MSC REPORT
MSC Cruise
Team members: ABBIATI PAOLO
Course:
877034
Leadership & Innovation
871999
Professor:
BANTERLE MASSIMILIANO
883711
ROBERTO VERGANTI
BATTILANA FEDERICO
884180
CARISSIMI MARIA CONCETTA
876261
CERCOS JORGE
878018
FUKURA MANAMI
884937
BONFIGLIO ROBERTO
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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2. ANALYSIS
5
2.1 MARKET AND COMPETITORS ANALYSIS
5
2.2 MSC BUSINESS MODEL
2.3 SOCIETY (SOCIO-CULTURAL MODELS)
10
2.4 USERS ANALYSIS 2.5 CONCLUSIONS
15 18
21
3. SOLUTION
22
3.1 CONCEPT GENERATION
22
3.2 A NEW MEANING
3.3 SOLUTION: FROM AN APP TO A COMMUNITY 3.4 MY SPECIAL COMMUNITY
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4. ORGANIZATION OF THE TEAM
36
4.1 WORKING IN TEAM 4.2 TEAM EXPERIENCE
36
39
5. BIBLOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
43
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1. Executive Summary
This report proposes a digital innovation project to MSC Crociere for renewing its entertainment solutions. MSC Crociere has just started a new investment plan for the introduction of new smart and connected ships that are equipped with the most modern technologies. MSC is now trying to adapt the overall cruise experience getting out the most from these digital technologies on-board. In the first part of the report it is presented an analysis of the competitive scenario, of the characteristics of passengers on-board and of general trends related to the impact of digital and social features. Once we have analysed the scenario we asked ourselves how this digital environment can have an impact on entertainment. What really matters in entertainment? Entertainment’s solutions on cruises are really at the forefront, and we found out that what really makes the difference are the people with whom guests take part in entertainment activities. The interaction of guests on-board is a key element of the cruise experience and smart and connected ship can have an active role in helping and promoting interaction and socialization on-board. Our proposal consists in creating a community of guests on-board supported by a smartphone app, called ‘My Special Community’. The detailed structure of this application is there reported. The new functions of this APP have the main objective to promote the interaction between people on-board and help them to communicate, organize activities and share their experiences. The main benefit of this community is that it gives the possibility to guests to fully exploit all the opportunities present in
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Team NANA 4 a cruise holiday and to start new friendships making the holiday memorable. In particular guests are more involved in the activities on-board and on-land thanks to some embedded functionalities in the activities&events function that allows them to organize their own activities or to join others’ activities. Other functions, like localization, have been redesigned keeping in mind the real needs of customers, providing them tailored suggestions for places that can be of their interest. The other two functions of the app are chat&contacts and photos: the first one simplifies the communication among customers on-board and allow them to keep in contact with other guests met during the day; the photos’ section permits customers to easily access to the photos taken on-board and to share their photos with their friends, also on other social platforms. The concept of community there proposed is suitable for every type of customers of every age, but it is expected that the early adopters will be young people and millennials, more used to social networks. With a long-term perspective our proposal will be attractive and value-adding for all the categories of guests, not limited to the younger generations. MSC can now leverage on the interest of young generation for attracting a category of customers currently not relevant, but that can have a great impact on the future expansion and growth of MSC.
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2. Analysis 2.1 Market and Competitors Analysis
The cruise industry is a highly competitive and in growth industry which is currently estimated around 39.6 billion dollars. The concentration in the industry is very high. Considering the market share by revenue, it is possible to point out that more than 75% of the market is in the hands of three large companies: Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Considering the market share of passengers,
the situation is almost the same: the industry is owned also in this case by the three major groups. The little differences between the two market shares (for revenues and growth) shows the different positioning of the brands (e.g. Carnival has a higher market share for passengers being a medium-level cruise line).
[Graph. 1: Market share of revenues]
The amount of investments required to come into the market and the economies of scale and scope together with the relevance of brands justifies this high concentration of the market. To go deeper and understand better this
[Graph. 2: Market share of passengers]
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2.1.1 PORTER’S FIVE FORCES Suppliers: STRONG Shipbuilders and naval technological providers are highly concentrated Not possible to integrate Partnerships with entertainment and events providers are essential
New entrants: WEAK
Competitors: MEDIUM/STRONG
Importance of brand identity is difficult to overcome
High industry growth decreases the threat of competition but the high level of concentration assures power to few companies
Presence of economies of scale buying convenient and shopping goods Huge capital requirement
Costs for leaving the industry are high (highly specified assets) Low switching costs increase competition
Substitutes: MEDIUM Big presence of broadened and indirect substitutes Land destinies, thematic parks, adventure trips...
