Introduction
Implementing the new CRM system at Ladbrokes can consist with a number of issues as in a way it is business process re-engineering that the enterprise has to undergo. Majority of failed CRM projects are the results of inappropriate planning and implementation process. According to Gordon,M(2009) 75% of organisations rush to adopt CRM systems but usually do not reap the expected results. There are therefore key phases, processes and tools that need to be considered to ensure the completion of a CRM system for Ladbrokes betting.
Thus, it has been observed that the common reasons for CRM project failures are: unsuitable organisation culture and structure, the ineffective management and unrealistic expectations. With CRM system implementation, there is the integration across a number of functions and departments and organisation culture and structure. This integration if not properly managed and controlled can hinder the business processes and result in losses rather than profits. It is consequently, the effective management of tasks and processes that can support this transition phase. As rightly put forward by Newell (2003) cited by Gordon,M(2009) that they are the managers misunderstandings of concept of CRM systems develop into unrealistic expectations that are not met with CRM implementation. A holistic approach should be adopted involving each department within Ladbrokes at each level of implementation. With strong leadership and good internal communications among staff from betting shops and head office and senior management set the scene for the successful implementation of cloud computing CRM.
Therefore integrating systems across organisations, training of staff and realigning existing business practices to merge with the new system requires commitment, thought and careful planning. Moreover Gordon,M (2009) is of the view that developing in-house CRM solution result in poor results, therefore for Ladbrokes CRM system, it is a better option to go for a CRM cloud provider that can provide a standardized and tailor-made CRM solution.
5.2 Outsourcing to Cloud provider and CRM vendor
Nowadays outsourcing is a current practice within enterprises. Businesses have recourse other companies to execute part of their various activities such as IT support, marketing, hosting, so that they can concentrate on their core business activities. Turban (2006) writes IT is usually most frequently outsourced business activity. Ladbrokes betting has been outsourcing its business activities to third-parties to better control and regulate the betting business.
Since 2005, Agency.com has been looking after the ECRM for Ladbrokes catering for online and telephone customers while WWAV Rap Collins, UK's leading direct marketing agency deals with offline communications and segmentation, data analysis on customer's information. Regarding print and marketing, betting slips and other supplies, TPF Company controls such activities and SCC technology solution provider caters after technology maintenance and acts a call-centre help-desk.
Thus Ladbrokes has had always recourse to a number of suppliers and software houses to control some of its activities. It is used to collaborations and interactions with other companies to successfully run its business. In effect, similarly with cloud computing mechanism much of the control over data and operations from Ladbrokes will shift to the cloud providers, much in the same way that Ladbrokes entrust part of its IT operations to outsourcing companies .With the implementation of CRM cloud computing, Ladbrokes is better off to choose a single cloud hosting provided example Amazon, Microsoft which can provide a hybrid model access to both private and public clouds. Furthermore with Microsoft Azure Virtual Network feature will cater virtualization facilities and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Professional delivers a full suite of CRM as SaaS capabilities with extensive configurability and extensibility options. There will be no hassle of having different CRM vendors and different cloud provider so as to avoid future disagreement regarding pricing, discounts, software.
Nevertheless not all cloud providers and CRM vendors provide consistency and full access range to information. It will be the responsibility of Ladbrokes management to have a solid understanding of the service level attributes that the cloud provider has regarding data location, accessibility and availability. Ladbrokes should know where its data centres are situated, how to data in case of emergencies or other hazards. Moreover with outsourcing Ladbrokes's activities such as data management, there is loss of control over operations by the company. Therefore it is important that Ladbrokes' service level requirements (SLR) match with the outsourcing company's service level agreement.(SLA).It is the sole responsibility of Ladbrokes to ensure that service provider gives sufficient guarantees in respect of technical and organisational security measures.
