Rlc Case Study
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Tom Murphy, RCCL’s Chief Information Officer, was faced with several challenges:
o insufficient funds to keep IT projects on task
o massive personnel cuts due to budget constraints
o the continued need to invest against RCCL’s corporate strategy
o determining the most effective allocation of IT resources in a “no growth/low-growth” period
• Using the IT-Investment Framework, IT Asset Portfolio Framework, and the Benefits Framework our team recommends a 15% budget increase for 2004 with the following project priorities:
o Silverwhere program
o Complete the OneWorld software package implementation
o Selective integration of the …show more content…
o Increasing revenues – Having web based reservation systems would help bring in additional revenues by reducing travel agent commissions. It also helps users sign up for excursion programs more informatively. • IT budgets forecasted for the remainder of 2003 and beyond must be allocated in the right assets to match both short term and long term strategy of the company [See Appendix] • Analyzing the current IT asset portfolio against the corporate strategy using the Asset Portfolio Framework in the Appendix to this write-up, we observe the following: o Infrastructure – Not aligned as it is decreasing from 65% in 2002 to 54.5% in 2003. This decrease would not help in building the foundation for next generation systems. o Transactional systems – The increase from 17% in 2002 to 28% in 2003 aligns with company’s objective. o Informational systems – Decreasing from 8.2% to 7.4% does not help in building systems that are critical to analyzing transactional data that could be utilized in providing the right customer …show more content…
o Inbound call centers currently represent one third of the shoreside employee base o By building support systems that give real time information through NexGenRes to agents, in bound call centers can potentially be outsourced to reduce costs. • Due to corporate reluctance to shut down or outsource the Miami call center, an alternative would be to convert it to an outbound call center which would be solely focused on generating additional revenue through increased sales.
• The following table shows the potential investment savings and risk analysis for converting Miami to an outbound sales center, and outsourcing the remaining four.
Table B: Investment Costs and Risk Analysis for Miami Call Center Conversion1
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1 (Adapted from Ward, Daniel, Peppard, “Building Better Business Cases for IT Investments,” MIS Quarterly Executive Review, University of Minnesota, March 2008.)
RECOMMENDATIONS • Senior management to continue responsibility for the allocation of budget and resources to IT department through the quarterly review sessions through the use of decision metrics that include ROI for every IT
• Tom Murphy, RCCL’s Chief Information Officer, was faced with several challenges:
o insufficient funds to keep IT projects on task
o massive personnel cuts due to budget constraints
o the continued need to invest against RCCL’s corporate strategy
o determining the most effective allocation of IT resources in a “no growth/low-growth” period
• Using the IT-Investment Framework, IT Asset Portfolio Framework, and the Benefits Framework our team recommends a 15% budget increase for 2004 with the following project priorities:
o Silverwhere program
o Complete the OneWorld software package implementation
o Selective integration of the …show more content…
o Increasing revenues – Having web based reservation systems would help bring in additional revenues by reducing travel agent commissions. It also helps users sign up for excursion programs more informatively. • IT budgets forecasted for the remainder of 2003 and beyond must be allocated in the right assets to match both short term and long term strategy of the company [See Appendix] • Analyzing the current IT asset portfolio against the corporate strategy using the Asset Portfolio Framework in the Appendix to this write-up, we observe the following: o Infrastructure – Not aligned as it is decreasing from 65% in 2002 to 54.5% in 2003. This decrease would not help in building the foundation for next generation systems. o Transactional systems – The increase from 17% in 2002 to 28% in 2003 aligns with company’s objective. o Informational systems – Decreasing from 8.2% to 7.4% does not help in building systems that are critical to analyzing transactional data that could be utilized in providing the right customer …show more content…
o Inbound call centers currently represent one third of the shoreside employee base o By building support systems that give real time information through NexGenRes to agents, in bound call centers can potentially be outsourced to reduce costs. • Due to corporate reluctance to shut down or outsource the Miami call center, an alternative would be to convert it to an outbound call center which would be solely focused on generating additional revenue through increased sales.
• The following table shows the potential investment savings and risk analysis for converting Miami to an outbound sales center, and outsourcing the remaining four.
Table B: Investment Costs and Risk Analysis for Miami Call Center Conversion1
[pic]
1 (Adapted from Ward, Daniel, Peppard, “Building Better Business Cases for IT Investments,” MIS Quarterly Executive Review, University of Minnesota, March 2008.)
RECOMMENDATIONS • Senior management to continue responsibility for the allocation of budget and resources to IT department through the quarterly review sessions through the use of decision metrics that include ROI for every IT