SMS Traffic Jam Alert for Drives Across UAE

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Executive Summary

This report provides a detailed plan to introduce an SMS traffic jam alert for drives across the UAE. It seeks to use modern HD cameras and movement detectors to collect data concerning the traffic jams. As such, the data will be sent to the clients upon request through the service providers. After the evaluation of the market situation and SWOT analysis, the report identifies radio stations as the major threat because they provide the information for free. However, the threat is not intense because the information is not customized and reliable. On the other hand, the SMS alert is customized, quick, and efficient to use. As such, it has great potential to generate profit, especially at a time when traffic jams have become a major concern. Importantly, the service will be marketed using text messages, which can reach many people within a very short period of time. As such, it is expected to meet overwhelming applause from the general public and other stakeholders.

Current Market Situation

Market Problem

Traffic jam has become one of the most problematic challenges as far as the economy of UAE is concerned (Hazbun 78). For example, the Sharjah-Dubai Etihad road experiences critical and massive congestion starting from Alkan Bridge (Elsheshtawy 167). Indeed, traffic jams have important economic impacts on the individual and national-wide economic stability. Understandably, traffic consumes critical and resourceful time for employees going to work and the businessmen seeking to handle their daily chores (Davidson 138). Furthermore, the traffic jams pose a critical problem to the public transport system because they have to wait until the congestions are eliminated. As such, they lead to significant macro and micro-economic losses across the country.

Market Need

Due to the prevalence of the above problem, there is a high need to develop a system that can solve this problem and enable people to get their way without encountering traffic jams. In this case, the urgent need to avoid jams along the roads provides a high market for an SMS alert service that can help drivers to spot congestion. However, the only available services include the announcement made on the radios concerning the congested roads. However, the schedule of the announcements is determined by the radio presenters. This implies that the drivers cannot access the information at the time they need it. As such, the market can absorb the SMS alert service because it closes this gap. Evidently, drivers can request a report on the traffic congestion around the country at will. As a result, it is a better alternative when compared to the existing services offered.

Market Description

Customer Base

The customer base for the traffic jam SMS alert service is quite extensive, especially when it comes to the entire UAE. As such, the customer base includes citizens who own a vehicle. In that regard, they drive their vehicles in the morning and the evenings to meet deadlines and get home early. In that regard, they need an SMS alert plan to inform them about the congestion in various parts of the road network so that they can choose their routes wisely.

Segmentation

Whereas the customer base includes all people who own vehicles, it can be segmented into four distinct groups. The three groups include the business people who drive to meet their deadlines and appointments. The second segment includes employees who have to report to work early in the morning and drive back home early. Indeed, this segment includes governments’ officials and other personnel serving in public offices. The third segment is comprised of public service vehicles they provide citizens with transportation services across the UAE. The last segmentation can be termed as others. These include people driving along the roads such as students and driving schools.

Features and Benefits of the Service and Segments Needs

Features of The Service

The traffic jam SMS alert service basically seeks to use mobile technology to provide the necessary information on congestion in the UAE. As a result, the service will be using one of the most efficient technologies in the world, bearing in mind the ease of accessing information using mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Another important feature is that the SMS alert service will be using the same mobile devices to release payments. This is based on the fact that mobile communication is connected to service providers who can allow the charges upon request.

Benefits of the Service

There are various benefits of the SMS alert plan as far as the traffic jam avoidance is concerned. First, the SMS alert system will help drivers to avoid traffic jams and choose alternative routes if they need to make such decisions. Secondly, the use of mobile technology is very efficient when it comes to both operation and payments. Indeed, using the alert service will not need the clients to obtain additional gadgets to receive the information or release the payments. As such, it becomes very efficient to operate, join and pay the charges required.

Segments Needs

There are various needs required by the customers’ segments when it comes to the provision of this service. First, all the segments need accurate information at all times. Indeed, the credibility of this service is measured by the question of whether it is reliable or not. As such, this implies that all the traffic jams alerts must reflect the accurate situation of congestion at the time of the request. The second customers’ need is efficiency and time consciousness. In this case, traffic jams keep on changing from time to time. In that regard, therefore, the customers need instant responses once they send their request to get information about the congestion status of a given road.

