Digital Strategy Plan for Mantra Group Limited - Case Study Example

Digital Strategy Plan for Mantra Group Limited By (Name) Name of Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) Name of Institution (University) City and State The Date Contents Background 2 Company Overview 3 The Scope 4 Preliminary analysis findings 5 Reference List 7 Background Established in September 2009, Mantra Group Limited is an Australian Company that provides accommodation and other hospitality related services (Mantra Group, 2017). It is a resort and hotel operator and marketer. It is a leader in the hospitality industry with the second largest network of resorts, hotels and serviced apartments in Australia; this is by total room number. Mantra Group’s portfolio has more than more than 15,000 rooms and 125 properties. These are found all over Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand. The company’s property variety ranges from coastal retreats, luxury resorts, serviced apartments in the central business district and other major leisure destinations. All these fall under the company’s three brands: Mantra, Peppers and BreakFree (Mantra Group, 2017). Apart from offering services like bar and restaurant, conference and function centers, pool and entertainment facilities Mantra Group also manages guest relations, reception areas and offices. The company has a network of over 5000 employees that perform various functions including, sales and marketing, corporate activities, asset and portfolio management, operations and information technology. Company Overview Mantra Group Limited is ranked at number 643 in the top 2000 Australian Companies. It generates most of its income from the hospitality and accommodation industry. In the last financial year, the company generated an overall revenue of over 600 million dollars including sales (IBISWorld, 2016). The number of employees is estimated to be between 5000 and 10,000 (Mantra Group, 2017). The Chief Executive Officer of the group is Mr. Bob East and the chairman Mr. Peter Bush. The company was included in the ASX200 list in its first year as a public company and eventually registered in the Australian Securities Exchange. The company operates in the leisure, hospitality and corporate accommodation industry with properties in major locations in Indonesia and New Zealand and all the capital cities in Australia (IBISWorld, 2016). Their three brands operate as follows: Mantra – Operates and owns more than 50 resorts, hotels and serviced accommodation. Peppers – Operates more than 30 resorts, retreats and hotels. BreakFree – Operates and owns more than 40 serviced accommodation, resorts and hotels. This project is intended to come up with a digital strategy for enhancing customer experience for their Peppers brand. Mantra Group Limited has a highly experienced management team which has the backing of over 5000 employees of which over 1000 are in property management and maintenance (Companies House, 2017). The company is a chief player in the hospitality and accommodation industry having the second biggest networks of hotels, serviced apartments and resorts in Australia. Another strength is that the company has some of the most experienced hotel management teams that manage the largest marketing expenditures in the business. The company has also realized the importance of offering the best possible partnership experience to property owners is as important as dealing with the customers and therefore have come up with flexible management structures and teams that aid in setting up solutions that suit the needs of the property owners. Lastly, the company has high-tech industry-leading information technology systems that include innovative online sales, reporting, management and promotional and marketing resources (Companies House, 2017). The company has however recently realized the ever increasing competition from the other companies in the hospitality industry and has decided to come up with a digital business strategy that will help it maintain its position in the market and grow even more. This project will only focus on the Pepper brand which operates over 30 retreats, hotels and resorts. The Scope The fact that Mantra Group is the second largest Company in the Australian hospitality industry means that the company has strategies put in place for this to happen (Mantra Group, 2017). The company is focused on operational success and excellence and customer engagement. Its vision is to be the favorite and the purpose is to attract customers, guests and the best employees (Mantra Group, 2017). The company has state-of-the-art digital solutions and their user platforms are up to date according to the company strengths (Ezyclick, 2016). However, in order to ensure their continued success and to stay on top of the industry, the company’s digital strategy for enhancing customer experience has to be constantly upgraded and made as user friendly as possible. In deciding the appropriate digital business strategy, the research will assess both internal and external factors to be considered in the choice of a digital platform that will inform a more integrated approach to the operations of the three Mantra Group brands. The Internal strengths and weaknesses to be covered will focus on internal operational systems and structures, communication platforms, e-documentation, real time web hosting as well as staffing capacity and competency. The external opportunities and threats that will form the context of this research will be derived from the competitors of the Mantra group, the research will focus on untapped customer experience needs that shall be collected through questionnaires and customer feedback mechanisms. Most importantly the proposed digital system dimension should allow for a self-service module that permits multi-user logins to enhance customer experience. The final digital business strategy will aim to cover IT Value Hierarchy which will look at what the main IT strategic solutions needs of the company are, IT Strategy Grid that will outline how and where the IT investment was made and finally the Information System Leadership Role to outline the different responsibilities of the senior executives in the Peppers Brand of the Mantra group that manage some of the IT systems (Warner, 2010). This report will be based on the theme of supporting innovation in business using information technology, especially through their company websites. The business