Enquiry Systems in a Fictional Company Garbett Tours - Case Study Example

Task The aim of this paper is basically to test the knowledge of how enquiry systems can be used to assist organisations with their technology planning. The scenario presented is based on a fictional company (Garbett Tours) and the method of enquiry to be used is Unbounded Systems Thinking (Mitroff & Linstone, 1993) which is based on the idea that all "problems" are somehow interconnected will be applied to this scenario for IT Planning Garbett Tours, is a collection of travel agencies around the country which their job is to sell packaged holidays based on the necessary arrangements with hotels and airlines to meet specific needs of their customers. Through the time and with new improvements in information technology, they have realised that they cannot continue to their business since the environment is changed. They have discovered that some of their previous customers simply plan their holidays by searching all touristic information about their destination on the internet. They can simply reserve a hotel in another country and they can easily reserve and buy their flight tickets through the World Wide Web. In addition, many airlines has sold travel packages to their customers themselves and they found they did not need to pay a commissions to travel agencies. The managers of Garbett Tours have also found that some travel agencies in recent years have changed/adapted their business to the changes of information technology. They have discovered that the concepts of B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) determines the relations of online businesses in new and modern information technology. Having a view on some of successful online travel agencies, they are determined to adapt Garbett tours to new internet based market. The method of enquiry for this case study is based on UST (unbounded system thinking) since the problem is complicated and the source of the problems seems to be the entities which effect each other. Therefore finding an exact source of the "problem", is difficult because we are dealing with the innovations in IT industry, change of the way other providers like Airlines serve their customers, the drivers that effect the tourism industry and the idea of removing layers from the package holiday distribution network. In order to resolve the problems faced by Garbett Tours, creative approaches to the solution are needed which will be discussed in following tasks. Task 2 "According to Poirier (2000) tourism today is second only to oil as the world's leading export commodity, accounting for global earnings of more than $300 billion, or nearly 25 per cent of total world GNP. Over the last two decades, tourism has proved to be the world's fastest growing economic sector, with average growth of 7.1 per cent per year in arrivals and 12.5 per cent in receipts."1(Citation Needed) "Despite these statistics, tourism growth in many countries has not been this high, in particular those countries confronted with various political instabilities that have slowed development in tourism."(JR Ryu, 2006) Political stability and political relations influence the image of destinations in touristic regions (Hall and O'Sullivan,1996, JR Ryu, 2006). "The political aspects of tourism are interwoven with its economic consequencestourism is not only a "continuation of politics" but an integral part of the world's political economy. In short, tourism is, or can be, a tool used not only for economic but for political means" (Edgell, 1990, JR Ryu, 2006). History shows that tourism has been always affected by political instabilities. An example of political instability is the issue of Tiananmen Square, June 4 1989 in China. "Prime time news coverage showed army tanks threatening the civilian population. After that, Tiananmen Square incident Hotel occupancy rates in Beijing dipped below 30 per cent and as a result, Tourism earnings for China declined by $430 million in 1989 alone."( JR Ryu, 2006) (This needs a citation) Other political drivers are the effects of military coups (Fiji , 1987) , civil wars "(Yugoslavia - 1991, Army attacks Slovenia, Conflict continued for 10 days before moving to Croatia in 1991, and Bosnia-Herzegovina in1992 Tour operators for Yugoslavia lost over one million bookings in 1991 Two years after the war, figures for Slovenian tourism are still far behind pre-war figures.),"( JR Ryu, 2006) (Citation Needed). Terrorism "The World Travel & Tourism Council has clarified its earlier press release which reported a forecast of 30% decrease in travel and tourism demand worldwide resulting in the loss of 26.4 million jobs across the globe in the entire travel and tourism industry - including airlines, hotels, tour operators, car rental and credit card companies"2 after 9/11. Revolutions "(Ejtrcito Zapatista de Liberacion National (EZLN) initiated an armed rebellion against the Mexican government. The revolution resulted in 145 to 500 deaths. 