Internal Operating Environment of Thomas Cook – SWOT Analysis
Information system is defined as the study of systems with specific references to information and complementary network of hardware and software which individuals and organizations uses in order to collect, filter, process, create and distribute data. Information system proves beneficial for all business organization irrespective of their sector as it enables organization to make more informed decisions. This report focuses on the implementation of management information system in the business operations of Thomas Cook, one of the largest organizations belonging to the travel and tourism sector.
Thomas Cook is the oldest and reputed organization belonging to the leisure travel and tourism industry who offers a variety of the services to the customers of the travel and tourism industry. The company operates from 16 countries all over the world and the sales revenue of the company is close to £9.67 billion. The vision of the company is to be the most loved holiday company in the world and the main purpose of the company is to increase customer loyalty and attract new customers towards its businesses. The main core strategy of the company revolves around care and contact and the focus of the company is on holidays, services and partnerships. The business of the company revolves around the three customer promises which are made by the company namely quality, service and reliability and the values of the company is aligned with the customer promises made by the company.
The internal operating environment of Thomas Cook can be analysed through SWOT analysis which is as follows:
Strengths- The main strength of the company lies in the reputation and popularity of the company as the company is the oldest leisure travel organizations and therefore the customers are highly aware of the company. The other strength of the company is the affordable prices of the products and services offered by the company and the easy accessibility of the company to the customers. The other strength of the company is the availability of flexibility and customization options regarding the products and services of the company. The other strength of the company is the global presence of the company as the company operates from 16 countries through 21000 employees. The other strength of the company is the increased brand awareness and brand presence of the company due to various innovative approach adopted by the company and due to the promotional activities undertaken by the company.
External Operating Environment of Thomas Cook – PEST Analysis
Weaknesses- One of the major weaknesses of the company is the limited market share of the company due to increase in the competition level in the market. Another weakness for the company is the lack of required investments in new technologies and technological advancements.
Opportunities-The main opportunity for the company is to expand its reach in the global scenario in order to help in minimizing the risks associated with the business. Another opportunity for the company is to digitalize the operations of the company in order to deliver the expectations and needs of their customers. Another opportunity for the company is to focus on penetrating the travel and tourism market by growing the travel industry.
Threats- One of the most vital threats which is being experienced by the company is decreasing popularity in the airlines business. The other major threat for the company is to avoid various uncertain situations such the Brexit which easily disrupts the operations of the company. Another threat for the company is increasing level of competition from low cost service providers. Another threat for the company is the uncertainty in the airlines market. Another threat for the company is regulations imposed by the government of various countries which are dynamic in nature.
The external operating environment of Thomas Cook can be analysed through PEST analysis which is as follows:
Political- The travel and tourism industry faces an immense amount of pressure from the government of various countries, as different countries have different policies related to travel and tourism and the taxation rate for the travel and tourism industry varies from one country to the other. The political relation between various countries also hugely impacts the travel and tourism industry. As Thomas Cook operates in multiple countries therefore the company needs to comply with the policies and taxation rate of various countries which in turn impact the operations of the company.
Economic- In the last few years the travel and tourism industry have faced challenges due to the hard and unstable global economic scenario which largely impacted the global travel market but in the current time as the global economic scenario is improving and therefore there are signs of opportunities which is being observed in the travel and tourism current. Thomas Cook, as an organization belonging to the travel and tourism industry also gets affected by the disposable income of their customers, fluctuation in currency rate and the unemployment rate prevalent in the society.
Benefits of Information System for Travel and Tourism Sector
Socio-cultural- The culture of the society and the way of doing things largely impacts the culture of an organization in a particular environment. The shared beliefs and attitudes are the most vital socio-cultural factor which impacts Thomas Cook as it determines the behaviour of the customers towards the services offered by the company. The other socio-cultural factor which affects the company is demographics, division in the society, culture and education level and leisure interests.
Technological-The travel and tourism industry is getting rapidly disrupted by the introduction of various technological advancements as the target customers of the industry largely depends on technology regarding fulfilment of their service expectations and therefore it is very vital for Thomas Cook to adopt technological advancements in the company in order to address customer expectations and requirements. The other technological factor which affects the company are rate of technological diffusion, impact of technology on the offerings of the company and the impact in the cost structure of the company.
