New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission Mandates New Information System In Taxis, Essay.

Cabbies Concerned About System Tracking and Cost

New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission has mandated that alt licensed city cab owners install new information systems in their cabs. The new state-of-the-art system connects the cabs to a wireless data network. The new system will not be used for dispatching cabs (most New York City cabs are hailed from the curb) but will provide text messages informing cabbies of nearby opportunities. It includes global positioning system technology that provides an interactive map that passengers can use to see their current location, destination, and routes. The new system will allow customers to pay via credit card, and will provide music and other forms of entertainment. The system also automates the process of keeping business records of fares and trips and spits out receipts for customers; cabbies will no longer need to maintain records with pencil and paper.

Sounds like a win-win situation, right? Many of the cabbies don't agree. They are concerned that the GPS system will track their movements after hours. About 85 percent of New York City cabbies are independent contractors who own their cab and use it for their personal transportation while off duty. They are also upset about the $1,300 that they need to pay for the system and a five percent required fee for every credit card transaction made by their customers. Mostly, they are upset that they were not a part of the decision and design process that led to the citywide mandate. In a headline-making move, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents 10,000 of the city's 13,000 cabbies, called a two-day strike to pressure the city to rethink its new system.
Unfortunately, the strike had little effect as many cabbies stayed on duty, unable to afford the time off of work.

The city is moving forward with the deployment of the new cab information system. It has justified the expense to the cab drivers by pointing out the increase of cab fares over the past two years that doubled driver wages to $28 an hour on average; an increase that was imposed with promises to customers for better service and in-cab technologies.

New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission versus the New York Taxi Workers Alliance provides several lessons about business interactions and information systems. Today's businesses have an incredible amount of pressure on them to implement the latest and smartest technologies and information systems. Often it is a business's information system that gives a business an important advantage over its competition. The City of New York no doubt feels pressure to provide visitors and locals with high-quality service and smooth running transportation systems. If it fails in this regard, visitors and locals may begin to find other cities more attractive to visit and reside in. Information systems also allow businesses to operate more efficiently and effectively. The new system for New York City cabs ultimately saves drivers and passengers time and energy.

Finally, this story illustrates a resistance to change that is often experienced when implementing sweeping new information systems in large businesses and organizations. Many businesses today are revamping entire corporate systems and investing in retraining employees and winning them over to the new system. This is an integral and challenging part of new system implementation. So should you visit New York City anytime soon, and experience the cool technology built into the cabs, remember the struggle that went into bringing this new system to life, and give your driver a generous tip

Questions:

1) Explain in your own words the capabilities of the software. Have there been any success stories of companies using it? Are there similar products from competitors and how do these compare as far as capabilities are concerned?

2) Give an overview of E-commerce, M-commerce and E-business. Discuss how companies that work using the E-business model can obtain a competitive advantage in relation to traditional businesses. Explain how traditional companies can implement the E-business model while keeping their traditional status. Also discuss how a traditional business can fully convert to an E-Business (dropping its traditional status). Analyse the benefits of Ecommerce for the customers of such business.

3) Read the case study for Assignment 2 and answer the following:

1. What were the concerns of the New York City cabbies over the new use of the new system?Were their concerns justified and why or why not?
   
   
2. If you were the manager of the New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission, what would you have done to create a smoother transition to the new system?
   
   
3. Many cabbies expressed the opinion that the technology being installed in their cabs was inevitable, no matter what their opinion. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?
   
   
4. As a customer of a cab service, would you appreciate the benefits provided by the new system in New York City? Would it help provide you with a favourable view of the city in general? List the benefits and provide your view of each.