5.3 Business Case
The business case is built with notion of costs and benefits for the CRM implementation. In this section of the project, there is an analysis of costs and benefits to identify how far Ladbrokes can benefit with such a system. Through SaaS approach, CRM software is treated as operating costs based per user on a monthly basis. The cost benefit analysis relies on the addition of positive factors that is the benefits and the subtraction of negative factors; costs to determine a net result. Costs relate to the range of negative effects that the introduction of CRM system could have on an organisation while the financial gains that the organisation will reap are in the form of benefits. Nevertheless many costs and benefits are measurable but others cannot be qualified in monetary values for example better customer-service, improved betting experience for customers, development of an information-based competitive advantage. Therefore the business case will span over a period equivalent to economic life of the proposed solution over a period of 3 years.
5.3.1 Cost and benefits analysis
Each proposed solution must be assessed in terms of the potential costs and benefits to the company in light of its mission and goals. Costs and benefit may vary in terms of financial or non-financial, tangible and intangible, short-term or long-term. (see Appendix for Table cost/benefit analysis)
The estimation was taken from the Ladbrokes.com, yearly-annual statements. This is an approximate analysis based on a regular betting shop, yearly costs and benefits figures. The costs will be mainly implementation costs, software licensing, subscription fee, training programme for staff and virtual servers with the telecommunication infrastructure. The benefits will result from the automation of tasks on customer service and marketing department and labour savings and decreased overhead reflect the number of staffs who has been made redundant and reducing of staff thus saving on staff and resources.
The CRM SaaS Software-as-a-Service applications will be among the benefits of the company, though included as costs but the CRM applications will be used on demand and billed per hour of usage. Similarly the IaaS infrastructure-as-a-Service, will be rented by Ladbrokes on a yearly basis, therefore there could be discounts and promotions available by the cloud provider, given that Ladbrokes to keep Ladbrokes as a customer. There is an also intangible benefit like customer retention, customer satisfaction and loyalty that cannot be measured. With the added services and new products at Ladbrokes, there will be better customer service built through responsiveness and understanding. Moreover there will be a high-percentage of cross-selling due to offering a single point of contact.
5.4 The Stakeholders
Stakeholders include any person who will be impacted by the change in the business. They range from the senior management level, IT personnel, marketing team, customer-service agent to the cashier position in betting shops. Buttle(2009) states that early involvement and participation that senior management will promote the successful implementation of the new system. It is primordial to involve all stakeholders the early the better within the implementation stage of the new system so that there is ease of accessing the degree of user-friendliness and usability that the system provides. The new system has been developed in the interest of the business but will be used by the people to meet the business objectives. Hence it is the users that are better placed to assess the robustness of the system. The various stakeholders hold different views about cloud computing, by involving them within the implementation of the system will facilitate their comprehension about the cloud technology and the future changes that will influence the business.
5.5 The Change Management
With the new CRM system, the organisation and management will undergo changes within different areas like the environment, the products and services being provided by the company, the structure and size of the organisation and management and working relationships. Hence Ladbrokes should adopt strategies to successfully manage change so as to minimise the disturbance within the core business processes and disgruntled staff members.
Ladbrokes should organise staff meetings and regular training sessions for staff to make them aware what to expect with the new system and what not to expect. There should be emphasis laid on aligning the IT strategy with corporate objectives. Moreover with senior management interacting and collaborating with other stakeholders eliminates misunderstandings or confusion about how the business processes will be altered. People usually do not like change especially regarding work environment as they are not familiar with new technology to carry the business transactions. They have to establish trust in the decisions of the senior management and understand that changes put forward in the benefit of the organisation. Some employees might resist change as fear of technology or even senior management resist change as they think it will be of no apparent benefits to them. Consequently there should be a balance between change and benefits as the involvement of stakeholders are crucial for the project success.
Furthermore the implementation of Cloud computing will be first implemented on some betting shops and certain areas within the head office. The changes will be introduced gradually in as phased operation stands better chance of success. With phased changeover, employees will slowly acquaint to changes. Using clouds, will facilitate their routine tasks, for instance in registering customers on the cloud CRM system and searching for customer record will be done quicker and easier. Thus there will be automation of some key parts of business that employees and customers have to get used to. The marketing automation and customer service automation will be conducted online on Ladbrokes website. Ladbrokes customers will have to be made aware that changes are being carried throughout the company so as to provide better products and services.Warren G Bennis,an American author writes that 'there should be a need to inspire change rather than merely imposing it'
Moreover, there will be change in organisation structure and culture with use of cloud computing. Some employees will be made redundant and their jobs will be taken up by use of IT. There will be different division of labour, levels of authority and responsibility that will define the chain of command and span of control. Top management at Ladbrokes should provide genuine incentives for change to occur by rewards systems of promotions and support to employees that have lost their jobs and reassign new positions to experienced people in new environments.
