Project _ITM_EMD37_AmrTarek

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Automation Of PR (GB Auto)
Information Technology Management Course
Project
Automation Of The Public Relations Department Using
“Mention”
GB Auto
By: Amr Tarek Mahmoud
ID: 600131185

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Contents
 Abstract:.....................................................................................................................................................................3
 Background: ...............................................................................................................................................................3
 Chapter I- Objectives: ................................................................................................................................................5
 Chapter II-Current Departmental Status:..................................................................................................................6
 Chapter III-Negative Impacts:....................................................................................................................................8
 Chapter IV-Recommended Solution:.........................................................................................................................9
 Chapter V-Solution Implementation:......................................................................................................................12
 Chapter VI-Conclusion: ............................................................................................................................................15
 References:...............................................................................................................................................................17

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 Abstract:
This paper explains the current and future procedures of the automation process inside the
public relations section at GB Auto’s marketing department using Mention Application which is
a mobile App and a web platform to track, analyze and report news in a customized automated
way to react to the market changes in the fastest possible way and have a better exposure to
the market and the corporate image. Also the Information technology management strategy is
discussed according to the departmental business needs conforming to the overall corporate
strategy.
 Background:
GB Auto:
The Ghabbour Group is an Egyptian manufacturer
of automobiles, buses, trucks and motorcycles located in Cairo.
The company was founded in 1960 by the brothers Kamal and Sadek Ghabbour because they
realized that the automotive sector is a growing market. In its first time the company was
named Ghabbour Brothers Today the Group is manufacturing vehicles for a lot of brands such
as: Bajaj Auto, Hyundai and Volvo. With an output of annual 150,000 units is the Ghabbour
Group currently the largest automobile manufacturer of Egypt.
Corporate Strategy:
Ghabbour Auto’s strategy is built on three core axes: Investing in Core Businesses, Leveraging
Business Relationships, and Capturing on Expansion Opportunities.
Investing in core businesses, Ghabbour Auto is creating a one-stop shop for consumers by
vertically integrating sales, finance and after-sales support functions under one roof. The
company is investing in an unmatched nationwide distribution and after-sales network, as well
as positioning its products as having the lowest ownership cost in the market, further
cementing the company’s strong position across the widest range of products.
Leveraging its domestic strength and regional footprint, Ghabbour Auto is strengthening its
business relationships with existing partners while searching for the best brands with which to
open new lines of business. Ghabbour Auto is the clear partner of choice in Egypt’s automotive
sector, a position the company is actively seeking to replicate in other Middle Eastern and
African markets.
While maintaining and growing its strong position in the Egyptian and Iraqi markets, Ghabbour
Auto is working on expansion opportunities in a number of countries starting with North Africa,
in partnership with leading global brands and using a diversified portfolio of products.

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Marketing Department Structure:
Figure 1: Marketing Department Hierarchy
PR Department:
This section lies under the umbrella of the marketing department and is a supporting function
with the following scope:
o Corporate (GB Auto) Reputation Management via preserving good and efficient
communication
With different local and multinational customers, media channels including social media
and press.
o Competitors News Monitoring Vs. Corporate News Monitoring
o Based on the previous step, multiple media and news analysis techniques are
implemented
o The Results are reported monthly and on some exceptional occasions.
o Corporate Social Responsibility Activity planning and Implementation.
Marketing
Director
CRM PR
Communication
Team
Events
Digital
Marketing
Marketing Vice
Director

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 Chapter I Project Scope and Objectives:
According to the explained structure and the functional scope of the PR section, the
automation project is implemented for maximizing the section efficiency and reaching the
optimum performance that benefits the whole marketing department and serving the
objectives of GB Auto’s corporate strategy. This can be specified through the following figure:
Figure 2: Scope of the Automation Process
The automation in the public relations department will focus on the internal daily processes that
includes ad hocks and will be mainly aiming at enhancing the news monitoring that includes GB
Auto’s news in different news wires, Competitors’ news in the passenger cars automotive market,
Automotive industry news and the latest governmental strategies affecting this industry.
That takes the process to the next phase which is the public relations reports that demonstrates the
gathered news about the previously stated topics in a customized way that benefits different
business stakeholders inside and outside the marketing department to reach strategic decisions
based on the market updates stated in those reports which are delivered on weekly, monthly and
annual basis. The automation process helps in the enhancement of the report digital content
preparation.
Also the enhancement in the reports delivery time management and automation of the news analysis
process and optimization of the combination between the content and the analysis to make the
reports in the most concise and efficient format.

