Risk management plan for smartphone launch - T-smart 1 (TS1) Name: Thabit Atose Professor: Dr. Camelia Nistor Course: Event Planning Contents Introduction...............................................................................................................2 Safety and security measures.....................................................................................2 Security measures.................................................................................................3 Safety measures....................................................................................................4 Legal compliance for TS1 launch event....................................................................5 Efficient stakeholder management............................................................................6 Essential marketing and promotional strategies........................................................8 Marketing strategies..............................................................................................8 Social media......................................................................................................8 Developing a great website...............................................................................8 Making use of traditional media........................................................................8 Promotional strategies...........................................................................................9 Making use of high caliber individuals.............................................................9 Cause related promotion....................................................................................9 Conclusion.................................................................................................................9 References...............................................................................................................10 Introduction T smart is a start-up company developed by Thabit Atose and his close friends. The company is involved with technological products that include Feature phones, Smartphones, tablets and the internet of things. We are tasked with launching a new smartphone called the T-Smart 1 or TS1, and we have to create an integrated risk management plan for the launch event. Since this is our first device launch, we want to make sure that everything goes perfect and therefore minimize any risk that we could possibly face, as much as possible. Regardless of how easy a business decision looks, it has to involve some degree of risk. In this case we are launching a product, and we would like to make a great impression to the public and stakeholders at large, therefore we need to evade all risks that can be incurred at the launch event. In order to start this essay, I would like to define risk. According to Carl L. Pritchard, risk management can be defined as a way of management that focuses on pointing out and controlling the areas or events that have the potential of creating a bigger problem in the future and it is more related to informed management (Carl L. Pritchard, 2015)1. In this essay I would talk about details including safety and security measures, legal compliance, how we will deal with our stakeholders efficiently, and essential marketing and promotion strategies amongst other things. People do not realize how important it is to make an integrated risk management plan for the present and future events that you might hold, instead they wait till the risk has turned into a full blown crisis before trying to find a solution. In this essay I will discuss my integrated risk management plan and also take into account some extra details that can be necessary in case future events unfold. Safety and security measures No matter how small or large an event is, it is the responsibility of the event planners to make sure that the audience is safe at all times. This is why taking safety and security measures before an event proceeds, is the most important aspect of a risk management plan. 1 Carl L. Pritchard, 2015 Risk management concept and guidance In this case, our event consists of a large amount of people (500-1000) that include Journalists, Technology experts, the media, potential customers and people who are interested in technology. Safety and security measures solely depend on the type of event that is taking place, but I have suggested a couple of points that are related to launch events and can be used for other events also. The following are security and safety measures that are necessary for our smartphone launch- Security measures o Controlling who can access the event- From a personal perspective, I think the first step that should be taken to secure a launch event is strictly controlling who can have access to it by making use of different techniques. First of all, anybody who wants to be part of the event has to sign up for it online. After signing up, we make use of an innovative approach since we are a technological company. This technological approach is one of two approaches we will use and immediately after signing up, we review your request within a day and send you an email containing an IR code and a link to download a mobile app. Once downloaded it is that code that will be scanned at the doors to allow access to the various rooms available. The second approach is necessary if you do not know how to use the IR technology, you just have to visit our office to get a badge that has an NFC tag embedded. This NFC tag serves as a key and will give you access to all the rooms available (How secure is your event: 10 measures to keep guests safe, 2011)2. o Searching people politely before entering the venue- searching people might be too much from the beginning but due to security concerns we have in modern times we want to make sure nothing slips pass the security. We will have 6 security guards at every room (3 male and 3 female guards) to search people. Any contraband will be taken and kept safely at a room. We believe that everyone has the right to do what he wants so the only thing forbidden in our venue is weapons, all the rest will be kept in a room and given