1994 visitor arrivals to Mexico dropped by 70 per cent.)"( JR Ryu, 2006).(Citation Needed) 'It is also important to position tourism as a viable form of economic development. 'The tourism industry generates substantial economic benefits to both host countries and tourists' home countries. Especially in developing countries, one of the primary motivations for a region to promote itself as a tourism destination is the expected economic improvement. As with other impacts, this massive economic development brings along both positive and negative consequences.'3 'According to the World Tourism Organization (WTCC 2004), 698 million people travelled to a foreign country in 2000, spending more US$ 478 billion. International tourism receipts combined with passenger transport currently total more than US$ 575 billion - making tourism the world's number one export earner, ahead of automotive products, chemicals, petroleum and food 4 which shows that tourism is an important driver for tourism dependent economies. Finally, we will have a look at technology as a driver of changes in the tourism industry. The growth of the Internet has begun to influence the interactions among travel agents, suppliers, and consumers. The sophistication of information technology has already begun to allow tourists to bypass traditional methods of making travel arrangements. For example, Southwest Airlines now sells most of its tickets without the use of travel agents, using the internet instead (Lewis, Semeijn & Talalayevsky, 1998, p. 21). The full impact of this technological change has yet to be realized. However, it has the potential to effect significant changes. The interactive nature of the Internet allows for the values of tourists to register directly with providers of tourism services. For example; if there is a strong demand for environmentally sensitive services, it is likely that the demand will be met.5 Task 3 During the last few years, we have seen and increased use of web tools which enable users of the internet to create multimedia information and distribute it easily through the worldwide web. This functionality is referred as a part of Web 2.0 technology and it empowers internet users to participate and collaborate with other users to produce and distribute the information. The content and information generated in Web 2.0 has a tremendous impact on electronic businesses since they have to adapt themselves to new technologies in order to compete with their rivals. The tourism industry is not an exception from such developments. On the contrary, as information is the lifeblood of the tourism industry the use and diffusion of Web 2.0 technologies have a substantial impact of both tourism demand and supply. Indeed, many new types of tourism cyber-intermediaries have been created that are nowadays challenging the e-business model of existing cyber-intermediaries that only few years ago have been threatening the existence of intermediaries. In this vein, the purpose of this task is to analyse the major applications of Web 2.0 technologies in the tourism and hospitality industry by presenting their impact on both demand and supply.'6 'RSS feeds allow people to subscribe to online distributions of news, blogs, podcasts, or other information. By doing so, one does not have to visit each individual website thatis interesting to read any new information, but rather the RSS feeds of all new updated information to the users' RSS reader. RSS readers enable internet users to consolidate and read all new information that is customised to the profile within one consolidated message. Many free RSS feeds exist on the Internet,such as FeedDemon, NewsGator, Rojo,Google, MyYahoo and many others.'7 Garbett Tours can make the most of this technology since they can use RSS feeds to save the time needed for people to search for tourism information on the web. They can gather all news and information related to tourism through RSS feeds and to place them in their web site. They can keep a communication with their customers if they use RSS feeds as way to send news and get feedback from customers. RSS can also be a great tool to enhance the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Garbett Tours since RSS links a web site to many other web sites and news channels and this causes the Garbett Company to be easily searched by search engines. Dublin Tourism, is an example of a web site that has placed links for tourism RSS in its web site with the idea of helping Dublin tourists gain required news and information with ease. Another aspect of the Web 2.0 is Weblogs or Blogs. Blogs are a form of an online journal a newspaper or a personal diary, which is published on a website and are usually distributed through RSS and or trackback technologies, these inform the creator of a comment wheneversomeone has "replied" and or linked to his/her comment or contribution. Blogs are a type of a newspaper as information published on them is presented chronological and it can be related to either a very general topic, for example travel