PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD | Table of Contents: |
The Cincinnati Zoo has a Sumatran rhinoceros, a screaming hairy armadillo and until recently a mammoth information problem. With more than 1 million visitors a year, the zoo can capture a lot of data about each guest's visit. But until recently, outdated IT systems kept zoo managers from making the most timely and profitable use of all that information.
Business-related data was collected at dozens of locations around the 75-acre site, but different types of point-of-sale systems were used. Furthermore, there was another system that collected data from ticket sales, one that collected data from retail sales (souvenirs, etc.), and another that collected data on food and beverage sales. The disparate systems weren't integrated and, like hyenas and giraffes, couldn't communicate with each other.
The Cincinnati Zoo can now get a better handle on just
how much visitors like this exhibit, thanks to business analytics software from
IBM (source: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden).
Zoo managers needed faster access to information from throughout the operation. They wanted to be able to see where customers were spending money, what they were spending it on and when they were spending it. They needed to be able to see how visitors responded to special offers, and which attractions were most popular. With the old systems, getting answers to these questions often required analyzing cash-register receipts and could take from days to weeks. This is not exactly a good way to stay on top of customer buying trends.
The old way was stifling the zoo's ability to make the smartest, fastest business decisions. Attendance was up, and administrators wanted to make the most of that growth; increasing revenue means being able to provide enhanced care for the animals, develop new exhibits and make sure the zoo remains sustainable. But with data caged up in arcane, unconnected silos, the zoo needed to drastically overhaul its IT systems in order to be more responsive to customer preferences.
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