There are various opportunities which information system will offer to the organization belong to the travel and tourism sector. Information System is ideally defined as a bridge which helps in connecting the world of business with the world of computer science. Information System includes people, processes, procedures, data, software and hardware which are used to gather and analyse information. As stated by Pieter, Carina and Jan (2018) in case of Thomas Cook it can be sated that Information System will help in providing the customers of the company with the required amount of information regarding a particular destination. Information System will also help Thomas Cook in order to coordinate and implement sales promotion measures. Information system will also enable tourism advertisement for the company. Information System will also help Thomas Cook to support the sales and distribution process of the company and information system will help Thomas Cook to coordinate and implement market research projects. The information system can serve a variety of purposes for Thomas Cook such as database system, application modules, information management and distribution system, booking and reservation system, reporting system and management system.
As opined by Bashashin et al. (2016) the information system which has been selected for implementation in Thomas Cook is Management Information System which is defined as an information system used for the purpose of effective decision making in organizations and for the sake of co-ordination, control, analysis and visualization of information in an organization. The implementation of Management Information System in Thomas Cook will help the company in improving their organizational productivity as the due to the implementation of management information system, the company will be able to take effective informed decisions based on the available data, which will help in increasing organizational productivity of the company.
Proposal for Implementation of Management Information System
The Cost benefit analysis of implementing Management Information System in Thomas Cook is as follows:
Costs-As opined by Wang et al. (2016) the costs which are associated with the implementation of management information system in the company are the costs related to system analysis and system design for the implementation of the new information system, the cost regarding implementation of new technology in the organization, the cost involved in providing training to the employees of the company regarding management information system, costs involved in the acquisition of any infrastructure which can be required by the new information system of the company and the costs associated with the integration of the system with the core business operations of the company.
Benefits-There are various benefits which are associated with the implementation of management information system in Thomas Cook. The first and foremost benefit which MIS offers to the company is that it helps in increasing the operational efficiency of the company by adding value to the existing products and offerings of the company, by facilitating innovation and new product development in the company and helping the managers of the company to make better informed decisions. As stated by Sui, Ding and Wang (2018) another benefit which MIS offers to the company is that it helps the company to identify their strengths and weaknesses in a more effective way as a result of presence of revenue reports, employee performance records, which will enable the company to improve their process and operations. As stated by Luo, Wu and Cai (2018) another benefit which MIS provides to Thomas Cook is that it helps in aligning the business process of the company according to the requirements of the customers of the company as a result of availability of customer data and feedback. Another benefit which MIS offers to the company is that it provides competitive advantage to the company.
The risk analysis of implementing MIS in Thomas Cook is as follows:
As opined by Talón-Ballestero et al. (2018)There is a major risk which is associated with the implementation of MIS in the company which is namely security risks as the data which is stored by the management information system can be prone to cyber-attacks.
As stated by Lee, Park and Lee (2015) in order to overcome the risks associated with the integration of management information system in the company, the mitigation strategy which can be used to address the risk is by implementing risk management information system which is defined as an integrated computer integration system which is used to assist decision makers regarding evaluation of risks and keeping track of all relevant information which includes risk exposure, risk management and risk protection measures.
Steps of Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
System analysis and design in case of management information system follows the typical software design life cycle which consists of the following stages:
Planning and requirement analysis- The project planning part comprises of various steps such as reviewing of the different project requests, prioritizing the project requests, allocation of resources and identification of the project development team. The tools and ways which will be used in the planning of management information system are critical success factors, planning of business system and end analysis. As opined by Costa et al. (2013) the requirement analysis part comprises of proper understanding of the goals, processes and the limitations of the system for which the management information system is being developed. In order to understand the goals, process and constraints of the system, the analyst can use various diagrammatic technique such as context diagrams and data flow diagrams. The requirement analysis comprises of various sub processes namely conduction of primary analysis, performing of detailed analysis activities, studying of the present system, determining the requirements of the users and lastly recommending a solution.
