Sheehan Marketing and Public Relations Sheehan Marketing and Public Relations ( SMPR) is a mid- sized public relations firm that focuses on the entertainment industry, primarily film and music. Based in Los Angeles, SMPR also has branch offices in New York and Chicago, with plans for expansion in Miami and Nashville. Each office has an internal network; the offices internal networks are not currently connected to one another. SMPRs office networks were implemented 6 years ago. Each office network is based on UTP Ethernet 10 Mbps traffic using hubs. Currently, the branch offices depend on telephone and United Parcel Post ( UPS) for cross- country communications.

Tom Sheehan, SMPR president, recognizes that to remain competitive, the corporate and branch offices need much greater integration of their technology and improved communications between branch offices. Each office has data and information resources that the others do not. The offices must be able to collaborate and share music, video, and text files. Each office currently maintains its own database of clients and projects. However, SMPR account executives working from different offices increasingly need to work, as a team, on a given clients marketing and public relations program. Each SMPR branch has a manager who reports directly to the companys president. Each branch manages its own payroll, accounting, and other services. Only the LA office has a dedicated LAN administrator. However, the LAN administrator, Karla, was never trained in her job, but grew into it because she understands computers.

The New York and Chicago offices are frequently frustrated by the lack of on- site technical support, which is needed to keep their LANs up and running. At the last quarterly branch managers retreat meeting, held of- site in Phoenix, a major topic was how data communications technology could help SMPR not only improve, but also survive. President Sheehan informed his managers that he would aggressively pursue solutions to their problems. He stated that one of his first goals would be hiring a network technologist who would oversee and manage SMPRs data communication technology operations. Although pleased with this decision, the branch managers also expressed concern that their individual offices would be neglected or not have their needs immediately addressed. In fact, Sheehan was surprised at how strongly each branch manager insisted that his or her branch office must be the first linked to the Los Angeles office. There was also much discussion about what skills a corporate networking technology manager should have. Before ending the retreat, it was agreed that a major strategic goal of SMPR would be the integration and coordination of data communication technology needs across all offices. As he concluded the session, President Sheehan reflected that he would need to know much more about the data communications industry in order to guide his business wisely.

Case Questions Using the information just provided, answer the following questions.

1. What are SMPRs data communication needs?

2. Based on the information provided, do you foresee any significant problems in integrating and coordinating the needed networks? If so, what are they?

3. What skills do you think should be included in a job description for SMPRs new corporate networking technology manager?

4. How much do you think the owner of a business like SMPR needs to know about data communications? Detailed information? General information? Justify your answer.