MIS Assignment 1

Case 1: eCourier, Cablecom, and Bryan Cave: Delivering

Value through Business Intelligence
Visitors to the eCourier Web site are greeted with the words “How happy are you ? Take the
eCourier happy test today!” Those words and the playful purple Web site represent the
company’s customer satisfaction focus. And the company achieves that happiness through
its focus on operational business intelligence. Business intelligence is moving out of the ivory
tower of specialized analysts and is being brought to the front lines. In the case of eCourier,
whose couriers carry 2,000 packages around London each day, operational business
intelligence allows the company to keep real-time tabs on customer satisfaction. “This is a
crucial differentiator in London’s competitive same-day courier market, where clients are
far more likely to take their business elsewhere than they are to report a problem to their
current courier,” says the company’s chief technology officer and cofounder Jay Bregman.
Just one online directory, London Online, shows about 350 listings for courier services.
Before implementing operational business intelligence, eCourier sought to define IT as a
crucial differentiator. Cofounders Tom Allason, eCourier’s CEO, and Bregman ditched the
idea of phone dispatchers and instead gave their couriers GPS-enabled handhelds so that
couriers can be tracked and orders can be communicated electronically. They also focused
on making online booking easy and rewarding, and much was invested in user-friendly
applications: Customers can track online exactly where their courier is, eliminating he
package delivery guesswork. Today, 95 percent of deliveries are booked online; this means
that eCourier needs a much smaller staff for monitoring, tracking, and placing orders, which
in turn makes the company more scalable. Bregman says this is notable in a market where
many courier companies use telephone dispatchers and guesswork about package
whereabouts. Booking and tracking automation—although innovative—did not complete
the customer happiness puzzle. Without leadingedge business intelligence, account
managers could miss the same issues that plagued other courier services—late deliveries,
surly couriers, or even an unnoticed ramp-up in deliveries. “We’re only one delivery away
from someone deciding to use a different delivery firm,” says Bregman. So eCourier started
to use software from a company called See Why to try to generate customer data more
quickly. “What’s unique about SeeWhy,” says Bregman, “is its ability to report what’s
happening with customers instantly.” When a new booking enters eCourier’s database, the
information is duplicated and saved into a repository within SeeWhy. The software then
interprets the data by comparing it with previous information and trends, and if it notices an
anomaly, it takes action. If a customer typically places an eCourier order every Thursday
morning between 9:30 and 10:00 and there’s been no contact during that time, eCourier’s
CRM team will receive an alert shortly after 10:00 that includes the client’s history and the
number of bookings it typically places in a day. Bregman says there’s a fair amount of fine-
tuning to get the metrics right. For example, the company had to tweak the system to
recognize expected shifts in activity so that it doesn’t send a slew of alerts once the after-
Christmas drop in business occurs. Getting that perfect balance of when to send alerts and
how best to optimize the system is an ongoing process, he says. The SeeWhy software is
designed to establish a “normal” client booking pattern from the first use, which is deepened
with each subsequent booking. A sharp drop-off in bookings, an increase in bookings, or a
change in dormant account activity generates an alert that is sent to that client’s account
manager; the manager uses the opportunity to problem-solve or, in the case of increased
activity, upsell to overnight or international services. “These capabilities have provided a big
payoff,” says Bregman. He also believes the system saves his company the expense of having
to hire people to monitor “who’s happy and who’s not—we’re able to do a lot more on our
customer team with a lot less.” Other approaches to judging customer dissatisfaction exist.
Cablecom, a Swiss telecom company, used SPSS’s statistical software to mine customer data,
primarily from trouble tickets—such as the average duration of a ticket, or how many tickets
had been opened for a customer over a specific time period—to build a model that could flag
when a customer was at a high risk of leaving. “But the model proved to be only about 70
percent accurate,” says Federico Cesconi, director of customer insight and retention. So
Cesconi used SPSS’s Dimensions survey research software to create an online customer
survey, and from that he was able to determine that customer dissatisfaction usually begins
around the ninth month of service, with the bulk of the customer losses occurring between
months 12 and 14. Cesconi then created another survey that he now offers to customers in
the seventh month of service, which includes an area where they can type in specific
complaints and problems. “Cablecom calls customers within 24 hours of completing the
survey,” says Cesconi. “The two approaches together provide the best view of customers
ready to bolt, and the best chance at retaining them.” In 2002, global law firm Bryan Cave
faced the milliondollar question: How do you make the most money with your resources
while simultaneously delivering the highest customer value? The problem was pressing.