Defining Requirements- According to Abdel (2013) the defining requirements stage mainly involves completing a feasibility report which comprises of a preamble, a goal statement, a brief details of the current system and details of proposed options. The feasibility report along with the detailed proposed alternatives helps in the conduction of a cost benefit analysis, based on which and considering various problems which can arise, the best alternative will be selected by the final user of the management information system.
Designing of system architecture-As opined by Mccarthy et al. (2018) the design of system generally addresses how the system will fulfil the objectives. The system design comprises of both logical and physical design activities which will help in creating system specifications by complying with the system requirements which were created in the system analysis stage. In this the detailed specification and hardware/software plan documents should be prepared.
Building or developing the system-As stated by Beydoun et al. (2014) the most creative and toughest phase of the system design life cycle is the system design phase, which states about the technical specifications which will be implemented during implementation of the candidate system. This stage also involves the creation of programmers and program testing and it generally comprises of the stages namely acquiring of hardware and software during necessity, designing of the database, development of system processes and the coding and testing of each module.
Justification of Selection of Management Information System
The final report before the phase of implementation should include procedural flowchart, layout of records, layout of report, implementation plan for the candidate system, personnel information, money, facilities, hardware and other resources should also be available. In this point of time the actual cost of implementation of the management information system must be close to the actual projected cost of the project.
Testing the system- The testing of system requires the availability of a test plan which consists of various key activities and steps for programs, string, system and testing of user acceptance. The performance criteria of the system must deal with turnaround time, backup, protection of file and the various human factors. As opined by Du, Liu and Hackney (2018) the testing process focuses on the internal logic of the system or the software in order to make sure that all systems are tested and also make use of external functions by conducting various tests in order to find out errors and in order to ensure that the defined inputs will help in producing the original results. In various cases it is observed that a parallel run of the new system is performed wherein both the current system and the proposed system of the future run parallel for a specific time period wherein the present system of the organization is used for validating the proposed system.
Deployment of the system- As opined by Jonás and Judith (2018) at this stage of the software development life-cycle the new system are being provided to the end users for using and at various times it is noticed that the system is being put into beta storage where the feedbacks of the users are being received and based on the feedback, correction and improvement is done in the system before ensuring the final release of the system.
System Evaluation and Maintenance-As opined by Cram and Wiener (2018) the maintenance and evaluation of the system is a very crucial component which is used to eliminate the errors observed in the working system during its working life and for tuning the system if any variation occurs during its working time and environment. There are often noticed various small system deficiencies as the new system is brought into operations and accordingly changes are made by removing the defects from the system. The planner of the new proposed system should focus on planning for resource availability in order to carry out the maintenance operations in an effective manner.
Conclusion
The post implementation activities should focus on the development of a post implementation plan which should address the people, process and technologies of the operational management information system environment. According to Hsu, Li and Sun (2017) the activities which should be undertaken by Thomas Cook during the post implementation activities are post implementation review of the people of the company, transitioning of the consultants of the company, conducting quarterly review training, capturing the process knowledge, post implementation process review, post implementation backlog review, establishment of system governance structure, beginning execution of an ongoing maintenance plan and system evolution planning.
According to Fountas et al. (2015) the project management which is associated with the implementation of management information system in the company is controlling of the system analysis and system design procedure regarding implementation of management information system in the company and also allocation of resources in an effective manner during the analysis and design of the new system.
As stated by Meskell et al. (2015) the risk management which is associated with the implementation of management information system in the company is managing the risks which are involved with the implementation of management information system in the organization and in order to mitigate the risk, risk management information system was put in place in order to identify and evaluate risks accordingly. The risk management strategy of the company also ensured that no additional costs are incurred by the company during the designing and implementation of the management information system in the company.
As opined by Li, Lu and Dong. (2015) the change management strategy in context of implementation of management information system in the company focused on managing change in the organization in an effective manner so that it does not disrupt the operations of the company and also to ensure that the human resources of the company have embraced the change in a successful manner without hesitating to change and by accepting the requirement of the change in the company.
Conclusion
From the above report it is clear and evident that the implementation of information system can prove very much beneficial for the organizations belonging to the travel and tourism industry as the implementation of information system helps in increasing the demand and productivity of the travel and tourism sector by delivering the requirements and expectations of the customers and by attracting new customers towards the sector. It is also evident that the system development life cycle is a very systematic process which comprises of various steps detailing the lifecycle of an information system and hence beneficial for firms.