Customers: MEDIUM Customers have high level of information Switching costs from one company to another is low, so the power of the buyers increases As shown by the graph, the strongest forces are Suppliers and Competitors. Since the small size of MSC, it should focus on the customers’ side of the Porter’s scheme. It is important to be at the cuttingedge of entertaintment solution for attracting new potential guests. Digital technologies could be useful for improving the service level.
Team NANA 7 New entertainment solutions can be an important source of differentiation for cruise liners but they suffer from a high imitation risk. Alternative holiday solutions are relevant competitors of the cruise industry. Cruise liners can try to attract the target market of these competitors. For example, MSC has just launched Ocean Cay program, grouping the traditional cruise holiday with a resort experience.
2.1.2 GEOGRAPHICAL DESTINATIONS The range of geographical destinations and the itineraries that are offered by current cruises lines are a key aspect in the cruise business. The key factors for selecting the cruise destination are the importance of the geographical location and the climatic conditions. It’s possible to see that the geographical locations can be divided in four main categories: ● North and Central America
● Mediterranean
● Europe ● South America
The biggest portion is related to Caribbean itineraries, while the second is Mediterranean that is the one in which MSC is particularly focused on.
[Graph. 3: Geographical destinations]
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Team NANA 8 Talking in general about this industry, it’s important to underline a couple of trends that feature the cruise sector: partnerships with other companies represent a key point, indeed in order to be perceived as different and to offer a unique service, cruises make a lot of partnerships with wellknown brands. Moreover, according to recent studies, in this industry even more contracts with famous brands are expected to happen, as an attempt of companies to differentiate even more in a market like this with strong and big competitors. Another important trend that comes out from recent analysis of the sector is the importance of new areas: many cruise companies are trying to enlarge their offers, including new itineraries to attract more and more new customers and to be successful in this industry. The main new areas in which cruise industry are trying to enter are especially Asia, South Pacific, Costa Rica and Cuba.
2.1.3 COMPETITORS’ DIGITAL TREND
The competitive environment is highly concentrated in few big companies, who are doing a lots of innovative projects. Here we present some projects actually present or in development of the two main players: Carnival and Royal Carribean.
Carnival
Ocean Medallion
Carnival Corporation is the leading group in
Carnival Corporation has just unveiled the
the cruise industry. In the last years it has
new device Ocean Medallion, a real wearable
launched some digital initiatives with the aim
device, similar in form to a clock or
of offering a faster and more complete
smartwatch, which will allow, on the one
service to their guests.
hand, the guests to customize their stay, on
the other, to companies, to better understand
Digital photo experience
preferences and habits of their passengers.
Their Digital Photo Experience allows to
The Ocean Medallion offers a lot of
store, choose and pay photos taken on-board
functionalities:
easily by passengers’ smartphone. This
· check-in and check-out operations are
function also takes advantage of new tools
optimized;
like facial recognition for showing directly
· it allows to open the cabin’s door without
interesting
key;
photo
to
the
customer.
· the device enables the localisation of family and friends (very useful for families with
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Team NANA children);
9 schedule will not be printed anymore but it
· it helps the interaction between crew
will be available in digital forms. Therefore, the
members and guests in order to guarantee a
App allows both to simplify the passengers’
customized service;
planning and to be environmentally friendly.
· the medallion gives the possibility to order
Royal Caribbean
food and drinks and buy everything in a very
The digital experience of Royal Caribbean’s
fast way, similar to a contactless card;
Cruises
· it gives the opportunity of playing interactive
Before, the cruise future guests can use the
games.
CRUISE PLANNER on the website to plan each
The Ocean Medallion will make its debut at the
aspect of the cruise, from the activities like
end of 2017 and will be available in all the
massages, theatre, excursions and also dining.
ships
Once in the ship, they have to use the ROYAL IQ
equipped
with
this
technology.
starts
before
the
trip.
app, downloadable for each kind of device.
Carnival Hub App
With the app, guests have all of the previous
In January 2017, Carnival launched its own
functions of the cruise planner, but also others:
app that is designed to simplify the cruise
for example there is a chat part where they can
experience. It allows to know everything is
call or message other guests in the ship. In fact
necessary about the cruise. It is possible to see
every guest that downloads the app will have a
the list of all the activities taking place both on
unique onboard number.
the ship and on the excursions on-land; the
The service is not for free but is offered at per
guests book their trip directly with their
minute rate cost or a small amount can be paid
smartphone. The app helps the passengers to
to have all inclusive offer.
control their activities giving a notification on
Onboard is given a bracelet called WOW-BAND.
their phone with a predetermined advance.
WOW Bands are bracelets with an installed
Moreover, the app makes available the ship
RFID chip that makes as your stateroom key
maps and a chat section.
and SeaPass card.
