Avis Europe improves business agility and cost control with real-time project planning

Transcription

1 Customer success story Avis Europe improves business agility and cost control with real-time project planning Customer profile Industry: Car rental services Company: Avis Europe plc Revenue: 1.4 billion Employees: over 5,600 Business Avis Europe is the leading car rental company in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The company serves over eight million customers across a network that spans 112 countries. Challenge In a difficult economic environment, Avis needed to achieve better resource utilisation and reduce costs. However a lack of transparency of costs and resource allocation for IT programmes was hampering decision making. Solution Avis uses CA Clarity Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) to manage IT projects, schedules and resources. The solution provides real-time project planning and a systematic approach to managing risk. BENEFIT The firm can implement major programmes, confident its IT resources are being allocated cost-effectively. Increased visibility of its IT project costs and resources enabled Avis to accelerate business agility and reduce risk. we can

2 Business Avis delivering the promise Avis Europe is the leading car rental company in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with more than 30 years experience in its sector. The company serves over eight million customers across a network that spans 112 countries. Since Warren Avis opened Avis Airlines Rent A Car Systems in Detroit in 1946, the company has embodied its famous slogan we try harder, expanding into the international arena in 1965 and achieving leadership in the Europe, Africa and Middle East market in 1973 a position which Avis has retained ever since. Through its two brands Avis and Budget Avis processes seven million rental transactions a year and has a presence at 75 principal European airports. The company s success is attributable to its continuous investment in its network, technology and people, and to its ongoing promise of We try Harder. Challenge Poor visibility of project status, resources and costs Avis has embarked on a major strategic initiative designed to help it weather the economic uncertainty by streamlining its operations; focusing in particular on achieving better resource utilisation and reducing costs. The company recognised that there were potentially significant efficiency improvements to be gained from the way it ran large programmes, which often covered multiple geographies as well as utilised a wide range of resources and skill sets. It s not always easy to know whether our resources are being properly utilised. Jenny Lane Project Manager, Avis Europe 02

3 Jenny Lane, Project Manager at Avis Europe, explains, With such a wide geography, project and portfolio management can be a challenge. We have distributed project teams all over Europe and it s not always easy to ensure the teams are working well together, or if our resources are being properly utilised. With projects running in parallel and people often working on more than one initiative at a time, project and portfolio management is a complex exercise. The IT division was also going through a period of change, moving from a centralised to a matrix structure. Although this new approach was better aligned to business needs, it added a level of scale and complexity that was beyond the team s existing project management tools and processes many of which were spreadsheet based. Our current approach was not only unworkable with the new structure it also meant that we had no reliable means of gaining a consolidated view of our projects in terms of their status or their performance against budget, comments Lane. That lack of transparency was making it difficult to make management decisions and ensure every project was aligned with the company s objectives. Avis recognised the need for a project and portfolio management solution that would drive greater IT efficiency through best practice execution, resource optimisation, and financial governance. Solution Real-time project planning and analysis Following an abortive implementation of a competitive solution, Avis chose CA Clarity PPM. The relationship with our former partner wasn t giving us what we needed, but it did give us a much better understanding of what we were looking for in terms of a solution, comments Lane. From there it was a relatively simple decision to take CA Clarity PPM. It has the right functionality and is a fully integrated product. CA Clarity PPM provides real-time project planning and analysis, a systematic approach to managing risk and controls, and visibility of current and future IT service and resource costs. With a number of key strategic programmes already scheduled such as the preparation for chip and pin at all European terminals Avis timescales for implementation were extremely tight. Assisted by Sandhill, a CA Technologies Platinum Partner, implementation began in October 2009 with the solution fully operational by early January

4 For Lane, a strong success factor of the implementation was the close working relationship between Avis, Sandhill and CA Technologies. The partnership approach provided us with a better understanding of how CA Clarity PPM s functionality would work with our current and new processes, explains Lane. As with any major change, user education was also critical to the success of the implementation and to deriving long-term benefits from the solution. We needed to ensure everyone had a good understanding of the functionality of the CA Technologies solution and how it would help them work smarter, says Lane. 20 major strategic projects are being managed via CA Clarity PPM Avis offered staff a wide choice of learning options, from drop-in lunchtime demonstrations and Q&A sessions, to user training classes and workshops for power users such as resource managers and project managers. User engagement continued even after the solution was up and running, explains Lane. Three months after implementation we ran review sessions to get further feedback. We also set up mailboxes so people could ask questions or get additional support if they needed it. 04

5 The solution is used for a wide range of key processes from project management and resource management to timesheet administration and financials for high level reporting. Around 150 people currently use CA Clarity PPM to complete their timesheets, with 20 line managers and project managers using it for reporting, project planning and resource management. We ve implemented a number of processes that are now seen as business as usual and we ve produced robust reporting where previously we had to allocate resources based on sometimes questionable assumptions, adds Lane. As a result, the solution has a major role in ensuring Avis continues to remove cost and improve efficiency across its operation. CA Clarity PPM is already supporting 20 major strategic projects across the business as well as around 10 smaller, tactical ones, says Lane. Benefit Improved agility, assured efficiency CA Clarity PPM allows Avis to easily track and manage projects throughout their lifecycles with visibility for all key stakeholders. The result is a seamless project and portfolio management system that couples top-down portfolio planning and analysis with bottom-up project, programme, financial and process management. Being able to react more quickly to changing requirements is immensely valuable to Avis. Jenny Lane Project Manager, Avis Europe With these capabilities, Avis is able to rollout major programmes across multiple countries, confident that its IT resources are being allocated efficiently and cost-effectively in support of its strategic focus on cost reduction and improved utilisation. 05

6 As a result, Avis has been able to: Ensure project portfolios are more closely aligned to strategic objectives Facilitate faster decision-making, with transparent access to a single, reliable source of project and programme data Improve risk management by identifying projects that are running late or over budget. CA Clarity PPM is helping us improve our business agility by giving us very useful information on how our resources are being used, and where they can best be focused to support the business. Being able to react more quickly to changing requirements, identify where there is too much or too little demand for certain skill sets and flex our service accordingly is immensely valuable to Avis. Copyright 2010 CA Technologies. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document as is without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised in advance of the possibility of such damages.