Cirque du Soleils Information Technology

Initiatives
The case describes the information technology initiatives of Canada
based circus entertainment company Cirque du Soleil (Cirque).
Cirque organized shows that were a combination of circus, theater,
and opera. Its shows were both touring and permanent. Cirque
started in a small way in the early 1980s and at that time it did not
need much support in the terms of IT. As its operations grew,
several units like casting, costume designing, logistics,
merchandizing, HR, finance, and ticketing came into existence.
These units were operating on different operating systems with 200
applications. Beginning 2000, Cirque began streamlining its IT
applications, beginning from standardizing the servers and work
stations, using fiber optic cables, use of VoIP, etc. Cirque went on to
add SAP for some of the modules. To further centralize the
operations, Cirque implemented IBMs WebSphere Business
Integration Server express Plus software in four phases. The case
discusses in detail the IT systems in Cirque, new systems that were
implemented and the subsequent benefits Cirque derived from the
new IT systems.

Cirque du Soleils Information Technology

Initiatives
IT is the last thing to leave a site and the first to be in production at the next
location. Its on the critical path to be ready for the premiere (in each city).1
Danielle Savoie, Vice President, Knowledge Management and Information
Technology, Cirque du Soleil, in November 2002.

Introduction
In April 2006, Montreal, Canada-based Cirque du Soleil (Cirque)2 announced that the
company would outsource its information technology (IT) needs to CGI Group Inc.
(CGI) (Refer to Exhibit I for more information on CGI). The agreement would be for
a period of ten years, with the contract being valued at CDN$ 130 million3. As a result
of this contract, 84 IT professionals from Cirque, located in Montreal, Las Vegas, and
Orlando were absorbed by CGI. It was agreed that CGI would develop and support
Cirques Worldwide IT infrastructure and applications.
Exhibit I

CGI Group Inc.

CGI Group Inc. (CGI) is an IT services company based in Quebec City. It was
founded in June 1976 by Serge Godin and Andr Imbeau. As of October 2007, the
company was present in 15 countries around the world. The annual revenue for the
company is C$ 3.5 billion for the year 2006.
Through strategic alliances with organizations such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP,
IBM, and Sun Microsystems, CGI provides services like consultancy and full
management of the IT functions of the business. The company has also developed
some in-house packages which are industry specific and help to streamline the IT
requirements of the specific industries like credit agencies, telecommunication
firms, government organizations, banking and wealth management firms,
healthcare organizations, etc. The company has also developed general products
which can be customized according to the specific requirements of different
industries. Such products include ERP solutions, CRM Solutions, etc.
In the year 1994, CGI secured the ISO 9001 certification for its product: Project
Management Framework. As of October 2007, all the products that the company
provides have been certified. In 2002, the companys Indian centers achieved
CMM level 5 rating. The company was ranked as one of the top IT service
providers to the insurance and banking industries by American Banker in 2006. It
has continuously featured as one of the top employers in Canada.
Source: www.cgi.com and other sources.
1

Alice Dragoon, Rapid Deployment: IT at Cirque du Soleil, www.cio.com, November 01,

2002.
Cirque Du Soleil, which means Circus of the Sun in French, is a privately held
entertainment company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The annual revenue of
the company was estimated at US$ 600 million in the financial year 2006.
As of December 13, 2007, 1 Canadian Dollar = US$ 0.989.