Service Review

Basically, the SMS alert system that seeks to use short message services to provide information to drivers concerning traffic jams in UAE. It provides such information to registered members who have subscribed and agreed to the terms and conditions of the service provision. As stated before, it used mobile technology in order to ensure the efficiency of making the requests. In addition, the charges are deducted from the airtime as provided by the service provider.

Competitive Review

The competition that might face the SMS alert system is essentially very weak currently. According to the market situation analysis, it was indicated that the only existent similar service is provided by the radio stations. In this case, for example, Dubai uses the radio stations to ensure that driver get information about the congestion along the roads. Further, it was evident that the provision of information is essentially unreliable. This unreliability is caused by the fact that the radio presenters make the decision on the time to make the announcement. In addition, they are the ones who choose the roads and areas to focus on. As such, the information is general because it is not customized to serve the immediate need of the customer. Further, the services are not provided by all the radio services due to the differences that arise when it comes to management.

Channel and Logistics Review

Service Providers

In order to facilitate the operation and success of the SMS traffic jam alerts, the entity will work with the service providers. The service providers have direct contact with mobile phone owners and subscribers. As a result, they will facilitate the sending of the message once the clients make the request. As such, the SMS alert service will require the client to be registered with an operating service provider in UAE. The SMS alert system will secure a USSD code from all the service providers in UAE so that the clients can dial it to follow the necessary steps.

Data Collection

The traffic jam and congestion information will be collected using HD cameras anchored in the roads. The cameras will have the night-vision capability so as to capture the situation. However, the night vision camera can be incapable of providing reliable information due to darkness. As such, movement detectors will be used during the night to determine the situation as far as the jam is concerned. The movement detectors will be used to measure the number of vehicles that pass through a range of distance per every ten minutes. This will help to determine whether there is congestion or not. This information will be sent to a surveillance centre. The database can be used to send information upon request by the clients through the service providers.

Sample of Competitive Service and Pricing

Indeed, it has been stated that the competition is not as such intense due to the reasons that were provided in a competitive review. Indeed, the flaws and the unreliability of the radio stations cannot warrant their services intense financial impact. However, it cannot be ignored based on the exaggeration of its weaknesses and the ignorance of its benefits. As such, the SWOT analysis will provide critical information concerning potential threats and weaknesses to form the basis of improvement. As such, the analysis of alternative services and their corresponding pricing does not arise, in this case. The pricing of the SMS alert service will be based on the three subscriptions, including the Pay-Per-Request, weekly and monthly plan as shown in this table.

Subscription Plan	Cost
Pay-Per-Request	4 AED/Message
Weekly Plan	3.5 AED/Message
Monthly Plan	3 AED/Message

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

In the service review and description, it is evident that the SMS alert service has various critical strengths. First, the service uses current mobile technology to relay information to the clients. In this case, almost all drivers and people in UAE own mobile phones. In addition, they subscribe to a service provider to enhance information. As such, the technical logistics are set because the systems of service providers are already working, and the mobile phones are available.

As such, there will be very minimal technical installation to facilitate the operation of the service. The second strength arises from the fact that mobile technology will facilitate efficiency especially when it comes to responsiveness. In this case, the request will be made using the mobile phones and the responses will be provided automatically using the service provides from the database. Third, the service uses very reliable and automated system to collect information from the field. As stated before, there will be camera installations around the country in order to collect information about the jam and congestions. In addition to this, the cameras will be installed with night vision capability to ensure that the information is available in the database 24 hours in a day and it is available in real time.

Weaknesses

Whereas the system has benefits that are beyond reproach, it is not without defects that can reduce its functionality. Fundamentally, the service relies on the service providers to relay information to the clients. As such, the service will require the third party to provide the information collected. As such, it is subjected to the efficiency of the service providers. If the service providers experience difficulties or technological failures, the service will be affected significantly. However, this does not affect the service providers because they are only facilitators. In addition, this condition implies that it is impossible to have absolute control when it comes to the operation of the system entirely. As such, it becomes very disadvantageous especially if the service providers wish to explore the business.