Clients of the firm, which now has 800 lawyers in 15 offices worldwide, were demanding
alternatives to the traditional hourly fee structure. They wanted new models, such as fixed
pricing and pricing that was adjusted during a project. But making money from these new
billing strategies required the complicated balance of staffing and pricing. Projects weighted
too heavily with a law partner’s time would be expensive (for the law firm) and not
optimized for profit. Devoting too little of a partner’s time would leave clients feeling
undervalued. Optimizing profit and perceived value had to be achieved by spreading
partners’ time throughout a number of cases and balancing the remaining resources needed
for a case with the less-expensive fees of associates and paralegals. “Clients are most likely
to stay with you if you deliver just the right mix,” says Bryan Cave’s CIO John Alber. The law
firm’s traditional method of analyzing collected fees and profit used a spreadsheet that was
complicated and took too long. “Spreadsheets provide a level of detail that can be valuable
for analysts,” says Alber, “but the information in a spreadsheet can be confusing and difficult
to work with.” Alber says he decided it was better to build an easy-to-understand interface
using business intelligence tools. Although the company will not release specific figures, both
profitability and hours leveraged— the hours worked by equity partners and all other fee
earners at the firm—have increased substantially since the company implemented its first
BI tool in 2004, according to Alber. The tools also allow lawyers to track budgets in real time
so that they can make adjustments quickly. The BI tools even provide a diversity dashboard,
which tracks the hourly mix of women and minorities working on the firm’s cases, a feature
the company will license to Redwood Analytics for sale to other law firms. The firm
developed this diversity tool to bring transparency to the diversity reporting process
required by many clients. In other words, the tools provide Bryan Cave with a method of
customizing its fees and helping clients better understand what they get for their money. As
an illustration, Alber points to the customized pricing one lawyer gave to his real estate
client. “Developers think in terms of square feet,” says Alber, “and this client couldn’t
understand why legal fees for a 400,000-square-foot building might be the same as for a
4,000-square-foot building, though it required the same amount of the lawyer’s time.” So the
lawyer used the pricing and staffing modeling tools and historical analysis tools to determine
whether it made sense for the law firm to charge clients based on the size of their projects.
He found that while there was risk of underpricing large buildings, the deal volume in small
buildings offset that risk for the law firm. The result made per-square-foot pricing possible.
“It may be possible that someone with enough willpower or manpower could do that using
traditional analysis,” says Alber, “but this lawyer had the information right at his fingertips.”
Business intelligence enables “us to be in touch with clients and shift things around in
response to what customers are asking,” says Alber. Adopting new and improved project
management, pricing, and customer service capabilities required planning, appropriate
pacing, and user buy-in. “In today’s environment, you can’t do value innovation without
being in touch with the economics of your business, without really understanding where you
make money and where you don’t, and that’s what business intelligence tools do,” says Alber.
“Our goal,” he says, “is to build the best long term relationships in the world.”