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Talking about the deal, Danielle Savoie (Savoie), Vice President Knowledge
Management and Information Technology, Cirque, said, We were looking for an IT
service supplier able to support our activities worldwide. We needed a true partner
one as flexible and rigorous as we are. We also knew that for our growth initiatives to
succeed, we would have to be able to depend on professionals who consistently work
at the leading edge of technology. Thats why we entrusted the delivery of our IT
functions to CGI through a 10-year outsourcing contract. We believe that this decision
will prove most beneficial for Cirque du Soleil.4
In July 2006, Cirque and Orange Business Services entered into a deal according to
which Orange would manage Cirques global IT network to support its performances.
Through IP VAN and WAN solutions, Cirques strategic applications were made
available across the world. Other services provided by Orange included service
management and applications to control logistics pertaining to global network
implementation.
Cirque, a circus entertainment company, had shows that were a combination of
traditional circus, theater, and opera. It organized both permanent shows and touring
shows spread across the world. Ever since its inception in 1984, Cirque had been
known for its innovation and creativity, both on stage and off it. In order to manage
the complexities that arose due to its widespread geographical presence, Cirque aimed
at developing a robust IT infrastructure. The company had implemented a number of
IT systems like SAP ERP5 and a software from IBM which helped it to link all its
shows touring and resident with its head office in Montreal.

Background Note
In 1980, Gilles Ste-Croix (Ste-Croix), who was skilled in stilt-walking, got together
with some performers to found Les Echassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul (Les Echassiers).
The group began to give street performances. Soon Laliberte and Daniel Gauthier
(Gauthier) joined the group. In the same year, Gauthier and Ste-Croix came up with a
plan to turn Le Balcon Vert, a performing artists youth hostel that they managed, into
an organized performing troupe. To raise funds for this purpose, Ste-Croix stiltwalked6 between Baie-Saint-Paul7 and Quebec City8. This attracted the attention of
the Quebec Government, which provided the trio with the necessary funds. Their
maiden tour was that of Quebec in 1980.

4
5

Cirque du Soleil, CGI Annual Report, 2006.

SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is an integrated ERP software manufactured by
the Germany based company SAP AG. Typically, ERP systems attempt to cover all basic
functions of an organization like manufacturing, accounts, human resources, sales, customer
relationship management, supply chain management etc. SAP delivers a single database that
contains data for all these functions of the organization.
Stilt walkers attach themselves to very high poles and walk elevated above normal heights.
Stilts are poles made of wood, about five feet in length, provided with a shoulder and a strap
to support the foot on the upper part. The lower part is enlarged to enable walking while
maintaining balance on the ground.
Baie-Saint-Paul is a city in the province of Quebec and is located on the Saint Lawrence
river.
Quebec City is the capital of the Canadian Province Quebec and is the second largest city in
the province after Montreal.

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Initially, however, Les Echassiers was a commercial failure and suffered substantial
losses. In late 1980, the trio formed the Club des Talons Hauts, a troupe formed by
bringing together many street performers like fire-eaters, mime artists9, jugglers,
and stilt walkers. The venture, known as the High-Heels Club, started making
profits by 1981.
By September 1981, Les Echassiers had broken even. The trio decided to organize a
fair, at which they could exchange ideas with other performers and also learn new
tricks. The fair, which first toured in July 1982, was called the La Fete Foraine de
Baie St-Paul (La Fete Foraine). La Fete Foraine also held workshops to teach the
circus arts to anyone interested in learning them. These people could then take part
in the performances.
In 1984, during the 450th anniversary of Jack Cartiers discovery of Canada, the
troupe convinced the organizers of the celebrations in Quebec to provide them with
a grant running to C$ 1.2 million. This led to the subsequent formation of Cirque.
The company performed shows across Quebec. Laliberte chose the name Cirque du
Soleil for his company as he saw the sun as a symbol of youth, energy, power, and
light.
From the very beginning, Cirques shows were quite different from the shows of a
traditional circus. Its shows had much more to offer compared to the traditional
circus, as Cirque had artists from several countries performing in the show. It
created a new circus experience with amazing light effects, own music, and
radically different costumes. To attract the audience, traditional circuses often
included performances by well-known and famous artists. Cirque did not employ
noted performers to pull crowds as Laliberte believed that no performer could be
bigger than Cirque itself. Nor did Cirque include animals in its acts. By not
including animals, the company avoided attacks from animal rights activists and the
huge costs involved in maintaining and moving the animals. Cirque also avoided
loud background music, which was common in traditional circuses.
After its first tour in 1984, Cirque received an additional grant from the Quebec
government. With these funds, Cirque carried out a major renovation organizing
itself into a formal circus. For this purpose, Laliberte met with Guy Caron (Caron),
founder of Canadas National Circus School. Caron began working as Cirques
artistic director. Both Laliberte and Caron played a major role in redesigning
Cirque. There was a live band that played strong, emotionally charged music from
the start till the end. The performers themselves moved the props and the equipment
on and off the stage, blending the process into their performance. This way, the
main storyline of the performance was not disrupted.
In 1985, the troupe performed outside Quebec for the first time when it held a show
in the neighboring province of Ontario. The positive response from the audience
encouraged Laliberte to expand Cirques operations outside Quebec. In the next
year, Cirque performed at the Childrens Film Festival in British Columbia and at a

