...WestJet Airlines – IT Governance & Corporate Strategy 1. Assessment of the IT situation at WestJet - Cheryl Smith focused on performance measures to carry out a study to compare companies within the transportation industry. The objective of the study was to compare WestJet’s IT cost, its resources and its budget to the overall industry standards. With the results, Cheryl was able to conclude that the IT department of the company was competent and worked according to the “WestJet IT Way”. She acknowledged that the IT organization at WestJet was structured according to the IT group’s conventional internal functions of planning, building, organizing, maintaining and governing. To top it off Cheryl found that IT department at WestJet had relatively different skill set compared to the IT sector at other companies1. Further she stated that more than half the systems, procedures and systems were industry-standard. WestJet’s IT department had invented its own operations structured around the company’s needs which were not compliant with other related industries. The study concluded that there was a mismatch in the number of employers as compared to the industry benchmark numbers. 2. WestJet’s assessment and Issues faced - Cheryl Smith was informed that WestJet had undergone an analysis with IBM and they had recommended a solution to its IT concerns. However, Cheryl requested to stop and place a hold on the PMO deal that was suggested by IBM. Instead, the first task...
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...When Cheryl Smith, arrived to WestJet as the new CIO, the CEO to advise whether or not the company had an adequate IT infrastructure, the statement that CEO said was; “I’m not sure if we have great IT…or otherwise” (Munro, M., & Khan, S. 2013). The aspects of the WestJet IT situation that Cheryl Smith assess in order to respond to the CEO's concern, was what they had in place along with assessment that was just done. Cheryl Smith assesses what IBM study had on WestJet, along with knowledge that CEO gave her before coming aboard. From this information IBM stated to establish a PMO (project management office) Cheryl was concern on the expenses that would be used to establish a PMO so she asked to place it on hold. If I was to summarize and critique Smith's assessment, I would have to first agree with her initial request to stop and place on hold the PMO ideal. The first thing that Cheryl did was to determine budget and resources available to her. Next she compared the number of IT experts to WestJet IT cost. I would have done the same this would have gave me a clear picture of what I have to work with, and what I can use to develop an IT department. Some of the biggest changes in IT at WestJet that were essential and that allowed Smith's governance model to enable WestJet to achieve its strategic goal, was re-structuring staff. By moving experiences personal in to leadership roles and moving out manger and supervisor with no knowledge in IT out of the department. I believe...
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...Case Analysis # 4 WestJet Airlines – Case WestJet having been established in 1996 operating three used Boeing 737-200s went ahead to become a hugely successful and thriving organization, by 2009 it had thirty-eight % share in the domestic market of Canada that had increased from seven % in 2000. This was possible by the excellent IT systems that were developed in-house by the IT specialists in WestJet and this was done by growing around the business of the airline strategies. The organization going forward wanted to cash-in on the codeshare program that allows alliances of international airlines, this required integration of IT with the international airline reservation systems Sabre so that it could partner with major airlines operating on the same system, WestJet moved to Sabre in 2009, but the transition wasn’t smooth and there were a lot of concerns in regard to the IT Governance and strategy implemented by the corporation. Cheryl Smith was appointed as the new CIO of WestJet to solve the problems on hand. The concerns and further analysis: The concerns that Smith found that were glaringly evident and those which cause serious inconsistencies in the IT governance and also the operations are as follows, firstly the IT staff in the organization which included the IT developers, Business analyst, IT governance and Business Intelligence all worked as a single group and this led to an environment that was a mixture of all the skill sets and also when the Business units...
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...Introduction WestJet Airlines Ltd is a world famous low- cost and high- value airlines company in Canada, which provide scheduled and airline service to 91 destinations in North America. In 2011, Cheryl Smith was being executive vice – president and CIO of WestJet. She could take WestJet go to “next level” as soon as possible by information technology governance and corporate strategy. This report is talking about the information technology governance and corporate strategy of WestJet Airlines on Business Processes reengineering and Controls. There are four main parts in this report. IT Governance has five specific areas which are considered by responsible of managing IT, and Smith’s plan could relate to these five areas. Then, Smith advised the changes with each of the components of the AS8015 model for IT Governance. After that, list all the risks which could affect WestJet continue its IT operations, and suggest recommendation. Finally, how to Smith’s transformation be managed successfully by WestJet, and give recommendation. Q1, IT Governance Institute lists five specific areas that need to be considered by those responsible of managing IT. Considering Smith’s plan to transform IT, how do her plans relate to these five areas? IT Governance is a new business word in these few years. IT Governance means the responsibility of the CEO, directors, main shareholders and executive management. IT Governance belongs to governance, which include the processes, organizational...
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...WESTJET CASE ANALYSIS Information technology is a revolution in itself. I perceive the blend of Information Technology with business strategy in collaboration with most apt IT governance is what is required for an organization to flourish and be in a win- win situation in the long run. In the case analysis of The West jet, we are going to see how IT, Business Strategy and IT governance can be utilized in upgrading an organization so that it provides better customer service and satisfaction. Analysis :- West Jet Airlines known for its "High Value and Low Fare" was working fine with its in- house small but efficient Information technology services(It worked as the integral growth of the West Jet) until it started facing hindrances in code share. The systems in the west jet were stand- alone systems and were not able to collaborate with the international Airlines Systems. Initially, West Jet selected Sabre to move to International reservation system but it was not commendable. There were some issues with the IT Infrastructure. I perceive not having an IT expertise at an executive level is a major drawback for any growing organization since the business strategies have to be in sync with the IT requirements. Realizing that, the CEO along with other executives signed a contract with Cheryl Smith to be the CIO for The West jet. Since The West jet wanted to use IT to move to next level so Cheryl was responsible for raising the IT systems and infrastructure at par with other Airlines...
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