Hence the management and working relationships should not be affected by changes the business is undergoing. Ladbrokes employees should be given more choices to enable sound working environments and promoting good working relationships. There should be lines of communications to monitor progress and provide regular feedback among employees and senior management. The successful implementation of the new system will depend upon the collaborative efforts from management and employees that can cope with changes.
5.6 Implementation Plan
The implementation plan will describe the steps that will define how to implement the cloud computing CRM within Ladbrokes. With the use of the project management tool of Gantt chart, details of the sequential activities that will take place are provided .Each task will be subsequently paired with an appropriate time frame for its completion. see diagram Gantt chart.
5.7 Issues in implementing the proposed solution
Ethical issues and other critical factors have always been part and parcel in the evolution of the progress of the project on the whole. There was the involvement of the ethics committee of the university in the process of data-gathering methods where questionnaires were used to collect information from members of the public to assess the customer's satisfaction level. It was important to understand the human rights of people and safeguard vulnerable people and children while building the project. The cloud computing CRM will co-ordinate Ladbrokes departments and head office in a way of accessing data over the internet anytime, anywhere. With such a big open network such as the internet as the communication medium, there are some issues that need to be considered while implementing such a system for Ladbrokes.
5.5.1 Security
Security is one the main concern, as there is customer's personal information that will be kept by the company and it is important that the information is secured and protected.Hence Ladbrokes should ensure that protection and security measures are carefully followed by employees and the cloud provider. Ladbrokes should establish security agreement in place with the software vendor and cloud service provider as by using public and private clouds, not all data is subject to the same security controls, there will be classifications of data according to sensitivity and access-control requirements to different groups of people; how passwords will be managed and assigned, protected and changed. Consequently with this CRM system, new method of work flow will occur whereby the same information will be utilised by several people sometimes at the same time, there should be proper data management to prevent data loss and corruption.
With data encryption technologies, secure connection and virtual platform network (VPN) provided by cloud provider will ensure the integrity and security of information flow. There should be regular backup's procedures like mirrored, replicated information where multiple copies of data are geographically dispersed in data centres .The cloud provider should follow the standards by Cloud security Alliance's Cloud controls matrix like ISO/IEC 27002 and IEEE standards to restore data security within clouds and data used by external parties so as to prevent it from threats of intrusion and hacker attacks. Ladbrokes should be made aware about data availability, accessibility and maintaibility as with clouds the data is always transferred from one location to another. It should be clear how Ladbrokes can assess the information from clouds and in what locations, data centres are located. With use of cloud computing technology, the cloud provider uses multi-tenancy model that allows Ladbrokes data to be stored with other companies usually within same database. This model allows Ladbrokes to get instant access to its databases and detect suspicious activities across the servers and minimize risks of data fraud and intrusion.
Furthermore employees at Ladbrokes will be properly trained on security measures, policies and violations outcomes. The staff will be made aware of their security obligations as they are dealing with sensitive personal information of the public on a daily basis.
5.5.2 Piracy
Privacy issues are linked with customer's information being accessed and shared by different departments within the organisation. Consequently there should be confidentiality when dealing when dealing with customers' records and using the personal details of customers for the business transactions. The IT personnel should ensure that people are provided with passwords that are changed on a regular basis and establish access-rights to different levels of employees. These access-rights prohibits employee from misusing their passwords to access confidential documents and modify the contents. Taylor,L(2010) rightly said that punters know Ladbrokes brand is internationally synonymous with integrity and fair-play by abiding to industry standards these provides added assurance and loyalty for customers. Thus with tight privacy measures will better monitor transactions being operated to and from clouds.
