Background

(LE) is the premier entertainment provider in the UK with £350m turnover. (LE) had decided that it needed a major strategic review of its IT, brand and customer offering. Key benefits sought were long term profitable growth and improved customer experience with respect to the competition.

Some elements of the approach had already been decided to achieve these benefits – A new EPOS solution, improved website features, improved Customer Relationship Management Processes and systems, and an improved consumer loyalty programme.

Baxter Thompson Ltd, working with Jamesford Consulting, were engaged to help (LE) achieve their objectives and define a programme to deliver the benefits.

Approach

Define the Strategy

1. The programme was split into two distinct phases – planning and execution. The planning phase reviewed the requirements and constraints through a process of senior management one to one interviews. The topics covered operations, projects, brand, site development, business planning. This provided the information necessary to develop the programme framework.

2. In addition, workshops were held to identify the e-commerce opportunities and gain consensus on aspects such as: customer retention, mobile platforms and use of third party services such as Facebook.

Define the Programme

1. Regular weekly board updates were held to update and take decisions where necessary. This provided the input necessary to detail the programme framework. The following deliverables were scoped: Interdependencies, Risk Management, Resource Plan, Organisation Structure and Reporting, Management Process, Business Case, Project Plans.

Deliver the Benefit

1. At the end of the planning phase the final report was submitted. Executive approval for commencement of the execution phase was given some two months later.

2. The recommendations from the e-commerce workstream were accepted and increased resourcing from within marketing was provided to support the function and deliver the programme objectives.

Business Benefit

• Clear Business Case to improve e-commerce features on web and mobile platforms.

• Recommendations based on new customer journey model.

• A structured approach to programme delivery integrated with current business practices.

• On-line bookings are 3 times higher in 18 months through implementing recommendations.