An important aspect is that Carnival Hub is
environmentally friendly because it allows a
big reduction of the usage of paper: in fact, the
We have analized the innovation of competitors in the field of digitalization, both the companies turned their attention in bracelets and apps, that only simplify the life on board but they don’t use it to create something new, to connect the people on board.
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Royal Caribbean WOW Band
Carnival Ocean Medallion
2.2 MSC Business Model (Strategy and Factsheet)
2.2.1 MSC ITINERARIES MSC Crociere is a small but continuously growing player with mediterranean roots in the cruise industry, holding currently around 4% of global market share. Nowadays MSC is present in 45 countries. The Mediterranean, the company starting point, is the area in which MSC offers the highest number of itineraries, more than 1500. As Royal Caribbean, Carnival and other competitors, MSC entered in the Caribbean area in which nowadays is focusing its efforts offering an increasing number of itineraries and buying a private Marine Reserve. MSC never stops to improve its itineraries, recently has introduced routes in the African geographical area.
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Other 4%
Africa 2%
Central+South America 8%
North Europe 15%
Mediterranean Caribbean 57% 14%
[Graph. 4: Itineraries]
2.2.2 FINANCIAL DATA MSC crociere started to have a certain role in this industry only from 2002 when it launched its ambitious investment plan of 5.5 billion â‚Ź, which allowed it to have an exponential growth of +800% since 2004. The continously growth of MSC can be seen by the number of passengers carried in the last ten years.
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[Graph. 5: Total passengers carried]
2.2.3 THE INITIATIVES
In the last 10 years MSC has experienced a constant growth, also if in 2015 it experienced a negative profit since the launch of a new 10year investment plan of 5.1 billion â‚Ź, raised to 9.1 billion in April 2016, for the launch of 11 new ships. This new program aims to build new innovative smart ships, equipped with the most modern devices and sensors. In this new program MSC has signed partnerships with companies like HP, Deloitte Digital, Samsung and others 8 tech companies and aspires to double
its
passengers’
capacity
taking
advantage of the continuous growth of the industry. The first ship of this program is MSC Meraviglia which is equipped with many sensors on-board (16.000 connection points, 700, digital accesses, 358 screens, 2.244 cabins with RFID/NFC) and it has been launched in June 2017.
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Another important component this digital innovation is represented by the APP MSC for Me. The digital program of MSC for Me has five main functions and objectives.
Navigation Intelligent maps for helping passengers to find information of events on-board, near to them and to orientate on-board. Interactive bracelets will provide access to cabin, payments on board, localisation on the ship, within a five metres precision, and sharing accurate whereabouts of guests children on board and will activate geo-located suggestions through 3,050 Bluetooth beacons. Concierge Easy booking of on-board services and activities, 24/7.
Capture Immersive technology to engage passengers in their activities (i.e. virtual reality).
Organizer Easy-way to organise their experience, booking and checking-in with their smartphone.
TailorMade Personal digital consultant providing tailored advices according to passengers’ preferences. Intelligent face recognition will help staff take care of guests in a highly personalised way.
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STRATEGIC ACTIONS
MISSION
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
2.2.4 THE STRATEGY
Exclusivity
Explore the world, Relax on board
Flexibility
Customer care
Fun
Social responsability
Ultramodern ship
Food
Flexi-dining
Kids entertainment
Energy-saving system
Elegantlydesigned interiors
Welness and sport
Selec]ve staff
Unique excursions
Quality management
Luxury interiors
1000 excursions
All day assistance
Day entertainment
Waste treatment and recycling
Night entertainment [Graph.6: MSC strategy]
MSC Cruises is the best solution for who wants to visit the world, exploring the most renowned destinations, and do this being relaxed in every moment. MSC will provide to the customer everything he needs. How to offer an unforgettable experience? • Exclusivity: exclusive experience thanks to the ultramodern ships with luxury and high quality interiors, designed by famous architects and designers, and provided by the last technological services. • Flexibility and fun: offer in each moment of the day a huge numbers of services satisfying all possible customers’ needs. Going from sport, games and wellness activities during the morning, theatre, clubs, live music and spectaculars in the evening. The wide choice regards above all the lunch and the dinner time: customers can have formal dining or extensive buffet, personalized menu (vegetarian, gluten free, particular diet..). On-land passengers have the possibility to choose the solution that fits better their needs: long excursions for adventures, short trips for families. Entertainment activities are provided also for kids, thanks to the partnership with Lego and Chicco, parents can leave their children in safe and funny clubs. Personalized solutions are available for who wants to celebrate his birthday, anniversary or a special event. The flexibility on-board and the possibility to customize the experience are particulary crucial. • Customer care: MSC’s staff should be high qualified, all-day available. • Social responsibi lity: MSC is increasing its attention to environmental issues.