Moreover, the cloud model, allows online customer to manage his Ladbrokes account at his convenience, his betting account is crucial as there is money involved and tight privacy and security is needed to avoid intruders misusing the customer's account.There should be regulatory privacy measures such Electronic Privacy Information Centre to safeguard user privacy rights and data used by unauthorised persons or hackers. Therefore sensitive information and crucial documents will be stored inside private clouds of Ladbrokes .The Company will have better control over the database and conduct reporting and auditing control security on the various customer data stored. With use of virtualisation technique, the cloud provider in Ladbrokes case Microsoft will have live migration of virtual machines, (VMs) from one physical server to another virtualised one whereby in betting shops and head office employees will have virtualized applications SaaS that will be available to them and not the data that is residing on the physical server.
5.5.3 Legal
The key to a successful business is the correct management of the legal issues that the company has to abide to so as to establish the correct governance needed to structure and run its business. In the cloud-based service, a third-party is running the infrastructure and there should be more awareness and security measures to safeguard the company, employees and customers. Consequently with the adoption of a new system, Ladbrokes will be embarking for the first time with cloud providers and there should be common legal framework between both parties so as there is mutual understanding of business needs and standards that need to be followed.
The European Data Protection Act stipulates that when a cloud service provider is engaged to look after a company's data, the company is still responsible for the security of data. Moreover the United Kingdom Data Protection Act (1998) as well requires data controller-the company to incorporate security requirements into the contracts with data processors-the cloud provider. Thus Ladbrokes is required by law to include security measures to protect its business and punters. Therefore Ladbrokes has to have sufficient guarantees from the cloud provider in respect of technical and organisational security measures in a service level agreement. By having a legal document about privacy and security, accessibility and maintainability of information Ladbrokes is protecting its reputation and securing its customer's information.
Furthermore, Ladbrokes should be careful in storing data in dispersed data centres in foreign countries as standards can vary widely from country to country. By having UK based data centres, Ladbrokes will be confident that data security practiced are being covered with UK laws but in overseas, the same law may not apply.
Moreover to use the service of clouds and cloud applications, the monthly subscription should be discussed appropriately so as Ladbrokes does not get billed unnecessarily and the software licenses should be also updated on a regular basis to ensure smooth running of the business. It should be clear how to terminate the contract and dissolution with the company with minimal disruption to the business of betting and gaming.
5.5.4 Environmental
Environmental factors are not in the control of the organisation but have to be considered when implementing the new system as cloud solution in a business for instance industry regulation, political development and economic performance of a country, and population trends. Ladbrokes had overseen to cater for environmental factors when trying to expand its business in Italy by wanting to become an international business in a country where it had recently acquired a business license that resulted into big losses for the company.
The country is undergoing an economical crisis and the government is forcing businesses to make severe cuts regarding assets and people. Therefore with the proposed solution, Ladbrokes will be cutting costs on resources such as assets and human. By implementing cloud-computing CRM, Ladbrokes can make staff work from home thus saving on transport, accommodation and extending the lifespan of equipments. With virtualisation technique within flow of information from branches to branches, the industry will save costs and save energy as there will be a substantial reduction in carbon footprint. The cloud-based service will dramatically improve efficiency while saving money on power and maintenance.
Moreover, Ladbrokes should cater for disaster recovery guarantees from its suppliers and vendors in case of emergency such as fire, floods and other weather conditions that can affect data centres and affect the business.
5.5.5 Professional
Professional issues are issues that Ladbrokes as an organisation has to abide to conduct its business in a professional and fair manner. Therefore having cloud code of conduct, for cloud provider, Cloud industry forum (CIF) is establishing a degree of trust and transparency of the services being provided to companies such as Ladbrokes. Thus with a Cloud industry forum (CIF) certification Ladbrokes will know that the vendor meets the service and technical requirements and can choose the right cloud vendor for the business. Thus with a code of practice there will be transparency about the cloud service provider's business practices ,contracts and accountability issues that will be regulated by the cloud industry forum.
Moreover Ladbrokes should verify software licenses and subscription contracts when dealing with outsourcing companies, these documents shows the professionalism and compliance that a business should uphold to succeed.
