Introduction of Organizational Context

New CRM System Project Development and Maintenance

The paper mainly reflects on the development of a CRM system for one of the hotels named “The Falls Montville” in Australia by using the 7 steps of SDLC methodology. The main aim of the report is to develop a CRM system that helps in managing customer data by delivering some of the important actionable insights that are integrated with social media for facilitating proper team communication. This report mainly reflects on the background information of the hotel by illustrating the problem and discussing the importance of IS/IT. The paper uses 7 steps of SDLC methodology in order to develop the CRM system. Moreover, the paper also illustrates the concept of proper project management, change management as well as risk management of the project.

The hotel “The Falls Montville” is 2km away from the picturesque Sunshine Coast mountain village of Montville and only 350 km away from the Kondalilla National park. The main mission of the hotel is to delight the customers every time by providing attentive services. It is found that the Falls Montville has generally acquired high reputation as the organization has committed to provide a high quality of services to the customers (Creative 2019). The hotel helps in providing a number of services including personal check-in, assistance with the luggage, free cappuccinos, departure gift, complimentary dinner transfer and many more. The hotel has six different intimate cottages that are generally present in the rainforest. Moreover, the hotel helps in providing Spacious yet cosy services including hardwood floors, double spas, private decks as well as luxurious country furnishing.

Analysis of the internal environment

In the hospitality industry, it is necessary that the hotels must enhance their competitive advantages by avoiding their weaknesses. The SWOT analysis is mainly used as one of the tools that are helping the management in understanding the strengths, weaknesses, threats as well as opportunities that are provided by the hotel.

Strengths: The main strengths of the hotel “The Falls Montville” is its reputation in the market. The quality services that is provided by the hotel to the customers has created an image of the hotel in the market (Josiassen, Assaf and Cvelbar 2014). Furthermore, as the hotel is very much near from the Picturesque Sunshine Coast mountain and only 350 km from the National park of Kondalilla with verdant waterfalls, rainforest as well as a varied number of walking trails. It is found that the scenic beauty of the place attracts customers and increases the yearly revenue of the hotel.

Weaknesses: One of the major weaknesses is the high hotel rates. It is found that due to the high rates the hotel is losing their customers. In addition to this unfavourable tax rate is also considered as one of the important weakness of the organization. Some of the rooms of the hotel generally attract a specific amount of money as a tax which are generally charged as per the day.

Threats: It is found that there are a number of problems like alternative lodging like Airbnb has generally posed enough threat to the hotel industry. In addition to this, cheaper as well as robust facilities that are provided by the boutique alternatives are generally creating a threat in the hotel industry (Trainor et al. 2014). Moreover, Civil unrest in the country is also creating risk for dampening down the entire hotel industry both directly and indirectly.

Discussion of Internal and External Environment

Opportunities: Due to the scenic beauty and the presence of verdant waterfalls, rainforest, as well as a varied number of walking trails, generally attracts a large number of customers which generally can enhance the opportunities of the organization. During the peak season, the hotels generally can gain profit due to both domestic as well as international tourism (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). Globalization as well as the online ticketing and booking option is also creating an important opportunity for the organization.

Analysis of the external environment

 Porter’s five force model is considered as one of the simple tools that is used for understanding the competitiveness of the entire business environment in order to identify the potential profitability from the strategies. The Porter’s five force model in context to the hotel is provided below:

 Competition in the industry: The competition in the market is high due to the cost of service differentiation as well as switching costs are quite low. In addition to this, it is found that as the business growth that is needed in the market id great then the rate at which the entire industry is growing is quite high.

Potential of new entrants: The hotel industry is mainly characterized due to the high capital cost. The new entrants need to target the market as well as the quality service that the hotel is providing presently and the hotel are mainly run based on the product differentiation, therefore, the new entrants need to spend a huge amount and therefore the chances of potential new entrants in the industry is low (Reicher, Komaromi and Szeghegyi 2015).

Power of suppliers: The power of the suppliers for the hotel “The Falls Montville” is low. It is found that the hotel industry is mainly subjected to the power of the trained staff, labour as well as personnel that are associated with the industry. It is found that the hotel industry is generally not subjected to the bargaining power of the suppliers but it generally has a very much indirect cost

Power of buyers: As the concentration of the buyers is quite high than the various market players such that the entire industry is mainly subjected to the high power of the buyers (Santouridis and Tsachtani 2015). It is identified that a certain group of the buyers generally exercises power over the purchasing power of the hotel rooms when the bulk number of hotels are generally present.

