Hotwire.com CRM Project: Analysis, Implementation, and Benefits

This project examines the CRM implementation for Hotwire.com, focusing on its challenges in data management and the adoption of Salesforce as a solution. The analysis covers the objectives of the CRM system, the problems faced by Hotwire.com, and the benefits of implementing a CRM syst...Read More

Running head: INFORMATION SYSTEM
Project management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Case study objectives...................................................................................................................3
3. Problem presented in the case study............................................................................................3
4. Customer relationship management and different types of CRM...............................................4
5. Benefits of introducing CRM system..........................................................................................6
6. Reasons behind system engineers for introducing information system.......................................6
7. Benefits provided by salesforce...................................................................................................7
8. Considerations that are needed for deciding................................................................................8
9. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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1. Introduction
The paper mainly reflects on Hotwire.com that generally gains control of a number of
Hotel Partner and generally engages in advertising the four-star hotel at the cost of two-star hotel
within different parts of Europe as well as North America. It is found that by effectively
developing proper business-based partnership with more than 7,000 hotels all over North
America, Hotwire generally helps the hotel partners in filling empty rooms and further helps the
customers in finding rooms at 60% discount. Furthermore, the Hotwire site not only focuses on
the customer reviews, location, prices as well as amenities but it also helps in maintaining
information about the available rooms. It is analyzed that recently Hotwire faces a lot of
challenges as well as issues as the system was prone to error and thus it was quite difficult to
maintain that site. After proper evaluation of the system requirements, it is discovered by the
team that the Hotwire can be able to manage its operations effectively with the help of a CRM
system effectively. After analyzing a number of CRM solutions, CRM Salesforce was found to
be the most appropriate for delivering information as well as reports which are required by the
managers as well as system of Hotwire. By using CRM Salesforce, Hotwire can be able to store
its data quite securely which can be maintained on the servers of salesforce.
In this paper, problem that are faced by Hotwire is elaborated by reflecting the
significance of CRM system. The paper also illustrates the reason why system engineers prefers
investment within the system development projects. Furthermore, the benefits that are associated
with the Salesforce are elaborated and in addition to this, proper considerations are generally
maintained for deciding why the company outsource vendor like Salesforce in comparison of
hosting the system.

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2. Case study objectives
The objectives of the case studies are mainly listed below:
 To have a centralized driven database system which would allow Hotwire in gaining
better control over its entire data
 To use CRM Salesforce as it allows the employees of Hotwire to access the hotel
related data with the help of user-friendly interface
 To secure and maintain the data on the Salesforce servers and delivering proper
information to the managers as well as Hotwire system on time.
3. Problem presented in the case study
The paper mainly reflects on Hotwire which generally involves in advertising the four-
star related hotel at the cost of two-star hotels to the customers all around Europe as well as
different parts of North America. Unfortunately, it is found that the Hotwire system is prone to
errors and thus it become quite difficult to maintain. It is analyzed that the main problem is in the
way in which the data is stored as well as accessed. Therefore, the analyst suggested to have a
proper centralized database system which would be helpful in gaining better control over the
data. It is analyzed that the cost that is mainly associated with the designing of DBMS is
compared with outsourcing the service and after evaluation, it is found that CRM system can also
be helpful. The various types of CRM systems are analyzed after proper analysis it is found that
CRM salesforce would be appropriate for meeting the needs and requirements of Hotwire.
Furthermore, the Salesforce CRM generally helps in allowing the Hotwire to get proper access of
the hotel data with the help of user-friendly web interface from internet-based computer.

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4. Customer relationship management and different types of CRM
According to Nyadzayo and Khajehzadeh (2016), customer relationship management is
defined as one of the approaches that is mainly helpful in properly managing the company’s
interaction with the current as well as potential customers. It generally undertakes proper data
analysis about the history of the customers so that they can be able to improve their business-
related relationships with the customers by effectively focussing on the issue of customer
retention as well as on driving sales of the organization (Badwan et al. 2017). It is found that
proper utilization of CRM system generally helps in building proper relations with the customers
by creating proper loyalty as well as customer retention. The different types of CRM systems are
mainly elaborated below:
Operational CRM: It is stated by Rahimi and Kozak (2017) that an operational CRM
generally helps the business in effectively managing their day to day marketing related activities,
customer service operations as well as sales. These particular types of platform are generally
considered as one type of CRM that is found to be very much popular in different business areas.
 Marketing automation: It is analyzed thar marketing related tools generally helps in
automating different aspects of marketing so one can effectively target the clients at
different stages of the sales.
 Sales force automation: It is opined by Bhat and Darzi (2016) that sales force
automation is helpful in properly managing the pipeline and assists in acquiring new
clients as well as customers with ease. This further involve proper tracking of the contact
and updating of the status from different prospects.
 Service automation: It is generally designed in order to give very much high level of
customer related services. The CRM system with proper automation can be helpful in

