Impact of vertically integrated software systems to the management of adventure travel industry :

Abstract

The Travel and tourism industry has started adopting information technology widely than ever. It expands applications of information technology across the whole supply chain and it is important to study the impact of software systems use for their business since most of the travel companies are unable to afford a colossal amount from their budget for the development of information technology resources due to several reasons. The main objectives of this research are to find out the critical success factors that affect the implementation of vertically integrated software systems and finding out the business impacts of it. This research is based on qualitative case study methodology for Intrepid group which is the world’s largest small group adventure travel company. This research uses a conceptual framework which covers key success factors affecting the implementation of vertically integrated software system and management of adventure travel industry as the main components. Data was collected from senior positions of Intrepid Group through face to face interviews by using semi structured questions. The result of this study indicates that management activities of adventure travel industry are affected by all factors identified in the literature review. The study also found that integrating multiple specialized systems with the core system is the most suitable system development approach for the adventure travel industry rather than developing all functionalities on top of the core system from scratch. The result also shows that the business nature of the industry (such as being a 24x7 globally operated company) is significantly dependent on using a vertically integrated software system for its operations.