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Team NANA 15 On ships, new special programs are developed for the reduction of the water and energy waste, recycling of water and quality management. This is helpful for keeping a good brand reputation and image of the company.
2.3 Society (Socio-cultural models)
2.3.1 DIGITAL AND SOCIAL TRENDS
From their birth, social networks have become more and more important and present in people’s lives, first involving young people but then spreading among the whole population. WHY? Not
only
communication.
Find
dinner with people never met before. The application allows to find people with the
people. Social network were born as a means to communicating
and
sharing
textual
contents, photos and videos on the web with friends, in few time they become
same interests and to organize in a restaurant or at home a dinner to know them. The aim is eating to socialize with new people.
powerful tools to meet new people.
In particular, in recent years, new websites
Other types of application, such as Find a
and apps for mobile phones have been
Player, put into contact people that do not
created in order to let people with similar
know each others and give them the
interests
possibility to organize matches of 140
to
meet
each
other.
Examples…………………………………. The social dining is the possibility to have
different sports. This type of service solves the constant problem of finding enough
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Team NANA 16 players and avoids the stress of organising, it gives the possibility to users to share their passions with other people. Another example of this trend is social seating, which allows users to book a seat next to people who have similar characteristics. The aim is to find people to share with the flight having a pleasant conversation and avoiding to be alone during long travels. Social seating has been implemented both in the airline industry (the first company was KLM) and also for music events via Ticketmaster.
[Graph. 7: Number of social network users]
2.3.2 WHO DOES A CRUISE?
Growing industry with an increasing number of passengers. Average age: 40 years old. Passengers mainly from Europe and North America. More than 170 nationalities on board. Focusing on the customers, currently cruise lines carry 22.2 million passengers per year, so there are a lot of customers that are served by this industry. By looking at the evolution of the amount of passengers in the last ten years, it is possible to see a slightly increasing trend, this industry is continously growing and an increasing number of cruisers is expected in
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17 the future. A segmentation by age shows that the majority of customers is 40 or older years old, while young people represent just a small portion of current passengers; by looking at the origin of these customers, more than 75% of them comes from North America and Europe, but it is possible to underline also a continuous trend in the increasing number of passengers coming from all over the world, so there is an increasing trend on the diversity of these customers.
[Graph. 8,9,10: Passenger capacity; Customers’ age and nationalities]
Look to the future A lot of young people are expected to be cruisers in future: Millennials and Generation Y are perceived as the key increasing customers since their current impact is very low. This should be considered by companies in order to adjust their offers and meet the needs of this new customer segment. Moreover, attracting customers from an early age can be helpful for increasing brand loyalty. Another important trend to be highlighted is about an expected increase in new customers that show interest in attempting an ocean cruise. A category of new customers are solo travellers: they are customers that decide to travel alone, and, as shown in the graph below, they are the category of consumers that is less satisfied (considering all the types of travel companions that a cruiser can have). It is relevant to consider this category because there are studies which assert that, in the future, these solo travellers will be more and more popular. As a consequence, some cruise companies are increasing the number of solo cabins on their ships.
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[Graph. 11: Travellers’ average satisfaction rate]
New trends: • Increasing number of passengers in the cruise industry • More and more young people do a cruise • Growth of solo travellers
2.4 User Analysis
2.4.1 SEGMENTATION After this analysis on passengers, three types of customers on board came out; so it’s possible to profile these three main clusters of guests that show some differences in features and interests, and so they should be managed in the proper way by cruise companies:
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Features
Interests/ Needs/ Desires
Young People
Families
Senior guests
Usually travel in groups with friends Kind of new customers because usually they prefer other holiday solutions
The main type of customer in this industry (already well served) They are composed by several members different among them
Relevant portion of cruisers They are typically “old” couples
Want to visit places Have fun together Want to do exciting activities Meet new people
Desire to relax Interests in luxury service Presence of different needs of the members of the family (children will like to play with others, parents will like to relax)
Desire of a relaxing holidays Want a quiet environment Like luxury
[Tab. 1: Passengers analysis]
2.4.2 PERSONAS To clarify we show some examples of typical customers belonging to each category.
Name
Francisco
Surname
Cercos
Age
22
Nationality
Spanish
Job
Student of Communication Science
Interest
Commercial music, Soccer, have fun with friend, Real Madrid supporter [Tab. 2: Young passenger]
“I have never experienced a cruise before. I usually organize trips by myself with my friends. I like travel and visit many places”
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FAMILY From US, dad of 41 and mum of 37 years old, they have two children, one male of 12 years and a female of 9 years old. Parents will like to relax, while children would like to have fun and meet new friends.