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providing proper information with the help of email depending on the preferences of the
customers.
Analytical CRM: This type of CRM helps in managing different procedures of customers
retention as well as acquisition quite successful by properly tracking the various details of the
customers (Soltani and Navimipour 2016). This is considered as one of the ideal solutions which
is used for companies that generally wants to properly collecting as well as analyzing a large
amount of data.
Collaborative CRM: It is stated by Baran and Galka (2016) that collaborative CRM is
generally designed for properly improving the customer-based experience. It is found that
different types of collaborative features are helpful in properly streamlining proper
communication for different parties. In addition to this, it helps in enabling the companies for
tracking as well as sharing data with everyone.
It is analyzed that Salesforce CRM is the most appropriate CRM system for meeting the
growing needs as well as demands of the customers all across the world. It is found that the
organization can also utilize it for different business needs including for the storage of data so
that the users can easily access it whenever they want (Soltani et al. 2018). The Salesforce CRM
is considered to be very much feasible in context to cost as well as technology. It will further
allow the employees for effectively accessing the data with the help of user-friendly interface
from different internet-based computer. Moreover, the data related with the organization in
different countries will be properly stored as well as maintained on the servers of Salesforce. The
system engineers generally customize the CRM for delivering the information as well as reports
quite effectively for managing both the business as well as customers’ demands.

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5. Benefits of introducing CRM system
According to Santouridis and Veraki (2017), CRM is one of the systems that generally
aims to properly improve the relationships with the various customers by effectively finding new
prospective customers. The CRM system is mainly required within the business for suiting the
growing needs as well as demands of the customers effectively across different countries like
Europe, North America as well as Asia. It is found that CRM generally helps in allowing the
entire organization to keep different types of information within a central database (Greve and
Schluschen 2018). This further helps in giving quick access to the team members with the proper
ability of managing information via a shared location.
On the other hand, it is stated by Navimipour and Soltani (2016) that CRM generally
helps in managing communication as well as interactions with the clients in order to achieve
success within the entire business. Moreover, it also helps in providing the facility of tracking
each and every contact in order to keep track on their needs as well as requirements. It further
helps in sorting all the contacts and further assists in creating proper business-based reports for
analyzing the profit that is generated from the undertaken project (Tseng 2016). The CRM
system will be helpful in providing better as well as speedier communication by offering proper
set of customizable letters, proposals as well as documents quite effectively.
6. Reasons behind system engineers for introducing information system
The engineers determined that it is good time to invest within the information system
within the hotel business. This is mainly because the organization have expanded its business in
different counties like Europe, Asia as well as North America and in order to manage each of the
department of the organization, it is quote necessary to have a proper information system. As the

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organization wants to manages all the data and information related with the organization, they
generally want to introduce proper CRM system for effectively suiting the growing demands of
the customers as well as business needs quite effectively. According to Dewnarain, Ramkissoon
and Mavondo (2019), investment within CRM system is found to be quite beneficia for the hotel
industry as it will be helpful in improving the customer service of the organization. It is analyzed
that effective customer service is considered as one of the best strategies for managing the data
and information related with the organization effectively. Moreover, by investing within the
CRM system, the organization can be able to get real tine access to data for the business.
It is stated by Ryan (2019) that investment within information system like CRM
generally helps un keeping organized as well as managing leads effectively. It is analyzed that
the CRM will be helpful in giving proper integration-based tools for taking proper lead from
different online sources. The organizations can also manage its work from anywhere they want
and thus it helps in managing the data by prioritizing the data effectively and further helps in
ensuring that the customers are responded effectively (Ascarza et al. 2017). Moreover, it can be
also be utilized for tracking the various key performance indicators for proper time filtering as
well as reporting that further enables an individual to track the important as well as valuable
metrics.
7. Benefits provided by salesforce
It is found that the Salesforce CRM is required by the organization Hotwire in order to
manage its operations as well as for avoiding issues that occurs. It is analyzed that use of
Salesforce is much more beneficial for the organization in comparison to the system that is used
earlier. It is analyzed that the organization wants to use Salesforce as they are quite feasible in
terms of cost as well as technology (Thakur and Workman 2016). The salesforce CRM generally

