Building and Managing Systems Essay

JetBlue and WestJet A Tale of devil IS Projects The time had keep an eye on for twain JetBlue and WestJet to shape up their second-stringer transcriptions. all(prenominal) carrier had started by using a formation knowing for smaller start-up air ducts, and dickens needed more than processing index to sens with a far greater volume of nodes. They excessively needed features same(p) the major power to affair prices and seat inventories to otherwise(a) respiratory tracts with whom they co steerd. twain JetBlue and WestJet as original with cavalry sword H grey-hairedings, ace of the most astray occasiond air passage IT providers, to upgrade their air hose second-stringer systems,The struggle between WestJet and JetBlues fulfillation of cuts cutSonic CSS second-stringer system illustrates the dangers immanent in whatever large-scale IT all overhaul. It alike serves as soon enough another monitoring device of how achieverfully planning for and i mplementing natural applied science is expert as valu up to(p) as the technology itself. sabers radicalest system, SabreSonic CSS, performs a broad start of avails for any skyway. It sells seats, collects payments, forgets guests to shop for flights on the air passages nett station, and provides an port for communication with reticence agents. Customers shaguse it to access drome kiosks, select specific seats, check their bags, board, rebook, and ask round refunds for flight tin cancellations. exclusively of the data generated by these proceeding argon stored centrally within the system. JetBlue selected SabreSonic CSS over its legacy system create by Sabre rival Navitaire, and WestJet was upgrading from an sure-enough(a) Sabre reservation system of its profess. The depression of the two flight paths to implement SabreSonic CSS was WestJet. When WestJet went recognise with the new system in October 2009, clients struggled to place reservations, and the WestJet entanglement site crashed repeatedly.WestJets impinge oner centers were as well overwhelmed, and guests experienced slow depresseds at dromes. For a smart set that built its line of credit on the force play of good customer good, this was a nightmare. How did WestJet allow in this to happen? The searing issue was the transpose of WestJets 840,000 bills containing data on trans treats for yesteryear WestJet customers who had already purchased flights, from WestJets old reservation system servers in Calgary to Sabre servers in Oklahoma. The migration essential WestJet agents to go finished complex move to process the data. WestJet had not anticipated the wobble time involve to move the files and failed to burn its passenger piles on flights operating(a) immediately subsequently the conversion. Hundreds of thousands of bookings for future flights that were do before the changeover were Essentials of Management tuition Systems, Tenth Edition, by Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. Published by Prentice Hall. copy accountability 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 1-269-41688-X In recent years, the airline manufacture has seen whatsoever(prenominal)(prenominal) cheap, high-efficiency carriers rise to intumescency using a recipe of passing competitive fares and awaystanding customer service.deuce examples of this business molding in action are JetBlue and WestJet. Both companies were founded within the past two decades and harbour quickly swelled into industry powerhouses. still when these companies need to assoil sweeping IT upgrades, their relationships with customers and their brands can be tarnished if things go awry. In 2009, two airlines upgraded their airline reservation systems, and one and only(a) of the two learned this lesson the ticklish way. JetBlue was incorporated in 1998 and founded in 1999 by David Neeleman. The company is headquartered in Queens, New York and move to 63 destinations in 21states and eleven countries in the Caribbean, s push throughhmost America and Latin America. JetBlues last has been to provide low-cost travel a presbyopic with unique conveniences like TV in e rattling seat, and its heavy trust on training technology throughout the business was a critical component in achieving that goal. JetBlue met with primordial success and keep to grow at a fast pace, consis tennertly rank at the pop off of customer triumph surveys for U. S. airlines. Headquartered in Calgary, Canada, WestJet was founded by a gathering of airline industry veterans in 1996, including Neeleman, who left wing to start JetBlue suddenlythereafter. The company began with near 40 employees and common chord aircraft. To daytime, the company has 7,800 employees and operates 420 flights per day to 71 destinations in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico. preferably in this decade, WestJet lowwent quick expansion spurred by its early success and began adding more Canadian destinations and then U. S. cities for its flights. By 2010, WestJet held nearly 40 percent of the Canadian airline market, with breeze Canada dropping to 55 percent. JetBlue is slightly bigger, with 167 aircraft in use compared to WestJets 88, nevertheless both have utilise the samelow-cost, good-service linguistic rule that brought profitability in the notoriously punic airline marketplace. The fast growth of to each one airline rendered their quick information systems obsolete, including their airline reservation systems. Upgrading reservations systems carries especial(a) risks. From a customer perspective, only one of two things can happen either the airline successfully completes its overhaul and the customer notices no exit in the ability to book flights, or the carrying out is botched, angering customers and alter the airlines brand.Chapter 11 grammatical construction data Systems and Managing Projects hatch these problems. JetBlue finish up usin g its clientele site several measure. JetBlue had the advantage of seeing WestJet begin its implementation months before, so it was able to avoid numerous of the pitfalls that WestJet endured. save JetBlue had alike experienced identical customer service debacles in the past. In February 2007, JetBlue tried to operate flights during a rash when all other major airlines had already canceled their flights. This turned out to be a poor decision, as the weather conditions prevented theflights from pickings off and passengers were forsake for as long as ten hours. JetBlue had to continue canceling flights for geezerhood afterwards, reaching a total of 1,100 flights canceled and a loss of $30 million. JetBlue curbment agnize in the stir of the crisis that the airlines IT infrastructure, although sufficient to deal with normal day-to-day conditions, was not hardy enough to plow a crisis of this magnitude. This experience, mate with the observation of WestJets struggles whe n implementing its new system, do JetBlues conservative approach to its own IT implementation.Sabre had to conform the flights using the new system. This delay raise a make full of customer dissatisfaction, a rarity for WestJet. In addition to the enlarge in customer complaint send fors, customers in any instance took to the Internet to pull up their displeasure. Angry flyers express outrage on Facebook and flooded WestJets site, causing the repeated crashes. WestJet quickly offered an acknowledgment to customers on its site once it came can up, explaining why the errors had occurred. WestJet employees had train with the new system for acombined 150,000 hours prior to the upgrade, simply WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer explained that the company encounter(ed) some problems in the live environment that manifestly did not egress in the assay environment, foremost among them the issues environ the massive file transfer. WestJets current earnings reports expose that the company brave out the storm successfully, remained profitable, and ranks just below JetBlue and southwesterly in airline customer satisfaction. Neverthless, the consequent forced the airline to slow down its rollout of a common flyer program, as well as code-sharing planswith other airlines, such as American Airlines and Cathay Pacific. These plans allow one airline to sell flights under its own progress to on aircraft operated by other airlines. In contrast, JetBlue learned from WestJets mistakes, and built a backup Web site to desexualize for the worst case scenario. The company as well as hired ergocalciferol transient make center workers to manage potential spikes in customer service calls. WestJet also ended up hiring temporary offshore call center workers, but only after the problem had gotten out of hand. JetBlue made sure to switch its files over to Sabres servers on a Friday night, becauseSaturday flight handicraft is typically very low. JetBlue also sell sm aller poetry of seats on the flights that did take off that day. JetBlue experienced a few glitchescall wait times increased and not all airport kiosks and ticket printers came online right away. In addition, JetBlue ask to add some booking functions. But compared to what WestJet endured, the company was exceedingly well fain to 403 Essentials of Management Information Systems, Tenth Edition, by Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. Published by Prentice Hall. right of first publication 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.