Name
Michael
Surname
Thompson
Age
41
Nationality
American, Florida
Job
Cardiologist
Interest
80’s and 90’s music, Basketball, fan of Miami, Scuba diving, Fishing
“I want to relax with my wife and my children. We have different needs. I would like that all the family members will enjoy the cruise”
[Tab. 3: Dad]
Name
Günther
Surname
Neumann
Age
70
Nationality
German
Job
Retired
Interest
Classic music, Soccer, Golf, Playing cards, Watching TV [Tab. 4: Senior]
“I want to have a relaxing holiday, enjoy all the comfort on board and do the activities I like”
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2.5 CONCLUSIONS
Social trends: increase of passengers and solo travellers
Digital trends in society
Competitors' digital tools used only to simplify life on board
MSC's new smartships
.....
[Graph. 12: Funnel’s first phase]
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3. Solution 3.1 Concept generation
Who
• Every guests on-board • Focus on new genera]ons and solo travellers
• Socializa]on • Connect people on-board What • Make new friendships • Exploit all opportuni]es
How
• Community • Personal APP
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3.2 A new meaning
From
What
To
Whom
Entertainment is defined as an activity that is diverting and that holds attention. It comes from the French word “entretenir” which means hold together and support. In the cruise industry there is a lot of effort for improving the entertainment of guests in each moment of the journey. Many companies are struggling to propose new forms of entertainment to attract and to entertain customers. The final aim of entertainment is having fun and spending good time. An important asset, that is not always taken into consideration, is the importance of the people with whom you are participating in an activity. Interactions between people are extremely relevant for making an activity and event attractive and memorable. In entertainment the type of the activity or show matters until a certain point. What really makes the difference are the people with whom you are sharing them.
“Happiness is real only when shared” - from the movie “Into the wild” (2007)
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3.3 Solution: From an App to a Community
Modern smart-ships with digital screen and wi-fi connection on board. Innovation of the entertainment. Creation of a community.
is a tough task, there are 5.000 guests on board, and they have many different nationalities, ages, interests. The use of digital technologies for social purposes can be a solution. We propose to
Starting from the importance of socialization and sharing the experience, we have started thinking on how digital technologies and smart ships can be used for doing that. We have supposed to have a modern smart-ship
create a community application of all the guests on-board. This APP will be mainly used by personal devices of the guests (i.e. smartphones) but also by local devices (e.g. tablet, tv..). The idea of the community
(like the new MSC Meraviglia) with lots of
changes the direction of the current
sensors on-board, screens available for
application Msc for Me. The current direction
customers and a wi-fi connection. We have also considered to give a smart bracelet to each customer for their check-in and checkout, for doing payments, for opening their cabins and finally for socialization purposes. First of all, our solution aims to create a community of the customers on-board, making them feeling part of MSC family. The central point is to help the connection between the people on-board that may have similar or common interests. Apparently, this
of MSC for Me is to simplify the organisation and planning of the cruise experience. The community APP, called My Special Community, will integrate all the functions of the current MSC for Me together with new social
functions,
that
will
be
much
appreciated by young generations but not only: in the analysis section it is shown that social networks are more and more used also by senior users.
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3.4 My Special Community
How does My Special Community work? The new application My Special Community comprehends both the current functions of MSC for me for improving the quality of the cruise and others new functionalities for improving the communication on-board and the interaction between people. The application is divided in 5 main parts: chat&contacts, activities, localisation, photos, personal profile. The homepage gives access to all the fuctions.
Personal profile
Photos
Activities & Events (What)
Chat & Contacts (Who)
Localisation (Where)
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3.3.1 PERSONAL PROFILE
The first interaction of the guest with the application is during the login phase, that preferably happens before the cruise starts. The person has to login and to provide: •
personal data (name, surname, gender, occupation,address, telephone number and email);
•
interests and preferences - any type of interest from music to sport, from the reading to adventure excursions... - in order to fully exploit the opportunities given by the technology;
•
the profile photo
•
the level of privacy to be set: the guest can decide to share with friends his/her personal data and the localisation information.
Only friends can have access to the personal data and the localisation informations. If the guest decides not to share personal information and/or his/her localisation, the friends will not see his/her position and will not know more information about his/her lifestyle.
3.3.2 ACTIVITIES Activities & Events function is particularly linked to the entertainment of the guests. In this section, all the official events and activities proposed by MSC and its partners are presented. Guests can easily see the details of the event, express their interest, book a seat, but they can also propose it in a chat group and do a group reservation. The possibility of group reservations is particularly useful and important for guests since in this way they can book seats near to each other. An important innovation in this area is the possibility for customers to propose their own activities.