Opportunities

There is one critical opportunity that has emerged in UAE as far as the SMA alert service is concerned. Indeed, UAE is affected by the congestion and traffic jams nationwide. As such, there is the need to provide an easy solution to this menace and enable people to evade the congestion. If a solution emerges, it will be taken with a lot of enthusiasm by the stakeholders and clients. With this urgent need, the SMS alert system will flourish over a very small period of time. The second opportunity is the fact that the traffic jams in UAE are not going to find a lasting solution very soon. This is based on the idea that most roads are quite big and multilane, but they have not yet solved the problem. As such, finding a permanent solution will take substantial time. Further, the issue of finding an absolute solution for a traffic jam is still debatable.

Threats

One of the major threats to this service is the provision of similar service by the radio stations for free. Although the previous competitive analysis indicated that the services might not pose intense rivalry due to unreliability, the fact that they are offered for free might present a better alternative. The second threat is found in the fact that the government might find a solution to the problem either by expanding the roads or stipulating policies that can reduce congestion. This would eliminate the SMS alert services completely and lead to loss of business.

Objective and Issues

The objective of this service is to help drivers to avoid traffic jams and reach their destination on time. As such, it seeks to provide a crucial business solution to businessmen and the entire economy. However, it is surrounded by one issue that cannot be ignored. This issue emerges from the fact that the service does not seek to solve the problem of congestion. It just helps people to avoid the problem and achieve their desired results despite the traffic jam. However, it will help to reduce the congestion although the effect will be insignificant.

Marketing Strategy

Positioning

Before the implementation of this a market research will be conducted to identify the other specific needs of customers. This research will be conducted using SMS facilitated by the service providers. The clients will be questioned as to whether they would need to receive SMS alerts for traffic jams. As such, the analysis will show the viability of the service and the possible changes that can be made. Importantly, the market will be segmented in terms of the seven emirates. As such, this will help to ease the operation and bulk of the messages.

Service Strategy

The service will make use of technology to ease the operational needs, collect information and communicate to clients. As such, this will ensure that the service is aligned to the technological level of the modern world. Indeed, the use of mobile technology will ensure that the clients operate efficiently and receive information timely.

Marketing Communication Strategy

As part of the market communication strategy, the service will use the short messages to promote the service to the citizenry. As such, advertisement messages will be used to inform and persuade customers to use the services. The advertisement information will be attached at the end of the system messages sent by the service providers when clients are checking airtime balance.

Marketing organization

Since the service is being introduced in the market and most of the advertisement is done by the service providers, the organization will be simply structured. It will be structured horizontally to incorporate four personnel that include Communication Director, PR Manager, the service strategy director, and Alliance Manager who will help to liaise with the service providers.

Marketing Action Programs

Activity	Time	Executer	Goal
Preparation for a Launch	1 week	Service Strategy director	To mark the commencement of the service and create a national awareness
Liaising with service providers to send promotional messages	2 days	Alliance manager	To send promotional messages informing citizens about the new service
Composing the promotion message and sending to service providers	1 day	Communication director	To develop a persuasive, brief, and informative message.
Engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility (Campaign against over-speeding)	2 days	PR Manager	To create a good corporate image of the service and identify with traffic problems

Budget

Activity	Cost
Business registration	1300 AED
Acquisition of Cameras and movement detectors	6700 AED
Promotional messages by service providers	700 AED
Setting a surveillance station	9700 AED

Controls

This service will be using customers’ feedback as the main controls to assess the performance of the service. As such, the feedbacks will be collected using online surveys and SMS messages sent by service providers after a period of two months. In addition, there will be a customer care number to collect complaints and compliments in case they arise. In the surveys, the customers will be required to rate the performance of the service based on efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness.

Social Responsibility Marketing

The service will promote two corporate social responsibilities in order to create a good image. First, it will attach default message persuading drivers to avoid over speeding. This message will come along with every message sent to the clients upon request for traffic jam conditions. Second, the service will be providing information about the legal speed set for every road in case the clients request for the information. The provision of this data concerning the legal speeds set for different roads will help drivers to avoid fines and will be provided for free.

Works Cited

Hazbun, Muhamad. Dubai, debt, and dependency the political and economic implications of the bailout of Dubai. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2011. Print.

Davidson, Cannetta. Dubai: the vulnerability of success. New York, Columbia University Press, 2008. Print.

Elsheshtawy, Yarveda. Dubai behind an urban spectacle. London, Routledge, 2010. Print.

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