Sony

April 1, 2014

Checkpoint: JetBlue and WestJet: A Tale of Two IS Projects

IT/205

Diana Moore

1. How important is the reservation system at airlines such as WestJet and JetBlue. How does it impact operational activities and decision making?

An reservation system is very important at WestJet and JetBlue and all other airlines because it allows their customers to book the flights online without the hassle of waiting in long lines to make purchases at the last minute. They are also able to choose their seat and check-in for their flights. They allow for code-sharing plans which allows for information sharing and communication between airline companies cooperates with each other for flight purposes. The customers were not satisfied with the WestJet airline while they were going through an upgrade of their reservation system. Reservation systems have impacted operational activities and decision making by making it easier to maintain accounts with other airlines as well as with internal processes between the departments. Airlines use the customer information that is stored in the systems to determine what promotions work for the company. If the systems are not working as they should like starting to move to slow it can damage the company’s reputation which will then cause them to lose clients.

2. Evaluate the risk of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue and key risk factors.

The risks of upgrading the online reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue would be that something would happen such as a website crashing and losing your customers. However that risk can seem small when your systems are unable to handle the amount of data being pushed upon them. So both WestJet and JetBlue had the choice to do nothing and run the risk of not being able to provide for their customers and losing business or they can either upgrade their reservation system and go through glitches and possible problems with the new systems. WestJet...