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Team NANA Each one can simply propose a meeting, a sport
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match or other on the platform and see if someone is interested in joining him/her. This is a huge change since it allows people to fully exploit opportunities on-board and to meet others people with similar interest. Everyone can propose an activity, adding its details about date, place and minimum number of participants. People can see this activity on the app and if they are interested they can join it and come in contact with the organiser and with others participants. This section can have an important impact also on the pre-cruise experience: guests can post and see activities before the cruise. Therefore,
they can start meeting others people and forming a group before officialy beginning the cruise. The possibility of customers to post their activities complicates the application interface and puts concerns related to the legality of proposed activities. A solution for legality issues is to implement an automatic filter for accepting the proposed activities together with a dedicated supervisory team responsible for controlling the content posted. The system automatically proposes events that may be of interest for the guest according to the preferences that had put in the personal profile. The system continuously improves its accuracy looking at the events at which the guest participates.
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More experience, before and after the event.
ParZcipate in new acZviZes
Organize acZviZes in group
Meet new people
Guests have the opportunity to meet people with the same interests during the activities. They can exchange contacts through bracelets and add the
Create group
Exchange contact with bracelet
person to the contacts list accepting the friend request. They can start to book the activities in group simply creating a new group.
3.3.3 LOCALISATION
Localisation is an already present function, but we have redesigned it keeping in mind the new social direction and trying to integrate it with the community concept. The main innovation introduced in this section is the SUGGESTED PLACES part. The purpose of the system is to suggest the “right place at the right time”. In fact, the system shows places where, at the moment, many of our community friends are. Therefore, this part acts as a personal advisor who suggests where is the ‘place to be’ at a certain time, avoiding to wander around the ship with no destination.
Another functionality is FAVORITES, through which we can choose few contacts that we could immediately monitorize in the localisation area to see where they are in the ship and how distant they are in terms of time. These tools can be useful especially for families, in fact parents can keep under control their children simply by looking at the app.
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Then, there is the VIRTUAL MAP of the ship. Guests can filter the map by selecting a floor of the ship. Moreover, through the beacons we can see the distribution of the guests in the ship divided in four categories: Young, Families, Friend added by accepting the request and Senior. The guests can use this function to understand where to go for meeting people who belongs to their own category, therefore, the virtual map can have a similar function of SUGGESTED PLACES, but it is extended to all people categories and not only to friends.
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3.3.4 CHAT AND CONTACTS Chat and Contacts is a new section, not present in the current MSC for Me. It allows to simplify the level of communication on-board using the wi-fi internet connection available. What makes it different from other chat apps (i.e. whatsapp) is that it is strictly linked to the cruise experience. People on-board can exchange their contact (sending a friend request) by simply accosting bracelets with others guests that they meet on-board during activities and events. It is also well linked with others functionalities of the app (localisation, activities&events and photos) and it simplifies the possibility to share informations on-board. It has been designed as a traditional chat application with the possibility to use vocal messages, calls and the possibility to create groups of friends. It is a useful function that guarantees the continuous access of guests on the APP and the possibility to easily keep in touch with the people they met.
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3.3.4 PHOTO
This function allows guests to look for official photos or to upload their own photos taken during the holiday and to share them with friends. The connection with other social networks fosters the diffusion of MSC’s photos on digital platforms. The photo function is a new one. Photos and media contents are commonly shared among friends on digital format. As Carnival has already done, digital platforms can simplify how official photos are presented to guests and it can act also as a virtual shop for buying and booking certain photos. This function does not act only as a simplifier since it allows guests also to upload their own photos taken during the holiday and to share them with friends. This functionality can be implemented together with others
social
networks
(i.e.
instagram,
facebook‌) allowing the diffusion of photos of MSC cruises on digital platforms. The system can work with both the gps system and
the
facial
recognition
system.
In the first case the system proposes to the guest photos made in the place where he was at a certain time, so he has to select through this photos
those
representing
himself.
With the facial recognition system is more simple, because the system proposes directly the pictures representing the guest. It is possible to filter the photos by places, date and event. After cruise photos are deleted, guests have a limited time to download photos of their interest.
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32 Once the guest has received a photo in his Private Album, he can share it in his Social Media (Facebook, Twitter‌), he can give the permission to publish it in the Public Album of the Location or Event where it was taken or send it through private or group chats of the APP. This encourages the customers to share their experiences increasing the scope of them to other known users, unknown users and people out of the cruise. These sharing activities on others platform increases also the visibility of MSC on digital channels and acts as a free advertising.
Share the happiness with your friends
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3.3.5 CUSTOMER JOURNEY EXPERIENCE
Once the details of the app have been defined we can provide an example of how ‘My Special Community’ can really improve the guests’ experience along the customer journey:
As the customer journey map shows, our solution improves the overall cruise experience of guests. Solo travelers are a particular category of customers which maybe can benefit more than others, but also all other guests can have an advantage in using it. My Special Community gives benefits before, during and after the cruise. Before the cruise, guests can join some activities and they start meeting other passengers of the same cruise. Users can share their photo taken during the trip, and get in touch with each other by the APP. Passengers interaction will continue after the holiday. It is common to feel blue after holidays, but with this solution, guests will bring unforgettable memories of their days on MSC ship with their new friends.