in general, or a very specific topic, such ascycling tourism in Germany. Numerous examples of general and-or specific blogs exist in the tourism industry, such as tripadvisor.com, hotelchatter.com, igougo.com, gazetters.com, a B2B weblog for travel agents. Anyone can create a weblog by using free software offered at several websites nowadayssuch as Word-press, and he/she can use it for publishing text, images, links to other blogs, web pages, audio and video files. Blogs are becoming very important tools affecting information search since their links, content and popularity can dictate the position of a company on a search engine search. Many travellers,are using blogs as fun and-or as a way of self expression.'8 It can be a great idea for Garbett Tours to provide blogging facilities for their customers on their web site. Blogs today are becoming a great source of information for travellers for getting travel advice from the people have visited the place they want to visit. also blogs can be a great place for tourism suppliers to place their comments. Many tourism companies have also taken a pro-active by creating and incorporating blogs on their websites. For example, Marriott has created its own weblog on its website, while Starwood Hotels has created a weblog to communicate with its Preferred Guests and enhance their loyalty through the website thelobby.com. Company initiated and moderated weblogs can offer the following benefits : "solicit and gather feedback from customers"," conduct free online market research"," become recognised as an expert on a specific topic" and "communicate and update your customers."'9 Social Collaborative Networking is also another aspect of Web 2.0 technology. 'Websites enabling users to create their profile and invite others with similar profile to take part in their online community represent another Web 2.0 technology and model, that of social networking. The most popular websites such as myspace.com and bebo.com reflect the willingness of internet users to transform websites as a gathering place of people with similar profiles.'10 Such communities can have a great impact on the tourism industry since many users are connected to each other in such networks and if a user shares his/her travelling experience, it encourages many other people to want to have the same experience. Garbett can create a group at such sites and attract millions of people in these networks to its web site. Here are some live examples of using such web 2.0 technologies , 'travelpost.com, realtravel.com, traveltogether.com are new types of travel cyber-intermediaries that providesusers with the tool to create an online itinerary, share it and e-mail it to friends travelling with them, others can edit it and or provide feedback, achieve a consensus and finally, enable them make the group booking. Existing cyber-intermediaries, such as Yahoo Trip planner has adopted similar collaborative trip organising and booking tools, while Sheraton has re-organised and re-designed its website, which is nowadays titled as the Sheraton Belong Neighbourhood, whereby Sheraton guests can subscribe to the website, upload their experiences, comments and files, share them with others which in turn can use them for organising and booking their holiday on the Sheraton property that better matches their profile and experiences they wish to live.'11 Another idea regarding the Web 2.0 is Podcasting and Online Video. 'Podcasting refers to the uploading of audio and video files by users on websites. The most popular website for doingsuch content sharing with others is youtube.com.'12 Using this technology, a user which has visited a place can simply upload a video regarding that place and help other tourists be judge of it before they personally going to visit that place. It is a great idea for Garbett to place a podcasting section in their web site. They can help tourists to share their travelling experience with others. They can also use podcasting for advertising purposes. Many tourism suppliers are using podcasting as a marketing as well as a communication tool. For example, Jumeirah hotel uploads podcasts on its website for delivering its potential customers what is happening in its properties at any minute, and-or delivering to users the experiences of VIPs that have stayed at their property. Tate Gallery enables their visitors that have experienced their paintings and exhibitions, to record themselves, upload their audio-video on the Tate Gallery website, which others can later download it and use it as a mobile guide into the gallery and-or as a interpretation and marketing information of the gallery's exhibits. Orbitz.com provides podcasting of many destinations that travellers can download to their MP3 players and use them as guides while visiting the destination. In a similar way, MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas has launched online video on its website under the title "Maximum Vegas" in order to better illustrate to its potential guests the experience and services of its hotel and gaming resort.'13 And finally, a great tool in Web 2.0 technology is Wikis. 