EUREKA PROJECT > 5376 BPM
ISRAEL
Business Performance Management for the tourism sector
Internet based software application and video conference consulting platform that will enable SMEs to plan, manage and measure KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and will support companies in the tourism sector to plan and to execute their strategic objectives and goals.
Status > ANNOUNCED - 24-Jun-2010 Technological Area Market Area Start Date > 01-Mar-2010 Duration > 16 Months Participating countries > ISRAEL, SPAIN | Main contactIntech Industrial Technologies Ltd. Mr. Iftach Ben Zvi > Owner, CEO Organisation type > SME |
Project Description
The proposed project will include two main modules: 1 – BPM web software: Internet based software as a service (SAAS) that will enable SMEs (Small / Medium size companies) to plan, manage and measure KPI (Key Performance Indicators). The software will be based on the Balanced Scorecard methodology, saying that only what is measurable is manageable, and will support companies to plan and to execute their strategic objectives and goals. The software will support companies to follow their critical success factors and to improve competitive capabilities. As an initial step a company will answer a questionnaire that is adapted to the company's economic sector. The questionnaire will cover in a comprehensive view the all company's perspectives: Finance, Customers, Internal procedures and learning and growth (Human Resource). A smart Business Intelligence (BI) algorithm of BPM software will provide a full SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the company. As a result of the analysis, an additional BPM module will recommend the company which steps should be taken in terms of Key Performance Indicators and goals to be achieved. The software will allow for building the performance cause and affecting hierarchy and will present a company's goals and real performance in clear graphical dashboards. BPM will promptly indicate when KPIs are out of balance. The website will provide an Internet Survey toll that collects quality measures like customers and employee feedback regarding the company's performance. In addition, service subscribers will receive benchmarking presentations that indicate their company's score and position for each single KPI, in comparison to others in the same economic sector. 2 – Video Chat Consulting: In order to support BPM users to achieve their business objectives, this project will provide On Line Consulting as an additional service. The partners will develop an innovative platform that enables professional high level business consulting using video chat capabilities. This platform will invite senior consultants to register, each in his/her specific category, as accounting, cost accounting, customer support, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, surveys analysis, business performance and many more, and they will also be categorized according to economic sectors of expertise and language speaking. As a pilot the partners plan to start with the hotel sector. The hotel industry in Europe is a very fragmented market, and competition is defined at local level. The proposed tool will support each hotel to increase productivity, service level and profitability. After a proof of success the partners will implement the services to additional economic sectors and countries.
Technological Development Envisaged
The proposed project will support increasing business performance in SMEs using a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) methodology. Since every enterprise should have a strategy, and should work diligently to execute that strategy, the Balanced Scorecard is applicable to a wide variety of organization types and sizes. The methodology was developed in the early 1990s and it has been used successfully by many thousands of large organizations around the world. It helps companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors by managing and measuring performance in areas other than financial outcomes and to allocate their limited resources (both human and financial) in a way that links to overall goals. The proposed project helps SMEs to successfully implement BSCs and to take advantage of performance management, as large enterprises can do. An accessible web technology of software as a service, and professional consulting services in video chats, at a reasonable cost – this will be a state of the art solution for the SME market. Balanced Scorecard software and managerial dashboards are considered to be part of the BI - Business Intelligence family. The proposed project will bring real innovative business thinking and terminology to its users.
Main contactIntech Industrial Technologies Ltd. Mr. Iftach Ben Zvi > Owner, CEO Organisation type > SME |
Contribution to project
INTECH LTD. will provide the full system specifications and BI algorithms. This will include database structure, web page layout, system internal procedures and architecture. INTECH will participate in development tools selection and will take the responsibility for all QA activities. INTECH will be responsible for the video chat technological solution - client and server. INTECH will prepare the sectorial questionnaires and the KPI set. INTECH will run controlled beta sites with cooperation of the first few real customers and will provide the necessary modifications.
Expertise
INTECH is an information technology company with expertise in knowledge based software systems and business intelligence. INTECH is acknowledged as a business partner with SAP ISRAEL in the SAP Strategy Management (SSM) product. INTECH also developed a few web applications including E-Commerce. INTECH mainly employs professionals on a freelance basis according to required projects. INTECH also provides consultancy to organizations, SMEs and entrepreneurs, sometimes using Skype as a video chat platform.
Main contactQueryTek Technologies, S.L. Mr. Jesus Salgado Criado > Partner - Director Organisation type > SME |
Contribution to project
In this proposed project QUERYTEK will contribute with the design and development, under close collaboration with INTECH, of the following modules and associated technologies: 1. An Intelligent performance and KPI management software system, and benchmarking with the industrial sector. 2. Automatic diagnostic algorithms of potential areas of improvement, derived from KPIs obtained by the company. 3. Simulation of what-if scenarios of company potential performance. 4. Other potential "dinamizers" of the platform like web 2.0 functionalities such as user generated content, content mashups, forums or consultant blogs. 5. Administration module: Profiling and administration of users of the BPM platform, CRM functionalities and online invoicing of services to users and customers. 6.Customer satisfaction benchmark platform. 7. E-mailing module - Platform to send e-mails to stakeholders in hotel operations: executives, employees, customers and providers. 8. Survey editing module - A survey platform that enables the retrieval from dispersed agents. 9. Graphical and tabular reporting modules for analysis of aggregated data.
Expertise
QUERYTEK is specialised in data collection and reporting business applications, and very specifically focused on the tourism industry. Applications span from customer satisfaction surveying and reporting, benchmark data for specific sectors, labour climate surveys and event attendee registration, among others. In the tourism sector, QUERYTEK is active in helping the hotel industry to improve their operations. Examples of projects already developed are: 1. Average price and occupation benchmark platform, installed in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia. The application retrieves monthly data from more than 600 hotels in these cities and reports back average results that enable individual hotels to compare their performance with the sector results, enabling the filtering by category and area of the city. 2. Customer satisfaction survey automation in hotels of the Madrid Hotel Association. The platform interfaces with Hotel Property Management Systems (PMSs) to retrieve customer data and automates the emailing and reminders of customer surveys. It also enables the hotel to analyze performance, track incidences and compare with competition aggregated data by category.