will use technology as their motivation in this transformation. The stakeholder summary of Mantra Group Limited is presented below using a SATCO checklist (Poustie, 2016). Sponsors: these include the board of directors. Agents: include the state governments and the Australian Commonwealth Targets: the company competitors such as the Urban Purveyor Group, the Company investors and the Australian Hospitality Management Association. Champions: The senior management team. Others: The company customers and property owners. Preliminary analysis findings As much as technology has always been vital in Mantra Group’s Pepper Brand service business, their virtual monopoly in their digital strategy for enhancing customer experience has exposed them to digital changes and disruptions in the industry (Mantra Group, 2017). The company’s digital strategic context is made up of the following aspects (SiteMinder, 2015): ­Lack of a consolidated structure of IT. ­The company size is constantly increasing adding more interrelated and complicated systems that need better integration. ­There is no principal IT leadership. ­The existing IT infrastructure is incapable of taking advantage of product opportunities. ­The IT infrastructure has to be kept updated due to the ever changing needs in the hospitality industry. The digital technologies under the SMACIT (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and Internet of Things) category pose a major threat to a business like Pepper Brand of the Mantra Group Limited since some of its major competitors have some of them in place and these enhance business processes and customer experience (McGee, Thomas & Wilson, 2010). The company’s approach to the aspects mentioned above have significantly changed in the past year. The company still remains the second largest in the hospitality industry and aims to be the best and the largest. Other companies like Best Western and Accor pose a major threat to the industry and eventually the payments sector as they have well updated systems (Paul, Cadle & Yeates, 2015). The company’s initial discretion to changing with the ever changing times has had a major impact on the latest earnings and market shares. The company therefore made plans to overhaul its overall digital strategies especially for enhancing customer experience. In order to improve the overall digital application the business intends to tie up with the IT service provider so that it can improve its overall application of business operation (Harvard Business School, 2005). The main focus of this tie-up is to enhance the digital experience of the consumers by providing them more guided applications which are not only user friendly but at the same time secure. The company aims at providing consumers the opportunity to access the company website, bookings and payments from any devices of their choice from any part of the city or nations (Mantra Group News, 2016). This new process will not only ensure superior digital experience for the client, but at the same time it will allow them to use online payments, bookings and reservations from an operating system of their choice as well and also aid the company to further customize its business operations. This application as a response of the demands raised by the consumers for more updated digital experience which will help them navigate the complexities and at the same time improve the growth of the company in the years to come (Kasemsap, 2017). An improved digital strategy for the Pepper Brand will ensure customer satisfaction to a great extent as this is the key behind success in the hospitality industry in the present era. People in recent time are looking for more updated services, which most of the Mantra Group are looking to deliver with the help of digitalization. However, following the market trend often become challenging as there are huge competition in every field, therefore, it is necessary for the company such as Mantra Group to be the trend setter which will improve its business but also help in the creation of a better brand value for subsequent years. The following image outlines the various touch points this digital strategy can create for the Mantra Group to improve customer service in modern era: Figure 1: Touch point in digital strategy Reference List Ezyclick, 2016. The Mantra Group Limited. [Online]. Available at: https://ezyclicks.com/company/mantra-group-limited.html [Accessed 26 Apr 2017]. Harvard Business School, 2005. Strategy: create and implement the best strategy for your business. (6th Edn). Boston: Harvard Business School Press. IBISWorld, 2016. Mantra Group Limited - Premium Company Report Australia. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ibisworld.com.au/australian-company-research-reports/accommodation-food- services/mantra-group-limited-company.html [Accessed 25 Apr 2017]. Kasemsap, K., 2017. Mastering Consumer Attitude and Sustainable Consumption in the Digital Age. Melbourne: RMIT University. Mantra Group, 2017. Who is Mantra Group? [Online]. Available at: http://www.mantragroup.com.au/About-Us.aspx [Accessed 25 Apr 2017]. Mantra Group, 2017. About Mantra Group. [Online]. Available at: http://ir.mantragroup.com.au/Investor- Centre/ [Accessed 26 Apr 2017]. Mantra Group, 2017. To be the Favorite by Knowing What Matters: Mantra Group Philosophy. [Online]. Available at: http://www.mantragroup.com.au/About-Us/Vision-Values-Strategy.aspx [Accessed 26 Apr 2017]. Mantra Group News, 2016. Mantra Group Continues Expansion with Southport Central Acquisition. [Online]. Available at: http://www.mantragroup.com.au/News-Media/News/postid/589/mantra- group-continues-expansion-with-southport-central-acquisition.aspx. [Accessed 7 May 2016]. McGee, J., Thomas, H. & Wilson, D. R., 2010. Strategy: analysis and practice. (3rd Edn). London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Paul, D., Cadle, J. & Yeates, D., 2015. Business analysis. Melbourne: Pearson Publishers. Poustie, H., 2016. IT strategy: approaches and tools. Melbourne: RMIT University. SiteMinder, 2015. Mantra Group set to grow with SiteMinder’s online distribution solutions. [Online] Available at: http://www.siteminder.com/news/mantra-group-to-grow-with-siteminders-online- distribution-solutions/. [Accessed 7 May 2017]. Warner, A. G., 2010. Strategic analysis and choice: a structured approach. [Online] Available at http://rmit.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=876592 [Accessed 26 Apr 2017]. Read More