Cabbies Concerned About System Tracking and Cost

The selected software is the SIMANTIC IT Preactor APS can be defined as the type of software which are used for the purpose of planning the production and scheduling all the essential aspects of different medium, large and smaller sized business organizations. Advanced mathematic algorithm and used for the calculation and analysis of the production modules considering the constraints and variables used in the projects. Values can be generated with the help of this software considering multiple scenarios. Any changes to the planning schedule can be manage in an effective manner with the help of this software. The software is also very much useful in enhancing the efficiency and productivity of the business organizations. Time frame for each of the business unit of the production houses of the business organizations can be managed and edited according to the needs and requirements of the project with the help of this advanced software. The specifications of this advanced scheduling software can be entirely customized according to the needs and requirements of its users which makes this a very user-friendly software. This software is very much compatible with different categories of information systems such as the enterprise resource planning, forecasting, data collection, demand planning and OEE applications. This professional tool is primarily used in the manufacturing industries for scheduling the operations as well as scheduling the equipment’s used in the machines (Cats and Loutos 2016). Services and logistics of the manufacturing industries are the prime area of this tool. The stakeholders associated with the business as well as the available resources of this organization can be managed entirely with the help of this business software. The configuration of this software can be entirely customized in this tool as required in the business organizations. Every business aspect of the enterprise can be entirely managed with the help of this scheduling tool. The unnecessary business aspects of the organizations which is a serious concern regarding the future of the business.

Most of the manufacturing industries all around the world use this scheduling tool to manage their business processes. The business organizations who enjoyed the benefits of this software are Cosworth Racing which is one of the most popular enterprise in racing industry which was founded in the year 1958, Wall Colony Ltd which is a type of metal joining industry, NPIL pharma which an evolving business in UK, Canada and India. Several other manufacturing industries have been using this software in their business environments.

City Justifies Expense by Upholding Driver Wages Increase

The competitors of the manufacturing industries uses a wide range of tools which can be used for scheduling the business processes such as the production scheduling software, Synchro PRO which can categorize the deliverables in the project, Infor visual for scheduling the business process starting from the collection of raw materials to distribution of goods and service to the consumers, Cloud DISPATCH which is useful to manage the scheduling in the manufacturing industry and the data which are managed can be stored effectively with the help of the cloud computing technology. Spoon-fed is a category of project scheduling software used by renowned Aptus System which helps them in managing their backend operations and delivery, planning, reporting and electronic marketing. Every industry has to deal with the challenges faced by their clients in a useful manner and Clarity software is very much used to deal with both project scheduling and the managing the stock and deliverables used in the projects.

The capability of the SIMANTIC IT Preactor APS and other kinds of tools are completely different from each other as each software have its own uniqueness and as well as strength and weakness. The application of this kinds of tools which are used for planning the production and scheduling depends upon the needs and requirements of the business organizations. The user friendliness and compatibility are the primary differences between these kinds of software. The cloud-based systems are interestingly been used in most of the business organizations. However, the capabilities of these software are almost the same which is to plan the production and scheduling process of business organization, the size of the production and quantity of products and service are important factors while choosing this kind of tools for business organizations.

The following table will be useful to understand the overview of the three different internet-based services.

Table 1: Overview of internet-based services

(Source: Created by the author)

The business organizations using the e-business model have a competitive advantage compared with the traditional businesses as the models can be applied to understand each functionality associated with the departments of the business. New technologies and market strategies can be implemented in a better way with the help of the e-business models (Bao et al. 2016). There are four different types of e-business models framing the concept of electronic business such as the value proposition, sources of venue and requirement of activities, capabilities and resources. Each department in the business can implement this model. corporate strategies can be implemented in the working environment of the business. The mission and vision of the organization can be attained with the help of the electronic business strategies (Bhowmik 2017). The business opportunities can be identified in a useful way with the help of the electronic business concept, thus helping the business organizations to provide good quality products and services to the clients of the organization. The new sources of revenue can be also identified in a better way after the application of the electronic business models. Regulation of the pricing of the products and services according to the market conditions can be done in a useful way with the help of the electronic business models (Brandstätter et al. 2016). The potential risks associated with the products such as the availability of the raw materials, costs associated with the production units, sales and marketing challenges, maintaining customer relationship can be managed according to the requirements and need of the organization with the help of the electronic business models as compared with the conventional business models which are getting outdated every passing day.

