Guoman Hotels Group

2008-08-06

The Challenge

For a hotel company of Guoman's size, information technology (IT) plays an integral role and is at the heart of business efficiency and customer satisfaction, whether it be guest bookings, event management, operations or communications. As consumers increasingly use the internet to research, book and communicate with hotels, this need has grown exponentially.

When Guoman Hotels contracted MAN Consulting there was a pressing requirement for the company to provide a quick and efficient service for staff to ensure the smooth running of operations across the hotel chain. There were times when delays in guest services occurred as there were problems with the IT systems leading to lost revenue and customer dissatisfaction. There was also a great need to manage staff expectations with respect to resolution of the incidents and problems that they encountered.

With a view to delivering effective and quick resolutions for any IT related problems and to allow staff time to focus on providing excellent guest service, Guoman Hotels undertook a period of review and consultation around the desktop support function, overseen by help desk manager Nigel Hoyle.

Solution

Nigel Hoyle looked at the IS Lite model, recommended by industry analysts Gartner, which advises that key skills should be kept in house, while the routine, day-to-day business of running and supporting the systems is outsourced.

According to Nigel, “Identifying providers with the necessary skills and also a familiarity with the hotel industry was a key to the decision-making process. Ultimately this dove-tailing of expertise and industry knowledge will provide a higher level of customer service, thereby strengthening the Thistle and Guoman brands.”

Following the review, the decision was taken to outsource the second line IT support to MAN Consulting.

The result

MAN's support service has helped Guoman's existing 13-strong team of IT expects focus on more strategic issues and long-term solutions. It has also allowed them to take on major projects that they would otherwise have found difficult to facilitate.

In addition, outsourcing has meant that result are measurable and the introduction of application and service-based service level agreements means that if a component server or device fails, the customer can plan when the service will be restored.

There have been clear cost-savings, ultimately a 83% decrease in the number of open problem tickets. The average ticket time response has also reduced by 75%.