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In January of 2018, AMAZON.COM Inc. (Amazon) opened its first self-service Amazon Go convenience store in Seattle, Washington. Armed only with a smartphone app tied to a credit card, a customer could enter the store, select merchandise from the aisles and refrigeration cases, and just walk out—no lines, no waiting, no cashier. A can of coke, chocolate bar, or chicken sandwich placed in a shopper's bag, is identified, accounted for, and charged to a payment card, all facilitated by computer vision, deep learning, and sensor-based information technologies (IT). Based on extensive public sources, the Amazon Go case provides a rich opportunity to explore an IT-enabled startup that potentially threatens three industries: convenience stores, grocery stores, and fast food outlets. In the future, the technology, either by licensing or expansion by Amazon, arguably could disrupt the broader retail industry and its millions of employees. Students have an opportunity to explore the boundary between IT and business strategy, while seeing the potential economic implications of fixed cost investments in IT. They will see how one company, Amazon, strategically develops, deploys, and extends its growing arsenal of IT weapons. The case also catalyzes discussions of social issues, including the impact of technology on employment and the tradeoffs between personal privacy and customer service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In January 2014, the CEO of the renowned U.S. discount retailer Target wrote an open letter to its customers apologizing for the massive data breach the company experienced during the 2013 holiday season. Attackers were able to steal credit card data of 40 million customers and more were probably at risk. Share prices, profits, but above all reputation were all now at stake. How did it happen? What was really stolen? What happened to the data? How could Target win consumer confidence back? While the company managed the consequences of the attack, and operations were slowly back to normal, in the aftermath the data breach costs hundreds of million dollars. Customers, banks, and all the major payment card companies took legal action against Target. Some of these litigations remained unsettled 3 years later. The importance of the breach lays in its far broader consequences, rippling through the U.S. Congress, and raising consumer and industry awareness on cyber security. The case provides substantial data and information, allowing students to step into the shoes of Target executives as they seek answers to the above questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, employees are innovating with their own consumer technologies (such as smartphones and tablets), rather than looking to their companies' IT departments to lead technical innovation. This can give rise to tension between employees and IT departments, and this tension is particularly pronounced in the US military, where long systems development times run headlong into young, technology-savvy soldiers arriving in camp with smartphones, sophisticated applications, and high expectations. In this case study, this phenomenon plays out in the person of a US Army Captain who, using resources obtained via the Internet and while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan, develops and sells an inexpensive iPhone application - Tactical NAV - that provides soldiers with a sophisticated navigation tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Walsham hotel is an upscale hotel, located in a large southern city. Its clientele have high expectations and, given the Walsham's urban location, likely includes many senior executives. The case focuses on the hotel's Director of Rooms and, in particular, the hotel's profitable mini-bar department. A major face-lift for the property's rooms provides an opportunity to replace the refrigeration units in the mini-bar, units that have been in place for over 10 years. The Director is considering either a more energy-efficient version of the current unit or a much more expensive unit, the KN346. The latter has some interesting electronic features including sensing technology and peer-to-peer networking that, together, would permit remote real-time access to the mini-bar inventory. This unit could drive down labor costs, reduce disagreements at check-out, improve customer service, and allow personalized mini-bar stocking. The case is arranged in four parts. Only Part A should be distributed in advance. Part B should be distributed only after Part A is discussed. Parts C and D could be similarly distributed only after discussion of their preceding parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the improvement of customer service in the hospitality business through information technology. Objectives of the Customer Service Life Cycle (CLSC); Stages of CLSC requirements; Revolution of business relationships with customers using the Internet.