NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside
After developing powerful software, young entrepreneurs Raffael Maio and JoA?l Winteregg, founded NetGuardians in 2007. Their initial idea was to help companies improve security. (i) Over time, the two entrepreneurs improved their technology and decided to focus on defeating and preventing fraud in banking, where there was a gap in the market. In 2014 around $67 billion was lost due to banking fraud, 70% of it committed by employees inside the company. In 2015 the company was named a Gartner Cool Vendor, a worldwide industry recognition for companies that offer technologies or solutions that are innovative, impactful and intriguing. (ii) In the nine years since they had founded their company, JoA?l and Raffael had raised $6 billion in two rounds of funding. The company employed around 30 people in R&D offices in Kenya, Singapore and Poland. It had customers in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and was breaking ground in Asia. (iii) Now it was time for NetGuardians to tackle some important strategic decisions: Should the company expand to other markets? Should it expand its product offering? Or should it focus on growing its customer base? (iv) Whatever the decision, it would lead to a change in business model that would have a significant impact on the company.
Swot Analysis of "NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside" written by Carlos Cordon, Teresa Ferreiro includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Netguardians Raffael facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Data, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Financial management, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Netguardians Raffael, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Netguardians Raffael operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Netguardians Raffael
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Netguardians Raffael
Strengths NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Netguardians Raffael in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Netguardians Raffael are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Netguardians Raffael is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Netguardians Raffael in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Netguardians Raffael has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Netguardians Raffael to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Netguardians Raffael has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Netguardians Raffael is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Training and development
– Netguardians Raffael has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Netguardians Raffael in the sector have low bargaining power. NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Netguardians Raffael to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Netguardians Raffael is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Netguardians Raffael in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Netguardians Raffael digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Netguardians Raffael has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Learning organization
- Netguardians Raffael is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Netguardians Raffael is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Netguardians Raffael has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside HBR case study mentions - Netguardians Raffael takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside, in the dynamic environment Netguardians Raffael has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Netguardians Raffael has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Netguardians Raffael needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Netguardians Raffael is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Netguardians Raffael needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Netguardians Raffael to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Netguardians Raffael has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Netguardians Raffael even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Carlos Cordon, Teresa Ferreiro suggests that, Netguardians Raffael is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside, is just above the industry average. Netguardians Raffael needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Netguardians Raffael products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Netguardians Raffael needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Netguardians Raffael supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Netguardians Raffael vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Netguardians Raffael has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside, it seems that the employees of Netguardians Raffael don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Netguardians Raffael to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Netguardians Raffael is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Netguardians Raffael can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Netguardians Raffael can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Netguardians Raffael to increase its market reach. Netguardians Raffael will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Netguardians Raffael has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Netguardians Raffael to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Netguardians Raffael can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Netguardians Raffael can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Netguardians Raffael in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Netguardians Raffael in the consumer business. Now Netguardians Raffael can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Netguardians Raffael to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Netguardians Raffael can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Netguardians Raffael has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Netguardians Raffael is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Netguardians Raffael needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Netguardians Raffael can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Netguardians Raffael can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Netguardians Raffael business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Netguardians Raffael in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Netguardians Raffael demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Netguardians Raffael in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Netguardians Raffael can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside .
Increasing wage structure of Netguardians Raffael
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Netguardians Raffael.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Netguardians Raffael will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Netguardians Raffael needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Netguardians Raffael.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of NetGuardians: Beating Fraud From the Inside is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Netguardians Raffael needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
