...Tale of Two Airlines in the Network Age This appears to be a case where wit was very shy on the scholar’s end. Professor Roger McPherson’s assumed that the information systems at the London based airport were far better than what they actually were. It appears that he was making a pure assumption that each and every time he would fly first class, that all of his worries would be lost because of the reliability and experience he has had in the past with the very same airlines. I do believe that his assumptions were realistic for this time period only because back then the power of the internet would have not prevented the Professor from boarding the plane because most airlines in this day and age, check and see digitally if all passengers have boarded the plane before taking off. Thus his investment would have paid off as he anticipated. The reality of this situation is that in the game of connection flights, one should never schedule a flight so close together from transfer times. In this situation assuming that the flights are going to land on time and not taking into consideration that the weather or an issue with the plane can delay the time can seriously hurt your chances of making a meeting the very next day in a country across the Atlantic. Given that the year was 1995 and portable technology is almost non-existent (except for the function of making a phone call) he could not receive a text message or email stating what procedures to follow, he purely used his instinct...
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...Tale of Two Airlines: Case Study In the Tale of Two Airlines case study, Professor McPherson discussed how two different airlines handled passenger travel, and in this case, booking issues caused by weather coupled with mechanical problems which contributed to flight delays. The initial delay began when an airline arrived late to Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the country. Professor McPherson was able to make it to the gate for his connecting flight to London, with what he thought was just enough time, only to find that the airplane had pushed back early and he therefore missed this connecting flight to make an important meeting in London. When the gate agents arrived, they happily booked him on another airline with another flight to London which should have allowed Professor McPherson to arrive only 30 minutes late. Unfortunately, this airline also experienced delays due to mechanical problems upon departure and was delayed. Only this time the airline used the technology at hand and quickly accommodated his new itinerary and forwarded him to Frankfurt since he had missed his meetings entirely in London. Professor McPherson also reflected back to a previous flight prior to the network age where he was scheduled to make a connection in London to New York, and due to flight delays was also late. Even though modern IT was not available at the time, the London based airline quickly resolved the issue. He spoke to a first class flight attendant who simply...
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...F . WARREN MCFARLAN Tale of Two Airlines in The Network Age: Or Why The Spirit of King George III Is Alive and Well! As Professor Roger McPherson’s wait to go through the security process a second time dragged on into its third hour on this Spring day in 2002, (all passengers had to be rescreened upon the discovery that one of the airport screening machines was unplugged) he was reminded of another delayed business trip and the role that information technology played in the story. At 5:30pm on February 15, 1995, 200 feet off the ground, Professor Roger McPherson gazed anxiously through the fog as his airplane moved to touch down at Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, more than 1 hour and 15 minutes late. He had 30 minutes to catch his 6:00pm flight to London, where he would be meeting with the executive leadership of a major British power company to discuss their information strategy. He felt fortunate, however, to be flying this carrier, which had a reputation for outstanding service. He was even more comfortable because he had a full-fare first-class ticket and was a Gold Card member. Professor McPherson was always uneasy about the large premium charged for full, first-class tickets, but knew that in a crunch it often meant the difference between a making a connection and missing one. He well remembered a decade ago flying this airline from Milan to London to connect to a flight to New York. Bad weather then had also reduced his 1-hour-and-30-minute connect time to 10 minutes...
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...To: Elizabeth Windsor, CEO From: Subject: Recommendations for Service Improvement Date: March 14, 2014 In regards to the McPherson complaint the following issues have been identified: 1. Information technology and operation strategy failure for not identifying full fare ticketed customer through the (RMS) revenue management system and (CRS) computer reservation system. Possible loss of a loyal 10 year profitable customer. 2. Poor service management by a failure of airline employees to coordinate standard operations strategy of inclement weather procedures. Inflight attendants failed to identify passengers with close-connecting flights and to notify employees at destination airport to hold planes. Resulted in loss of revenue and possible long term customers. 3. Poor management control over gate boarding and gate closing, failure to monitor departure time schedule for flights. International flight departed ahead of scheduled time without regard as to passenger list and reasons for possible passenger delays. Options Available 1. Establish and integrate standard operating protocol that in the event of inclement weather, management will instruct and verify that operations employees identify connecting passengers and coordinate connections with outbound flights. 2. Complete organizational transformation with new service standards. This will require a fundamental change in attitudes and training. 3. Prior to departure all outbound flights will missing scheduled...