Case 2: Sew What? Inc.: The Role of Information
Technology in Small Business Success
What do Sting, Elton John, and Madonna have in common? Besides being international rock
stars, they all use theatrical backdrops designed and manufactured by custom drapery
maker Sew What? Inc. Based in Rancho Dominguez, California, Sew What? Provides custom
theatrical draperies and fabrics for stages, concerts, fashion shows, and special events
worldwide and has become an industry leader in rock-and-roll staging. Founded in 1992 by
Australian-born Megan Duckett, Sew What? has grown from a tiny kitchen-and-garage
operation to a multimillion-dollar enterprise, thanks to Duckett’s never-say-no approach to
customer satisfaction. “When I see a problem, I just don’t back down. I find a way to
overcome it and I use everybody I know to help me,” she says. What made it possible for a
one-woman business that started in a kitchen to evolve and grow into a multimillion dollar
company with 35 employees? Megan Duckett attributes her success to hard work, quality
workmanship, and especially information technology. Sew What? has enjoyed explosive
growth in recent years, reaching $4 million per year in sales by the end of 2006. Company
president Duckett credits much of her firm’s rapid growth to its ability to leverage
information technology and the Internet to drive sales. “Before we put up our Web site,
sewwhatinc.com , our business was almost all local,” says Duckett. “But after launching the
Web site three years ago, we now have clients all over the world. In fact, last year our revenue
grew 45 percent on the previous year’s sales, and this year we are on target to enjoy a 65
percent increase on 2005 sales. And nearly all that growth came from Web-driven sales.”
Although the company’s Web site may take center stage, managing all the business the site
brings in requires a lot of effort behind the scenes. In particular, Duckett relies on a solid IT
infrastructure to help keep the company running smoothly. “We are a customer-centric
company,” notes Duckett. “It’s critical that we have excellent back-office information
technology to manage the business and deliver outstanding service to our customers.” Sew
What? runs most of its business with Intuit’s Quick-
Books Enterprise Solutions Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition software and Microsoft’s
Windows Server operating system installed on a Dell PowerEdge 860 server, sporting an
Intel Xeon processor and 146 gigabytes of disk storage. According to Duckett, “Running our
business requires a lot of storage. In addition to customer information and vital operational
and financial QuickBooks files, we need to store thousands of drapery and fabric image files,
customer instruction document files, and other types of data.” Sew What?’s additional
computer support includes an older Dell PowerEdge 500 server dedicated to a few smaller
applications and a variety of Dell desktop PC systems for employees. Sew What? started in
1992 as a part-time endeavor, with Duckett cutting and sewing fabric on her kitchen table.
She went full time in 1997 and incorporated in 1998. The important role technology plays in
running a successful small business hit home when she lost a big contract. The potential
client said that without a Web site, her company “lacked credibility.” “Before losing that
contract, I thought, ‘I run a sewing business, a cottage craft. I don’t need a Web site,’” she
says. Duckett admits she was rather cocky, mainly because she had grown her business
“quite well” by word of mouth alone. “I quickly learned the error of that thought process. You
can’t have that attitude and stick around,” she acknowledges.
Losing the contract also coincided with a period of low growth between 2001 and 2002.
That’s when Duckett decided to embrace technology. Using Microsoft Publisher, she
designed and built her own Web site. “You figure things out and learn how to do it yourself
when budgets are thin,” she admits. Duckett kept working to improve the site and make it
better for her customers. A year later, feeling that the site needed refreshing, she signed up
for a 10-week course in reamweaver and again completely rebuilt the site. Yet another Web
site reconstruction helped Sew What? grow into a company with customers around the
world and a clientele list that includes international rock stars, Gucci, and Rolling Stone
magazine.
In 2005, Duckett decided she needed to improve the site’s navigation because “I wanted it to
be sleek and to provide a really good customer experience. That was beyond my abilities, so
we hired a Web marketing consulting company to build a custom navigation system for the
site.” She worked with the hired guns on branding, search engine optimization, overall
design, and site layout. Duckett still provides all the content, including text and images.
There’s also a Spanish version of the site, and the professionals tuned up the main site’s
search features to include spelling
variants for different English-speaking countries. For example, you can search for the
American spelling of theater or the British and Australian version, theatre. The site also lets
potential customers review all kinds of color swatches and teaches them how to calculate
accurate measurements for their projects; the differences between a scrim, a tormentor, and
a traveler curtain; the proper care and feeding of a variety of drapery materials; and a lot
more. While perusing the Dell Web site one day, Duckett saw a news article about the
Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence Award. The National Federation of Independent
Businesses (NFIB) and Dell Inc. present this annual prize to one small business in recognition
of its innovative use of technology to improve its customers’ experience. The winner receives
$30,000 worth of Dell products and services, a lifetime membership to the NFIB, and a day
at Dell’s headquarters with Michael Dell and other senior executives.
