BudgetThe budget is projected over three quarters as shown below. Additional monetary resources will be budgeted in accordance with the long-term phased implementation plan. Projected Budget for the Quarter Projected Profit/Loss Website Rank1 $90,000 ($22,000) 392 $50,000 $210,000 223 $65,000 $407,000 13 Resources Primus Securities will hire technology professionals. The technology team will initially include a system administrator, a webmaster and a maintenance programmer and should be expanded if necessary in the future. As new features are implemented, the team would grow to potentially include more programmers, a system architect, a graphic designer, a database administrator, etc. One of the main advantages of developing projects in-house is the ability to customize exactly the specific functionality you want and continuously fine-tune the system. If there is an aggressive timeline or limited budget, an alternative would be to contract with an external vendor to create the website, but beware of the following risks involved:„X Website Solution. There is often a tendency to get a more "cookie cutter" solution. The website would not be unique enough for customers to recognize its advantages over those of its competitors.„X Service Level Agreement. The vendor may fail to meet the company's SLA requirements and expectations. "X Rate Fluctuations". The negotiated rate may not be the same from project to project.„X Safety Risks. There may be security issues or concerns when outsourcing to a third-party company. The company could potentially expose some proprietary information, which could get to its competitors through contractors.„X Learning/training curve. It takes time to train a new group of people every time you need to add a new feature to the website. You rarely have a dedicated team when outsourcing such efforts.„X Stability. Consulting firms can go out of business, sometimes at quite short notice. If this happens, Primus Securities' overall strategy will be threatened. Marketing Research The company will use focus groups to determine what type of features customers would like on a brokerage firm's website or on questionnaires and surveys. Focus groups will also give the company insight into why customers have certain points of view. To increase the response rate, questionnaires and surveys should be short and easy to use. Incentives may also be offered to potential customers who complete surveys, such as a one-month free trial for the members-only area of ​​the website once it goes live. Additionally, the company also evaluates the number of visits on certain pages of the website. like looking at the number of repeat customers. The most frequently used pages will be analyzed to see what information customers found interesting.