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...Week 8 Checkpoint: JetBlue &and WestJet: A Tale of Two IS Projects IT205 April 11, 2014 Week 8 Checkpoint: JetBlue & WestJet: A Tale of Two IS Projects The reservation system at airlines is the heart of the customer interaction and these systems helps guide the customers through the process of shopping for flights and lets the customers see what seats are available on that flight and then if they find what they want they can go ahead and pay for the tickets right then. Customers use the reservation systems to make the reservations, change reservations, or cancel reservations. They also can select specific seats on their flights, check the bags, and utilizing the kiosks located at the airports to print out boarding passes. The benefits of upgrading the system would by far outweigh any of the risk once the implementation is completed. The highest risk would be the loss of customers, this would stand true for both WestJet and JetBlue Airlines. JetBlue helped to minimize their risks when WestJet decided to be the first to upgrade and implement. WestJet went live in October of 2009 and it was horrible. They had not evaluated everything thoroughly and it showed. The bottom line is the risks involved is customer service being affected in anyway. WestJet was the first to undertake the upgrade and implementation. Their customers were having major issues with the reservation services which caused their call centers to get flooded with calls. The influx of customers trying...
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...JetBlue and Westjet: A Tale of Two IS Projects Week 8 Checkpoint Case Study Questions By: Cicely Sawin 3/21/2014 IT/205 Catherine Williams Over the past years, customers have been heavily relying on airline reservation systems to book their tickets, reserve seats, pay for the tickets and also check-in online. For customers, this has been a very convenient method and they are able to easily plan their trips. For the Airline companies, these systems have the whole flight inventory managed. They have all the flight information stored and records are maintained. It also provides a platform for communication between other airline companies for their “code-sharing plans” and agents or other ticketing offices can see real time information about the bookings and availability of seats. Since both parties rely on these systems they are of big importance to airline companies. For example, we see in the case of WestJet, the amount of chaos created after a delay of switch to another version of the system. Airline reservation systems have impacted operational activities and decision making. They have made it easier to maintain accounts with other airlines and internal processes between departments are more efficient since the “minus, plus” is done online. There has also been growth in faster service times which leads to increased customer satisfaction since customers can plan, book and pay online. Airline companies are able to make good strategic...
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...AND VIRGIN AUSTRALIA A TALE OF CHANGING STRATEGIES Topic code and name | BUSN 3055 | Word count | 2020 | 1. Differentiated pricing is among the widely practiced Revenue Management tactics in which a firm offers its products/services at differentiated prices to distinct markets. And this tactic has been noticed by airline industry for more than four decades. Revenue Management also known as Yield Management has been well recognized as an essential practice in many businesses, and it is defined as the set of strategies adopted by a business to improve its profitability (Philips, 2005). It is among the most important applications of management science and operation research (Bell, 1998). Qantas, Australia’s foremost domestic and international carrier, established Jetstar in May 2004 as a budget airline. Its purpose is to cover the low-cost segment of the market, which began in around the year 2000 with the launch of a competitor, Virgin Blue. Until the time Jetstar began operations, Virgin Blue had been successfully eroding Qantas’s air market share, indeed with the collapsing of Ansett Airlines (Easdown, 2002), and capture around one-third of domestic airline market. In response, Jetstar was also designed to be a no-frills carrier, predominantly targeted at the leisure market. (Case Study) Market segmentation is a strategy that involved dividing the target market into subsets of consumers who have common needs and priorities. As in airline industry, marketers will...