Advantages of Implementing New Information Systems in Large Businesses and Organizations

The other most significant impact of the electronic business model in the business organizations is the management of the value proposition which involves the reduction in prices of the commodities used in the production units, improved service and convenience provided to the customer and efficiency and productivity of the stakeholders associated with the organization. Integration of systems inside or outside the organization can be done with the help of the electronic business models and all of these discussed factors helps in providing the competitive advantage to the organization compared to the other rival business organizations.

Implementation of the e-business model is very important for the traditional business organizations as they need to ensure that their existing infrastructure is not affected after the integration of this model (Faghih-Imani et al. 2017). The following paragraph will focus on the successful integration of the e-business model in the global corporations.

Step 1: Setting the stage: The organizational objectives should be properly aligned considering the existing infrastructures. The successful implementation of a new business plan should be based and compatible with the traditional business practices of the business organizations.

Step 2: Discovery: The current market trends considering the product and service provided by the corporations should be understood and the future trends are also needed to be pre-analyzed (Feng and Ouyang 2016). The ideas used by the market competitors should be evaluated.

Step 3: Conversion: The innovative business ideas should be put into practice and test evaluation should be conducted considering any specific unit of the business organization (Khedkar et al. 2017). Based on the report coming from the project manager of that unit, the plan can be fully implemented in the organization.

The traditional business processes can be converted into electronic business with the help of the following steps:

• Strategic planis need so that the efficiency and productivity of the organization are not compromised (Modak et al. 2016). The variables associated with the business process such as the suppliers of the technology and equipment’s.
• The supply chain footprintshould be placed in the right direction considering all the probable foot prints, all the inbound and outbound logistics are considered before bringing the desired change.
• Professional layoutof the structure of the organization should be maintained in the first place so that the stakeholders can get used to the proposed change (Lin, Tian and Wang 2018). All the business partners should be knowing about the changes.
• The change should be a two-way plan. The primary plan should be considered in a small business unit and evaluation of the change should be well documented and reviewed by expert professional, based on the reports the plan can be implemented in the rest of the organization.

There are different categories of e-commerce for their consumers such as the followings:

• Wide range of productsis available 24 hours a day with the convenience of online payment options.
• Orders can be placed with the help of a mobile device with an active internet connection only.
• It saves the moneywhich is given to the distributors in-case of an offline store.
• It saves valuable time for the consumers as they can order their desired product from any location.
• It is easier to compare similar productsin the e-commerce business which are not possible in the traditional business stores.
• Consumers can review the productsand help the future consumers to understand about the quality of product and service offered to them.
• Discount bonusescan be applied by the consumers during the discount offers and festive seasons.

a) The main concerns of the cabbies of New York City is the tracking of their after-hour movements with the help of the GPS facility as most of the cabbies use the vehicle for personal use after their shift timings. The payment which they have to pay for the new system is also a source of concern for them. The other concern is the 5% discounts which has to be provided to the credit card holders. These decisions were made without involving them, hence a complicated situation arrived for them which led to the call a two-day strike.

The concern of the cab drivers of New York City were justified. Most of the New York City cabbies are independent contractors who own their cab, and the incorporation of the GPS service have restricted their privacy after the office hours. The benefits which are given to the credit card holders also have a negative impact on the income of the cab drivers, even the payment of $1300 which they have to pay to install the new system is a big concern for them. Hence, it can be said that their concerns were justified.

