Case Study 2

Royal Caribbean International: Renewing and Realigning IT with Business

1. Why did the IT group at Royal Caribbean have such poor performance and business status in the company.

*The IT group is high, and they have earned the respect of the rest of the company by creating IT solutions that support the needs and goals of the business. The IT group has beeen overhauling the entire IT infrastructure.

2. What are the top three factors in Tom Murphy's turnaround of the IT function at Royal Caribbean? Explain the reasons for your choices.

*"The top three factors in Tom Murphy's it was a very traditional IT organization command and control. Everything was locked down; everything was about not spending money," Murphy's recalls. It was a traditional '70s data processing shop,". The folks at Royal Caribbean watch this play out at work every day. Here's their account of how Murphy's managers diversity.

a. COMMUNICATION - "He communicates all the time everything to everybody, nad that prevents silos". As long as hes communicating the same message and the same goals to every one evenly, then no one can use information as a weapon.
b. METRICS AND TIME - Murphy has established very specific performance measures to let his managers know exactly what's expected of them.

c. RESPECT - I give Tom tremendous credit for turning around the organizationand making it extremely service - and cusatomer-oriented.

3. Visit the website of Royal Caribbean. Evaluate the effectiveness of the website and the services being offered to attract and serve the travel needs of customers and prospective customers. What could be improved? Outline the business impact of your idea.

*We visit over a hundred ports of call, in some of the world's most breathtaking locations. From the rugged beauty of Alaska and Canada/New England to the charm of Europe and the lush landscapes of Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Bermuda, and the Bahamas.Our shore excursions will take you on adventures that you've only dreamed of. Over snow and sand. Through air and sea. Up mountains and along fjords. And for the best of both worlds, there are our cruisetours - a combination of an amazing cruise vacation and a land tour to the places a cruise ship just can't go. There's no one way to experience your destination than on one of our cruise ships, and that's the thrill of it. So what are you waiting for? To start planning your next cruise vacation, choose a destination below.

Case Study Question

1. How well is IT supporting the business goals of Bell South? Explain.
*IT supporting the business goals of Bell South at the corporate level, our revenue strategy is to broad-band-enable customers in the wireline business and get into long distance in the nine states we service.

2. Is BellSouth's technology transfer map a good way to determine IT investment priorities? Why or Why not?
* Yes because it is to developed by business unit presidents, the the road map identifies and prioritzes "leverageble" systems-defined as those that the business need to run and enhance their revenue generating operations and therefore of highest priority for IT development

3. What else could BellSouth do to guarantee the strategic business value of potential IT investment projects? Visit their website for ideas. Defend your proposal.
* In the previously, decisions regarding technology investments had generally been pushed down a level too law in the company to have a direct impact on the strategic business goals. For example , investments in legacy or nonlevegable systems must be approved at the most senior management level by Dramis and two other group presidents.