Outriggers Case

Nicholas Lanning
Outriggers Case Study Chapter 6 The goal of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts is to "bring the dream of a vacation in paradise within the reach of the middle class traveler" (Piccoli, G 102-118). 1. Outrigger Hotels and Resorts strategic position is factory. The reason it is factory is because Outriggers Hotels needs reliable IS and has little need for new IS. The old system works well. The system needs to be reliable. If it's not reliable, it will also cost the company more money and time in the long run. One strength of Outrigger Hotels is the "minimal turnover" (1). Workers stay a long time which is good because it means less training. It also gives the image that the company is good to work for. The next strength for Outrigger

Since there are minimal workers leaving the company, it shows that the company values its workers. A weakness of Outriggers Hotel is the "geographical distance is at odds with centralized model" (1). There's hotels all around the world. It is easier to manage hotels that are in close proximity to each other, than it is when they're far apart. The next weakness is that "some properties in the portfolio are substandard" (1). It doesn't look good for a company to have establishments that are not similar to the other ones. Customers expect to have the same quality each and every time they stay at the different hotels. One critical success factor for Outriggers Hotels is to "maintain the business image" (2). It is always good to be thought of by the customer as a good company. It helps with business in the long run too. The next success factor is the "employee loyalty/retention" (2). When a company is able to keep workers for long periods of time it shows that the company is

The current IS resources serving Outrigger Hotel's needs are below average because "the firm claims to have 10 years worth of high quality customer data" but has much less that that (3). This can cause problems if the customer hasn't used any of their services in a few years. They aren't even in the system. Next, the company has a "lack of formal training, while positive because it keeps costs low, may create an environment of replication of bad habits passed on by user to user" (3). This can mean big problems for the future of the company.
3. I think the role of the IS function at Outrigger Hotels and Resorts should be "factory" for a few reasons (4). The first reason is IS should be figuring out reliable systems to make the company more profitable. Outriggers has a need for reliable IS technology. I would use the new system called "Micros OPERA Reservation System" because it is more dependable than the old system (Outrigger Hotels Haiwii). It has fixed a lot of the old problems that the old system had issues