C17:

OTISLINE

Submitted by: Induchoodan R(0154/51), Dishin Shrimanker (0128/51)and Gaurav Ajitsaria(0136/51)

1. Assume OTISLINE has just been thought of, and is yet to be rolled out. Why do you
think Otis management considered OTISLINE worth investing in?

As described in the case, OTIS has been the market leader in the elevator industry for long, with a
large customer base and decentralized structure, servicing clients of varying size and scale. Apart
from Sales, they have identified Services as an option for future growth, since it has been generating
steady revenues and has surpassed sales by two fold. Moreover, competitors, mostly small players
have started eating up OTISs share in the market by offering attractive propositions to consumers.
They also had the support of the budget to assess the usefulness of IT in maintenance service.
Other factors includes:

Possible Cost Reduction
By reducing number of possible callbacks with the help of preventive maintenance mechanism in
place could help OTIS save billions in terms of savings on each installed elevator. OTIS could
possibly save up to $5 million by reducing callbacks, which Service Management system could
possibly achieve.

To build an efficient Service Management System
To remain as a market leader for long, it should ensure quality products and better service
offerings than its competitors. This requires a Service Management system to handle fault related
data and a large database to store and handle such requests and issues, to be made use in future
cases.

Timely Customer feedback for future improvements
Getting timely feedbacks from the customers helps the firm to improve upon service quality and
provide better services in future.

Bringing uniformity in Quality by introducing Centralized system
The existing system of Answering Services generated varying quality of output. A centralized
system would enable the company to accept calls even during non-primetime. This didnt work
well for the company through the former, which has forced the company to conclude that the
Answering Service firms may not work in the best interests of OTIS. This could also be a
motivator to come up with OTISLINE, which focused in reducing consumer response time. A
centralized customer service system was more desirable because the company could base new
contracts on responsive callbacks.

To provide better Customer Service and build reputation
The existing basis of selection of Service Company was generally based on three factors:
Responsiveness, Quality & Price. Apart from this OTISLINE could also provide a considerably
lower response time to ensure that they could build a good reputation with the customers.

2. What adjustments in the organization were made to accommodate OTISLINE?

Implementation of OTISLINE called for a sea change in the management in the company in both
cultural as well as technical front.


Technical changes
Centralized information compared to the earlier Decentralized approach: NAO was a
decentralized organization and OTISLINE is a very-centralized approach requiring a change for
better use of the service.
Technical training for the new employees: New hires received four to six hours of training
with OTISLINE, IBM Display & telephone systems, Operating of Phone system, Conversation and
Listening skills, Elevator Terminology and organization Structure Knowledge etc..
Migrating computer platforms to the latest technology: IBM 3083 was installed to replace the
IBM 370/158 and new peripheral and telecommunications equipment were installed to support
OTISLINE customer service Centre.
Redundancy of certain service personnel: the company could reduce the labor employed in the
process by leveraging more Technical information from the OTISLINE system
Cultural changes
Teamwork: Dispatcher was an important part of team and the success of the organization
Customer Orientation became more prominent as training was provided to be courteous,
sensitive, and efficient and convey the ideas clearly.
3. What advice would you give Otis management concerning future directions?

Certain Future Modifications/Alterations to the OTISLINE project could easily equip the firm to meet
future challenges. Some are described below:

Remote Elevator Monitoring (REM): Remotely logging the performance and monitoring it could
help the firm to detect possible issues and rectify them without notifying the customers and earn
more reputation.

In-car problems: In-Car phones could be provided to connect directly to a dispatcher in case of
elevator issues.

Telemarketing of services: SMS Database could be used to Generate of prospect list and get
more service contracts.

Replacement of service mechanic pagers with hand-held terminals: This could be provided
hand held terminals in stead of pagers, which could help in improving efficiency and flow of
information between both the sides

New equipment ordering: OTIS could work upon shortening Lead-time and improvement of
raw material inventory management.

Contract management: Tracking of changes in elevator installation schedule by installing a PC

on-site