The Baseline 2005 ROI Leadership Awards - 'ZIFFPAGE TITLEGrowth'
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Company InterContinental Hotels Group
Annual Return 847%
Project: As InterContinental Hotels watched its Web site grow and traffic increase, the company realized that it was time for an upgrade. So in 2001, InterContinental launched Project Genesisa re-engineering of its Direct E-Commerce distribution system. The new system overhauled how transactions were processed, where content was stored and how applications from Web infrastructure vendor Akamai Technologies could be utilized. Project Genesis also increased international business, as the proportion of site traffic outside the U.S. grew from less than 10% in 2001 to nearly 40% in 2004. Revenue from non-English-speakers now contributes nearly $100 million per year to total channel volume. The project was implemented by ATG, a Cambridge, MA-based software company specializing in e-commerce and e-marketing.
Benefits: Moving some of its content to Akamai's network allowed more than 60% of the extra traffic to be taken off InterContinental's infrastructure. As a result, expenses and investments remained flat while traffic grew.