Discuss about the Information System in Taxi Cab Business.
With the commercialization of taxi or cab business, several companies have taken up cab business within their business structure. Moreover, several new cab business companies have grown up all over the world. In Australia, one of the major cab business companies that have grown up is Uber. Although it is a foreign company, after the expansion of their business, they entered Australia and since then, it has become the largest cab service provider in the country (Uber.com. 2016). The main strength of the company is that they successfully implemented information system in their business for providing prompt service to the customers at any location within the country.
Feasibility Study: Uber Case Study Analysis
Technical Aspects
The technical aspects of the company include use of the latest technologies for the promotion of their services. Uber uses mobile apps that can be accessed by any smartphone user. The mobile apps can be used to book the services from any location (Rawley and Simcoe 2013). There is also a contact number that can be used to book services in case the app is not accessible to any user.
Economic Aspects
The company has spent significant amount of funds for developing the mobile apps as well as latest models of cars for the cab service (Myr 2013). The main aim of the company is to provide the best experience of AC and non AC cabs to the customers.
Behavioral Aspects
The company’s cabs can be booked from anywhere anytime. Uber provides prompt customer care service as well as the cabs in the least possible time to the customers (Yuan et al. 2013).
Information System
Uber provides its services using the dedicated smartphone apps that can be accessed by users easily. These applications are directly connected to Uber’s own cloud server client. In the cloud server, once the user registers for Uber, his name, location and contact details are stored instantly (Zhang et al. 2015). These can be accessed by company authorities only for future references and security processes. The systems of the companies are also connected to the cloud server. Once a registered user orders a service, the system immediately analyzes the locations of the nearby cabs and the nearest is sent to the customer. All these are operated by the cloud operation services under the monitoring of the company customer care members (Modak et al. 2016). The user also has the option to book service using phone calls. For the payment purpose, two options are available to the customer. They can either pay in cash or have the option of online payment (De Judicibus et al. 2013). In this regard, the user gets a free online Uber account that can be used for storage of money. When the user books a service, the necessary amount is automatically deducted from his account.
Benefits and Risks
Benefits
The benefits that can be gained by a company for implementing information system in taxi business, as evaluated from the case study, are as follows:
Fast Response – Using an efficient information system can help the company in providing fast response to the users who have booked or queried regarding their services.
Location Tracker – Efficient information system enables the taxi business company to locate the user easily for providing services.
Contact Information – The information system also stores important information of the clients that can be accessed and used in case of emergency (Ding et al. 2013).
Risks
In addition to benefits, several risks are present as well. These are as follows:
Information Security – The security of the clients’ personal information system is not ensured since the cloud information system is vulnerable to internet security attacks.
Customer Safety – Although the company guarantees customer safety during the cab rides, it cannot be ensured by the information system of the company. The personal behaviors of the cab drivers cannot be controlled by information system as well (Zhang et al. 2015).
Best Method
The best method for implementation of information system in taxi cab business is phased method. This is because, phased method will enable the company to introduce new technologies and functions step by step after analyzing the success of each step. For instance, the company should first start an ordinary cab business with a call service (De Judicibus et al. 2013). If the business is successful and significant revenues can be collected, they should implement the next step, i.e. development of online calling service. After the success of this phase, they can develop the mobile app for fast and prompt service to the client. Another important addition in this phase will be the cloud server client that will be useful in storing customer information and other related documents.
The main advantage of phased implementation is that the analysis of each phase can be done efficiently before implementing the next phase. Moreover, in case of business failure, huge losses can be avoided due to failure in only a single phase (Myr 2013). Another important advantage is that, phased implementation allows room for company to enhance or upgrade any existing system within a phase of development.
Plausible Time Frame
A plausible time frame for the implementation of information system is as follows:
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Information System Implementation
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Time Frame
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Launch of taxi cab business
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6 months
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Collection of Capital
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3 months
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Purchase/Renting of Cabs
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2 months
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Hiring of Drivers
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1 month
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Call for Booking Service Initiation
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1 month
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Registration for Telecommunication Service
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15 days
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Launch of Helpline Number and Service Number
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15 days
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Online Booking Service Implementation
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6 months
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Building of the Official Website
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4 months
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Testing and Launch of the Website
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2 months
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Online Payment System Activation
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1 month
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Designing of a secure online payment system
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15 days
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Linking of online transfer account with the registered bank account
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15 days
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Development of Mobile Apps
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6 months
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Design and Development of mobile app
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4 months
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Testing of the app
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45 days
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Launch of the official app
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15 days
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Cloud Server Implementation
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3 months
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Purchase of cloud server from vendor and implementation of system security
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45 days
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Testing and Launch of the Cloud Server
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45 days
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Customer Safety System Implementation
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3 months
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Installation of surveillance devices in the cabs
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45 days
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Launch of emergency helpline number
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15 days
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Implementation of Cab Location Tracking System
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1 month
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Conclusion and Summary
From the report and the case study analysis, it can be concluded that implementation of information system in today’s cab business is a necessity with growing number of online cab services from different companies worldwide. Online booking of cabs enables the user to book services from anywhere anytime. However, there are several risks involved in addition to the benefits. These risks must be mitigated and each new system should be implemented phase by phase in order to establish the cab business successfully.
References
De Judicibus, D., Leopardi, S., Modeo, L. and Pergola, N., Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation, 2013. Method and system for secured transactions over a wireless network. U.S. Patent 8,352,360.
Ding, Y.R., Xiong, J. and Liu, H.J., 2013. The Self-Adapted Taxi Dispatch Platform Based on Geographic Information System. In Emerging Technologies for Information Systems, Computing, and Management (pp. 771-779). Springer New York.
Modak, A.N., Yadav, V.R., Kumbhar, G.K. and Mane, M.B., 2016. Smart Traveler-Proficient Taxi Business Application. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 2(6).
Myr, D., 2013. Automatic optimal taxicab mobile location based dispatching system. U.S. Patent 8,442,848.
Rawley, E. and Simcoe, T.S., 2013. Information technology, productivity, and asset ownership: Evidence from taxicab fleets. Organization Science, 24(3), pp.831-845.
Uber.com. 2016. Drive or Ride with Uber Melbourne. [online] Available at: https://www.uber.com/cities/melbourne/ [Accessed 25 May 2016].
Yuan, N.J., Zheng, Y., Zhang, L. and Xie, X., 2013. T-finder: A recommender system for finding passengers and vacant taxis. Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, 25(10), pp.2390-2403.
Zhang, D., He, T., Lin, S., Munir, S. and Stankovic, J.A., 2015. Online Cruising Mile Reduction in Large-Scale Taxicab Networks. Parallel and Distributed Systems, IEEE Transactions on, 26(11), pp.3122-3135.