“The description of the kinds of businesses they were looking for perfectly described Sew
What?” Duckett realized. “Everything they were looking for, we’d done, so I decided to enter.
My husband [and business partner] laughed and reminded me that I never win anything.”
Writing the essay for the contest caused Duckett to reflect on everything she and her
employees had achieved over the years: “We got to sit back and feel really proud of ourselves.
Just that process was enough to invigorate everyone in our weekly production meetings.”
The contest judges also recognized Megan Duckett’s passionate commitment to customer
satisfaction and use of information technology for business success, so they awarded Sew
What? the Small Business Excellence Award. Winning the award proved to be a very
emotional experience. Looking at the caliber and achievements of the nine other finalists,
Duckett figured Sew What? would remain just a top-10 finalist: “I could not believe that a big
company like Dell—so entrepreneurial and advanced in every way—would look at our little
company and recognize it.” Like other small business owners, Duckett puts an enormous
amount of physical and emotional energy into her work. “Winning this award is so flattering
on a personal level,” she says. “This business is ingrained in every cell of my body, and to
have someone saying, ‘Good job,’ well, in small business, nobody ever says that to you.” That
may have been true previously, but Sew What?’s technology leadership and business success
continue to earn recognition. In March 2007, the company received a Stevie Award for
Women in Business for “most innovative company of the year” among those with up to 100
employees. A few months earlier, Sew What? had received an SMB 20 Award from PC
Magazine , which honors 20 of the most technologically innovative small- and medium-sized
businesses (SMBs) each year. “Small and medium businesses drive today’s economy.
However, they often don’t get the attention and recognition they deserve,” said PC Magazine
’s Editor-in-Chief, Jim Louderback. “We want to highlight the hard work, technological
leadership, and innovative spirit of thousands of SMB companies throughout the world.”
Duckett plans to use her prize winnings to add a bar code system that can track the
manufacturing process at the company’s warehouse. In the drapery business, fabric is stored
on a roll in the warehouse and then moves through different stages: receiving, cutting,
sewing, shipping, and so forth. The scanning process will enable Duckett’s team to track how
long the fabric stays in any given stage. These data will give them a better idea of their costs,
which will then help them produce more accurate price lists. “We don’t need to charge an
hour and a half for labor if the cutting only takes an hour and 15 minutes,” Duckett notes.
Currently, the company uses a handwritten system of sign-in and sign-out sheets that, she
says, takes too long and introduces too many errors. “The new system will also let us track
the progress of individual orders,” she promises. “We’ll be able to provide better service by
keeping the customer updated.”
Questions (Case 1)
1. How do information technologies contribute to the business success of the companies
depicted in the case? Provide an example from each company explaining how the
technology implemented led to improved performance.
3 marks
2. In the case of law firm Bryan Cave discussed above, the use of BI technology to improve
the availability, access, and presentation of existing information allowed them to provide
tailored and innovative services to their customers. What other professions could benefit
from a similar use of these technologies, and how? Develop two different possibilities.
4 marks
3. Cablecom developed a prediction model to better identify those customers at risk of
switching to other company in the near future. In addition to those noted in the case,
what other actions could be taken if that information were available? Give some examples
of these. Would you consider letting some customers leave anyway? Why?
3 marks

Questions (Case 2)
4. How do information technologies contribute to the business success of Sew What? Inc.?
Give several examples from the case regarding the business value of information
technology that demonstrate this conclusion.
3 marks

5. If you were a management consultant to Sew What? Inc., what would you advise Megan
Duckett to do at this point to be even more successful in her business? What role would
information technology play in your proposals? Provide several specific
recommendations.
4 marks

6. How could the use of information technology help a small business you know be more
successful? Provide several examples to support your answer.
3 marks