Mime is a performance act in which the artist performs a story through body motions and
facial expressions without the use of speech.

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Information Technology for Competitive Advantage

world fair in Vancouver. By this time, Cirque had a seating capacity to 1500.
However, some of the shows failed, leaving Cirque in a financial mess. In late 1985,
the performance in Toronto received a poor response from the audience with just 25
percent of the seats being filled. A subsequent show at Niagara was also a failure.
As a result, Cirque went deep into debt to the tune of US$ 750,000. However, the
company did not go bankrupt as Cirques financial institution, the Desjardins
Group, postponed Cirques debt payment of US$ 200,000. The Quebec government
granted sufficient funds to the company so that it could sustain itself for another
year.
In 1987, the status of Cirque was changed from non-profit to a for-profit entity. That
year, the troupe was invited to the Los Angeles Arts Festival. Although the company
was facing financial problems, Laliberte decided to take a chance and accept the
invitation. The performance was a huge success. The show got noticed by Columbia
Pictures10, which entered into talks with Laliberte and Gautier for making a movie
about Cirque. However, Laliberte did not allow the deal to materialize as Columbia
Pictures tried to control the production. This experience left him with the conviction
that Cirque should be privately held so that he could have all the freedom needed to
operate the company.
The company could seat 2,500 people by the year 1990, and the tickets sold for as
high as US$ 33.5.11 By this time, Cirque had different troupes touring several parts of
the world and normally halting in cities for about four to five weeks. A new
production named Nouvelle Experience which toured 13 major cities in the US and
Canada over 19 months enjoyed an excellent response and by the end of its tour, there
were 1.3 million people who had seen it12.
By mid-1991, Cirque was able to convince Fuji Television Network (Fuji) to sponsor
Cirques tour of Asia and Fuji agreed to give US$ 40 million for the purpose. Cirque
performed across eight cities beginning with Tokyo. At the same time, it partnered
with Circus Knie13 for a tour of Switzerland. The company also conducted a tour of
North America with its production Saltimbanco (Street Performer in Italian) in 1992.
Saltimbanco was a major success in North America and it then toured Tokyo for six
months.
Cirque also entered into a year-long agreement with Mirage, a Las Vegas hotel, to
perform Nouvelle Experience. This was Cirques first engagement of the kind. The
fact that this was a huge success encouraged it to launch another production called
Mystere, which began its performance at Mirage. Subsequently, Cirque entered into a
ten-year contract with Mirage for the production. Steve Wynn (Wynn), owner of
Mirage, also built a permanent facility for Cirque at the cost of US$ 20 million at his
new resort, Treasure Island, which opened in 1994. This provided Cirque with a major
10

11
12
13

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film and television production company,
owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese electronics corporation
Sony. It has produced popular movies such as Kramer vs. Kramer, Charlies Angels, Hollow
Man, and the more recent Spider Man Series.
Jeffery L. Covell, Cirque du Soleil Inc., www.answers.com, June 02, 1997.
Jeffery L. Covell, Cirque du Soleil Inc., www.answers.com, June 02, 1997.
A Switzerland-based circus company which was formed in 1803.

