Atlantic Computer Case - Customer Segments, Needs & Competitors

Atlantic Computer Case Study

Part 1 – Customer Segments, Needs & Competitors

Team Four Forces

Submitted October 1, 2013

Purpose & Assumptions

The purpose of this stage of the analysis of the Atlantic Computer case is to understand the product that Atlantic is preparing to put some marketing dollars into to try to win new sales in the “basic” server market, currently dominated by a competitor, and to whom that product should be targeted. By comparing mass vs. targeted marketing, our team has looked at what type of market segmentation is necessary to strike a chord with customers with this revised product offering. In the analysis, the team seeks to understand the needs of the target customers in order to recommend the most effective marketing strategy. Furthermore, doing research on the competitive environment will lead to a more thorough foundation from which we will devise further analyses in future assignments.

Some assumptions had to be made about the product, the customers, and the competitive environment. Listed below are these assumptions.

Product

* The Tronn server itself is untouched in the new bundled package with the PESA software that enhances performance. PESA is the only change from the existing Tronn offering.

* Installing PESA has no other side effects on the hardware of the Tronn server that would denigrate performance in some other respect not covered in the case (e.g. high CPU usage leading to early hardware failure, PESA uses so much RAM that other programs cannot perform efficiently, etc.).

Customers

* No market research performed on whether customers are demanding a product like PESA, thus we assume a need has been defined and that current software is not meeting the needs of those potential customers.

* Performance matters to the customers (i.e. faster is better), and customers prefer the latest performance-enhancement software over proven reliability on existing (slower) servers.

* Customers on a budget...