C17: OTISLINE Submitted by: Induchoodan R(0154/51), Dishin Shrimanker (0128/51)and Gaurav Ajitsaria(0136/51) 1. Assume OTISLINE has just been thought of, and is yet to be rolled out. Why do you think Otis management considered OTISLINE worth investing in? As described in the case, OTIS has been the market leader in the elevator industry for long, with a large customer base and decentralized structure, servicing clients of varying size and scale. Apart from Sales, they have identified Services as an option for future growth, since it has been generating steady revenues and has surpassed sales by two fold. Moreover, competitors, mostly small players have started eating up OTIS’s share in the market by offering attractive propositions to consumers. They also had the support of the budget to assess the usefulness of IT in maintenance service. Other factors includes: Possible Cost Reduction By reducing number of possible callbacks with the help of preventive maintenance mechanism in place could help OTIS save billions in terms of savings on each installed elevator. OTIS could possibly save up to $5 million by reducing callbacks, which Service Management system could possibly achieve. To build an efficient Service Management System To remain as a market leader for long, it should ensure quality products and better service offerings than its competitors. This requires a Service Management system to handle fault related data and a large database to store and handle such requests and issues, to be made use in future cases. Timely Customer feedback for future improvements Getting timely feedbacks from the customers helps the firm to improve upon service quality and provide better services in future. Bringing uniformity in Quality by introducing Centralized system The existing system of Answering Services generated varying quality of output. A centralized system would enable the company to accept calls even during nonprimetime. This didn’t work well for the company through the former, which has forced the company to conclude that the Answering Service firms may not work in the best interests of OTIS. This could also be a motivator to come up with OTISLINE, which focused in reducing consumer response time. A centralized customer service system was more desirable because the company could base new contracts on responsive callbacks. To provide better Customer Service and build reputation The existing basis of selection of Service Company was generally based on three factors: Responsiveness, Quality & Price. Apart from this OTISLINE could also provide a considerably lower response time to ensure that they could build a good reputation with the customers. 2. What adjustments in the organization were made to accommodate OTISLINE? Implementation of OTISLINE called for a sea change in the management in the company in both cultural as well as technical front.
1. Assume OTISLINE has just been thought of, and is yet to be
rolled out. Why do you think Otis management considered OTISLINE
worth investing in? As described in the case, OTIS has been the
market leader in the elevator industry for long, with a large
customer base and decentralized structure, servicing clients of
varying size and scale. Apart from Sales, they have identified
Services as an option for future growth, since it has been
generating steady revenues and has surpassed sales by two fold.
Moreover, competitors, mostly small players have started eating up
OTISs share in the market by offering attractive propositions to
consumers. They also had the support of the budget to assess the
usefulness of IT in maintenance service. Other factors
includes:
Possible Cost Reduction By reducing number of possible callbacks
with the help of preventive maintenance mechanism in place could
help OTIS save billions in terms of savings on each installed
elevator. OTIS could possibly save up to $5 million by reducing
callbacks, which Service Management system could possibly achieve.
To build an efficient Service Management System To remain as a
market leader for long, it should ensure quality products and
better service offerings than its competitors. This requires a
Service Management system to handle fault related data and a large
database to store and handle such requests and issues, to be made
use in future cases. Timely Customer feedback for future
improvements Getting timely feedbacks from the customers helps the
firm to improve upon service quality and provide better services in
future. Bringing uniformity in Quality by introducing Centralized
system The existing system of Answering Services generated varying
quality of output. A centralized system would enable the company to
accept calls even during non-primetime. This didnt work well for
the company through the former, which has forced the company to
conclude that the Answering Service firms may not work in the best
interests of OTIS. This could also be a motivator to come up with
OTISLINE, which focused in reducing consumer response time. A
centralized customer service system was more desirable because the
company could base new contracts on responsive callbacks. To
provide better Customer Service and build reputation The existing
basis of selection of Service Company was generally based on three
factors: Responsiveness, Quality & Price. Apart from this
OTISLINE could also provide a considerably lower response time to
ensure that they could build a good reputation with the customers.
2. What adjustments in the organization were made to accommodate
OTISLINE?
Implementation of OTISLINE called for a sea change in the
management in the company in both cultural as well as technical
front.
Technical changes
Centralized information compared to the earlier Decentralized
approach: NAO was a decentralized organization and OTISLINE is a
very-centralized approach requiring a change for better use of the
service. Technical training for the new employees: New hires
received four to six hours of training with OTISLINE, IBM Display
& telephone systems, Operating of Phone system, Conversation
and Listening skills, Elevator Terminology and organization
Structure Knowledge etc.. Migrating computer platforms to the
latest technology: IBM 3083 was installed to replace the IBM
370/158 and new peripheral and telecommunications equipment were
installed to support OTISLINE customer service Centre. Redundancy
of certain service personnel: the company could reduce the labor
employed in the process by leveraging more Technical information
from the OTISLINE system
Cultural changes
Teamwork: Dispatcher was an important part of team and the
success of the organization Customer Orientation became more
prominent as training was provided to be courteous, sensitive, and
efficient and convey the ideas clearly. 3. What advice would you
give Otis management concerning future directions?
Certain Future Modifications/Alterations to the OTISLINE project
could easily equip the firm to meet future challenges. Some are
described below: Remote Elevator Monitoring (REM): Remotely logging
the performance and monitoring it could help the firm to detect
possible issues and rectify them without notifying the customers
and earn more reputation. In-car problems: In-Car phones could be
provided to connect directly to a dispatcher in case of elevator
issues. Telemarketing of services: SMS Database could be used to
Generate of prospect list and get more service contracts.
Replacement of service mechanic pagers with hand-held terminals:
This could be provided hand held terminals in stead of pagers,
which could help in improving efficiency and flow of information
between both the sides New equipment ordering: OTIS could work upon
shortening Lead-time and improvement of raw material inventory
management. Contract management: Tracking of changes in elevator
installation schedule by installing a PC on-site