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Cirque du Soleils Information Technology Initiatives

and steady source of revenue. In addition to the revenues obtained by the company in
terms of ticket sales, it was also earning a significant amount from the merchandise
that it sold at the performances. Besides, there was also a considerable market for
Cirques CDs as the company had created quite a fan following for itself over the
years.
In 1995, Cirque established its first European headquarters at Amsterdam. The
same year, Saltimbanco went on its first extensive tour of Europe. In 1997,
Saltimbanco presented its last performance in London. Cirques next production
was Alegria, which was performed all across Europe for over two years.
Cirques sales had increased manifold from US$ 30 million in 1994 to US$ 110
million in 1996. This growth was mainly because of the permanent production at
Las Vegas, Mystere. Mysteres revenues were at US$ 40 million. In 1997,
Wynn constructed a US$ 60 million theater for Cirque at Bellagio, Las Vegas.
Walt Disney also constructed another permanent theater to house Cirque at Walt
Disney World, near Orlando, California. The same year, a US$ 22 million
facility for rehearsals and costume designing activities called Creation Studio
was created by Cirque in Montreal. This also served as the companys
headquarters.
In October 1998, Cirques new production O (after eau, which means water in
French) debuted at Bellagio. This production was unique with the performance
being conducted in, above, and around an Olympic-sized 1.5 million gallon
swimming pool that had been created for the purpose.14 The production cost was a
whopping US$ 90 million and the tickets were priced at US$ 100 each. Another
production La Nouba debuted at the newly constructed theater at Walt Disney
World. Dralion, yet another new production, embarked on a three-year tour of
North America in January 1999. Thus, Cirque concluded the 1990s with seven
productions and performances in 22 countries in Asia-Pacific, North America, and
Europe.
In October 2004, Cirque entered into an agreement with the Beatles15 to create a
production to be staged at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas. The project called Love,
recreated the life of the Beatles before they became famous. In November the same
year, there was another permanent production, KA, which played at MGM Grand, Las
Vegas. MGM16 acquired Mirage Resorts in 2000 and KA was created specially for
MGM. KA was unique in the sense that it was more clear and straightforward than
other Cirque productions which were quite abstract. The total cost of KA at US$ 220
million, was borne by MGM.

14
15

16

Jeffery L. Covell, Cirque du Soleil Inc., www.answers.com, June 02, 1997.

The Beatles, an English musical group from Liverpool, was one of the most commercially
successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music. Its members were
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Inc. (MGM) is an American media company which is mainly
involved in the production and distribution of films and television programs. It was acquired
by Sony Corporation of America and Comcast in partnership, in association with the Texas
Pacific Group in April 2005. After this acquisition, MGM Mirage was no longer affiliated to
MGM.

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Information Technology for Competitive Advantage

Information Technology Systems at Cirque

Way back in 1984, when Cirque had just around 70 employees and one show, it
was fairly easy to manage its operations. Most of the tasks were done with just a
phone call or through meetings. As the company grew, however, several units
came into existence, which included show creating, casting, costume designing
and creation, ticketing, logistics, merchandizing, human resources, and finance.
The main task of IT was to lend support to all these units by managing equipment,
shows, payroll activities, artist management, ticketing, selling, etc. By 1999, with
Cirque having grown further, the management felt that it was high time it
streamlined the IT-related functions. Every department in the company had its
own software, like ticketing, point of sale application, etc. At that time, Cirque
was using several different operating systems, with more than 200 applications
running on them.
In April 2000, Danielle Savoie (Savoie) joined Cirque as President IT and KM.
According to Savoie, When I got here, the company was in full growth mode. But
the expansion had been organic. There had never been any kind of examination of
how to manage the organization of that growth.17
Savoie conducted a review of the existing IT infrastructure and support by visiting
Cirques shows and offices. She realized that as Cirque grew, the number of
software applications used also went on increasing. Different kinds of applications
were used for tasks like managing human resources, finance, scheduling the
performance of the artists, managing the costumes, etc. Cirque opted for show
management software for managing the costumes and artists. Point of sale systems
were used to manage merchandise. Most of the other applications were developed
in-house, in view of the fact that Cirques business activities were unique and not
found in other businesses.
IT was also used in support functions, especially in casting. For every role,
several auditions were carried out and it was necessary to maintain a record about
the auditions and the personal details of the artists. For these purposes, Cirque
used an application developed by the companys IT team. There were several
other unique applications which Cirque used. One such application was Kincirque,
which was used at its training center to monitor the complex movements that
artists carried out and any injuries that they suffered in carrying out these
movements.
Another application was used to monitor the make-up used by the artists. In Cirque,
the artists applied their own make-up and were trained in the art at Montreal. It was
important for the artists to keep track of the make up and know how to go about it. To
enable this, the application used to monitor make-up was centralized and had a step by
step guide to applying make-up, along with images. Artists could access it to obtain
technical details.
Though the acts were running, a major problem was that the different processes could
not share data. In such a situation, even a minor hitch like a performer not being able
17

