1. Are many of Lufthansa’s challenges identified in the case similar to those being experienced by other businesses in today’s global economy? Explain and provide some examples.
Answer:
Yes, the challenges faced by Lufthansa are similar to those being experienced by other businesses in today’s global economy. Companies need to provide their employees access to work and training outside of the office. Employees also need to be able to continue communicating and working while traveling, which necessitates mobile technology. Other businesses also provide adequate support to mobile operations while keeping a tight lid on cost and being able to justify the investment, redefine processes to accommodate new mobile technologies and needs of a distributed workforce – including communication, meeting and decision making practices.
2. What other tangible and intangible benefits, beyond those identified by Lufthansa, might a mobile workforce enjoy as a result of deploying mobile technologies? Explain.
Answer:
Tangible benefits would include a laptop or other technologies to use for work at home. Also, costs will decrease for the company because they would no longer need to pay for training facilities, paper copies of training manuals, travel and teachers. Intangible benefits would include more productive, time-efficient and overall happier employees that could enjoy a more flexible work environment.
3. Lufthansa was clearly taking a big risk with their decision to deploy notebook computers to their pilots. What steps did they take to manage that risk and what others might be needed in today’s business environment? Provide some examples.
Answer:
Lufthansa created a list of parameters that notebook PCs needed to meet before purchasing the laptops. They created their own secure network.
The Steps taken to manage the risk are to ensured that technical specifications for the equipment were acceptable to both pilots and the union, given the very special work environment they would be used in, Increased the chances of user buy-in by providing convenient alternatives to traditionally cumbersome tasks (such as carrying manuals and technical documents around), Standardized on a unique hardware and software platform to reduce support and upgrade costs, Structured the process in phases, pilot and general deployment, to both assess feasibility and obtain feedback before mass implementation.