Threats of substitute products: The threat of the substitutes within the hotel industry is quite low. It is identified that when the people are generally looking for cheaper accommodation then they generally can opt to live in the motels, hostels as well as with their relatives. The entire market is considered to be very much price sensitive in order to target the audiences.

 Marketing generally involves targeting the business based on the activities of the customers is quite necessary. Customers are generally considered as the forefront of the organization within the entire hotel industry. Presently the organization is attracting the customers due to the scenic beauty of the verdant waterfalls, rainforest as well as varied number of walking trails however due to the rising competition, the organization is facing difficulty in attracting customers and in order to resolve this issue, the organization has decided to develop a CRM system for the organization.

Analysis of Internal Environment

 Development of a CRM system will help the hotel in managing the interactions with the customers as well as with the various potential customers (Sebjan, Bobek and Tominc 2014). It is identified that CRM will help the organizations in streamlining the processes as well as helps in building proper customer relationship by enhancing the sales as well as by improving the customer service.

The hotel “Falls Montville” wants to develop a CRM system by using seven stages of SDLC methodology. SDLC methodology is considered as one of the systematic approaches that are useful in resolving the problems that the business is facing with the development of a proper information system (Khlif and Jallouli 2014). The sales and marketing of the hotel generally need a CRM system for maintaining an adequate relationship with the customers that will further help in improving the business performance. The figure that is given below helps in reflecting on the seven stages of SDLC methodology.

Selection of system

 In the planning phase, the most important step that is required to be taken is the selection of the system. There are a number of mainstreams of the system within the market including Siebel, SAP and more. CRM system helps in providing a number of applications in different fields including operational, collaborative as well as the portal base. The CRM system that is mainly present in the hotel industry is mainly helpful in combining the important functions like the daily operations as well as determining the customer related information as per the data warehouse (Zhang 2016). The CRM system that will be selected for the hotel is mainly done by determining the goals and objectives of the hotel. The use both of CRM system assists in enhancing customer satisfaction as well as customer service by providing unpredictable sales growth.

Feasibility analysis

Economic feasibility is defined as one of the terms that is used for measuring the expected cost saving by increasing the revenue as well as profit. The cost-benefit analysis is mainly undertaken in order to reflect that the money that is invested in the development of the CRM system generally helps in bringing some profit for the organization. The cost-benefit analysis that is undertaken is reflected in the table below:

In addition to this, technological feasibility is also needed to be checked in order to make sure that the technology that is used for the development of the hardware and software will generally helpful in meeting the needs of the information system development so that the entire business can be operated effectively within the expected time. The hotel “Falls Montville” already has enough hardware capacity that will help in achieving the equipment requirement of the CRM system within the entire market.

Development of a project plan

After evaluation of project feasibility, it is quite necessary to develop a proper plan for the project. The plan that is mainly developed mainly includes information regarding the scope, schedule, resource as well as other types of issues that are associated with the proposed project (ElKordy 2014). It helps in suggesting that the hotel generally invest more than 3 months completing as well as launching the CRM system in order to improve the customer service of the hotel.

Analysis of External Environment

The analysis phase mainly reflects on the condition as well as information that is utilized for designing a proper system or application. In order to undertake the analysis, it is quite necessary to gather proper business requirement as well as to create a proper process diagram.

Gathering business requirement

 The details, as well as resources that are required for meeting the need of the system successfully, must be properly gathered. It is the responsibility of the organization to know about the various needs as well and the requirements of the business properly while gathering information and data (Kurawa and Garba 2014). The hotel “Falls Montville” must gather information about the resources that are generally needed in order to develop the CRM system properly. In addition to this, guidelines about the collaboration of the CRM system with the suppliers and risk management must be done. Moreover, the functional requirements of the project must be properly analyzed for reporting the needs and requirements of the system successfully.

Create a process diagram

 The setting up of proper process modelling for capturing, manipulating as well as storing and distributing information between environment as well as system is necessary. The hotel “Falls Montville” must consider the mainstream approaches of the CRM process diagram quite successfully. The DFD is the one of the most significant approaches that generally includes inputs, outputs as well as other data storages for establishing the system successfully.

