MTC: Business Analysis and System Recommendation

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Introduction

This Business Analysis and System Recommendation report is prepared to help MTC meet its organizational objectives by increasing its competitive advantage. The goal of MTC is to continuously grow the number of projects and deliver quality service to customers. To accomplish this objective, MTC regularly submits applications to Request for Proposals. To ensure customer satisfaction, the company needs to provide its clients with highly-skilled IT consultants for work on-site within the 60 days of signing the contract. The streamlined and automated hiring process is essential to maintain a competitive advantage and increase the company’s reputation. MTC needs to have qualified professionals available for new projects within a short period of time. The current hiring process is entirely manual, which increases the recruitment time and leads to decreased efficacy when the number of required applicants increases. This report is prepared to address the issues pertaining to the hiring process and includes information about the motivation behind using the applicant tracking system and expected benefits. An analysis of the current recruitment process and a detailed set of requirements for the IT system are also covered.

Strategic Use of Technology

Business Strategy

The company’s business strategy revolves around increasing revenue and reputation. These two elements are dependent on the constant flow of new contracts and the availability of appropriately skilled personnel to serve these new projects. The manual hiring process MTC currently uses poses a hindrance to achieving the described business strategy. First, it sets a limit on how many new projects the company has the capacity to accomplish at the same time. Recruiting new employees is time-consuming, and when this process is done manually, time costs to begin and finish a given project are increased substantially (Bourgeois, 2014). Second, manually hiring personnel deteriorates reputation – MTC is an IT consulting company, which means it should be the first one to use innovative IT solutions. The proposed information system will enable the HR department to streamline the hiring process and avoid manual paperwork. Information will be shared consistently and on a secure basis between hiring managers and recruiters. The analytical dashboard will allow the senior managers to use the system to aid the decision-making procedures.

Contemporary analytical tools are powered by machine learning algorithms that can do a significant portion of work in an automated manner (Buzkan, 2016). For instance, by analyzing historical data on employee performance and comparing it to the description of a new project, the system may advise on the qualities and qualifications that are recommended for a given venture (Buzkan, 2016). These powerful features of modern HR information systems may help act on available data and make the most appropriate decisions.

Competitive Advantage

MTC is a small to mid-size business (SMB), which means the competition is stiff. The company does not have resources to compete with large enterprises like HP but should ensure that it has an advantage over SMB consulting firms. MTC can make its employees a competitive edge by hiring top talent from both local and international markets. Having an appropriate IT solution for the hiring process will allow the business to accept applications from remote locations, which means improved access to the job market. Reducing the hiring time will enable MTC to deliver skilled consultants to its clients more quickly, which will contribute to the reputation of the company.

Strategic Objectives

The following table provides a more detailed overview of strategic objectives and how the new hiring system will contribute to each goal:

Strategic Goal (from the case study)	Objective (clear, measurable and time-bound)	Explanation (2-3 sentences)
Increase MTC Business Development by winning new contracts in the areas of IT Consulting	Increase MTC staff by 75 employees in the next 60 days after the system is implemented and integrated.	MTC is expected to win new contracts very soon, and it will require additional 75 employees to serve these projects. Within the current business environment, MTC’s consultants need to be on-site within 60 days of signing the contract. Because there is a strong likelihood of winning a another contract in the coming months, the system should be implemented and integrated by the beginning of the upcoming projects and deliver the required number of employees within 60 days.
Build a cadre of consultants internationally to provide remote research and analysis support to MTC’s onsite teams in the U. S.	Increase international recruiting efforts and employ 5 research analysts in the next 12 months.	The new hiring system would allow applicants from around the world to apply online, increasing the number of international candidates. It would enable the recruiters to carefully monitor the applications for these positions, identify the necessary research and analysis skills needed, and screen resumes for these key skills. Recruiters could quickly view the number of applicants and identify when additional recruiting efforts are needed to meet the objective.
Continue to increase MTC’s ability to quickly provide high quality consultants to awarded contracts to best serve the clients’ needs	Reduce the hiring time by 20%	Currently employed manual process of hiring employees is inefficient as it is not possible to streamline the recruitmentpipeline. With the IT solution, the HR department will reduce the hiring time by 20% because many of the processes like interview scheduling, resume screening, and onward delivery to the higher-level managers will be fully or partially automated.
Increase MTC’s competitive advantage in the IT consulting marketplace by increasing its reputation for having IT consultants who are highly skilled in leading edge technologies and innovative solutions for its clients	At least 50% of new hires the company makes by the end of the year are senior consultants. Decrease consultation team availability on-site from 60 days to 30 days.	An information system frees the company from being bound to offline and local job posting platforms. By advertising a job opening to both international and interstate markets, MTC increases its chances to reach highly-skilled talent. The goal is to ensure that at least half of the new hires the company makes by the next year are senior consultants. It will ensure that clients receive support from qualified employees, which will boost MTC’s reputation on the market. Furthermore, the information system will allow the HR department to quickly fill the vacant positions on a need basis, which will ensure that consultants start a client’s project within 30 days of signing the contract. While other companies offer project initiation within 60 days, MTC will beat the competition by giving much more beneficial terms for clients.

Decision Making

To achieve organizational goals, all types of managers need to make informed and correct decisions. The following table describes how the hiring system will help with the decision-making process on each level:

Role	Level as defined in Course Content Reading	Example of Possible Decision Supported by Hiring System	Example of Information the Hiring System Could Provide to Support Your Example Decision
Senior/Executive Managers (Decisions made by the CEO and the CFO at MTC supported by the hiring system.)	Strategic Level	Whether or not to bid for a particular type of project	Number of employees with appropriate qualifications
Middle Managers (Decisions made by the Director of HR and the Manager of Recruiting supported by the hiring system.)	Managerial Level	Whether or not to increase recruiting efforts in a particular region	Number of applicants per each region
Operational Managers (Decisions made by the line managers in the organization who are hiring for their projects supported by the hiring system.)	Operational Level	Whether or not to hire recent graduates	Availability of skilled candidates, average salary expectation of a skilled candidate

References

Bourgeois, D. T. (2014). Information systems for business and beyond. Saylor Academy.

Buzkan, H. (2016). The role of human resource information system (HRIS) in organizations: A review of literature. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 5(1), 133-138. Web.