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3.3.6 CRITICAL ISSUES and OUR SOLUTIONS
My Special Community has some possibile critical issues. There we propose our solutions. Privacy concerns Like the other social app My Special Community has to face with some privacy concerns. Some guests could be not interested in sharing their position or their personal data. Solution Passengers can modify the privacy settings in their personal profile turning off the localisation and the sharing of personal data. In this way, they can use the app to porpose/book the activities, have notifications, chat with friends. Seniors Seniors are a category of passengers that maybe will be not attracted by the solution proposed. Some of them are less familiar in using both digital applications and digital devices (smartphone, tables..). Solution A trained staff can help them with the application and can give to guests the possibility to use the same functionalities in an easier way (e.g. from the screen of the television in the cabin as they already do). We consider it as a short-term issue, in the next years it is expected that also senior guests will not have any problem in using digital technologies.
People that prefer to stay alone Some guests can be not interested in making new friends and meeting new people, they will prefer to have a relaxing experience without any interruption or disturb. Solution Since they are not interested in it they can use the app only for the basic functions.
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3.3.7 FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
My Special Community will improve the interactions among passageners and as a consequence will improve also the interactions between passengers and the ship. A better use of the ship’s functionalities will increase revenues. The solution is high feasible. The implementation costs are low: MSC already has the tools our solution needs; they have just to be further developed. Revenues The returns derived from our solution are due to an increase of the expenses of passengers. The Community will allow the guests to meet other people and to organise with them many activities – excursions, drinks, dinners, competitions... In this way, guests engage each other in booking and participating at activities that they would probably not do if they were alone. Another source of revenues given by My Special Community is the possibility to acquire a lot of information about the customers’ profile and their behaviour on board. In this way, MSC can customise the services in a more tailored way. Costs It is possible to identify three main costs due to the implementation of this solution. First of all, bracelets with NFC and location functionalities are required, but the costs are not very high. Moreover, MSC has started a partnership with Samsung, with the aim of implementing digital solutions (such as NFC technology) and Samsung devices on board. Therefore, MSC can leverage a preferential treatment to create jointly the bracelets with the required characteristics. In addition, it is easy to suppose that the bracelets will be a standard in the near future, therefore high differential costs are not implicated. Secondly, the costs necessary to develop My Special Community have to been considered. In particular, the initial investment is the most expensive part: considering an example project for iOS and Android and includes login authentication, complex business logic and UI, offline functionality and backend connections the expenditure should vary from 200.000 to 400.000€. Moreover, it is necessary to take into consideration some maintenance costs, which are around 10000 €/month. Lastly, it is necessary to create the My Special Community’s team engaged to manage the app: solve app’s problems, upload official activities and photos, check and evaluate the activities proposed by passengers.
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4. Organization of the team 4.1 Working in team 4.1 Working in team
The team NANA who conducted this project is quite diverse; it is composed by seven members from three different nationalities with different backgrounds. During the project we have tried to exploit this diversity looking at the same things from different perspectives. A lot of group meetings were organised for helping the exchange and sharing of ideas. According to the Tuckman theory there are 4 stages in the group development: forming, storming, norming and performing. In the following scheme we have linked each phase of the project with the different stages highlighting the importance of different roles and pointing out key roles for each phase. Each member of the team has played different roles among the project given the circumstances.
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Each phase of the project required different organizations, methodologies and approaches: Analysis The analysis part was the very first step done in the project; during it, each of us has collaborated in analysing the cruise environment and business, and during planned meetings we exchanged our perceptions and impressions about it. We have tried to satisfy the interests and exploit the inclinations of each member by splitting the different parts of the analysis in a consensual way. The tasks were completed mainly by individual work, but meetings played an important role: during them we started knowing each other and started understanding each one. As a consequence a lot of work was completed during and after meetings in smaller groups. Idea generation Once everyone had collected some materials and had some ideas and beliefs about his/her part,
we
discussions’
organised
many
sessions
and
brainstorming for exchanging our ideas and for finding the direction to pursue. The direction was not clear from the beginning; we passed
through
many
intermediate steps until we finally found out the final one. The definition of the direction to take was the hardest part of all the project and it required a lot of time and effort. In this phase the sources of inspiration were both individual reflections and brainstorming. The ideas and concepts generated had to pass through an approval process, [Graph. 13: Innovation process]
explained in this scheme.
