In the recent past, there has been an increase in the use of mobile phones. Millions of people across the globe are now able to access the internet using mobile devices courtesy of the invention of the Smartphone technology. This has caused a revolution of marketing strategy. More and more companies are shifting their focus to marketing online, and especially on social media networks. Armed with a raft of adequate, proper strategic plans, an organization can accomplish its vision and missions with greater ease. Through establishing a good online marketing platform, a company can grow its annual returns tremendously (Ward, 2016). Southwest Airlines is one of the largest Airlines in the United States with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. It offers flight services to its passengers to many different parts of the world and competes with other airlines like the United States Airlines and the Fly Emirates which are also major players in the aviation industry. Southwest Airline has adopted a slogan that unapologetically declares, “Low fares with nothing to hide.” Its vision is to become the most loved airline, most flown and at the same time most profitable airline. Its mission is to offer the highest quality of customer care services. To that end, it applies a principle of equal and fair treatment to all (Galliers, 2014).
Even though Southwest Airline has been working on improving its online presence and the use of technology to improve customer care services, it is yet to achieve their target. This is simply because it has not laid down strong background strategies whose end result may be the increase in the use of technology to make its services easily available. To attain this achievement, it should focus more on ways it could use to enhance the job performance of its information technology personnel besides attracting qualified personnel available in the job market to embrace it (Galliers, 2014). Southwest Airline may need to consider putting in place an aggressive virtual marketing policy as follows: First is the employment of a director in charge of the department of information technology. This director’s responsibility will be to ensure that all processes under this department run smoothly. His job description should include setting realistic goals for the department (Gillen, 2004). Also, it should hire an information technology strategic analyst, whose work will be to analyze trending technological uses by their competitors and to come up with good strategic plans to counter those ones being employed by close business competitors. Thirdly, the firm should put together a diverse team of online marketers, whose work will seek to make sure company policy is sold well on all socialmedia platforms like Facebook and Twitter. It should be able to convince more customers to use the Southwest Airlines. They must give good reasons as to why people should use the Southwest Airlines. That, therefore, requires a strong team that can ably come up with convincing messages. This team should consist of players who understand the language of the masses as well as speak it well. There has also to be another team whose preoccupation will be to respond to customer grievances. This team is equally important since its responses will influence the customer’s decision either to use the airline or not. They, therefore, must undergo a thorough training on leadership and communication skills so as to respond in a positive, caring manner that will attract more customers (Galliers, 2014). They also have the responsibility of taking note of what are the customers’ expectations so as to ensure the airline offers the services as per the customer demands (Gillen, 2004).
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In addition, there has to be a team that will be dealing with the development of a company app. This will improve the quality of interactions between clients and Southwest Airline Company. By using such as an App, the customers may be able to receive services online like booking flights and making inquiries in the event they have any specific concerns. Personnel, in this case, will have a key responsibility of ensuring the privacy of its customer’s remains confidential at all times. It is worthwhile to note that if a person prefers to use the online platform to receive services they must be guaranteed that their contact information will not leak (Gillen, 2004). The personnel in this category, therefore, must ensure they constantly monitor their websites, their apps, and other social platforms and ensure they are not under any threat of viral attack. Due to heated competition within the airline industry, a competitor could hack into its system and alter the messages or steal the personal information of the clients. This may destroy customer loyalty to the Southwest Airline as a brand of business. Therefore it is necessary to have a group of specific people to constantly monitor the systems and prevent any such cases from occurring.
Southwest Airline is in a better position to sustain continued growth as per the SWOT analysis. The company is in a better position to attract more customers given that most of its customers speak positively with regards to the treatment they received from staff during their maiden flight. Low traveling cost as compared to other airlines also gives it a plus as most customers pay special consideration to cost amongst other factors in deciding what airline to use (Gillen, 2004). Southwest Airline, however, has some specific senior personnel who are not up to the task with respect to fostering subordinate staff wellbeing. They mishandle the junior personnel, demoralizing them. With that, Southwest may face challenges in rendering good customer care services since pressurized employees may fail to deliver services to the level that’s required of them. This is due to a fear of failure that’s cultivated by threats from their seniors. A positive handling of junior staff by senior staff makes the company be in the mould of a big, happy family where everyone considers themselves a part of the company success (Bitner, 2002).
The Southwest Airline has great potential to increase its global outreach. The stories given by the passengers, online, on how good the services at the airline are, have spread across the globe enhancing the airline’s attractiveness. Such stories reach many people quickly given that most of the people are connected and have access to the world wide web (Ravichandran, 2005). However, a huge threat to the Airline is high competition from other Airlines. Employees who are not loyal to the company may be bought off by competitors exposing secrets of the success of their former employer. Enticing staff with handsome salaries has been a major challenge facing the Southwest Airline and causing it to lose its best-qualified employees to other airlines. That may result in a decline in its standards and quality of services it provides to its customers (Gillen, 2004). Also with the current rise in terrorism cases, some countries have placed strict restrictions permitted to operate flights into their country. For instance, the outbreak of life-threatening diseases the like Ebola virus and Zika virus may force governments to restrict air travel to those countries that have reported the cases of the outbreak (Galliers, 2014). That may limit the success of the Southwest airline which may fail to achieve its goals and missions.
