Golden Fleece Hotel - Essay Example

? Golden Fleece Hotel and Section # of Introduction to the report: Information systems are serving as the backbone to businesses all over the world. From the world of medicine to sports, public service to private corporations; every organization, every industry is using the power of information and the competitive advantage it brings to the table. The right information at the right time, given to the right people can serve as the biggest competitive advantage for an organization. A single piece of information of the future can bring strategic changes in an organization’s future planning, proving as mightily successful. This report contains multitude of examples, through scholarly and pragmatic articles, researches and surveys that prove the point that information systems and internet applications in today’s world are all the tools you need to succeed in a business if you have proven yourself in the skill you excel at, or the business you work in. This business report can serve as a persuasive read for the owners of the Golden Fleece Hotel, who will benefit greatly with the installation of information systems to improve efficiency and effectiveness of their strategy. Having the state of the art information system can help them gain on the competitive front as well. Business operations in the hotel management business can make or break the business. Branding and maintaining quality is the way to move forward (Ralph, 2008). This consultancy is being provided by the IM consultants who are an Information Systems Consultancy firm. They provide information systems solutions to business all over the world. Methodology: This report incorporates a lot of secondary information. Secondary information is the data collection from the researches that have already been conducted and articles that have already been written. No primary sources are used; primary research pertains to research that has been done by the researchers. In this case, no research has been done by the consultancy firm especially for this case. Hotel management is a pragmatic and emerging science, compared to other management fields. Therefore, a lot of research that has been used to cite is newer. Some of the information that has been used is also property of the consultancy firm and therefore relevant information has also been used from the database. All references have been cited towards the end of the report. Academic sources and journals have been used where necessary to validate the theoretical framework of hotel management. Real life examples have also been employed that further validate the recommendations made towards the end of the report. Golden Fleece Hotel: The Golden Fleece boasts of a rich history; it is relatively new in the hospitality industry and has made its mark through the exceptional service they provide their customers. Since its inception in 1999, it has been moving upwards and seeing success; however, times changed as the hotel entered its 8th year of operation. A number of factors can be attributed to this change. According to research it has been proved that organizations can plan all they want; if they are unable to act according to the changes that take place in the external environment, their strategy will not work. The strategic plan should keep in mind the forecast of changes that may take place in consumer preferences, economical conditions, political environment etc. Therefore, environmental analysis serves as the key to making the right decisions. The management of Golden Fleece was not able to predict that changing nature of business and technology and has suffered duly because of it (Ralph, 2008). According to Silver, information systems are implemented to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the work processes in an organization. There are many types of systems that can be utilized, according to the decision making and information needs of the organization. When it comes to hospitality management the biggest need for the hour is to assimilate information from the customers and their needs and wants; making sure that this data is translated into deals and offers etc. Tourism can have ample affect on the hospitality industry of any country (Silver, 1991). The Golden Fleece hotel is a prestigious name in the hospitality industry. They are facing major occupancy issues due to many reasons, augmented by the lack of having a proper information system running through the critical information and providing results to them. Using the paper system puts them at a huge disadvantage; the technological era today makes sure that everything is done over the internet; major hotel chains make sure that they experience they will provide upon reaching the destination is equivocally transmitted through their company websites as well as brochures. Online reservation systems have become a must; it is a cheap and environmental friendly way as well (Bernd, 2008). Environmental Analysis (PESTEL): In order to identify the needs of the hotel, a PESTEL analysis is conducted that will help to identify the information needs. The technological advancement has made sure that managers and businessmen are travelling lesser around the world. With the help of videoconferencing, travel has been reduced significantly and this trend is likely to grow over the next two to three decades. Therefore, focusing on the business sector for customers will not help the hotel move forward. A strategic change in the target market will have to be made. Political factors also are an important part of the environment of the business. Currently, the business does not face any hindrance in occupancy due to political factors. Hotels are now becoming grand and providing exceptional services to attract all kinds of audience for occupancy. They are making sure that people have enough reasons to choose them over competition. Golden Fleece needs to broaden their horizon and introduce new offers to seasonal travelers again to attract customers back to their hotel. Technologically, the hotel is running far behind than its counterparts. Hotel managements now use sophisticated systems to monitor their customer inflow and outflow, their frequency and their special needs and wants during special times of the season. They have an integrated system that can intake all sorts of information and make it easier for the decision makers to take sound decisions for the future. Golden Fleece, is still using a paper based system for reservation; if they want to move forward and become a big brand name, they need to integrate technology into their operations (Michael, 2010). SWOT Analysis: A company needs to take care of two important aspects of its environment: the internal environment and the external environments. Internal environment is the business processes, operations, human resources, culture etc and other things which are under direct control of the management. The external environment is all the other stakeholders which have some effect on the business such as the customers, suppliers, government, political environment