www.cirquedusoleil.com.

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to perform could have severe repercussions. To find a replacement, Cirque had to

access another application, which stored that particular data. But this kind of disorder
was not rare in companies which had witnessed unprecedented growth within a short
span of time.
Savoie understood that the infrastructure for each of the shows was different. She then
decided to standardize the IT systems and support used in different shows of Cirque.
She was of the view that it was necessary to have a new software, through which
employees could have access to all the databases and all the applications. At the same
time, she was not in favor or redesigning the entire set-up.
The magnitude of Cirques operations had to be taken into account before any new
software could be considered and put to use. Of the 11 shows that Cirque had, six
were constantly on the move. These shows moved to new locations up to eight times a
year and this called for constant redeployment of resources and the building of new
sites. This also involved the movement of several tons of equipment, not only within a
country but sometimes even between continents.
Each show stayed in a particular city for around one month. The show was for
duration of around two and a half hours and had a seating capacity of around
2,500. Each show required around 1,000 costumes and five people to control the
costume-related activities. Each of the shows used more than 1,000 tons of
professional equipment including canvas for tents, seating arrangements, sound
systems, drapes, customized costumes for the performers, generators, office
equipment, etc.
Cirque had to keep track of more than 3,000 employees and performers. At the
same time, a database of replacement artists with their details had to be
maintained. Scheduling the performances was one of the most difficult tasks at
Cirque. Some of the performances required highly skilled artists and very few
such performers were available. Each performer had a specific make-up and
costume designed for him/her.
One of the challenging aspects was managing the costumes. There were more than
15,000 costumes and more than 3,000 sets of instructions on how to use them. In each
show, hundreds of costumes were used, and when the artist was changed or replaced,
the costumes had to be changed or altered too. From time to time, old costumes had to
be replaced or altered. Every day, the costume database received several requests for
replacements or alterations. Sometimes the costumes had to be replaced as the
performers weight changed over a period of time. In some of the acts like O, which
were performed under water, wear and tear on the costumes was very high and so they
had to be replaced in quick succession.
Managing inventory was a challenging task. Inventory consisted of not only
equipment related to the show and costumes, but also merchandize items, like CDs of
the shows, masks, hats, bags, ornaments, umbrellas, jewelry, figurines, mugs,
magnets, other items like apparel and toys, which accounted for around 20% of
Cirques total revenues.
Usually when troupes moved to a new location, the IT personnel were among the
first to arrive at that location as a highly complex IT infrastructure needed to be in
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place for the next show to start and run smoothly. After the team finished its
performance at a location, the setup was immediately dismantled and moved to
the next destination. Depending on the location, the next show was scheduled
anywhere between one week to ten days after the previous show. During this time,
the IT infrastructure was set up.
Setting up the IT infrastructure called for moving IT equipment and more than 5
km of network cable from one location to the other. Setting up the
communications network was a difficult task as cables had to be laid and separate
cables were required for voice and data. The networks had to be in place before
the troupes arrived at the new locations so that tickets could be sold for the shows.
Savoie wanted to simplify the process of setting up and dismantling the IT
infrastructure. As she put it, IT is the last thing to leave a site and the first to be
in production at the next location. Its on the critical path to be ready for the
premiere (in each city).18