back to the owners after the event. o Setting up surveillance in the event venue- Our Company is strictly against large scale surveillance as we believe everyone has the right to do what he/she wants to do. We are setting up surveillance in case anything 2 ZenArtshttp://www.zenartsla.com/secure-event-10-measures-guests-safe/ happens and nobody notices, we can easily refer to the security tapes and depending on the severity we hand them out to the police for further inspection. Taking this measures helps us look more tangible in the face of other people and will also help us getting sued due to negligence (10 physical security measures every organization should take, 2007)3. o Bouncers and patrollers- In case of a fight or any unpredictable event, we have to make sure there are people who can easily neutralize the situation before it escalates into a bigger situation so we are going to have bouncers strolling in the event to help with that. If any person acts erratically it is their responsibility to take him out immediately. o Close proximity to a police station- Our event venue is going to be located in close proximity to the law enforcement in case there is something that gets really out of control, we know where to go for help. Safety measures o Have an emergency kit that is easily accessible- Regardless of who you ask, they will tell you the first safety measure in an event is to make sure there are first aid kits available close to everyone. This is necessary in case of injuries so you know how to contain it before it gets out of hand (5 Essential Safety Measures for Event Planners)4. o Create a contingency plan- a contingency plan is necessary for an event planning company in case of a really serious crisis that could result in the end of the company or bankruptcy. A contingency plan is necessary if things don't go as well as you planned them to go. o Training our staff- The worst situation an event planning can find themselves in is when there is an emergency and the staff is not properly trained to handle them. This is why it is extremely important to train your staff properly to handle different types of situations when necessary. o Making emergency doors clear- you have to make the emergency exit obvious to everyone who is in attendance. In case of fire it is necessary to conduct a mini drill before the event begins to let the audience know where 3 TechRepublichttp://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-physical-security-measures-every-organizationshould-take/ 4 About.com Moneyhttp://eventplanning.about.com/od/eventplanningbasics/a/5-Essential-Safety-Measures-ForEvent-Planners.htm the exits are. It is also necessary to advise them not to use the elevator in case of an emergency and instead use the steps. The emergency doors must not have any distractions and they should be painted in red which is a color for alertness. Legal compliance for TS1 launch event For us to know the rules that we need to comply to for our event, we must explain what legal compliance means. Legal compliance according to Nitish Singh and Thomas J. Bussen can be explained as adhering to or conforming to the rules, regulations, standards and policies as provided by the Federal Government and the law (Nitish Singh and Thomas J. Bussen, 2015)5. Legal compliance is necessary for our event because we need to know the borders between right and wrong. Legal policies are constantly changing so we need to be constantly updating our company's policies. From our companies view, we have concluded that the following policies are necessary to followo License for the venue- The biggest mistake some event planning companies make, is renting an event and proceeding to conduct it without having a license. It is the most important aspect in making an event take place. As long as we are inviting people to come see our smartphone launch we must have a license to use the venue. Be it inside a hall or in an open space. Depending on the venue, if it doesn't have a correct license you can make use of a temporary license (Legal considerations when planning an event, 2011)6. o Health and safety requirements- for you to conduct an event without any troubles, there are certain health and safety requirements that are necessarily by the law. I have previously stated how it is necessary to have an emergency kit in the venue. This is necessary for us to have the license to 5 Nitish Singh and Thomas J. Bussen, 2015 compliance management 6 Anon, n.d. legal considerations when creating an event. [online] Available at: run the event in case anything bad happens. There are certain health and safety topics that should be answered before an event is materialized. o Complying with the predetermined noise level- The government of a country usually has a predetermined noise level that shouldn't be exceeded if you do not want to get in trouble with the law. Depending on the type of event (indoor or outdoor) you need to control the amount of noise. There are usually noise detectors that can detect how many decibels the event is making. When it gets too high you have to control it so it doesn't pollute the environment. o Parking- It is necessary to comply with the parking rules of the venue. For our smartphone launch, we are going to buy the whole parking space for a certain amount of money to let People Park freely for the amount of time it will run. This is a perk in such a way that more people would be inclined to attend the event as they do not want to pay the parking tickets. Instead of making people pay fines for not buying a parking ticket we would just rent the whole parking space. Efficient stakeholder management When it comes to an event, you must know how to deal with your stakeholders efficiently to avoid any risks that can be incurred. For me to delve into this topic I have to give a list of the relevant stakeholders for the TS1 launch evento o o o o o Journalists (the media) Technology reviewers Service and contract providers Transportation services Renting services Participants There is a standard method of efficiently managing your stakeholders and this can be done by making use of the process flow of stakeholder management. It