At the start of project week, people were put into teams. Team work is a very valuable experience, as it formulates a unique set of strength, weaknesses, experiences and mind frames at the table each time. This group consisted of Nick, Daryl, Bright, Fancy, Sisi, Pani and myself. For the first two days, the team focused on disrupting the market using the same organization as the marketing assignment. This was problematic as Dominos are a market giant and are ticking all the boxes in terms of innovation , so finding a niche to disrupt the fast food industry proved to be too difficult.

The team started to discuss alternative ideas, a strength of the team was the ability to go back to the drawing board and listen to everyone's insight.  It seemed to be difficult for the team to specify which market to target, how it was going to be disrupted, what product/service(s) would be used. There was no niche or unique selling point specified, clarity was lacking as to what exactly was going to disrupt what market. This lead to the discussion of apps, technology was and still is a main disrupter to the way in which things are done, the internet being an example of this. 

First, the target market was child care, this seemed to be a good opportunity to use as a target, as the pace of innovation is very slow. Technology has a very limited presence in this field. Inspired by other apps such as TripAdvisor, the app would offer peer reviewed child minders, a profile stating qualifications such as the ability and experience to deal with children with special needs, ratings, reviews and distance offering assurance and practicality to parents. This app would allow users to upload photos, as well as share positive and negative insight.

The app would disrupt the market by digitalizing child care services making start up cheaper, easier and faster, as well as sharing those benefits with the target market. It would gain market shares as well as create entirely new shares in the market via digitalization. The app would force the other businesses within the childcare industry to innovate, to win back shares in the market and to stay current.

Unfortunately, the team discovered an app like this already existed. So now it was a matter of implementing the same concept and principles, to a different industry. The team agreed upon the beauty industry. The unique selling point would be culture, allowing the app to create a competitive advantage by offering bilingual services to consumers. The app would target freelancers in the beauty industry, as well as consumers. Professionals would need job security, so an online calendar allowing them to fully control their bookings was agreed upon. The app would also require professionals to have insurance, so that legalities would be upon them.

Business owners would contact relative governing bodies, to implement appropriate legislation. Since the business wouldn’t be dealing with clients directly, the business would need to ensure freelancers knew the legislation, any problems then would fall on the freelancer and be trialed on an individual basis; consumer and professional. 

A HR department would be needed to certify authenticity of documents such as identity, insurance and qualifications of those intending to promote themselves via the app. HR would need to deal with accounts and employees. Health and safety legislation would need to be implemented also. A software technician would be needed to create and maintain the app, as well as a bilingual speaker to be able to translate with more accuracy then automation. 

The app would use digitalization to disrupt the beauty industry by offering faster, cheaper, easier and more tailored products and services to the consumer from their own home. The beauty industry would need to respond to counteract the loss in sales revenue and the risk of closures and lost partnerships/sponsors.

The individuals in the team brought different strengths to the table. Nick, was very quick in spotting any potential problems in formatting things, ensuring things followed a structure. He created the presentation and took the initiative to find statistical data needed for the app. Daryl was a good team leader, ensuring all team members felt heard and in blending ideas. He was good at squashing any discrepancies and remained open minded towards the direction of the app. Bright was good at offering a cultural perspective and one of a bilingual speaker, Fancy and Sisi also offered the same qualities which are vital to the core of the app being culture. Pani, she is good at researching and finding specifics of any questions the group had and also offered a different cultural and bilingual perspective to the app. She is very organized and motivated to ensure the app was of highest standard. The team integrated their skills well after day 3.