ISM

Assignment
Section E - Group 3
2021PGP001 Aayesha Mishra
2021PGP086 Bhuvan
2018IPM032 Dhruv Dhhochak
2021PGP233 Omkar
2021PGP235 P. Nitya
2021PGP255 Pranav Chaudhary
1.What according to you are the three Key aspects in Harrah’s overall
strategy that helped them differentiate from competitors.

01 Forward-looking customer worth calculation

Before the implementation of the strategy, Harrah and most of
its rivals calculated the value of their customers on a
backward-looking approach that dependent on past statistics
of play and profitability. This approach often meant that new
customers with high potential value but a shorter history were
often overlooked and under-targeted. Harrah switched to a
forward-looking customer worth calculation that valued
customers on the basis of the total incremental revenues they
could generate. This approach helped them innovatively target
and retain these customers.
1.What according to you are the three Key aspects in Harrah’s overall
strategy that helped them differentiate from competitors.

02 Data-centric & scientific decision making

Harrah’s Total Gold program, in addition to increasing
switching costs and therefore customer loyalty, also provided
a steady stream of data regarding consumer behaviour.
Harrah used this data along with their own experiments to
scientifically approach decision making. Harrah chose to back
its data and defy conventional industry wisdom by phasing
out the same-day cash scheme and it further used its
experiments to streamline its incentives like getting rid of free
stays rather boosting the starting chip amount.
1.What according to you are the three Key aspects in Harrah’s overall
strategy that helped them differentiate from competitors.

03 Inter-Property IT & Objective Integration

Instead of letting individual property heads maximise profits
for their respective Harrah properties, Harrah redefined the
organisational structure and leveraged the Total Gold program
to ensure information sharing and goal-alignment between all
these properties in order to maximise overall value for Harrah.
This led to streamlining of operations and a boost in cohesion
and profitability.
2. Is Harrah's IT strategy Aligned with its business strategy. What
complements do they need to manage to achieve alignment?

Yes, the IT strategy is aligned with the

Business Strategy
Harrah's business strategy is to use IT to their
advantage and maintain consistentency in experience
across different properties by implementing CRM by
focussing on two elements:
1. Database Marketing
2. Total Gold Program - Total Rewards Program
Database Marketing

Loveman believed he had come up with a customer centric

approach to direct marketing which had 3 phases:

1. New Business - Increasing frequency of existing

customer visits to the casino.
2. Customer Loyalty - Focus and target customers that
have atleast made 3 trips or have been associated with
us since 6 months and maintain relationship with them
3. Retention - Customers who have discontinued with us
and are no longer coming back to Harrah's casinos.

Through Database Marketing, the focus would not only be

upon analysing the past activity of the customer but also
about what is the future worth of a customer and how we
can maximize the dollar takeaway share of Harrah's on the
total customer spending. Harrah's was able to increase the
returns over a period of time.
Total Gold Program

The total gold program motivates customers to consolidate their

play, and the data collected through the program allows Harrah's
Entertainment Inc. to execute direct marketing strategies that
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its marketing dollars.
Cross market revenues have grown significantly from 13% in
1997 to 23% in 2000

Quantitative models to predict customer worth accurately:

This model enabled Harrah's to begin building relationships with
customers based on their future worth, rather than on their past
behavior.

Integrated information technology network: The network-

enabled customer level information like customer gaming
theoretical value, to be shared in real time across all the properties.

Complements to align the IT with Business Strategy

Harrah's is focusing on leveraging the EIT complement to increase

customer loyalty and retention however they can also bank upon
NIT by managing their customer journey and communication with
Harrah's team to increase profitability in the long run.
3. Is there strategy sustainable? Explain.

Harrah’s strategy was to focus on customer loyalty as their core

competency and every initiative they launched was meant to take Harrah’s
further in that direction. They worked on changing their organization
structure, building their brand, delivering extraordinary service, and
exploiting marketing opportunities.

One key initiative that changed the way Harrah’s invested in its customers
was Database Marketing. Using decision analytics, Harrah’s gathered
detailed data on its customers’ activities when they visit the company’s
casinos. It then used the data to identify unique customer groups and
targets each of them with pitch-perfect marketing strategies.
3. Is there strategy sustainable? Explain.

Their methodology is sustainable in the long-term, because as

years pass by, they would have accumulated a large warehouse of
data from customer transactions at the many Harrah’s casinos
scattered throughout the United States. This would enable them
to customize customer experiences and try particular marketing
interventions with each customer segment and transform them
from “promiscuous” gamblers to “monogamous” gamblers. Their
system and strategy,therefore, seemingly covers all possible
phases of the customer life cycle, which allows them to target
each one in vastly different ways.
Thanks
Sec. E - Group 3
2021PGP001 Aayesha Mishra
2021PGP086 Bhuvan
2018IPM032 Dhruv Dhhochak
2021PGP233 Omkar
2021PGP235 P. Nitya
2021PGP255 Pranav Chaudhary