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...Tale of Two Airlines - Memorandum.doc Extracts from this document... Introduction Memorandum To: Elizabeth Windsor - Chief Executive Officer From: Martine N Michel - MIS Consultant (SMT-273754-02-08SP1) Management Information Systems) Date: February 17, 2008 Re: Analysis of Situation at London-Based Airlines CONFIDENTIAL As you are aware, there are some opportunities for improvement related to the London-Based airline. I have completed an analysis of a particular situation, based on your analysis request, and have outlined specific problems & their relevance, options to address those problems, recommendations as to which options will address the most relevant problems, and why and finally assessment criteria for success or failure and measures to evaluate performance levels against that criteria. Information technology, operations strategy, management control, an empowered and un-empowered workforce and service management were interwoven to create an experience which was rife with issues and finally reflective of exemplary service and effective use of information systems. Identification of Relevant Problems Problem: Prof. McPhersen experienced two extreme delays during one experience with the airline, due to technical issues related to the equipment at the airport and on the airplane he was scheduled to travel Relevance: The infrastructure an organization leverages to provide services to its customers is valuable and/or provides a competitive advantage, only...
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...A Tale of Two IS Projects Business Problem-Solving Case Week 7 Upper Iowa University Week Six Business Problem-Solving Case 1. How important is the reservation system at airlines such as WestJet and JetBlue. How does it impact operational activities and decision making? The reservation system is highly important to airline companies, especially small ones. These companies must give over the top customer service in order to compete with the larger airlines. This means that when customers use their site they must be able to easily see their prices and book their flights. The reservation system will effect operational activities because it shows the number of reservations booked, and this helps to know how many planes will be needed during a specific amount of time. The reservation system also helps to know when to have special deals on flights, so that all seats may be filled (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). 2. Evaluate the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue and key risk factors. There are several risks to consider when evaluating the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue. First of all for customers there is one main risk. The consumer will either notice no difference in their abilities to book flights etc. or they will consider the operation failed, and this could upset the way they look at the airlines brand. The key risk factors to consider are the...
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...A Tale of Two IS Projects Business Problem-Solving Case Week 7 Upper Iowa University Week Six Business Problem-Solving Case 1. How important is the reservation system at airlines such as WestJet and JetBlue. How does it impact operational activities and decision making? The reservation system is highly important to airline companies, especially small ones. These companies must give over the top customer service in order to compete with the larger airlines. This means that when customers use their site they must be able to easily see their prices and book their flights. The reservation system will effect operational activities because it shows the number of reservations booked, and this helps to know how many planes will be needed during a specific amount of time. The reservation system also helps to know when to have special deals on flights, so that all seats may be filled (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). 2. Evaluate the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue and key risk factors. There are several risks to consider when evaluating the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue. First of all for customers there is one main risk. The consumer will either notice no difference in their abilities to book flights etc. or they will consider the operation failed, and this could upset the way they look at the airlines brand. The key risk factors to consider are the...
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...MIS (Spring 2007) Information Systems Theory and Practice Professor: Professor Jason C.H. Chen, Ph.d. Class time: Tuesday (February 27 – June 16) E-mail: chen@jepson.gonzaga.edu URL: http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~chen Office: to be announced Office hour: to be announced and by appointment Required text: 1. Pearlson, K.E. and Saunders, C.S, Managing and Using Information Systems, Wiley, 2006 (3nd edition) 2. A package of Harvard Business School Case Studies Additional Readings and Cases: Class handouts as needed. Course Description and Goals This course is designed to provide the current and future managers with understanding and appreciation of the issues that are related to the organization’s information technology assets. The course is not to educate technical specialists, rather, it is to give students a managerial perspective on the use of, design of, and evaluations of information systems that exist in organizations today. The objective of this course is to prepare students to manage information services in both today’s and tomorrow’s environment with its managerial, social, political, ethical and global issues. Conduct of the Course All students are expected to read the assigned materials (text, end-of-chapter discussion board questions (DBQ) and Harvard Business School case studies- HBC) before coming to the class. Some days we will discuss the materials in the text book. You are expected to be prepared...