'Wikis are technologies that enable users to add, delete, and in general edit the content of a website. As a result such websites are developed collaboratively through their users. The most popular is the wikipedia.com website, an online encyclopedia that is created and continually updated by its users. In tourism wikitravel.org represents the effort of internet users to collaboratively create and continuously update an online global travel guide. Visitors', creators' and content sizes at wikitravel.org are mushrooming.' Garnbett Tours should use it as a tool for advertising its services and attract many tourists to its services. 'In tourism wikitravel.org represents the effort of internet users to collaboratively create and continuously update an online global travel guide. Visitors', creators' and content sizes at wikitravel.org are mushrooming.'14 'In conclusion, internet users and travellers are nowadays empowered to create and distribute in their own way the content and the channels through which they wish to distribute it. Web 2.0 technologies enable internet users to become the co-producers, the co-designers, the co-marketers and the co-distributors of tourism experiences and services as well as the co-entrepreneurs of new e-business models. The business implications, threats but also opportunities, that are created for tourism and hospitality enterprises are tremendous. However, Web 2.0 is here to stay and unless acompany realises its potential and try to exploit it, unfortunately it will not manage to survive.'15 Task 4 The internet today is a popular medium for people to sell and buy through. Due to the high potential of internet, tourism marketing is also increasingly growing16 (Citation Needed). In this section we will analyse the impact of internet technology on the tourism industry which can enable the Garbett Tours to adapt itself to the "new" tourism industry. Internet has been with us for more than two decades but it has rapidly improved in last few years. It has transformed from a text based medium into a multimedia tool which exists everywhere in our life. The vigorous growth of the internet has drawn a lot of attention from both academic researchers and business operators. People in the fields of Information Technology (IT) and marketing have swarmed the internet. Internet publications on tourism marketing have grown significantly in the last few years.17 (Citation Needed) Some have provided a necessary background to some in-depth discussions of the various issues of marketing tourism on the internet. Some of these articles have highlighted the internet's impact on tourism distribution. However, this field of research is still in its infancy. Efforts must be made to understand the internet's role in tourism marketing and as to how tourism organizations and destinations can exploit its full potential.'18 Bellow we will mention some of the advantages of using the internet technology for Garbett Tours and its impact on the staff and management of this company. Addressability: Traditional marketing model is changed since the internet has come to our lives. The internet helps to address each customer personally instead of old ways of advertising by TV or radio which try to send a message from one to many persons. If Garbett Tours is going to setup an online office, then it has to consider this fact and make necessary changes in the staff arrangement in order to be able to adapt itself to this new model, for example, by specifying some of the staff for a live chat with customers which want to get more info regarding the company. They also need to change the old ways of advertising to what is now considered in e-commerce world. That is addressing the people who really want and are interested to use Garbett Tours services. Interactivity: Internet allows buyers and sellers of products and services to interact. They can be more in touch with the Garbett through a web site which makes the most of Web 2.0 technology and they can send and receive emails or they can use live chat system of the web site to get all the information they are looking for. Flexibility: Internet is a flexible tool. This means that any web site on the web is changeable at any time. Garbet Tours can modify any information on the web site and inform the changes to the customers in shortest possible time. Improved service: 'The Web makes it possible for companies to improve the service quality at all levels of customer interaction i.e. pre-sale, during and post sale. The web provides four tangible improvements in customer service. 1. A wider choice for the consumers: A website can display an array of products and services 2. Quick processing of payments: Automatic processing of cyber-cash or credit card charges. 