Touristic Enterprises Company

Paper processes increase risk of delays

In the past, TEC relied heavily on manual processes to coordinate around 900 repairs across its property portfolio each year. Employees would fill out paper forms describing the maintenance request, and then mail the form to the company’s central maintenance department for review. Once approved, the work would be carried out and documented, and then filed away as a paper record.

The IT Department Manager at Touristic Enterprises Company explains: “In the past, our maintenance flow was heavily dependent on paper-based processes. As a result, it was difficult to keep track of urgent and pending requests, and it was easy for maintenance approvals from senior managers to get lost in the shuffle.”

He continues: “On average, the lead time between raising a maintenance request and performing the work was around two weeks. To reduce the risk of maintenance issues causing friction in the customer experience, we looked for a way to accelerate the process.”

Embracing streamlined digital workflows

To solve the challenge—and as part of its overall IT strategy to automate unstructured workflows—TEC decided to replace its maintenance-request processes with a slick, digital workflow powered by OpenText™ Content Suite. A comprehensive enterprise content management platform, Content Suite empowers businesses to automate processes and increase productivity while reducing storage costs and complying with stringent governance and security requirements.

“We had already been using the Enterprise Scan feature of OpenText Imaging to scan and archive paper records to OpenText Content Server and OpenText Archive Center, so we knew we could count on the quality of OpenText solutions and support services,” recalls the IT Department Manager.

TEC engaged its trusted OpenText Partner MGS to help deploy and implement OpenText Content Suite and design the new digital workflows. To help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data held in the existing OpenText solution, the company also deployed OpenText Brava! and OpenText Content Intelligence—enabling fine-grained access management capabilities.

“Working with MGS to deploy OpenText Content Suite was a great experience,” the IT Department Manager continues. “As well as helping us to map our paper processes to digital workflows in OpenText Content Suite, MGS supported us with effective training for our employees, which helped them to get up to speed quickly. Today, around 200 of our employees use the OpenText solution—including all our maintenance team and representatives from each of our other departments in the business.”

Delivering experiences that shine

Since replacing its paper-based forms with responsive digital workflows, TEC has transformed the speed, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of its maintenance processes. The company has completely eliminated paper forms, delivering annual savings of up to 80 percent on printing and archiving costs. Crucially, TEC has slashed the lead-time between receiving a request and performing maintenance—helping to ensure that its assets are in top condition for visitors.

“Today, any repair or inspection requests go straight into OpenText Content Suite, which means that our maintenance team sees them immediately,” the IT Department Manager explains. “Because our maintenance managers can now review and approve requests online, the average time to complete maintenance has dropped from two weeks to just two days—helping us to ensure we’re delivering the best possible experience for our guests.”

The IT Department Manager adds: “The ability to create and manage maintenance requests digitally proved particularly valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were operating our facilities with a reduced headcount because of social distancing measures. For example, by taking photos of completed work and uploading them to the OpenText solution for approval, our teams were still able to work effectively even when normal business processes were disrupted.”

Looking ahead, TEC sees great potential to harness digital workflows to enhance other areas of its operations.

“We’re confident that our more responsive approach to maintenance, enabled by OpenText Content Suite, will have a very positive impact on guests’ enjoyment of our properties and leisure facilities—helping us to foster satisfaction and long-term loyalty,” concludes the IT Department Manager. “We are delighted with what we have achieved, and look forward to building on our effective collaboration with OpenText and MGS in other areas of our business in the future.”

Partner Information:

With offices in Beirut, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and operations across the Gulf states and Middle East region, MGS is a Lebanese company with over 18 years’ experience in delivering OpenText enterprise solutions and services.