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 Chapter II Current Departmental Status:
Before reaching the automation phase implementation the business environment in the public
relations department faced some departmental difficulties in different aspects and needed
some adjustments to prepare the business environment in the department to utilize any IT tool
in the most beneficial way serving the needs of both the business unit and the corporate
strategies. The following table summarizes the departmental status before the automation
phase and the adjustments needed to prepare the way for any upcoming automation approach.
Process Element Present Future
Decision Making
Team Weekly Meeting for :
 Discussion of weekly
bottlenecks.
 Manual data Analysis for
projects
 Time planning
 Voting upon any team
decision.
 Discussing past Weekly
activities
Team Weekly Skype meeting except
For critical issues or ad hocks.
 Automated data analysis
and documented feedback
using preset criteria.
 Voting via polls except for
issues that need extra
details or discussion.
 Weekly electronic
submitted
reports/documentation for
the past week activities.
Decision Taking
 Setting Time Plans on spot
 White board/Sticky notes
 Orally
 Trial, error and testing on
real material.
 Using IT Tools to simulate
different activities before
Real implementation
 Using Project Management
Software or ERPs to
generate What Supports
future and current taken
decisions.
Information Management
 Diversified Types and
sources of Information
 One Digital Platform Where
all the needed information
can be easily shared
according to tasks and
authorities.
IT Tools
Email,Internet,Intranet,Oracle Same Tools+SAP+News Monitoring
Online Application(i.e. Mention)

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Organizational Structure
(Public Relations Team)
Partial Automation
No Automation
 Manual News Scanning
 Manual Data Entry
 Manual News Content
Rating
 Manual Advertisements
Campaign Rating.
 Semi-Automated Analysis
Microsoft Excel
 Manual Data Visualization
 No Organized Data Storage
 Automated News Scanning
 Automated Data transfer
and Entry
 Automated Neutral Content
Rating
 Automated Analysis Using
the tools stated in IT Tools
above
 Automated Data Mining
and Visualization.
 Digital Data Storage
Management Plan
 Digital Archiving
 Using Dedicated Servers.
Flow of Information
 Info gathered from different
sources.
 Documented In Categorized
Reports.
 Reports are then sent to the
Section Head
 Concurrent Teams with
shared info using enhanced
Tools stated above.
Empowerment Limited delegation More delegation
Objectives Without Using Scorecards Using Automated Scorecards
Results
No Proper documentation Using results reporting system
where every team member
documents every project results
that go through validation Process.
Evaluation
Subjective Using Opinions and paper
forms
Objective Using IT tools and Analysis
Marketing
Director
PR Section
Head
Online PR and
CSR Specialist
Content
Specialist
Marketing
Director
PR Section
Head
Online PR and
CSR Specialist
(Vice PR
Section Head)
Content
Specialist
(Vice PR
Section Head)

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 Chapter III Negative Impacts:
The current status of the Public Relations department without significant automated processes
had various negative impacts on the departmental performance and the information
management affecting the workflow and the task assignment inside the department. The main
problems inside that department which formed multiple challenges against any automation
systems decreased after the adjustments but did not completely disappear. Any automation
solution will be expected to solve the problems in the empowerment of team members and
organize the workflow between them in an efficient enabling way.
The automation approach should fix the flow of information inside the marketing department
and also through other supporting functions in GB Auto and this will be via highly optimized
digital reports to meet all information requirements form the internal customers dealing with
the PR department. The digital archiving of the collected data all over the printed and digital
documents will be one of the main challenges facing any automation project. The following
table summarizes the challenges and the last phase in the adjustments made to make the
working environment ready to receive any automation proposal:
Challenge Solution
Change Resistance
 Testing the new IT Tools on
a pilot minor project with
minimal risks to prove the
beneficial return on
investment to be used in
future projects and
decrease resistance.
Lack Of Empowerment
 Using the automated
appraisal system
 This allows the team
members to set their own
objectives that makes the
situation a win-win
situation for the members’
career path and the
business unit.
 By the end of any project
the system can
automatically track the
implemented objectives
and if not implemented
what stood against that.

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After applying two phases of very (low cost-high impact) adjustments, the PR department working
environment and processes are ready enough to receive the automation proposal and adapt to it
using the minimum time resources.
 This will flatten the team
structure and increase the
accountability of the team
members and rise the sense
of ownership for each and
every task.
 Web Peer Assessment System
Flow Of Information
 Using Google Shared
Spreadsheets
 Using Google Docs
 Using Common Digital
Portal to Access all newly
added Information
categorized by topic.
Archiving
 Investing in Servers for
adding virtualized Storage
to save much more digital
data and multimedia.
 Data Organization Plan
 Digitizing Hard Copied data
 Using Data Cycle to get rid
of redundant and out dated
archives.

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 Chapter IV Recommended Solution:
Based on the previous chapters, the most obvious business need in the PR department was an
IT tool that could handle the news automated monitoring and analysis to meet the early
engagement according to the market changes that are continuous, non-stop and massive. Also
the tool should be user friendly and comprehensive to all the digital platforms all over the web
that are strong candidates for the corporate and competitor news regular appearance. Last but
not least the tool should be tested using the most minimum cost.
The market research that followed setting those criteria; proposed Mention as the strongest
candidate to be the IT tool used for automation of the PR department.
Figure 3: Mention Home Page UI
o News Monitoring and Analysis Using “Mention” :
 Solution Definition:
Mention is a mobile App and a web platform to track, analyze and report news in a
customized automated way to react to them in the fastest possible way and have a better
exposure to the market and the corporate image.