3. Faster delivery: Especially for products like online software and music distribution 4. Making a wealth of information that can be quickly and easily accessed available. In tourism the web-based distribution systems can help satisfy the consumer needs of easy access to a wide choice of information and hassle free reservations. Increasingly tourist satisfaction depends on the timely availability of accurate and relevant information. Improved access to information on all aspects of tourist activities has made it possible for marketers to offer personalized services at the same prices as standard packages.'19 Cost savings: 'There are mainly five areas where costs can be minimized on the internet 1. Automation of the reservation processing and the payment system cuts down sales costs. 2. Implementing a menu-driven web-based travel reservation system as opposed to a command driven system where a sales clerk has to remember commands and airport codes. 3. Implementing direct links between the producer and the consumer, saving on huge distribution costs. 4. Saving on promotional costs due to the nets ability to send customized messages through electronic communication. 5. Reduced rental costs on office and sales space, and on administrative overheads. Setting up a promotional web site without booking facilities costs relatively less. An averagely skilled person with the use of a proper software package, such as Microsoft FrontPage can build a basic company web site in days. However a more comprehensive and powerful web-site offering in depth information such as virtual multimedia brochure including cataloguing products offerings and reservation and transaction facilities, will cost more and take longer to develop. Even though such a site will cost more to build, the cost is considerably less than tens of millions of dollars spent by airlines, tour operators and hotel chains on TV and magazine ads. By providing information on a website, customers feel empowered to find answers to their inquiries themselves, cutting costs on telephone charges on toll-free numbers. Using the internet can help save on distribution costs. Promotion and distribution of tickets, is a big cost factor in the airline industry. Selling tickets on the internet can eliminate travel agent commission and GDS fees paid by the airlines. An internet based supply channel management can also save procurement costs for businesses.'20 Impact of internet on Management and Staff at Garbett Tours: There are many benefits for Garbett if they select to focus on the Internet as a powerful marketing tool but this has some negative effects too. Above are positive effects of using the internet for Garbett Tours but what about the staff If the managers decide to completely move to e-business, staff changes must be made. Staff must be changed or trained to equal persons with computer knowledge and knowledge of the IT industry. Managers also need to adapt themselves to these new technologies and upgrade their management knowledge too. Internet makes many things automatically done and tourists can be now e-bookers themselves. They will do a part of the job online and without the need of personal travel agent staff. The customers can plan their holidays themselves with the help of online services Garbett provides. So, in this case Garbett needs to cut or retain staff to focus on the internet. Ebookers.com for example cut 15% of their workforce, closed 10 shops across Europe and reduced back office staff in India as part of their drive to move more operations on to the internet.'21 Please refer to appendices "effect/action/probability grid" that highlights what we discussed above. Task 5 For this aspect of the Assignment towards Garbett Tours system, the use and implementation of Soft System Methodology (SSM) which was developed by Peter Checkland will be incorporated specifically in the Feasibility, analysis, and design aspects of the system development. This SSM approach is a systemic approach that is generally used. Below is a Map showing Soft system Methodology taken from Checkland, Peter and Jim Scholes (1990),"Soft System Methodology in Action." Soft System Methodology Map Below are the 7 stages that are used in Soft System Methodology and in parallel use in Garbett Tours. 1. The problem situation unstructured- the main issue or problem that is faced by Garbett Tours is designing and implementing an online travel agency system. Some other related problems that are discussed in tasks 3 and 4 are technology changes and the soft issues of human interactivity. Garbett Tours is currently based on a chain of travel agencies. 