etc. The PESTEL analysis is done to analyse the external environment and incorporate the opportunities and threats present in the environment. The internal environmental scan ensures that the strengths and weaknesses of the organization are highlighted. In this case, one of the biggest strength that Golden Fleece hotel has is the quality service that they provide their customers. Compromise on quality would have made the company lose out on valuable customers for a long period of time. Quality is the biggest concern and the advantage that hotels have; if the customer believes that they will get exceptional customer service and quality, they will chose your organization no matter what. Their biggest weakness is that there is no information system present to complement their operations and streamline their operations. Most of the work is done manually through paperwork, which is not the case today in many organizations worldwide. Becoming paperless and managing operations through information systems is the key to get the competitive advantage back. Ancillary services are sometimes the biggest reasons for customers to choose over from one choice to another. The Golden Fleece makes sure that it provides many ancillary services; it is significant to know which services are being used by customers the most in order to increase investment in those and cancel those which are not being used by the customers that often. Needs of the Golden Fleece Hotel: A number of information needs have been identified, studying the internal and external environment. 1. Customer occupancy patterns; if prior customers have any specific needs to book a hotel, seasonally or due to any other reasons such as conferences etc, a system that can generate reports of such patterns. 2. A mail-delivery system that can contact most of the prior customers to help them avail offers and value packs that the hotel has to offer. 3. Information regarding the customer’s preferences when they use the guest services; an idea related to how some services is used more than other and the reason behind them. 4. Exposure to research reports conducted by various agencies that conduct research related to customer behavior and buying pattern changes. This will help in the forecast of occupancy. 5. Information regarding the popularity of any/many kinds of value packs or deals that the hotel has to offer to its customers so that the more popular packages can be re-introduced every year and improvements can be made. 6. Human Resources is an integral part of any organization. In the case of Green Fleece Hotel, the human resource is raw talent that needs to be bred into specialized employees for them to be valuable for the organization. Strategic Problem Analysis through Porter`s Value Chain Model: Porter`s Value Chain model is a tool that is used to identify the organization`s internal and external factors and how they impact the core business operations. According to Porter, there are five essential activities that a business has; they include Operations, marketing and Sales, Customer Services, Outbound Logistics and Inbound Logistics. These core operations are further supplemented by Human Resources, Information technology and infrastructure. These three functions help support the basic activities of a firm (Satya, 2009). The target market of the Green Fleece hotel is unaware of the service that the company has to offer. There are hardly any marketing efforts being made by the management, which is a big mistake in a marketing oriented world. No follow ups are being done to prior customers who have visited. Infrastructure inadequacy is evident from the paper system that the hotel uses for its reservation. Such a system is prone to errors in reservation, costing the hotel a bad name in an efficient industry. Internal environment lacks the presence of a competent information system, with the help of which the receptionist would have been better handling the registration of the new and old clients. This is also a vital part of the operations of the hotel, where there is redundancy and precious time lost due to paper records and checks and balances. With the help of a basic information system, the person in charge would be able to pull out all the prior information related to the customer, room availability etc. Customer service and after sales service is an integral part of a brand communication today. Organizations that provide a well-rounded service are known for their quality service. The hotel has no record of the ancillary services being used by the guests at their hotel. A frequency check would let the management know about the popularity of some and provide insight to change the others. Human Resources of an organization is considered as an intangible asset of an organization. The part time employees although are committed to the organization, need further training towards quality maintenance and once the system is installed, they will need basic training to operate the system. Increase in compensation can also work as a trigger towards better motivation and morale. Since the hotel is not exposed to unlimited financial resources, the main issue will be acquisition of such an information system, that solves most of the critical information needs and increase operational efficiency to an extent, without causing much financial distress to the organization. Also, the loyal staff working at the hotel is averagely computer moderate. Therefore, a sophisticated system with higher level complications will not work with the staff. The information system needs to be such that it complements the business as well as fully understandable to the staff; otherwise it will demoralize the staff as well. The problem that needs the most attention is bringing back the customers to the hotel. Operational efficiency is also of prime importance as the reduced costs can then be used for marketing purposes over the internet. Porter`s Five Forces Model: Through Porter`s Five Forces model, the competitive standing of the hotel in the industry will be gauged. These five forces are part of the external environment; as most of the uncontrollable variables are in the external environment, it plays a key role in strategic positioning and long term strategy (Anthony, 2008). Threats of new entrants are always present in the hotel industry, with new competition coming up and providing unique services to its customers. There is a high probability that the Golden Fleece is suffering due to the presence of stronger competition that has recently came in the industry, taking away its customers. IM consultants will make sure that immaculate internet services are provided, with internet solutions at par with industry giants, to decrease the threat of new entrants. This will include launching a new website as well. Threat of substitutes in the market is high for such a service providing industry. Although the basic services are guest services, the ancillary services with immaculate customer service can serve as the deciding factor for substitution. Other factors such as price, prior experience can also