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allows the employees of Hotwire to properly access the data of the hotel with the help of proper
user-friendly interface from different internet connected related computer. It is analyzed that
Hotwire data is properly stored as well as maintained on the servers of the salesforce. In addition
to this, with the help of the Salesforce, the different types of information as well as reports that
are mainly needed by the systems as well as managers needed to be managed quite effectively. It
is analyzed that the new system has been improved effective based on the data reliability as well
as accuracy by effectively allowing proper management of the information by making the
various customers quite happy which further helps in improving the relationships with the
different Hotwire partners quite effectively (Rahimi 2017). Moreover, the salesforce also takes
care that all the data of the Hotwire is properly stored and it must be effectively accessed by the
various team members or workers of the organization without facing any type of difficulty.
Furthermore, the open ecosystem of Salesforce generally allows its customers to find proper
applications which are available in order to effectively meet the different types of business needs
and all this functions that are provided to Hotwire are new and much more efficient in
comparison to the services provided by the earlier system.
8. Considerations that are needed for deciding
It is found that in order to decide whether to host a system or to outsource vendor like
salesforce, following points needs to consider and they are elaborated below:
Lack of knowledge: It is stated by Rajola (2019) that the in-house team members are not
skilled and they generally lack proper knowledge as well as expertise for developing proper
system that is mainly capable of handling all the operations. Whereas it is found that for
outsourcing vendor like salesforce does not requires skilled and knowledgeable team members

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for implementing the system and the outsourced CRM will be capable of managing all the
operations of the organizations quite successfully without facing any issue.
Cost: According to Elena (2016), in-house system development requires huge amount of
money for proper development of the system and the company need to spend huge amount of
money on the various resources in order to develop the system as per the need. On the other
hand, if the CRM is outsourced then the company need to pay an amount for a tenured period
and they can use the service for managing their operations effectively.
Technical expertise: In order to develop an information system quite successfully, it is
quite necessary for the organization to hire an individual who is mainly expertise in technical
fields so that the required information system can be developed quite successfully. On the other
hand, outsourcing the system does not generally requires technical expertise and therefore they
save a lot of money.
After proper analyzing, it is found of outsourcing solution like Salesforce will be better
option for the organization in comparison to the development of the system (Thakur and
Workman 2016). This is because in outsourced CRM, the organization does not need to spend
huge amount of money on the development of the system and they also does not requires
expertise workers for the system development. In outsourcing the system, the organization
generally needs to pay an amount for a fixed period of time in order to get proper service.
9. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the entire paper that use of Salesforce CRM is one of the best
options for the organization in order to meet the growing needs of the organization quite
effectively. It is found that the issues that occurs in Hotwire gets properly resolved within the

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help of the CRM system. The paper elaborates the benefits of CRM system and the reason why
the system engineers are investing money in the development of the information system.
Furthermore, the paper also elaborates the benefits that is provided by Salesforce to Hotwire in
comparison to the system that was used earlier. After proper analysis, it is analyzed that
outsourcing is the best option in comparison to system development as huge amount of money as
well as technical expertise is mainly required for in-house development.

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References
Ascarza, E., Ebbes, P., Netzer, O. and Danielson, M., 2017. Beyond the target customer: Social
effects of customer relationship management campaigns. Journal of Marketing
Research, 54(3), pp.347-363.
Badwan, J.J., Al Shobaki, M.J., Naser, S.S.A. and Amuna, Y.M.A., 2017. Adopting technology
for customer relationship management in higher educational institutions.
Baran, R.J. and Galka, R.J., 2016. Customer Relationship Management: the foundation of
contemporary marketing strategy. Taylor & Francis.
Bhat, S.A. and Darzi, M.A., 2016. Customer relationship management. International Journal of
Bank Marketing.
Dewnarain, S., Ramkissoon, H. and Mavondo, F., 2019. Social customer relationship
management: An integrated conceptual framework. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
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Elena, C.A., 2016. Social Media–A strategy in developing customer relationship
management. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, pp.785-790.
Greve, G. and Schlüschen, A., 2018. From Customer Relationship Management to Influencer
Relationship Management. In Diverse Methods in Customer Relationship Marketing and
Management (pp. 80-91). IGI Global.
Navimipour, N.J. and Soltani, Z., 2016. The impact of cost, technology acceptance and
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management systems. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, pp.1052-1066.

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Nyadzayo, M.W. and Khajehzadeh, S., 2016. The antecedents of customer loyalty: A moderated
mediation model of customer relationship management quality and brand image. Journal
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Soltani, Z., Zareie, B., Milani, F.S. and Navimipour, N.J., 2018. The impact of the customer
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