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Solution Once the concept of the solution has been defined we focused on going deeper in it. We started with the division of different tasks, but we kept periodic meetings for taking the key decisions together and for sharing informations. We noticed that periodic meetings were very useful for solving particular issues met, the discussion with others members of the team was often very useful and profitable. In particular since the nature of our solution, we split the work in smaller groups and did a lot of individual work. We used periodic meetings for looking at the state of progress and for making new decisions as it is showed in the next scheme.
[Graph. 14: Team working process]
A similar framework was used in very final stage of the project for completing this report and the final presentation. In conclusion the innovation project was conducted in a very collective way, giving the possibility to each team member to have a say and with many meetings, group discussions and group-work sessions. This was apparently a time-consuming decision, but it allowed us to effectively work and act as a team and not simply as a group of people.
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4.2 Team experience
The voice of each team member is there reported. A brief identikit and the whole brain profile of each team member is also provided: Massimiliano Banterle “The innovation project has allowed me to work in a diverse team both in terms of culture and skills. This heterogeneity has given me the opportunity to acquire and share knowledge with the other members. In addition, it has been a big challenge because it has been different from all the group works I did before. In fact, I was used to deliver projects with specific goals and a clear path and we had to work with much more freedom. In general, I consider myself a rational goal-oriented person, with this project I have been forced to be more creative and innovative and I have improved my ability to relate to others within a group work.�
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Federico Battilana “Working in a team is always stimulant, especially when different cultures meet. This experience was for me at first an opportunity to learn how to relate with other people doing a work understanding that each person in the team as his own role in the interaction process . It also helps me in understanding what is behind an idea, the steps to cross before the solution, from avoiding the fear of proposing something which may be incorrect or absurd, to the concept of critics, that are positive because allows us to see different angles of the problems”.
Fukura Manami “I have worked on project work several times with international students (mainly come from Asian countries) in my home university, but this project was completely new challenge for me. Every team member are diligent, and good at giving presentations and leading discussions. I learned a lot from not only faculty members, but each team members. I was shocked because I noticed that there are many things We Japanese students should acquire to collaborate with diverse people in a global context, and this project became a really good experience. I really appreciate all of my team members.”
Team NANA
41 Roberto Bonfiglio “The innovation project has been a great experience for learning how to work effectively in a team.. During the project I understood the importance of establishing good relations and to create a nice environment. I have also learnt the relevance of having the right direction and vision, and eventually going back for changing something to the best. During the project I appreciated the flexible roles inside the group that allowed me to try playing different roles and helped me in developing others skills. Concluding the innovation project has been a great learning experience for understanding my own characteristics and for improving my weaknesses.”
Maria Concetta Carissimi “The leadership and innovation project represents for me the opportunity to realize that working in team lets to achieve more. I was mainly the initiator of the solution, without the brainstorming I would not had the initial idea. It was the first time I realized that together people can achieve more, before I used to believe that working alone was more productive. Now it’s impossible for me to think that this work would been made only by me. The second thing is that thanks to the teamwork I find out some characteristics of me that I didn’t know before: the creativity, the impatient, the passion and the obstinacy. Interaction with my team mates let me to better know my self”.
Team NANA
42 Paolo Abbiati “The innovation process has been a good experience to me because I learned how to work together with people with which you weren’t used to work with: before doing the project I was a little worried about the idea of working with people that I never seen before, but at the end of the day I can say that working with new people and starting knowing them during the work it’s been even more funny. So, this project has taught to me the importance of working together, and moreover I founded out that each person in a group has his own talent, and I learnt the importance of acquiring and sharing knowledge with members to increase our personal skills and competences”.
Jorge Cercos “This project has been as difficult as interesting and useful. I am an exchange student and in my home university it is not common to realize this kind of projects. All it made it a great challenge for me, nevertheless, in the end it has been a very gratifying experience. While at the beginning of the group work wasn’t sure about how the relationship with the others member were going to be at the end the result couldn’t be better. Each one has a different role, different soft skills and background and we have coordinated really well. Respect the project, the fear about the scope and freedom has been, at the end, really interesting and motivating”.
Team NANA
5. Bibliography and references
https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association): •
2017, industry outlook
•
January 2017, cruise travel report
•
2016, industry outlook
•
2015, statistics and market for europe
https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/ http://www.cruisemarketwatch.com http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3661839/From-Cirque-du-Soleil-showsbiggest-LED-dome-ceiling-sea-Inside-stunning-new-smart-ship-MSC-Meravigliaia.html http://www.windrosenetwork.com/ https://www.carnival.com/ https://www.royalcaribbean.it/ http://www.cruisecritic.com/ http://www.pewresearch.org/ http://www.smartinsights.com/ http://www.cruisecritic.com/
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