Introduction
Marketing is define as “The activity, set of institutions and procceses for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large”.( Mac Daniel, Lamb and Hair,2012)
Marketing information system is a “system in which marketing data is gathered, stored, analysed and distribuited to managers in accordance with their informational needs on a regular basis” (Kotler and Keller, 2006).
MIS includes several means and methods of gathering and assesing various company’s marketing information needs. It helps the information can flow constinously, It also provides the right information (internal and external data) for the benefit of decision making.
MIS is considerably important within the Hospitality and Tourist industry permiting to decision makers of this sector monitoring the tourisms and leisures activities.
The Component of MIS are:
Internal records ( Internal data) provide reliable internal or inside information of the company such as, customer database, sales reports, financial records, etc.
Marketing Inteligence is defined as information collected and analized from external sources (consumers, competitors) and can be used to identifiy problems, changes and oportunities in the external marketing environment. The use of internet is important source for Hospitality and Tourist companies to gather information.
Marketing Research collects and analized data to determine the problems as well as oportunities and threats facing the companies.
Marketing research “is a proactive search for information to solve a perceived marketing problem; Marketing research is the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of information and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing” (Malhotra N. K, 2007)
Marketing decision support systems these are tools which helps marketing managers to analyse data and take better marketing decisions
Information Technology plays and important role in Tourist and Hospitality Industry and it help them in mantain their records and transactions electronically. Most of these companies are using it to attract new customers by promoting their service and product online.
Now a days some hotels as Premier inn use Express Check-in process that allow guests to conveniently check in and out associate assistance by using a touch screen that interface with the hotel booking system, after obtaining the check in details, an electronic key is encoded and dispensed.
The aim of this document is analysing the importance of Marketing information system, its effectiveness within the hospitality and tourism industry, as a tool for marketing, information gathering and communication within the hospitality and tourism industry.
Company Overview
Emirates airline is a Dubai based airline wholly owned by Dubai Investment Corporation. Emirates is the largest airlines in the Middle East operating over 3,600 flights per week. This airline is considered as the global leader who started its operations with only two aircraft. They offer their customers the comfort zone with the latest and most efficient aircraft. Emirates is successful because of its strong marketing strategies which is why Emirates is the only airline to face a very less economic downturn in the last few years. Emirates has expanded its operations, they currently fly to over 155 destinations in more than 80 countries around the world. They are committed to consistently provide quality services and to be the best airline in the world.
Discussion
Many companies build extensive internal data base, electronic collections of consumers and market information obtained from data source within the company network. “Marketing managers can readily access and work with information in the data base to identify marketing opportunities and problems, plan programs, and evaluate performance” (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008).
The Emirates Group has collaborated with the major Information and technology firms. These firms include Microsoft and the HP. Emirates has seen the recent development of a management system known as Knowledge In-flight Service abbreviated as KIS. The management system enhances communication between the company and the customers. There is an efficient work output as the Emirates’ crews are able to have a personal customer service. The personalized quality customer services are a unique and distinct product for all its airline customers. The management systems place the Emirates Company at an advantageous point against all the competitor airlines. The information and technology systems have made Emirates unrivalled in the airline industry.
The information management system makes the work of the Emirates’ crew easy, since all the data and records of customers, staff and flight are available in a database. It is reckoned that Naef commenced Knowledge Flight Services when he first came to Emirates Company.
This is an application, which runs on the windows platform called classic. NET. The project mainly utilizes the tablet gadgets. Tablet gadgets proved attractive, fashionable and light.For these features, tablet was chosen to host the KIS application.
Emirates has won some awards such as; An award winning international cargo division, A full-fledged destination management and leisure division, An airline IT developer and many more.
Coincidentally, Griffiths, the Emirates’ senior vice president of the cabin crew had embraced the similar idea of using KIS to create a competitive advantage against their rivals. The Griffiths’ management system used tablet running on windows 8 platform. The main objective of the IT management system was to increase customer satisfaction while guaranteeing maximum security of the Emirates Company.
The company has over 16, 000 cabin crew members spread over 130 destinations in six continents.The use of this IT management system has helped Emirates to efficiently manage its employees and airline customers. The system device puts customers and staff information under one platform. The application also includes merging of catering information and all the logistics involved in the Emirates airline industry.
This has made Emirates to stand out in the airline service industry. With time, KIS has been updated to accommodate a new user-friendly interface, emerging trends, demands, new tasks, and future services. Being a pioneer in airline based IT solutions, the company also has shifted to an iPad host gadget, which was supplied by the partnering HP Company. The company chose the Elite Pad 900.
The IT, KIS application has enabled the Emirates flights to be updated automatically as they land at any destination worldwide. This is possible due to the synchronization of the Elite Pad and the central database. All information is captured, sent, received, and recorded. The application has numerous advantages, which include the automatic updates of the customers’ information and tasks to be carried out.
These updates are real time as opposed to the non-real and manual updates, which the rival companies are using. The technology ensures that the events of the customers within the flight are captured and necessary actions can be taken appropriately. All these initiatives are aimed at giving a high level of service to Emirates customers.
Marketing Research Emirates
Emirates Airline keeps on confirming its status as the pioneer in IT among Middle Eastern airlines. Arabian Business (2019) writes that the company is working on introducing flight assistance powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Emirates is collaborating with a German tech company to develop a virtual assistant that will provide support to customers from pre flight to postflight. Two IT companies from the United Kingdom and the United States are also making a mutual effort to innovate Emirates: one of them works on ensuring agile procurement while the other one is improving processes and systems for crew duty travel.
However, Emirates does not only plan to use AI: it is already implementing it to detect threats and anomalies and ensure security of passengers. Marr (2019) reports that some of the biggest safety threats at airports come from the personnel themselves. The airline has yielded steady results face identification and staff clearance using AI.
Conclusion Marketing Information Systems
Among Middle Eastern airlines, Emirates is perhaps the only one that did not suffer from an economic downturn in the last few years. Emirates Airline owes its success to strong marketing strategies that include the thoughtful employment of marketing information systems. One of the biggest contributions to the success of the current marketing strategy was the so-called Knowledge In-flight Service abbreviated as KIS. By keeping databases in order and updating them timely, the management system improved communication between the company and the customers. This innovative technology made Emirates Airline a pioneer in IT among rival companies that relied on non-real and manual updating methods.
Of a special note is the company’s decision to shift to an iPad host gadget, which was supplied by the partnering HP Company. Apart from the technologies mentioned above, Emirates Airline plans to capitalize on artificial intelligence in gaining feedback from customers and detecting anomalies.
References
Arabian Business. 2019. Emirates says working on AI-powered flight ‘assistant’. Web.
Ismail, S.T., 2011. The Role Of Marketing Information System On Decision Making” an Applied Study On Royal Jordanian Air Lines (Rja)”. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(3).
Kotler, Ph. and Armstrong, G. ( 2008). Principles of Marketing, 12th, Ed, Pearson, Prentice-Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, NJ.
Devasia, Freya & Ajayakumar, Swathy & Robin, Theressa & Bba,. (2016). Proposal of Marketing Strategies for Emirates Airlines. Web.
Marr, B. 2019. The amazing ways Dubai Airport uses artificial intelligence. Web.