Queste Communications (QUE) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Queste Communications (Australia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Queste Communications is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Queste Communications

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Queste Communications can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Queste Communications, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Queste Communications 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Queste Communications can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Queste Communications
2. Improving business portfolio management of Queste Communications
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Queste Communications

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Strengths of Queste Communications | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Queste Communications are -

Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Queste Communications digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Queste Communications 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Financial Services industry

– Queste Communications is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Learning organization

- Queste Communications 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 Queste Communications is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Queste Communications emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Ability to lead change in Misc. Financial Services

– Queste Communications is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Queste Communications in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Analytics focus

– Queste Communications is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The technology infrastructure of Australia is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Queste Communications has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Queste Communications has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Queste Communications in Misc. Financial Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Innovation driven organization

– Queste Communications is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Queste Communications in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Queste Communications has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Queste Communications to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Financial Services industry

– Queste Communications has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Queste Communications to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Queste Communications to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Queste Communications is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Australia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Australia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Queste Communications has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Financial Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Queste Communications have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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Weaknesses of Queste Communications | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Queste Communications are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Financial Services industry, Queste Communications 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Queste Communications products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Queste Communications needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Queste Communications needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Financial Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Queste Communications can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Queste Communications is planning to shift buying processes online.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Queste Communications, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Financial Services industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Queste Communications is just above the Misc. Financial Services industry average. It 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Queste Communications is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, but Queste Communications needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Queste Communications to focus more on services in the Misc. Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Queste Communications is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Queste Communications to provide better information regarding Misc. Financial Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Queste Communications has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Need for greater diversity

– Queste Communications has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

High dependence on Queste Communications ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Queste Communications still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Financial Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Queste Communications has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Financial Services industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Queste Communications 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.

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Queste Communications Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Queste Communications are -

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Queste Communications can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Queste Communications in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Queste Communications 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Queste Communications can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Financial Services industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Queste Communications in the Misc. Financial Services industry. Now Queste Communications can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Buying journey improvements

– Queste Communications can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Financial Services industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Queste Communications has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Financial Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Queste Communications to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Queste Communications to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Loyalty marketing

– Queste Communications 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Queste Communications can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Queste Communications operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Financial Services sector.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Queste Communications 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Queste Communications to increase its market reach. Queste Communications 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Queste Communications is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Queste Communications can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Financial Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Queste Communications has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Financial Services industry. This can help Queste Communications to build a more holistic ecosystem for Queste Communications products in the Misc. Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

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Threats Queste Communications External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Queste Communications are -

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. Queste Communications needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Financial Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Environmental challenges

– Queste Communications 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. Queste Communications can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry.

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 Queste Communications business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Misc. Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Queste Communications can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Financial Services industry are lowering. It can presents Queste Communications with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Financial Services sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Queste Communications in Misc. Financial Services industry. The Misc. Financial Services 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.

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 Queste Communications in the Misc. Financial Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Queste Communications 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Queste Communications may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Financial Services sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Queste Communications is facing in Misc. Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Queste Communications has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Queste Communications needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Financial Services sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

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. Queste Communications 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Queste Communications Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Queste Communications 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 Queste Communications 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 Queste Communications 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 Queste Communications 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 Queste Communications needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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