InterContinental Hotels Group PLC slashes costs and improves end-user satisfaction.

Travel and LeisureLean Six SigmaCase Study

2 LSS Case Study

Doing more with less How do you reduce costs and improve service at the same time?

The ChallengeFollowing 9/11 and the resulting downturn in the hotel and hospitality business, IHG needed to cut costs significantly to stay competitive—so their president vowed to cut $100M from the Americas Region operating budget.

That’s when IHG turned to us for managed services expertise, to help reduce their spend on Helpdesk, Deskside and Server Support services by 33% (or $1.2M) and understand why end-user satisfaction was low.

IT Managed Services at IHG

Helpdesk: A centralized service center that processes over 3,000 calls a month for approximately 1,500 corporate users, to provide end-user IT support via telephone, email and a web portal. Telephone support calls are the primary method of contact and receive priority.

Deskside: A dispatched on-site support service that handles hardware and software problems, PC installations and changes, software and peripheral adds and workstation relocations for approximately 1,500 corporate users.

Server Support: A technical, back-end and maintenance support service for IHG’s Microsoft NT server estate. This includes approximately 150 servers for network authentication, email, applications, file storage and print services.

Client Profile InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) is the world’s most global hotel company and the largest by number of rooms. The Group has more than 3,500 owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels and approximately 535,000 guest rooms across nearly 100 countries and territories.

“Lean Six Sigma demonstrated to me that Xerox understood my business— so instead of being our vendor, Xerox became an advisor and consultant in solving our business problems. They helped us discover solutions we may not have seen on our own.”

– Eric Hardaway, VP, Applied Technology InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

InterContinental Hotels Group turns to our expertise in managed services for the answers.

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The SolutionWhen our team looked at the IT challenge facing IHG, it seemed intuitive to migrate as many of the Deskside service calls as possible to the Helpdesk. The bigger question was how to institute process improvements without disrupting a live IT service and further degrading already low levels of services—and find out why so many calls were being directed to the Deskside in the first place. To answer these questions, develop a phased project plan and deliver strong implementation, we turned to the approach of Lean Six Sigma to chart a course.

Through the use of Lean Six Sigma methodologies, our team:

• Identified Deskside Support as the service with the highest costs, followed by Server Support and finally Helpdesk Support

• Gained a clear understanding of key variables, such as the cost associated with each type of ticket, the total number of tickets and average fix times

• Found that it cost five times more to fix a problem using Deskside service than Helpdesk service

Uncovering opportunities for improvement

Lean Six Sigma allowed our team to quantify obvious areas for improvement and also uncover substantial opportunities in not-so-obvious areas—for example, discovering the cost savings that eliminate redundancy between service providers would bring.

To achieve the $1.2M in savings, we:

• Reduced average problem fix times to improve customer satisfaction

• Solved more problems at the Helpdesk instead of on-site Deskside to reduce ticket cost by 80%

• Updated and standardized operating systems to reduce ticket volume by 10%

• Moved account administration off-site

• Eliminated vendor duplication of effort to further reduce costs

The power of Xerox + Lean Six Sigma Using Lean Six Sigma, we were able to take an “intangible” (like end-user satisfaction) and correlate it to something “tangible” (like fix time). The rigorous methodology helped establish the current state, identify root causes for the high costs and provided a fact-based business case to justify future investments.

As the project moved through its five phases (Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement and Control) of Lean Six Sigma methodology, a rigorous tollgate process after each phase ensured a shared vision, expectations and metrics among the customer’s IT departments, operations groups and us.

For more information about how Lean Six Sigma can help you, contact your Xerox representative or call 1-800-Ask-Xerox (1-800-275-9376).

Case Study Snapshot

The Challenges:

• Improve end-user satisfaction

• Reduce spend on Deskside, Server Support and Helpdesk services by 33%

The Solution:

• Implement remote control technology to close more tickets at the Helpdesk

• Upgrade and standardize operating system

• Standardize end-user environment

• Move account administration off-site and cross-train personnel

• Eliminate redundancy between service providers

• Eliminate drive-by support

• VPN installation and support from Helpdesk

The Results:

• Reduced costs by $1.2M per year

• Increased Helpdesk closure rate from 59% to 75%

• Improved end-user satisfaction and service

©2008 Xerox Corporation. All rights reserved. Xerox® and the sphere of connectivity design are trademarks of Xerox Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 08/08

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The ResultsOur team helped streamline IHG’s Helpdesk service, significantly reducing on-site visits and average IT fix times. Plus, with an inclusive upgrade to all their standard operating systems, IHG now incurs lower costs and has improved end-user satisfaction. These solutions have created a predictable environment in which IHG enjoys repeatability, scalability and improved margins. In fact, after meeting the cost savings goal of $1.2M in the first year, cost savings exceeded expectations ($1.4M) in the second year.

Improvement Savings

Implement remote control technology to close more tickets at the Helpdesk $300,000

Upgrade and standardize operating system $200,000

Standardize end-user environment $150,000

Move account administration off-site and cross-train personnel $400,000

Eliminate redundancy between service providers $150,000

Total Savings $1.2M

The Follow-Up PhaseTo ensure that the solutions implemented continue to deliver results and run smoothly, our team and IHG worked together to come up with a common measurement plan to review the cost savings and monitor performance metrics.

Using an executive dashboard like the one shown, we meet with IHG executives briefly once a week to get a snapshot of how things are running and to make sure they are doing all they can to maximize results. This ongoing exchange has taken our relationship with IHG from one of a vendor to that of a trusted advisor and service provider.

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Example Executive Dashboard