Helping a Gaming and Hospitality Giant Move to New Hotel Systems

ISG used organizational change management (OCM) to prepare thousands of workers for new lodging-management systems and the new processes that come with them. Our work included leadership alignment, analysis of stakeholder groups and business impacts, a comprehensive communications plan and support for training.

Opportunity

Opportunity

One of the world’s largest gaming companies needed to move from its 30-year-old lodging-management and central reservations systems to new, state-of-the-art technology. The multibillion-dollar enterprise wanted to create more standardization, better its ability to perform functions across properties and improve personalization of the guest experience, among other benefits. About three-dozen locations and 10,000 team members would be affected by these changes.

An ISG OCM team was brought in to help prepare employees for a high volume of changes as they learned a new way of working. The new-system rollouts would take place in waves across North America. The team’s work would include extensive change-management, communications and support for training.
Imagining IT Differently

Imagining IT Differently

Over the course of a year, ISG completed many OCM activities to ensure that employees were ready for the coming changes. The ISG team conducted a full leadership-alignment cycle to get leaders on the same page and a readiness survey to pinpoint employees’ level of preparation. The team also mapped stakeholder groups, analyzed the coming business impacts, delivered a comprehensive communications plan and provided support for training.

In addition, team members made numerous site visits, generating lists of special considerations for each property and its unique culture. Team members were on-site for the pilot launches and provided targeted communications throughout the entire process. One project sponsor said, “…the [ISG] team brought a wealth of skills to the engagement…The team was also extremely adaptable to an ever-changing project.” The team ultimately received a perfect score on its client-satisfaction survey.
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Future Made Possible

  • The company’s leaders involved in the program achieved improved alignment on what needed to be done and how they could support the changes.
  • The company benefited from newly created feedback loops to better understand employees’ concerns.
  • Through avoidance of a single one-size-fits-all corporate approach to rollouts at diverse locations, the company increased employee ownership of the project.
  • Its pilot launches received full OCM support through preparation, launch announcements and hypercare.
  • The company received a better analysis of its various stakeholder groups.
  • It is armed with communications materials to use for future launches of the new systems.