b) Maintaining professionalism in the transition time and motivating the cab drivers to understand the business perspective of the new system are the two prime managerial activity which could have been done in order to avoid the two-day strike. Implementation of a new system in a working environment have a couple of challenges associated with it, the management of the resistance to change is one of those challenges. Being the manager of the New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission the first thing I would have done is to call a close door meeting between the prime stakeholders of the commission and a team of cab drivers from different regions of the city. At the same time, I could have also considered the opinion of few of the regular commuters of the New York City cabs as they could have also provided us their opinion about the integration of the new system. I would have let them understand the importance of the installation of the new systems and asks for their suggestions regarding the implementation plan. Involving them in the procedure would have solve half of the problem which aroused in the later stages. All the risks associated with the implementation could have been identified with in the first place with the help of my project management skill.

c) Yes, I completely agree with their assessment. The requirements and the needs of the consumers of the transportation industry is also changing just like the other industries. The extensive development in the field of information technology has resulted in the incorporation of new and advanced information systems in public transport vehicles. The increasing demands of the client are being fulfilled by the smart technologies. The installation of the in-cab technologies saw huge business profits for the drivers. The business operations are managed professionally with the help of the advanced technologies. The expense of the cab drivers was also increasing each day, so the cabbies of New York City knew that the incorporation of the new system was inevitable.

Following the current trend as stated in the paper it can be said that the cabbies were right about the installation of the new system, as the necessary changes were needed to increase the existing services that were provided to the clients before the incorporation of the advanced technologies.

d) As a customer of a cab service in New York City, I would have clearly appreciated the benefits which I’m supposed to get after the incorporation of the new system. First of all, the discount bonus of 5% on the overall fare would have a great thing for me as I’m a credit card holder for many years now. Secondly, I would have got all the new services coming from the implementation of the new system such as watching my favorite videos online, tracking all the good restaurants which will be falling on my way towards the destination and online payment gateways would have been hugely beneficial for me as well.

The incorporation of the new systems would have been very much useful for me, as the technology would help me out whatever I was looking for in the city. Both locals as well as tourists, can now have a favorable view of the city.

The benefits of the new system along with my opinions are as followings:

• Time: Time of the commuters will be saved to a huge extent as cabs can be pre-booked on our chosen destination.
• GPS: Location, destination, routes can be tracked and managed.
• Transactions: Discounts in the credit card transactions will be beneficial for me.
• Video Playing: I believe that these entertainment factors can prove to be an excellent strategy from a business perspective.

References

Bao, J., Li, R., Yi, X. and Zheng, Y., 2016, October. Managing massive trajectories on the cloud. In Proceedings of the 24th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (p. 41). ACM.

Bhowmik, S., 2017. A Study on Feasibility and Impact of Radio Taxi and App-Based Vehicle Model in Mumbai & Bangalore Market. AADYA-Journal of Management and Technology (JMT), 7, pp.21-28.

Brandstätter, G., Gambella, C., Leitner, M., Malaguti, E., Masini, F., Puchinger, J., ... & Vigo, D. (2016). Overview of optimization problems in electric car-sharing system design and management. In Dynamic perspectives on managerial decision making (pp. 441-471). Springer, Cham.

Cats, O. and Loutos, G., 2016. Real-time bus arrival information system: an empirical evaluation. Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, 20(2), pp.138-151.

Faghih-Imani, A., Anowar, S., Miller, E.J. and Eluru, N., 2017. Hail a cab or ride a bike? A travel time comparison of taxi and bicycle-sharing systems in New York City. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 101, pp.11-21.

Feng, H. and Ouyang, W., 2016, July. Research on the Dilemma of Taxi Management in China from the Perspective of Game Theory. In 2016 2nd International Conference on Social Science and Higher Education. Atlantis Press.

Khedkar, S., Tolani, K., Barapatre, A., Karkhanis, V. and Pherwani, N., 2017. Taxi Fleet Management System. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 8(1).

Lin, Z., Tian, J. and Wang, F., 2018, January. Trade-off Between Benefits and Safety Consideration: The Decision-making Process of Beijing Taxi Drivers. In 2018 Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.

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).