The Sort of Information Contained in the Intranet Essay Example

Introduction

An intranet in the Etihad airline must be devised in such a way that it carries all critical information required about the performance of different operations within the organization to aid managers in the knowledge-driven decision making. There are tools such as a database that will allow the employees and managers to get access to audited and synthesized information at the click of the button to help save time and improve the effectiveness of the business. The intranet system must be devised in such a way to focus on tasks in the organization and grouping of those tasks into related characteristics to increase the information access and harmony of objectives for all the employees (Natarajan, 2008 5). The intranet, therefore, need to be dominated by the processes and operations within various departments as well as how they can be linked effectively for easy coordination and accesses of such information across different departments.

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There are critical information facets that the intranet system of the Etihad airline ought to provide such as ticket booking to help aid in the decision making. E-ticketing is part of the components to be included in the system since it will ease the conventional paperwork where the entire information will be collected and stored within the airline computer system for easy tracking of sales generated. The system can also be integrated to the call center to help the customers reach out to the airline agents and service center to help answer on any quarries and concerns (Gupta and Naik, Cellco 2016 p 795) (Sainsbury 2015 p 75). The other information component includes the financial records and revenues of the organization. These include the current, past, data and forecasted trends for financial records of the organization. It should also include revenues generated from different business segments such as fares, different types of flights and destination. Information about customer flight trends and patterns help in marketing planning (Williams 2015 p 60).

Another important Intranet content area for the airline Intranet include the company policies, documents, official forms, goals, and strategy. Creating a segment within the intranet system where employees can quickly refer to the company goals, objectives, forms and other official documents in the most updated version will help save time and improve service delivery within the organization. It will also help improve the internal communication for all employees about where the company is headed including different strategies, initiatives both at department and corporate level to keep track in the realization of those objectives. Information about the products and services offered by the company also require to be integrated into the intranet (Natarajan 2008 p 5) (Tubigi and Alshawi 2015 169). This is very important since the salesmen and every employee in the organization need to talk authoritatively about the services offered by the airline. Ultimately it helps in support of quality service delivery to the customers.

The intranet should also have a segment that covers key performance indicators including allowing the user to generate reports based on such data about the performance of different department, routes, period and markets. The system also needs to allow upload of data from the individual account about the information they have gathered or processed in their line of duty for ease of access and utilization by other relevant departments within the organization. Provide reports for sales and KPI in airline marketing (Grossman, Beitzel, Jensen & Frieder 2010 p 51) (Denton, D.K. 2006 p252). The procurement systems also need to be integrated within the system and supply chain information to help curb wastage of resources and track the traces of any form of corruption within the organization. The intranet should integrate with other daily operations in the airline such as engineering and aircraft maintenance, flight operations, a human resource as well as finance to help in streamlining of operations and cost savings (Wei, Hu, Li and Peng 2015 p 520).

Types of data

The intranet system is designed for knowledge sharing and management to aid in the decision making process. It should carry all the types of data concerning the daily operations of the organization for all departments and employees should be capable of uploading the data they generate to the system. One type of data that might support this include the financial statements generated by the finance departments. The original documents such as balance sheets, daily sales revenue, current accounts, statement of cash flow, income statement, statement of changes in equity among others (Marshall 2007 p 12) (Mishra 2014 p 30). Another type of data that can be generated includes the daily market performance including the most updated version of the sales realized from each business segment (Stanton & Rogelberg 2009 p 11). This might consist of the flight tickets sold, cargo ticket, the demand, and supply information about various flight routes and segments operated by the airline. Real-time dynamic pricing, air ticket competition from the competitors in the market, alternative pricing models, current trends in demand for various types of flights (Shang and Liu 2011 p 603).

The system should also allow the users to create reports and upload them on demand in each department. There are different types of reports and documents generated such as the business ethics, recruitment and hiring procedures, employee's performance evaluation reports, team task reports on the progress of assigned duties among others showing the progress of implementation. The human resource department should generate the data that carries different documents such as policies, ethics, hiring, and performance evaluation among other documents and uploaded to the system on a regular basis (Malik, Nazli & Abrar 2009 p 8). Every department must seek to generate and upload the most updated version of reports and information to ensure that those who share the knowledge are well versed with the right information to make appropriate decisions right from top management level to the lowest cadre. The system ought to be updated with the performance of business processes since such data will help to track the performance of the operations for improvement (Sainsbury 2015 p 75). Another important type of data that can be generated internally from the employees includes the aircraft movement management, scheduled flights, aircraft availability, any delay reports and customer complaints. The information contained in the intranet system most of it must be generated from an internal audit of the processes in the organization as well as external audit reports such as the competitive forces, market trends and social, economic factors that impact on the airline performance (Gailly 2011 p 20).

