Project Title: hotSOS: Re-engineering of service order management solution

The Challenge

Re-engineering of existing service order management solutions in order to optimize on-going maintenance costs, to lower cost of ownership for the customers and to ensure faster product implementation. Since 1992 M-Tech has been delivering service order management applications that helps to maximize quality of service and ensure guest satisfaction in over 450 hotel in 34 countries worldwide, including Marriott Hotels Corporation, Interstate Hotels Corporation, Inter*Continental Hotels, Sheraton Hotels and many others hotel networks. As geographically distributed customer base grown, on-going maintenance of the system that involved on-site version updates, integration with other IS and user support began to slow down further business growth of M-Tech. M-Tech decided to launch the completely different business model that required new technological concept and existing product family re-engineering.

The Solution

Aplana suggested using web-services and Microsoft .NET framework as a core point of the technological concept of a new product - Hotel Service Order Optimization System (hotSOS) that complemented the existing functionality with many new essential features. The system was designed as a set of distributed components that communicate over the Internet. Since the hotSos deployment started, M-Tech doubled its margins and doubled its customer base. Key results of implementing the new technology are optimized on-going maintenance processes and faster customer base growth for M-Tech, as well as advanced product development perspectives. Because of remarkable results this project was granted 2 international Microsoft awards in 2004 - Winning Customer of the Year and Customer Experience of the Year

Implementation Highlights

• Message exchange with line-level employees via all available communication channels (pocket PCs, NEXTEL phones, alpha-numeric pagers, blackberry e-mail devices etc.); virtual dispatcher IVR enables staff to report service requests and defects from any touch-tone telephone
  
• Quick and smooth integration with other IS using a standardized web-service interface, interfaces to most popular PMS solutions are included in the standard product release
  
• A fully automated workstation upgrade: when a new version becomes available, the system upgrades all thick clients automatically
  
• Interactive user support over the Internet
  
• Secured Internet connection between server and workstations (HTTPS) and high system performance even using a dial-up lines (Web-services attachments)
  
• Interface Usability Testing to guarantee end-user’s convenience
  
• High productivity of the development - in average 100 lines of debugged code daily (including analysts and testers contribution), it is more than twice as higher than average industry figures.

The results:

• M-tech decreased significantly on-going maintenance costs of worldwide product installations due to fully automated workstation upgrade, interactive user support over the Internet and other features. Technical support staff in M-Tech has been decreased from 20 to just a few engineers
  
• M-tech gained a strong competitive advantage via better customer needs satisfaction for lower cost of ownership and plans to double it’s customer base just for the current year (from 450 to 900 hotels). The solution leverages Internet, and wireless networks for cost-effective centralization of key data about hotel operations and improved communications, it also provides feature-rich interface freed from the limitations of Web browser.
  
• Faster deployment because of standardized integration and data import procedures, predefined configuration templates. Just within 2 months 450 new hotels started its operation with hotSOS. Smooth and easy further product development is backed by web-services and .NET technologies and modular architecture: easy integration with legacy IS using a standardized web-service interface, quick connection of new communication channels, product adaptation for new business areas (for example business centers, hospitals etc)

"Our cooperation with Aplana is a good example of well-timed business idea being implemented competently using innovative technologies. Since the hotSos deployment started in, M-tech doubled its margins and doubled its customer base"

Anatoly Babaev, Director of Development, M- Tech

Tools and Technologies

Web-services and MS .NET
Windows Server; SQL Server; MS IIS; C#, .NET Framework; VS; ADO.NET

Related links

http://www.aplana.com/

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