1. What are Blake's next steps?
The most important step for Blake at the moment is to investigate the reasons of the unsuccessful software launch. In order to do that he should start by interviewing the personnel of the Royal Hotel and by collecting the feedback of all people, who got a chance to use Espresso!. In particular, it is necessary to evaluate whether the software was not able to meet the demands of the hotel staff and to reflect the everyday needs of the hotel, or whether Espresso! was not properly introduced to the personnel through the training program. Finally, it is crucial to explore whether the employees were given an incentive to learn and use the new system for their daily tasks. Since people often tend to feel more comfortable with the old technology and practices, while more innovative solutions require additional effort and extra learning, the failure of Espresso! could be attributed to the absence of incentives for the employees to learn the new tool. Moreover, the adoption of the new software was not likely to generate immediate results, since it takes time to get used to it. During the learning phase the efficiency of the process could be hampered by the new system, since it takes time to learn how to operate it. Therefore, the movement along the learning curve should be fostered by managers through limiting the use of the traditional problem communication channels and making it mandatory to use Espresso!.
Having collected the feedback from all the users, Blake should conduct a root cause analysis of the problem, thus identifying the most important aspect of the project failure. This information is extremely important for further actions, because it helps to identify the possible ways for improvement and guarantees that the solution will not just treat the symptoms, but it will target the most fundamental problems with Espresso.
2. How will Blake handle the IT needs going forward?
Depending on the root cause of the problem, Blake has several options in moving forward about the current issue. In case the problem lies in the inappropriate employee training, insufficient motivation or ineffective introduction phase, it is necessary to work together with the managers and to either make the use of Espresso! mandatory in the hotel, thus facilitating learning, or to conduct additional training sessions with the staff in order to emphasize the benefits of the system and to instruct the personnel in the use of Espresso!.
However, if the core problem is in the inability of the software to meet the needs of the Royal Hotel, it is necessary to customize Espresso!. In this case Blake should interview both hotel’s managers and maintenance personnel, in order to identify the features that are missing or need to be changed. Moreover, it is important to ensure that the system is not only functional, but also user-friendly and intuitive. Having identified the major pitfalls of the software, Blake should invite Espresso! representatives or external software developers, who could help to customize the new system to the needs of the Royal Hotel. Having more targeted solution for the hotel may not only improve the functionality of the software, but also reduce the amount of features, which are not necessary. This approach will help to reduce system complexity and to make it more appealing for the hotel staff.
Lastly, Blake should carefully monitor every step of software introduction and further adoption. Feedback mechanisms should be introduced in order to collect information about Espresso! and to resolve all the issues as soon as possible. In this way it is possible to ensure that the system will be continuously improving based on the changing business requirements, thus facilitating more efficient resource allocation and enhancing customer satisfaction.