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Mention is characterized by essential key features that enables the PR department to meet the
essential objectives expected from the automation process:
News Analysis and Monthly Comparisons:
Through customized search filters to capture the mentioned news all over the internet
channels of the corporate related topics, competitor’s news and the industry updates,
Mention can generate analysis and comparisons between monthly results in addition to
capturing the news.
Figure 4: Mention News Analytics
Mention Rates:
Mention displays the daily rates of the mentioned news related to the content of the
customized search filters. Also it generates reports and statistics about the tone and the
language of the mentioned posts.
Figure 5: Mention Daily Corporate Mention Rates

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 Chapter V Solution Implementation:
o System Investigation:
 Investigation Of The Business Needs:
 Efficient massive tracking to all coverage to the GB Auto’s corporate news
 Efficient massive tracking to all media (social, digital, press…etc.) coverage to GB
Auto’s local and global market competitors.
 Efficient massive media tracking to all media coverage considering automotive
industry in Egypt and North Africa.
 Professional and significant analysis to all the news mentioned above to build
insights about different market and media strategies in the corporate future to
continue being a market leader.
 The above objectives are conforming to the corporate strategy :
o System Analysis:
 Analysis Of The Solution Added Value:
Image Source: https://en.mention.com/
 Environmental Scanning:
The market scanning results showed that:
 The solution is the most reasonable considering features vs. cost.
 The solution serves both business unit needs and corporate general objectives.
 The solution is unique among similar competitor tools.
 The solution is user friendly and will not cost a huge time resources for
implementation and deployment.
 The solution offers 1 month of free full testing which is a very suitable testing
time interval to explore all the tool capabilities and drawbacks.

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o System Design:
After the analysis of the tool capabilities and features the selected system design was:
o System Implementation:
 Implementation:
The IT strategy overview for this project mainly consisted of:
Figure 6: Mention Implementation Phases
The IT team responsible for the new system management will be in-sourced team
That will decide the most suitable pricing plan according to the system design and will be
The bridge between the internal users and the support team of mention locally or off shore.
Creating
Fliters with
the
keywords
of interest
Generating
News
Generating
Analytics
and Reports
Exporting
Reports To
different
Forms
Communicating
with other
systems using
those reports
Test Mention on a
pilot project
Using the free 1
month
the 1st 2 weeks
Reporting testing
results
2nd 2 weeks for
discussion with different
stake holders
Replacing
ordinary tools with
mention
Selecting the most
needed features of the
tool
Purchasing with the
most suitable
customized pricing plan

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Figure 7: Mention Pricing/Feature Plans
o System Maintenance:
The project owner in this case is the online PR specialist who will receive concerns about
the IT tool performance and prepare a regular performance report for the PR team
leader. Also the online PR specialist will handle any technical problems occurring in the
system and will communicate directly with the feedback and support team of Mention
and will prepare a crisis management plan that makes the system strong and stable
against any type of crises.
Figure 8: Feedback Page

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 Chapter VI Conclusion:
o Automation using Mention Expected ROI:
 Automation of the public relations department under the umbrella of the marketing
department at GB Ghabbour Auto will increase the early engagement rate with the
market changes, also will guide the marketing decision makers to better forecasting for
the future market conditions and that will give GB Auto digital engagement leadership
Of which benefits are explained below:
 Source: http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/digital-marketing-evolution-how-
enterprise-leaders-differ-from-followers-45377/attachment/epsiloneconsultancy-
digital-evolution-leaders-followers-aug2014/

o Automation using Mention Intangible Expected Impacts:
 Service Enhancement:
Tracking customer’s feedback through news and social media will make the business
owners create a better user experience with GB Auto products and reach better service.
 Team Empowerment:
Better information management and automated reports will empower any step taken
by the team members as a trusted and significant backbone for their decisions proven
by analytics and statistics.
 Information Consistency:
All the PR team will work using a common digital and automated platform that will keep
all the team aligned with the same market updates and news.

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Figure 9: Info graphic Importance of Digital PR
Image Source: http://www.business2community.com/infographics/3-important-benefits-of-
digital-public-relations-infographic-0331535#!bQmmai

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 References:
1. http://wn.com/ghabbour_group
2. http://www.ghabbourauto.com/Strategy.aspx
3. https://en.mention.com/
4. http://www.ghabbourauto.com/GB_Company_Profile.pdf
5. AUC Post Graduate Diploma in EM -ITM Course Slides , Dr.Mohsen ElShamaa.
6. http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/50-top-tools-social-media-monitoring-analytics-
and-management
7. https://www.google.ca/alerts
8. http://www.business2community.com/infographics/3-important-benefits-of-digital-public-
relations-infographic-0331535#!bQmmai

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