References
Abdel., N. H. Z. (2013). Rule-based Expert Systems for Selecting Information Systems Development Methodologies. International Journal of Intelligent Systems and Applications, [Online]5(9), 19-26.Available:DOI: 10.5815/ijisa.2013.09.03Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Bashashin, K, Kostromin, K, Kuniaev, M, . . . Philippov. (2016). NICA project management information system. Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters,[Online] 13(5), 618-620.Available:DOI: 10.1134/S1547477116050095Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Beydoun, L, García-Sánchez, Valencia-García, and Martínez-Béjar. (2014). Identification of ontologies to support information systems development. Information Systems [Online], 46(C), 45-60. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.is.2014.05.002Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Costa, F, Santos, P, Varajão, J, Pereira, L. and Costa, V. (2013). Risk Management Information System Architecture. International Journal of Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics (IJHISI),[Online] 8(4), 58-72. Available: DOI: 10.4018/ijhisi.2013100105Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Cram, W., and Wiener, M. (2018). Perceptions of control legitimacy in information systems development. Information Technology and People, [Online]31(3), 712-740.Available: DOI: 10.1108/ITP-11-2016-0275Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Du., W, Liu and Hackney. (2018). Effective organizational improvisation in information systems development: Insights from the messaging system development. Information and Management, [Online]. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.im.2018.10.003Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Fountas, S, Tsiropoulos, C, Liakos, and Gemtos. (2015). Machinery management information system. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, [Online]110(C), 131-138. Available :DOI: 10.1016/j.compag.2014.11.011Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Hsu, Li, and Sun. (2017). Exploring the interaction between vertical and shared leadership in information systems development projects. International Journal of Project Management, [Online]35(8), 1557-1572. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.08.009Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Jonás M. C, and Judith B.A. (2018). BMM: A Business Modeling Method For Information Systems Development. CLEI Electronic Journal,[Online] 7(2), Vol.7(2). Available: DOI: 10.19153/cleiej.7.2.3Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Lee, J, Park, J. and Lee, S. (2015). Raising team social capital with knowledge and communication in information systems development projects. International Journal of Project Management, [Online]33(4), 797-807. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.12.001Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Li, Lu, Kwak, and Dong. (2015). Developing a multi-project management information system for urbanization. International Journal of Project Management, [Online]33(3), 510-527. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.06.011Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Luo, Wu, and Cai. (2018). Company Management Information System based on Unified Message Center. Procedia Computer Science, [Online]139, 287-292. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.270Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Mccarthy, S., O’raghallaigh, P., Fitzgerald, C., and Adam, F. (2018). Social complexity and team cohesion in multiparty information systems development projects. Journal of Decision Systems, [Online]27, 18-31. Available: DOI: 10.1080/12460125.2018.1462992Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Meskell, B, Kropmans, B, Setyonugroho, and Kennedy. (2015). Back to the future: An online OSCE Management Information System. Education Today, [Online]35(11), 1091-1096. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2015.06.010Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Pieter., J, Carina D. V. and Jan H. K. (2018). An integrative modeling technique bridging the gap between business and information systems development. South African Computer Journal, [Online]30(1), 40-65.Available: DOI: 10.18489/sacj.v30i1.413Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Sui, Ding, and Wang. (2018). An integrated management system for occupational health and safety and its management information system. Journal of Cleaner Production, [Online]183, 261-271. Available: DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.101Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Talón-Ballestero, González-Serrano, Soguero-Ruiz, Muñoz-Romero, &Rojo-Álvarez. (2018). Using big data from Customer Relationship Management information systems to determine the client profile in the hotel sector. Tourism Management, [Online]68, 187-197.Available:DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2018.03.017Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Wang, C, Chen, Y, Yang, F, Ren, J, Yu, X, Wang, J. and Sun, S. (2016). Efficacy of computer-based management information system. AJIC: American Journal of Infection Control,[Online] 44(8), E141-E143.Available:DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2016.03.065 Accessed on 20 Jan 2018
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