matter. The bargaining power of buyers of the hotel may have also decreased owing to the economical turmoil that has taken place. The target market of the hotel has lesser disposable income and it is affecting their travel patterns as well. This phenomenon is widely recognized as travel has decreased in the economical distress. The system introduced by IM consultants will make sure that the target market it attracted with the minimum cost to the organization. A comprehensive internet solutions plan is presented towards the end of the report. Solutions and Recommendations: The system that is will serve as perfect for operational efficiency is a transaction processing system that will help streamline everyday operations. Such a system will help in billing customers, preparation of payroll, raw material/stock controls, amongst other things. This will be termed as environmental friendly and pretty basic to operate for the staff as well. For the higher management, purchase of a management information system will be fruitful to make management decisions, taking input from the transaction processing system already installed. Information will be taken from the TPS and analyzed by the management information system, to assist the management as well. In this way, both the systems will work simultaneously to help hierarchies of the hotel management (Effy, 2008). Internet can be used as the best marketing tools today. With social marketing and networking on the rise, social marketing and internet marketing is the way to go. To increase internet space and visibility, the following actions can be taken. To use internet as the biggest marketing tool can really help the organization achieve affordable yet effective marketing, reaching through to their target market. 1. Advertise on Search Engines: Making a good and effective website is useless as long as nobody visits it and if visitors are to be made to visit the website, then effective advertising needs to be done which lures them into coming to the website. This advertising is most helpful when done on search engines like Google and Yahoo! In recent times, social network marketing has been popularly used by all kinds’ f businesses and can serve as a unique way to market the hotel. Facebook can definitely attract tourists and other kinds of customers except for business men. Therefore, advertising over the internet and social networks in particular will help increase internet presence of the hotel. 2. Another method is to send email with highly personalized content. The targets for this kind of advertisement can be prior customers who have already stayed at the Golden Fleece; special promotions that are introduced for the existing customers can be directed into their emails. This will make them feel special and introduce positive buyer behaviour in the future. 3. Presence of an online website: Am immaculate website that ensures that the complete picture of the qualities of the hotel and concerned services is shown. Assurance should be made that the website contains complete visuals and if possible animated graphics about the hotel features. Incorporation of internet reservation system will greatly increase customer attraction to the hotel. 4. The internet can also be used to save a lot of money. Many variable costs can be saved by using various tools available online. Transportation costs can be saved by doing videoconferencing; the company can do B2B transactions as well by integrating communication with their suppliers online too etc. (Ellis, 2001) An effective information system will help The Golden Fleece Hotel in creating and efficient and effective value chain between the firm and the suppliers. This direct communication will reduce unnecessary costs by setting competitive reordering points and delivery of the materials (Malhotra, 1997) The system will also help the Golden Fleece in reducing the costs in the short as well as long run. With the efficient system in place, it will Decrease the number of employees required due of better coordination and management. Decrease the inventory and space costs with better value chains. Discover trends in the customer attractions and the kind of value deals which are more popular. A sound system tracking customer needs, wants and usage patterns of ancillary services at the hotel. Acquisition, Design & Implementation: Acquiring the right kind of an information system, tailored for the needs of the small sized enterprise, it is important that it fits in the company budgets. IM consultancy will make sure that a tailored, off the shelf system is attained for the hotel needs; this will be software that will be purchased by a supplier that can be tailored according to the needs of the user. A tailored off the shelf system will also help financially as it will be relatively low cost and will serve as an asset to the organization in the long run. The implementation stage will take place in phases. IM consultancy believes that any system can be implemented in an organization through various phases; a direct implementation of a system will mean disruption of routine operational activities and unrest amongst the employees of Green Fleece Hotel. The model known as Systems Development Life Cycle model will be implemented throughout the Golden Fleece hotel, by IM consultancy, for the implementation of the Information system. During the initiation stage, it was realized that hotel had basic information needs that point towards using an information system to solve the problems. This is already been done. Feasibility studies show that an information system will be key in helping the hotel return to its original glory. IM consultancy will then test the IS or the software package to see its working in the hotel, so that tailored changes can be made later. The crucial step is the implementation stage where the paper based system will be removed with the information system. Lastly, it is very important to maintain and review the performance of the information system that will be installed in the hotel. A maintenance agreement will be made with IM consultancy to make sure that there is always help and review of the system. BIBLIOGRAPHY Malhotra, R. (1997) Encyclopedia of hotel management and tourism, Volume 1. Anmol Publications. Silver, M. (1991) Systems that support decision makers: description and analysis. Wiley Stahl, B. (2008) Information systems; critical perspectives. Taylor and Francis Stair, R., Reynolds, G. (2008) Fundamentals of Information Systems. Cengage Learning Oz, E. (2008) Management Information Systems. Cengage Learning O’Fallon, M.. Rutherford, D. (2010) Hotel Management and Operations. John Wiley and Sons Henry, A. (2008) Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford University Press Sekhar, S. (2009) Business Policy and Strategic Management. I K International Pvt ltd. Hasan, M. (1988) Information System needs for decision making in the hotel industry: UK and Egypt. Available from http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19891862524.html;jsessionid=6CE4E2FCD5D48F899E469F911375D084 Read More