Classic Avanti sell classic and vintage Italian car parts and complete car restorations. They will also sometimes buy cars to disassemble for parts or to complete a restoration as a showcase of their skills. They have been in business for twenty years and have slowly been building the digital side of their business. The digital side started as an advertisement for the business but this has grown to the stage where they have an online store and beginning to generate income from their social media presence, with the owner ex-race car driver Bruce Allison celebrity status increasing. Members of the staff who are shown in the Instragram and FaceBook posts are also increasingly been recognised by the public. They have begun selling branded merchandise and have been approached by companies who wish to see their tools and equipment being used in Classic Avanti’s posts. It has reached the stage that approximately 40% of the business profit is being generated either online or by their social media posts.
They have two locations at present Brisbane and Melbourne, each with around 15 staff. Brisbane was the first location and has been head office however they have better access to second-hand parts and stronger local sales in Melbourne. They have had one part time IT support person currently relying on calling people in from local businesses to complete any necessary work. They have recently appointed an experienced social media manager who has doubled their following and increased sales by 20% in the last two months. There has been no strategic plan for the IT infrastructure with purchases made because salespeople came to the premises at the right time or on industry reporting of new developments. The manager in Melbourne Duilio Rossi, has come from a larger business and has stated he is not happy with the current IT infrastructure and feels that better systems would increase business efficiency. They have been approached by a streaming service who have been following their social media posts to film a series centred around the cars and people. There is also an idea to begin shooting YouTube videos on how to fit replacement parts or care for the classic Italian cars. Bruce Allison has been competing in classic car events privately for a number of years, he now wants to continue racing with a team from Classic Avanti showcasing their ability to prepare classic cars to race level. He wants to expand competing away from local events to high profile Australia such as Historic Sandown https://vhrr.com/wp/sandown/, New Zealand Highfields Festival of Speed https://highlands.co.nz/event/highlands-festival-of-speed/ and Goodwood Festival of Speed in England https://www.goodwood.com/grr/race/historic/ . An example of racing at Goodwood is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W97N-MNenj4. The streaming service and the social media manager are enthusiastic about these ideas and want to start as soon as possible. However, Bruce Allison is concerned that all of these ideas will mean that he will not be available to handle the day to day business of Classic Avanti and will require financing. A new manager has been hired Phil Daily, to manage the business, he has a concern that all these ideas rely on strong IT systems which he does not think are in place. He wants to make sure that professionalism shown in social media posts are reflected in interactions with the business. He is frightened that if they try these ideas without good systems and processes in place, Classic Avanti will fail to take advantage of the interest and good will because of poor processes, inventory control and order fulfilment. He is also concerned that their social media processes and success is only understood by the social media manager.