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...Week 11: JetBlue and WestJet: A Tale of Two IS Projects Ans 1: The reservation system at airlines such as WestJet and JetBlue is the heart of the customer interaction and these systems helps guide the customers through the process of shopping for flights and lets the customers see what seats are available on that flight and then if they find what they want they can go ahead and pay for the tickets right then. Customers use the reservation systems to make the reservations, change reservations, or cancel reservations. They also can select specific seats on their flights, check the bags, and utilizing the kiosks located at the airports to print out boarding passes. Ans 2: The benefits of upgrading the system would by far outweigh any of the risk once the implementation is completed. The highest risk would be the loss of customers, this would stand true for both WestJet and JetBlue Airlines. JetBlue helped to minimize their risks when WestJet decided to be the first to upgrade and implement. WestJet went live in October of 2009 and it was horrible. They had not evaluated everything thoroughly and it showed. The bottom line is the risks involved is customer service being affected in anyway. Ans 3: WestJet was the first to undertake the upgrade and implementation. Their customers were having major issues with the reservation services which caused their call centers to get flooded with calls. The main issue that plagued WestJet was not anticipating the...
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...Human Resource School Unit 7 Project Organizational Development for Healthcare Tatiana M. Owens February 28, 2012 HA510-01 Carry DeAtley It’s amazing how people are affected by many factors in the workplace. From management all the way down to self worth. Many times good employees leave companies due to feeling unworthy of the skills they present to the organization. In today’s economy it’s not easy to pick up and move to the next company this is also why there’s a lot of unhappy staff working in organizations just for a paycheck every two weeks. Adopting the human resource theory can definitely help hiring managers to hire the best candidates for the position. Personally I can identify with the Human Resource Management School style by being an employee. I work many people who have different views about their job. You have the theory x people who are lazy and irresponsible and need direction, you have the theory y people who are responsible and work well if rewarded, and you have theory z which are people who feel important especially when making decisions on the job. In today’s economy many people are taking whatever job they can get their hands on just to have a paycheck but are not happy with their duties. This causes decrease efficiency and lack of motivation which can lead to high turnover for organizations and bad reputations for hiring the wrong people. This is why organizations need to plan “the Storey model,...
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...Running Head: SECURITY ISSUES Challenging Security Issues Michael D Mckoy For Matt Keogh American Intercontinental University July 14th, 2013 Abstract This will help answer question to some of the many case studies in the AIU assignment listing. We will identify and explain how the antivirus software cripples components of a computer. What are some of the problems and causes that are associated with the antivirus will be described. Also just how secure is the cloud and what other factors can help in making sure it remains that way. Medical records and just how secure they are will be determined in the discussion as well as other factors. Lastly how important is reservation systems at two popular airlines will be discussed. Chapter 8, pg 304: When Antivirus Software Cripples your Computers. 1. What management, organization, and technology factors were responsible for McAfee’s software problem? McAfee virus scan among other technological issues were not compatible at all. It also appeared to be a lack of communication and preparation amongst his management team. They should have been a little more prepared and organized to prevent the software issues. When a system crashes and fails to reboot this could have a negative impact on McAfee as we just seen. 2. What was the business impact of this software problem, both for McAfee and for its customers? The business impact of this software problem was that companies and customers lost all of their data and wasn’t...
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...COMM 225, FALL 2015: CASE STUDY DUE: November 28, 2015, 23:55 HR, SUBMIT ONLINE IN THE DROP BOX Each group is required to solve both cases provided below (i.e., answer all 4 questions) TO BE DONE IN GROUPS OF MAXIMUM OF 3 STUDENTS FROM THE SAME SECTION (WITH SAME CONTENT EXPECTATIONS) CASE 1: Cold Stone Transforms the Ice Cream Social with Facebook By Casey Hibbard (Published November 22, 2010) (Full length article available at http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/cold-stone-transforms-the-ice-cream-social-with-faceb ook/) Ice cream has always been social. But Cold Stone Creamery has found a way to make it even more so—with Facebook. Today, Cold Stone continues to innovate outside the kitchen, recently releasing what may be the first eGift feature on Facebook, and running contests that get thousands engaged even more deeply with the brand. The payoff goes well beyond greater customer engagement; Cold Stone’s promotions add to the bottom line by moving people from their computers to physical stores. In July 2010, Cold Stone made eGifting more tangible. Now you can send Facebook friends a code for an actual ice cream creation eGift, ranging from $5 to $7, right from the Cold Stone Facebook fan page for delivery via Facebook or email. Like a gift certificate, recipients can instantly redeem the gift at any of the retailer’s American locations by showing a printout or the code on their mobile phones. For a viral effect, the eGift shows up in the recipient’s...
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