Memorandum DATE: February 9, 1998

TO: Mr. James A. Turner

FROM: Jeff Schwartz

RE: Integrated Customer Information System (ICIS)

CC: Janice Whitney
 

 This memo proposes that International Airlines (IA) invest its resources in acquiring a comprehensive Integrated Customer Information System (ICIS) that will allow the airline to manage and organize solutions through the use of Information Technology to make competitive, efficient, and informed decisions in the global marketplace.

As you are probably aware that in the past recent months, IA has ranked last among the major competitors in every category of customer satisfactions, customer referrals, and overall customer loyalty. The sales and marketing department investigated the discontent in the above categories (especially with the complaint of one frequent flyer passenger Andrew Larson), and determined the core reasons for customer unsatisfaction to be as follows:
 

  • The lack of proper information may have prevented IA with providing the customers with a legitimate incentive based informed response to their complaints.
  • Data reviewed from the Automatic Call Distribution system tapes reflected customer discontent with improper credit of mileage with the Flying High program.
  • Problems with passenger baggage tracking and delivery at final destination.
  • A significant drop in renewal of membership profiles and lost of customers.
    •

    These problems are manageable and can be alleviated by integrating a comprehensive management information system (such as the ICIS). The long-term benefits of the system are to provide and process information across the entire operations, while lowering costs, through the following:
     

  • Sales, reservation, and marketing to enhances the potential to access information for all market segments (while lowering the cost of information access and collection).
  • Centralization of information between customers, suppliers, regulatory agencies, and stockholders.
  • Simple management of financial assets and records for reporting purpose to the stockholders and financial institutions, and projections of passenger worth to the airline.
  • Ability to deal with customer complaints by expressing awareness of problems prior to receiving complaint letters, proper credit of the frequent flyer programs, and efficient tracking of customer baggage.
  • Customer satisfaction surveys and membership profile renewals, that will assist in determining the trends and habits of customers.
  • Centralization of human resources and organizational development records.
  • Corporate and individual communications will become simpler and manageable.
    •

    In the short-term, the ICIS system will assist in developing profiles of customers who have stopped flying with IA. From these profiles, IA can develop the underlying reasons of unsatisfaction and discontent. In addition, ICIS system is capable of compiling relational information between these customers and providing appropriate incentive based offer to get these customers back with flying with IA.

    Information systems such as the ICIS is the airline’s organizational and management solution to get back on track in the competitive environment, and alleviate problems with customer satisfaction and retention, determine the sales and management trends, as well as the present and future behavior and market conditions of customers in the competitive airline segment.

    I will be available to answer any questions, or perhaps participate in the board meeting to justify the acquisition of ICIS for IA. Thank you.

    Hunaid Sulemanji