2. The Problem situation expressed- The problem is then expressed and more information is gathered for analyzing. This may be done by customers, staff and managers of Garbet Tours via observation, interviews, records, workshops and discussions. However, Stages 1 and 2 are done in the real world with human communication and inputs 3. Root definition of relevant systems- The information gathered from Garbet Tours and the tourism sector is then analyzed in 2 main areas in isolation. These are a tasks are chosen from a rich picture and a system is designed to carry out the task specified. Also the six elements of the CATWOE need to be identified in this root definition. These are C- Customers, Employees and Management A- Trained Information Technology Staff T - The need to design the system to transform to a fulfilled need with the advantages of Web 2.0 technology. W- The worldview of the tourism industry. Changes occurring in tourism worldwide. New means of reaching to the end customer. O - Garbet Tours management and staff can put a stop to any activity web site does. E - The customers, airlines, hotels, tourism industry drivers and tourism related information (for example what we use as Web 2.0 technology) will be considered as elements outside the system. 4. Conceptual Model- The problems that is listed and analyzed is then transferred to the next possible stage which is conceptual modelling. This is where system concepts and other system thinking and done outside of the real world. The model used then finds possible solutions with best practices and best prediction for Garbet Tours. 5. Comparing conceptual models with Reality- this is where stages 2- 4 are compared and see whether a difference is made in the real world. Garbet Tours problems are then re- assessed to show the differences. Peter Checkland refers to stage 5 as a "model overlay". 6. Feasible, desirable changes - for all the issues or task stated in tasks 3 and 4, all the analyzing and modelling to find possible solution for Garbet Tours tourism industry and then check for example, security, easy usage, best design website, easy management of system, integrity, and new emerging technology compatibility (web 2.0 technologies). 7. Action to improve the problem situation - This can be listed as the implementation stage whereby, the possible actions are used in Garbet Tours tourism sector in stages 6 and 7 as possible solutions to listed issues by Garbet Tours and others. Appendices Probability Very likely Possible Unlikely Negligible Effect Positive 8,10 5,6,7 Negetive 1,4 2,3 11,12,13 9, Key Impacts: 1. Changing the staff both in quality and quantity. 2. Staff must be changed with trained people in computer and IT industry. 3. Managers also need to adapt themselves to these new technologies and upgrade their management knowledge 4. Garbett needs to cut staff to focus on the internet. 5. Automation of the reservation processing and the payment system cuts down sales costs. 6. Implementing a menu-driven web-based travel reservation system as opposed to a command driven system where a sales clerk has to remember commands and airport codes. 7. Implementing direct links between the producer and the consumer, saving on huge distribution costs. 8. Saving on promotional costs due to the nets ability to send customized messages through electronic communication. 9. Reduced rental costs on office and sales space, and on administrative overheads. 10. A wider choice for the consumers: A website can display an array of products and services 11. Quick processing of payments: Automatic processing of cyber-cash or credit card charges. 12. Faster delivery: Especially for products like online software and music distribution 13. Making available a wealth of information that can be quickly and easily accessed. References The Unbounded Mind,Breaking the Chains of Traditional Business Thinking Ian I. Mitroff and Harold A. Linstone, Scott Wayne 2001, WTTC's press release on economic impact of Sept 11, published on Mon, 24 Sep 2001, viewed on October 16,2007. Available from http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/ggr346/wtc/wtc4b.html University of MINNESOTA, 2007, Tourism Center, Question and Answer about tourism, policy and economy, viewed on October 16,2007 available from http://www.tourism.umn.edu/education/ctd/qa/b.html Economics Impacts of Tourism 2007, viewed on October 16,2007 available from http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/sust-tourism/economic.htm Terry Davies ,Sarah Cahill, 2000, Environmental Implications of theTourism Industry, viewed on October 16,2007. Available from http://www.rff.org/Documents/RFF-DP-00-14.pdf Chriss Warren ,July 29th 2007, Web 2.0 for Tourism Industry, A web magazine, viewed on October 13th 2007 available from http://homeboynet.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/web-2-for-the-tourism-industry-part-i/ Chriss Warren ,July 29th 2007, Web 2.0 for Tourism Industry, A web magazine, viewed on October 13th 2007 available from http://homeboynet.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/web-2-for-the-tourism-industry-part-ii/ Internet Tourism Marketing Netstarter 2007, Sydney website design, website development, ecommerce solutions and hosting packages, viewed on October 13,2007 available at http://www.netstarter.com.au/ pg-internet-tourism-marketing.seo.htm Richard Wray 2004 ,The Guardian Tuesday May 11 2004, Ebookers cuts staff to focus on internet, viewed on October 18, 2007 available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/may/11/business.citynews Read More