This approach to defining the platform will also alleviate the task of having to find Information technologies (it) staff to manage just these applications over time.
Ensuring Adoption of the Intranet
By far the greatest challenge however will not be technological, it will be in gaining the adoption of the Intranet across the eight locations, and having employees trust it enough over time. The most critical issue for Castle Family Restaurants is to also get their store managers trained and involved early in the process to ensure they have a sense of ownership for the systems and their application. The greatest impediment for any hospitality or restaurant system is the need for alleviating resistance to change by concentrating on how to infuse ownership throughout both management and employee ranks (Wolff, 2006). The use of a SaaS-based application will significantly contribute to this aspect of the implementation as it can be rolled out quickly and also tailored to the specific needs of each location. There is a greater level of agility in the development of SaaS-based applications in service businesses (Manning, 2006). There is also the potential of having roles-based logins and security within each location to ensure that the entire system can be kept as a competitive advantage over time (Kimes, Wagner, 2001).
Defining Long-Term Expansion of the System
The need for integrating in service applications is critical for the long-term success of the portal. Specifically concentrating on how to link in accounting, finance, and purchasing systems to this Intranet will further increase its Return on Investment (ROI)...
For Castle Family Restaurants the challenge will be in getting the system designed so that it meets needs across all eight locations while also serving as the foundation for future growth from the information and insights it provides while also serving employees and managers.