System design helps in describing the entire system and how the system will be able to achieve the goals. It is very much necessary for the organization to get an integrated IT infrastructure for supporting the entire IT system. As the risks that are related to the internet as well as data confidentiality, it is quite important to develop a CRM system for allowing system installation (Wei and Ma 2014). It is found that the entire system must be properly forbidden for using it within the mobile devices for properly connecting it with the WIFI. The second step that is needed to be followed for designing the entire system model which generally helps in requesting a graphical representation of the entire design. The most common method that generally has a graphical user representation of the design helps in reflecting on the data model as well as entity relationship-based diagram (Kupper et al. 2014). It is quite necessary to design the documents properly for documenting the hardware as well as software with proper software specifications which must be approved with the help of the hotel executive.

Development phase generally helps in formalizing detailed design documents into the actual system from the proper design step. The primary activities that this particular stage is generally helpful in developing the database, infrastructures as well as programs quite successfully (Ruivo et al. 2014). It is found that in order to develop the CRM system, it is quite necessary to develop application service provider approach. This approach to development is mainly used as it helps in saving the cost of the initial internal infrastructure layout by avoiding some of the common problems that occur within the hotel industry.

Testing is considered as one of the essential steps that help in avoiding as well as eliminating the various types of software problems before it is generally converted to the real operating system. Testing mainly helps in involving assembling of all the sections of the project such that the specific environment must be properly tested against the errors, compatibility as well as vulnerability. It is found that there are four different categories of application that is generally dependent on the patterns of the test case.  It is quite necessary for the project team of the hotel is to write the various test conditions-based details process for performing the system testing. The hotel project team must properly review all the important steps and must amend them with the vendor if any type of errors generally occurs.

The implementation phase is considered as one of the procedures that is mainly utilized for converting all the pieces of the project to an actual business operational system. The main implementation-based activities that include the proper formulation of the detailed documentation of the user as well as the selection of the implementation method as well as giving proper facility of training to the end users.

Formulation of detailed user documentation

 Formulation of proper user documentation is required as it generally needs an explanation about the usage of the system, administration, security requirements as well as different types of guidelines (Too and Weaver 2014). They must also include details about the original literature that are helpful in training the new employees in the coming future.

Selection of the implementation method

In order to develop the CRM system, it is quite necessary to use Phased method. This method helps in allowing gradual implementation procedure within the hotel. It generally helps in giving proper chance to the project team for fixing the problems before the entire system is installed properly. This method of implementation is generally followed as it generally requires less staff for installation and the problems that are mainly related to one specific area can be fixed at the time of installation.

 System maintenance generally helps in monitoring, evaluating as well as modifying the entire operational system after the completion of the implementation phase. The main primary activities which mainly include reviewing post-implementation, building proper assistance for providing support to the users as well as performing the required changes and giving proper supportive environment (Kerzner 2017). It is quite necessary for the hotel team to properly examine the new CRM system properly by upgrading the entire system for meeting the objectives and goals of the hotel. All the system related historical changes must be properly documented in order to make the necessary improvements within the system in the future.

Project management

Project management is generally defined as the application of various types of skills knowledge as well as activities for meeting the requirements as well as needs of the business. It generally helps in managing cost, scope, time as well as the quality of the project. Project plan generally helps in managing the project and the table that is given below reflects on the plan that is generally made in order to manage the entire project effectively.

Change management

Change management within a project generally refers to the changes that are generally required within the mission, strategy as well as within the structure of the organization. The organization must develop appropriate strategies for managing the risks that are mainly associated with the project (Joslin and Muller 2015). The changes that are generally required in order to develop the CRM system effectively must be included within the project. In addition to this, the hotel must adopt proper change strategy in response to a number of potential changes within the entire processes. The first and the most important step is creating a proper vision for making the required changes (Hornstein 2015). People are considered as the most important assets for determining the success as well as failures that are mainly related with the project and thus it is quite necessary for the project manager to adopt important strategies after the entire system is implemented so that the necessary changes within the entire system is made.

The risks, as well as problems that are mainly related with the CRM system, must be properly analyzed so that the risks can be resolved successfully by using proper risk mitigation strategies. The table that is given below mainly reflects on the risks as well as on the mitigation strategies that are used managing the risks successfully.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the entire paper that the development of the CRM system for the hotel Falls Montville will be quite advantageous as the hotel will be able to provide proper customer service to the organization. The paper discusses the seven steps of SDLC methodology for developing the CRM system quite successfully. In addition to this proper discussion on the change management, risk management as well as project management. It is found that phased method of implementation is used for the development of the CRM system as it generally requires less number staff for installation and the problems that are mainly related to one specific area can be fixed at the time of installation. On the other hand, it is found that the ASP approach is mainly used for designing the system.

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