5.5.6 Social
With the advent of cloud computing CRM within the enterprise, employees at Ladbrokes would experience social reforms within the work environment. With more collaboration and flexibility of workloads, there will be better services and products that will enhance the customer service level at Ladbrokes. It will be the internet browser that will link people around the globe through clouds. There will be less human contact than the traditional approach where people used to mingle and socialise more face-to-face.
Consequently there will be neither emotional support nor daily interactions with colleagues and peers. According to Tomlin, I(2009), the virtual workplace cannot bring the same interaction of interactivity that people had from office environment. There will be changes in work patterns and flexibility of working as data can be assessed anywhere, anytime. Thus workers will be spending more time away from head office for example the supervisor of betting shops can carry the same functions from home.
Therefore Ladbrokes will have to cope with these emotional needs of its employees by supporting conversation and collaboration in modern ways; video-conferencing, micro-blogging. Thus with real-time collaboration, desk-sharing systems, will transcend the experience of working with colleagues across the web more intimate and involving.
To conclude, the cloud computing CRM offers great opportunities for Ladbrokes .It can satisfy user, business and customer requirements. Thus privacy, security, social, environmental and legal uncertainties should be properly handled so as to carry a successful implementation of the new system.
5.9Risks and Drawbacks
Adoption of the cloud computing CRM can really influence the betting business of Ladbrokes and with the use of such an advanced technology, will give Ladbrokes betting a competitive advantage and a differentiates itself from the other high street bookmakers. Nevertheless in most companies when undergoing new projects, there is always an element of uncertainty and prone to some risks. The cloud solution stand out as a completely new and advance step for Ladbrokes as it will be the first time it is resorting to such a drastic change within the company. Therefore this change can bring benefits as well as risks and drawbacks.
With Ladbrokes giving some of its data management to a third-party, may result in losing control over the business as it will be the cloud service provide that controls and maintains the whole IT infrastructure. All the business transactions will be monitored and accessed through clouds and Ladbrokes should be aware of the functioning of the cloud model and how the underlying technical and organisational processes are being executed. Consequently top management at Ladbrokes should not believe all the promises made by the cloud service provider, as the latter may entice the company with only the benefits and savings and shadowing the risks of the system.
Thus with a legal contract encompassing both benefits and risks of the cloud solution will act as a safety net to minimise the risks. There should be consideration of the options available to Ladbrokes in case the cloud vendor goes out of business and risk of losing all private information of the company. Ladbrokes cannot blindly trust clouds for proper management and storage of information, as there will always be recurring security risks of hacking and intrusion over the network to tamper information. Therefore ensuring that security measures are followed adequately will be an on-going process of regular reporting and audit control over data authenticity and accuracy.
Furthermore there are also risks of project failure, inadequate return on investment and unplanned project budget if the cloud provider solution fails to meet the business requirements of the company. The top management has to carefully assess which areas of the business need to outsource to clouds as when there is no formal understanding of how the cloud infrastructure works, may result in duplication of the exact work in the clouds and on premises. Hence great losses and expenditures are seen by a company who neither has the time or the resources to afford such outcomes.
Moreover the other disadvantage with cloud solution is that the CRM applications will depend on the availability of an internet connection. There should obligatory be a constant internet broadband service to access the CRM applications to carry out the business activities. Consequently Ladbrokes will have to maintain a good relationship with ISPs providers and the ISPs subscription should be update to ensure smooth running of the business. With heavy workload at Ladbrokes, CRM applications require a lot of bandwidth to run remotely from clouds rather than on desktop. ISPs provider can raise their subscription fee for leased lines or decline to renew the existing contract which may affect the main business transactions resulting in great losses for Ladbrokes.
Additionally, web-based applications can sometimes run slower than accessing similar CRM programs on desktop. This may be the result of poor network connection from ISPs provider or data-congestion over the communication line. As Bailey,D rightly states that "UK companies are likely to face problems with the communication infrastructure needed to connect to cloud services."Therefore with poor performance of web-applications, the unsatisfied Ladbrokes customers will resort to other bookmakers and may lose interest to bet with Ladbrokes as the service is poor. This may impact heavily the customer loyalty and trust they hold for Ladbrokes services and products.