Initiatives to Revamp the Existing Systems

In early 2000s, Savoie slowly started building up the IT team. She said, When I got
here in 2000, I was the only IT person. Now we have 100 people on staff. Because of
the way weve grown, we have to make up for lost time right now.19
The first major task taken up by Savoie was to standardize the servers and the
workstations. This she did by loading Windows 2000 software in all of them. In order
to move IT equipment safely from one location to the other, IT road cases were
designed. IT road cases were large trunks with wheels used to transport the IT
equipment. These trunks were padded to protect the equipment. Compact rack
mounted servers, which could be set up easily, were another step toward
standardization. Cirque used these servers all across its operations. With these changes
in place, reinstalling the IT equipment became much easier as the equipment could be
reassembled quickly.
Instead of copper wires, fiber optic cables were used. With fiber optic cables, the time
required to install the cables went down considerably. Fiber optic cables were easy to
install and could be used to handle both voice and data communications. Another
change that was brought in was the use of VoIP20 technology.
In 2000, Cirque began using SAP software for the logistics function and added SAP
for finance and human resources in the same year. By the end of 2000, Cirque went in
for SAP ERP for other tasks like procurement, scheduling the shows, scheduling the
performers, etc. However, its website and some tasks like the point of sale system,
maintaining equipment, managing the electronic documents, and other applications,
were still run using Microsoft Office and other software.
18

19
20

Alice Dragoon, Rapid Deployment: IT at Cirque du Soleil, www.cio.com, November 01,

2002.
Larry Barrett, Cirque du Soleil: Juggling Act, Baseline, June 2005.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a category of hardware and software which enables
people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls. Voice data is sent
in packets of data over the Internet rather than by traditional circuits. In other words, VoIP
enables a router to transmit telephone calls and faxes over the Internet with no loss in
functionality, reliability, or voice quality (www.novacon.com).

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Even after bringing in so many changes, the applications that were not running on
SAP were functioning as disparate systems, without being connected with the existing
databases. The touring shows were using their own databases and operating systems,
and were also functioning as separate units and not as a part of the organization. Data
was scattered and data analysis was carried out manually.
Though most of the functions were running smoothly, when it came to program
management, Cirque was facing problems because of the absence of complete
centralization. Several functions were conducted manually, especially those pertaining
to setting up the shows. On reaching a new location, the program managers had to
manually check the availability of the required equipment. In case some of the
equipment was not available, they had to obtain it from Cirques headquarters at
Montreal. If it was not possible to get it from there within the specified time, Cirque
obtained it locally.
In order to integrate these systems and organize all the applications on a single
platform, Cirque went in for IBMs WebSphere Business Integration Server Express
Plus software in March 2003. As per the three-year agreement, IBM agreed to support
Cirque in three areas designing and implementing wireless infrastructure through
IBMs WebSphere software, providing digital content management, and establishing
business continuity and recovery services. Apart from these IBM had agreed to
support installing Storage Area Network and connecting all the servers present in
Cirque.
The main task was to bring together the existing SAP applications and the other
disparate systems existing all over the organization. Bringing these together was again
a huge task that took more than one year to implement. The project was carried out in
four phases.
In the first phase lasting over 4 months, the staff from Cirque and consultants from
IBM decided on the functions and applications they needed to integrate into SAP.
They also determined how to collect and share the required information among the
employees. Right at this stage, Cirque made it clear that it was not willing to disturb
the existing connections between applications used by the program managers. Its main
aim was to obtain all the required data pertaining to inventory, sales, performance etc,
and to make it accessible to the concerned employees.
During the second phase, lasting for about four months, Cirque and IBM built the
Web interface for the planning system. Through this system, information regarding
planning the activities could be accessed and analyzed using the corporate intranet.
In the third phase, all the information relating to the financial function data on ticket
sales, merchandise sales, and procurement, which was stored in different locations
including in SAP servers and the Windows operating system, were brought together
and connected. The third phase took almost five months to complete.
In the fourth and final phase, Cirque integrated its intranet with an online help desk
system. This task took around ten weeks to complete. The main aim of the help desk
system was to enable quicker problem solving.