is necessary to have a good relationship with all the stake holders in order to get what you want at the right moment. The following is an image that shows the process flow of stakeholder management- (Source: Stakeholder engagement: A road map to meaningful engagement)7 . The first thing to do is have a plan. A plan has to state the obvious objectives of what we went to achieve during our event. Our company wants to advertise indirectly so we have to make a deal with the media so that they highlight the major selling points of the TS1 smartphone. We also have to engage with the relevant stakeholders and not only the media. The second step involves understanding the stakeholders and what the both of us want. We have to understand each other wants and needs and identify how we correlate from there. If they want to be paid early we have to do that, and if we want our items to be delivered fast they have to comply. This is what understanding entails. In our case we would love all the items we need to be delivered in advance so we have to pay the necessary stakeholders quickly The third step is internal preparation and alignment and this involves reaching a win-win situation with all the relevant stakeholders. The fourth step is building trust and I believe that it is self-explanatory The fifth stage is consultation and from a personal perspective it involves being transparent with the stakeholders 7 Neil Jeffery. 2009. Stakeholder Engagement: A Road Map to Meaningful Engagement [ONLINE] Available at: ="http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/media/CR %20Stakeholder.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2016]. The sixth stage involves responding and implementing all the pre-determined objectives The final stage involves monitoring and evaluation. This is the most important aspect because it is a never ending process due to the fact that you have to keep an eye on how you are progressing with the stakeholders and evaluate it to make any necessary changes. It is important to report back any progress to the relevant stakeholders. Essential marketing and promotional strategies For people to know about our event we need to have standard and tangible marketing and promotional strategies that we can easily be adaptable depending on the situation. Marketing strategies This is the first time we hold a smartphone launch event so we need creative and innovative ways of marketing. The following are marketing strategies that will be used to let people know of the upcoming event- Social media It will be highly unlikely at this age to do any marketing without the help of social media. Most of the demographics that are interested in the TS1 smartphone are on social media and it will only service us good if we focus on them. In this case we are incorporating different social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and snapchat in order to pass a strong message to the public. Developing a great website The first thing that people care about when they search about the event is how good our website looks. The most important thing for us is to make our website highly visible when certain terms are searched. In this case we are making use of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the method in which you affect search results in a search engine (Wikipedia)8. By doing this, we know that the event is highly visible. 8 Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization Making use of traditional media We can't strike out the fact that people are still using traditional form of media at large so we have to focus on making adverts to cater to the people who are using. Promotional strategies It is not wise to stop at just marketing, you need to promote an event efficiently to be sure of getting more customers. The following are ways in which we will promote effectively- Making use of high caliber individuals We are going to promote our event by sending our smartphone to high caliber individuals in mobile technology field. These people will be able to review the smartphone and speak on how they feel about it from a personal perspective Cause related promotion Our company is a green company and we would like to donate 10% of all our profits to people affected by natural disasters which we assume is caused by global warming. When people see that we are an environmentally conscious company, they would love to endorse our products Conclusion In conclusion, I would like to state that it is really important for any business, not just an event planning business to focus on effective integrated risk management plan. This is due to the fact that no one knows about the future and as a company, a negligible mistake can turn into a full blown crisis. We hope to have a successful smartphone launch with all the risk that we have thought of and tried to solve. T-Smart 1. References Carl L. Pritchard, 2015 Risk management concept and guidance (E-book). ZenArts. 2016. How Secure is Your Event: 10 Measures to Keep Guests Safe - ZenArts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.zenartsla.com/secure-event10-measures-guests-safe/. [Accessed 31 May 2016]. TechRepublic. 2016. 10 physical security measures every organization should take - TechRepublic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-physical-security-measuresevery-organization-should-take/. [Accessed 31 May 2016]. About.com Money. 2016. 5 Essential Safety Measures for Event Planners. [ONLINE] Available at: http://eventplanning.about.com/od/eventplanningbasics/a/5-Essential-SafetyMeasures-For-Event-Planners.htm. [Accessed 31 May 2016]. Nitish Singh and Thomas J. Bussen, 2015 compliance management. Anon, n.d. legal considerations when creating an event. [online] Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?legal-considerations-when-planningevents&id=5930097 Neil Jeffery. 2009. Stakeholder Engagement: A Road Map to Meaningful Engagement [ONLINE] Available at: ="http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/media/CR %20Stakeholder.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2016]. "Search Engine Optimization". Wikipedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 31 May 2016