The Traveller Global (pvt) Ltd - Applied Communication Technology

Applied Communication Technology

by

Zlan

Executive Summary

This report will discuss 5 IS/IT strategies identified from the Earl's inside-out approach. Furthermore Earl's Risk & Return Portfolio taxonomy is done for all strategies. Moreover report will discuss the 3 year plan IT/IS strategy plan.

Each IS/IT initiative will be justified in term of business benefits and risk and return. These benefits are further assessed and calculated to determine their priority.

The final part of the report addresses the implementation method chosen for one of the proposed system and the requirement for implementation is discussed along with a critical evaluation.

Introduction

The Traveller Global (Pvt) Ltd is one of the largest travel agents in Sri Lanka and benchmarked within the top 10 travel agents in the country. Through the analysis of both internal and external environment of the company, a few IS/IT strategies were suggested. Thus considering 5 key initiatives are selected to devise a the  company's IS/IT strategy. Furthermore this report will analyze the key initiatives in terms Earl's of risks and return portfolio. The most appropriate system will be chosen for the implementation after the analysis based on the risk and return. The following are the systems selected,

• E-CRM

Currently the company maintains it customer relationship manually. They remind their    customer through manually sending emails, letters and phone calls. These reminders include discounts, bonuses and promotions. Moreover the company is aiming at providing custom requirement for loyal customers, thus with the current system it is not possible to provide such service.  

Implementing E-CRM to the company enables to identify customer likes and dislikes and cater to their needs directly. This system can be used to retain and attract more customers and expand the client base. The system will enable to perform one to one and target marketing and real time interaction. The customer can have a special account to access coupons and print  them of the website portal itself. There can also be a customer help centre on the company website where the client can connect through VOIP with single a click of an icon. This way it improves the communication between the customer and company and builds trust with the client. With the E-CRM system the company can determine which clientele requires more attention and prioritize their operations accordingly. Moreover the system will be able to automate the operation process of  communicating their brand and services by which it will ensure that the client is always kept in touch with the company. Thus implementing such  a system will give a stronger relationship with the client compared to the current status and provide the company with more business opportunities.

• Online Reservation System

Currently the company does not have a full pledged online reservation system. This is a huge draw where the company has a large client base both local and overseas, thus not having working online reservation system will let done its customers who want to explore the company's services. At present the customer reserve their booking and reservations through making phone calls and emails. However this way of communication does not attract their clientele and many may assume the company's services are outdated.

Introducing an online reservation system enables the clients to easily make booking and reservations as well as customize certain requirements in the service. This allows the clientele to make less effort to receive the service, especially for overseas clients. The reservation system will help the company to expand its service to more destinations and bring in more clients to company, which in turn expands the customer base.

• E- Marketing System

The E-marketing system will store vital information from all regions and clients, online social media and produce statistical reports of the service popularity, clientele interests etc. Thus the system will help the company marketing team to target a wider a market throughout the world and in the local market as well. The system can be customize to produce required information and produce automated reports and notification for updates. Moreover the system can be integrated to social media websites where it can be used to update multiple platforms when marketing their services.

• Debt Collection System

The debt Collection will help the company on its late payment issues with the cooperate clients. Whenever a cooperate client does not make payments on time, the company cannot make payments to their suppliers. thus the company falls into debt. Having implemented a Debt Collection System will ensure the money flow is recovered and improved at scheduled time periods. It will provide weekly and monthly reports on the current debt. The system will also be able to forecast incoming debt and the debt recovery time. Therefore this allows the company's recovery team to function more efficiently and have clear objective on how to recover from debt and regain back its funds to make investments. The system will also lessen the operation time by prioritizing the list of clients who have not made their payments, thus allowing the company to communicate with clients by providing details of the past and present transaction details.

• Travel Network System

The travel network system is required to receive information from airlines, book tickets, make reservations and manage primary operations of the travel agency. The system can be accessed 24/7 to retrieve updates from the airline industry to assist their business. The system is basically integrated with the global distribution system (GDS) which gathers information from Galileo, Amadeus, Abacus, world span, Saber. The travel network system will include further functionalities to support the front office and back office operations. The system will function as a central hub that integrates inbound, outbound, and accounting operations. The reason to implement such a system is that since the company's back office operations are handled overseas where it is conducted in India. Having to collaborate becomes difficult when it comes to updating and exchanging data in real-time.

Risk Assessment

As a part of the review of investment feasibility study, it is necessary to asses potential risks. These risks can come about as the risks of failing to deliver some benefits or no benefits at all at the end. Thus Lyytinen and Hirschheim (1987) has suggested that failure can occur in five domains as follows,

1. Technical failure - In the domain of IT, responsible for the technical quality of the system and technology it uses.

1. Data Failure - Responsibility between IS/IT professionals and the users who input the data.

1. User Failure - Primary responsibility for ensuring users are trained to use the system appropriately and to its maximum capability must rest with the business management. 

1.  Organizational Failure - Systems may be satisfactory in meeting particular functional needs, but may fail because they do not satisfy the organizational overall due to inadequate understanding of how the system relates to other processes and activities.

1. Failure in the business environment - The systems that can be inappropriate to external or internal business requirement due to changing business practices prompt by others, or not by supporting the business strategy adequately, or simply not coping with the volume and speed of the business process.

Considering the above stated facts a risk assessment is required in order to avoid these failures so that necessary investments can made in an effective manner. Therefore identifying the risks is necessary and should be understood within a standard framework or portfolio. Thus potential factors identified from both IT and business change literature has been classified within four major heading as follows,