First Mover Advantage

The first mover advantage is experienced by the company that is first to introduce a product or service in the market and make it difficult for others to venture and make equitable profits compared to the first mover. Aviating industry is highly volatile and competitive but companies can take into consideration the first mover advantage (Markides and Sosa 2013 p 330).

Etihad the Gulf carrier is currently struggling with its strategic direction and profit development and can benefit from the first mover culture in the industry. Advances in technology can help the aviation company improve on its management, strategy and its operations. Market leadership and commercial development in the aviation industry will help in generating more profits for the struggling Etihad gulf carrier (Xiang, Magnini, and Fesenmaier 2015 p 245). These can only be achieved if Etihad carrier adopts the first mover strategy. First mover advantage for Etihad carrier would be an entry into new markets. The firm can only benefit from the first mover advantage by creating a high barrier in the fields of aviation for the competitors to gain entry in the market for it to go back to the profiting ways in the aviation business Kauffman, Liu and Ma 2015 p 154). Ways in which the company can exploit the first mover advantage can be through customer loyalty and be the leader in introducing new systems in the aviation industry. This turns to be advantageous to the firm in different ways including technological advantages, differentiation advantages and advantages in costs (Chen, Katila, McDonald and Eisenhardt 2010 pp 1530).

Etihad carrier can use the data explained in the second part of this paper and go back into the profit-making ways. Competitive strategies adopted by the carrier will make it more successful than the current situation it is in. Use of technology in generating movement and financial data can be used to help the company generate more revenues and make the employees more accountable and more revenue collected. New technology in the aviation industry would whelp the company uses modern accounting techniques guided by technology thus reducing loopholes that lead to loss of revenue for the company (Nair, Palacios and Tafur 2011 pp 111). It also makes it easier for the company to monitor its finances both for profits and expenditure. Purchase of air for the carrier tickets can be made available for all online platforms through technology making it the most accessible thus becoming a preferred choice for passengers. Technology in would also help in reducing the number of employees thus improving profits as costs in salaries and training for employees would be reduced thus allowing the carrier ability to reduce the cost of its tickets (Bell 2015 pp 21).

Advanced technology in aircraft movement monitoring would help the company benefit more. Current practice is where the clients can view the movement of the aircraft and the approximate time of arrival and departure for the carrier. Etihad carrier can now introduce an automated system that informs the passengers through calls instead of them having to access internet and log in to the carrier's website for monitoring of the carrier. This would make the passengers relax and wait for the automated call that would regularly inform them how far the schedule Etihad carrier is thus making it a customer friendly affair and more advantageous for the airline (Bingham, Eisenhardt, and Furr 2011 pp 75).

The intranet system is designed for knowledge sharing and management to aid in the decision makes process. Etihad airline involves both the Cargo and passenger aircraft. Technology can help the company improve its website which they have adopted now improve how they manage cargo transport and management. It is the happiness of every client to know that the cargo they want to transport through the airline is safe and will arrive on the scheduled timed. It is also important for the airline managers to know how the management of cargo flights is being done by the ground staff of the airline (Engau, Hoffmann and Busch 2011 pp 110). Use of new technology like icargo on the website by Etihad gives it a first-mover advantage thus helping to generate more profits while at the same time making it difficult for the competing airlines. Through the icargo technology, the clients would be able to monitor their cargo online without waiting for calls from the airline and avoid a lot of paperwork that is cumbersome and time wasting making it convenient for the management of the carrier and the clients. Icargo technology adopted by Etihad carrier helped the company capture the imaginations of its customers thus taking the competitive advantage to a higher level (Porter 2011 pp 40).

Etihad carrier should use technology to gain a first mover advantage when it comes to information flow. Customers want real-time information from...