1. In the case, both airlines upgraded to the same application, but approached the upgrade process differently. What were those differences and how much impact did they have on the outcome of the project?
WestJet was the first airline to upgrade so it had a rocky time of it. While the shift to the new software occurred after winter when the airline had lighter loads, it still maintained the normal number passengers for each of its flights. It meant that the same number of people who needed to be on the website. Furthermore, they did not inform passengers about the transition. The website crashed and passengers were mad at the airline. The loyalty scores for the airline dropped and forced WestJet to scramble with apology letters and flight credits.
JetBlue learned from the mistakes of WestJet and prepared for the transition more thoroughly, especially since it had almost twice as many aircraft. The airline reduced the number of passengers per flight. It also created a backup website in case of a cyber crash, and hired temporary workers to main reservations hotlines for two months. Although there were still glitches, this eased the transition tremendously.
2. What precautions did the organizations in the case take to prevent software upgrade problems? To what extent do you believe those precautions helped?
Selecting the right time for the software was probably the most crucial precaution. Shifting to a new software when the current usage was heavy would be suicidal. The companies also had to forcibly make passenger load lighter for the overnight transition. You lost revenue, but made the transition earlier. The strategies of JetBlue helped a lot. Having a backup was very crucial in case something went wrong with the software, and it did, twice. It’s similar to how I back up my phone before a major OS upgrade. And the fact that they hired temporary reservation agents showed that they thought about how it would affect customers, and not just operationally.
3. SAP customers have the choice between upgrading to the most recent version of the application suite or integrating third-party products into their existing infrastructure. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative?
If the customer is already on ECC 6.0, upgrading the software is now easier. Rather than a full technical upgrade, the company can choose upgrade packs that contain the modules that they only want. This makes it less expensive for the client. However, if they are not on ECC, it can amount to as much as 85% of the original implementation costs. Pack installation also needs to be tested thoroughly so that there are no glitches. Third-party products are good in the sense that the company is not just limited to manufacturer specifications. They can have more customizations and probably at a lower cost too. However, seamless integration can be a problem with these products since you are using a different vendor.
Good Jetblue Airways, Westjet Airlines And Others: The Difficult Path To Software Upgrades Creative Writing Example
Type of paper: Creative Writing
Topic: Software, Upgrade, Airline, Transition, Passengers, Case, Business, Website
Pages: 2
Words: 500
Published: 03/30/2023
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