Having a clear strategic plan and goals is very important for any organization as through that, the company may be able to determine if it is making a profit or not. A company that has no goals is likely to be run out of business and for that reason, in terms of the information technology, the department must be able to achieve the following set goals (Ravichandran, 2005). First, it must be able to reach and connect with as many people as possible. This can only be possible if the airline has a good online marketing team that has the capability of convincing as many people as possible to make use of their airline. The second goal is to come up with a more secure mobile app. The app should contain relevant information about the airline and contact addresses through which users can be able to reach the officials in case they have a concern or a recommendation on how the services should be improved (Ravichandran, 2005). The mobile app must guarantee confidentiality and integrity of all contact information its users provide it with and should be available at a low cost if not free and easily downloadable. The other goal is to ensure that the personal safety and security of the customers and other personnel at the airline is maintained. For instance, the use of current advanced technologies like facial recognition technology to identify a person before they access airline premises may be helpful.
Another goal is to encourage and promote the use of online booking to avoid long queues during the booking process. People should be encouraged to embrace and make use of these technological platforms to perform any transactions including making payments and bookings (Ward, 2016). For instance, the emerging technologies have made it easier for one to transfer funds from their bank accounts and therefore more people should be encouraged to use the same for booking flight tickets. For one to be able to apply and use money transferring technology, they must be guaranteed safety in regard to the confidentiality of personal information when performing transactions. The last goal is to promote and increase the company’s returns through good online marketing. Strong online marketing increases the likelihood of increased customer interactions and therefore online marketing teams should be equipped with capable devices such as mobile phones or tablets that will enable them to conduct online marketing form whenever they are (Ravichandran, 2005). With strong internet connectivity, they may be able to quickly respond to the customers and encourage them to use the Southwest Airline. The team must be well trained to impart a clear understanding of what the company offers to avoid mistrust from some customers in case they fail to answer them adequately.
Once the Southwest Airline adopts and applies proper use of information technology, the impact on its operation may include; increased profits and customer numbers; once the system is automated it can serve as many people as possible and therefore many people may shift into using the airline instead of the other airlines which may not necessarily apply the same technology (Ward, 2016). Also, through online marketing and the availability of mobile apps, customer numbers may increase depending on how well they have been convinced by the marketing team. Specifically, tailored promotional messages and good use of animations may be very important in attracting customers’ .Vibrant online marketing will be very helpful in increasing customer numbers in return for improved profits of Southwest airline.
The other impact of the application of technology is the improvements in service delivery. Given that, most people are in constant contact with a company that may be the helpful identification of weaknesses and their rectification so as to render their services as per customer demands (Ward, 2016). For instance, the customers may complain of poor service delivery or harsh treatments by some flight attendants and if the customer has a platform to report such cases they may help the airline to retrench such workers. This makes sure the customer doesn’t develop a negative attitude as this may be bad for business. Also, in case the number of the customer goes down the airline management may be able to quickly act and reclaim its customers besides attracting new customers through the change of service delivery. Such changes are quickly passed through the use of online mechanisms and platforms which are accessed by most people (Ravichandran, 2005).
Additionally, despite its immense beneficial impact, there is a high probability that the use of information technology may increase the vulnerability of Southwest Airline to external threats. Competitors may feel challenged and plan ill-motive against the Southwest Airline(Ward, 2016). For instance, they could hire services of professional and influential bloggers to spread negative and false information about Southwest Airlines. That may result in the decline of customers’ numbers if no proper counter measures are taken. They may also employ the use of professional hackers to destroy information technology systems, weakening and slowing down service delivery. This may inconvenience passengers who may resort to avoiding the Southwest Airline. Also, hackers might steal personal contact information of the customers, and might use it for ill motives like committing electronic fraud. That may tarnish the name and soil the integrity of the Southwest Airline, and in an extreme case may result in the collapse of the airline due to the fear for the security of personal information which customers provide it with (Ward, 2016).
Conclusion
As discussed above it is clear that technology in any organization may be very beneficial, depending on how effectively it is applied. Worldwide use of the internet by millions of people has made it easy for organizations to successfully perform business transactions involving any of the services and products they market online. This highly depends on how well its online marketing team is prepared to compete with other companies or organizations that offer similar professional service or products. It is, therefore, important for companies to conduct thorough research about customer evaluation regarding the products or the services sourced from their competitors so as to come up with a commodity or a system of service delivery which meets and satisfies those very expectations of the customer. In the case of the Southwest Airline, the company must put in place proper strategies and set clearly defined goals; It must admit and make certain it understands the impact that arises as a result of employing the use of the information technology before it implements and applies the use of the technology. Through that, the company will be in a better position to make more profit and prepare for any insecurity that may arise from external threats.
References
Ward, J., & Peppard, J. (2016). The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy . John Wiley & Sons.
Ravichandran, T., Lertwongsatien, C., & Lertwongsatien, C. (2005). Effect of information systems resources and capabilities on firm performance: A resource-based perspective. Journal of management information systems , 21 (4), 237-276.
Galliers, R. D., & Leidner, D. E. (2014). Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems . Routledge, 10 (1), 67-90
Gillen, D., & Lall, A. (2004). Competitive advantage of low-cost carriers: some implications for airports. Journal of Air Transport Management , 10 (1), 41-50.
Bitner, M. J., Ostrom, A. L., & Meuter, M. L. (2002). Implementing successful self-service technologies. The Academy of Management Executive , 16 (4), 96-108.
