customer, say a supermarket giant, that absorbs most of the production it wouldn’t be wise to cross their path. Not considering stakeholders and making unilateral decisions may come back to haunt the decision makers in the near future. Previously it was mentioned that we’d be temporarily suspending judgement when dreaming up various alternatives. This is not to impede creativity with our subjective conception of what is and isn’t feasible. Now it’s time to re-engage judgement and narrow your choices down to a few especially promising ones. Typical approaches in reducing possible alternatives include: Combine alternatives that can be implemented together. Eliminate visibly high-risk options. Favour easy-to-implement option over complex. Step 4: Analyse Alternatives The heart of any business case lies in its breath and depth of analysis. The analytics are conducted in the following areas: 1. Defining feasibility 2. Benefits 3. Costs 4. Comparing feasibility and cost-benefit analysis of each alternative 5. Risks We will go through these areas in the next step. Your Task Let us explore the RDNS case study in more detail. Look at the services that the RNDS provides. One of the major concerns the nurses have is the huge amount of paperwork that they have to complete and file. There have been many instances of files being misplaced or worse still, lost because the nurses are constantly on the move. What sorts of technological solutions could you propose to overcome this situation? Share your ideas in the comments area. Include justifications for your suggestions, based on what you think should be included in the analysis of the alternatives. Read other students’ posts and comment on whether you think the suggestion is a viable alternative. © Deakin University 2/2