CSC teams with Holiday Inn on sales force automation initiative

Business Wire, Sept 21, 1995

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1995--Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE:CSC) and Holiday Inn Worldwide have completed a sales force automation initiative designed to streamline the hotel chain's corporate and group sales process.

The initiative, known as the Global Computer-Aided Selling (CAS) system, was developed with the help of CSC's Waltham-based Consulting & Systems Integration unit. It links Holiday Inn's global sales force of 200 to each other and to critical data about customers, rates and contract information.

According to Michael J. Corr, vice president and director of worldwide sales at Holiday Inn, the company expects the CAS system will help increase meeting and convention bookings from 35% to 45% of all rooms booked, thus reducing the company's reliance on walk-in traffic.

Noted Corr, "It's easier to sell a million room-nights in blocks of hundreds than to sell them one at a time."

Prior to installing the new system, Holiday Inn's conventional paper-based records forced the sales staff to spend considerable time filling out forms and searching for answers to customer's questions, rather than booking room-nights.

"For flight crew lodging, we manage 700 contracts with airlines for more than three million room-nights a year," said Steve Michel of the Holiday Inn Worldwide headquarters office in Atlanta. "Because the contracts were in filing cabinets, I couldn't be aggressive in going after business. I didn't know which contracts with which airlines were up when."

Today, the sales staff has volumes of information at its fingertips via notebook computers with custom-designed Windows (TM) interfaces connected to a network. Sales people can track business trends and analyze their performance -- and that of their competitors -- far faster than before.

"We have so many kinds of customers that have different needs," added Lynne M. Cobb, manager of sales administration. "The CAS system enables us to keep track of their lead time, their buying preferences, their preferred locations, special rates and other historical aspects of the relationship in a centralized, standardized manner."

In addition, hotel officials say that improved efficiency has had a significant impact on employee morale. Reduction in paperwork has made sales employees, especially account managers, happier at work -- which has reduced turnover significantly.

Computer Sciences had $3.6 billion in annual revenues for the 12 months ended June 30, 1995. The company has headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., and has 33,000 employees in 575 offices worldwide. CSC provides clients with a wide range of professional services including management consulting; business reengineering; information systems consulting and integration; and outsourcing.

CONTACT: Computer Sciences Corp.

Bernie Thiel, 617/647-0116, ext. 3827