Royal Caribbean Launches An IT UpgradeRoyal Caribbean Launches An IT Upgrade

Royal Caribbean International is launching three IT projects to streamline and automate its purchasing, employee-tracking, and customer-information processes.

information Staff, Contributor

July 6, 2001

1 Min Read
information logo in a gray background | information

Royal Caribbean International is launching three IT projects to streamline and automate its purchasing, employee-tracking, and customer-information processes. CIO Tom Murphy is upgrading the cruise company's World enterprise resource planning software from J.D. Edwards & Co. to the vendor's OneWorld software. The goal: to automate the purchasing process that supplies 21 Royal Caribbean ships at ports around the world.

Royal Caribbean also plans an August upgrade of the PeopleSoft Inc. human-resources system it installed in December. The Web-enabled version will give ships at sea real-time access via satellite connections and let them track the training, licensing, and background history of thousands of employees. "Today that's all paper-based, and it's very difficult to have it all follow the employees from ship to ship," Murphy says.

The third project will focus on the most important part of the operation--customers. Royal Caribbean is working on a paperless embarkation project to let passengers file all important paperwork--passport, visa, and credit-card information--as well as choose dining times and sign up for shore excursions long before they board the ship. "It's amazing how much we need to know about our customers and crew, much of it under national and international law," Murphy says.

Royal Caribbean is "ahead of the pack because it quickly identified the Web as a vehicle for filling ever-bigger ships with new consumers who have never tried cruising," says Lorraine Sileo, a PhoCusWright analyst. That will be increasingly important, she adds, as lots of new ships--including two from Royal Caribbean itself--launch this year in a softening market.

This confuses us: Are boats holes in the water that you throw money into, or is it so-called paperless initiatives? Give us a reality check in the Listening Post

Read more about:

20012001
Never Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.

You May Also Like


More Insights