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The Benefits
After all the four phases were implemented, all the employees of Cirque spread all
across the world, and even those on the shows that moved from one place to the
other had access to the right kind of information. After implementing the systems,
it was easier to find a replacement for any artist. If an artist was not able to
perform, the program managers could use the database to locate a performer with
similar skills within close proximity. In case they found a replacement, they could
immediately access the data about his/her past performance and measurements for
the dresses, head gear, etc. so that the costume makers could start working at once
on making alterations to the dresses or on making new dresses as per the
requirement.
In case of products and souvenirs sold by Cirque, real time data was available to
the executives as Cirque used SAP to link point of sale data to merchandize.
Earlier, they had to wait for a long time to get the data about the products sold and
replacements needed. After the implementation of the new system, they could
obtain point of sale data and keep tabs on the products that were experiencing
high sales, and schedule their manufacturing and dispatch to the concerned
location. This enabled the company to match inventory better and come up with
suitable retail strategies.
The production managers who were earlier checking the inventory manually also
benefited through the new system. Under the new system, all the equipment used was
tagged with a barcode. On reaching a new place, the barcode, which matched with the
inventory in the database, was scanned with a hand held device. In this manner, the
time to check the equipment was reduced by half.
Using highly automated technologies, Cirque controlled several aspects of its shows,
be it the dollies used by the performers to perform some of the acts, to controlling the
lights. To control the lighting and provide the desired effects, Cirque used Wireless
DMX.
With the IBM software, the data relating to Cirque that had been scattered at different
places, was unified and all the employees could access it any time they needed to. The
software allowed the employees to use wireless devices like PDAs and laptops for
communicating with others, to update inventory, place orders, etc. As the IT
infrastructure was completely centralized, Cirque required only one IT technician to
set up the IT infrastructure at new places.
Outsourcing major processes and systems which were highly complex was in itself a
challenge for Cirque. But Savoie was of the view that it was necessary to do so as
Cirque was witnessing rapid growth. Cirque entered into an agreement with CGI in
April 2006. CGI was responsible for managing PCs, servers, and the help desk,
allowing Cirque to concentrate on other activities. Eventually, CGI was expected to
take over other applications like payroll, costumes, merchandize, inventory, etc. CGI
would also be responsible for taking up any required modifications in these
applications.

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Savoie was quite sure that the companys IT systems would be able to provide the
required support, especially when Cirque was in for a massive growth. According to
her, We have five productions concurrently in development and I have to support my
colleagues to ensure they have all the systems and the tools for the growth. They need
to have information systems to support both their operations and their decisionmaking process.21

21

Martin Solfstra, CIO Roundtable, www.itbusiness.ca, February 23, 2007.

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References & Suggested Readings:

1.

Jeffery L. Covell, Cirque du Soleil Inc., www.answers.com, June 02, 1997.

2.

Alice Dragoon, Rapid Deployment: IT at Cirque du Soleil, www.cio.com,

November 01, 2002.

3.

Alice Dragoon, The Amazing Traveling IT Show, CIO, November 01, 2002.

4.

IBM is Cirque du Soleils First Global Corporate Alliance Partner, www03.ibm.com, March 17, 2003.

5.

Cirque du Soleil Announces Three Year Worldwide Partnership with

IBM, www.crm2day.com, March 18, 2003.

6.

Laurie Sullivan, Fast Track to Success, InformationWeek, June 21, 2004.

7.

Christopher Palmeri, The $ 600 Million Circus Maximus, BusinessWeek,

December 13, 2004.

8.

Richard Corliss, Steven Frank, Cirques Big Leap, Time Canada, February
14, 2005.

9.

Larry Barrett, Cirque du Soleil: Juggling Act, Baseline, June 2005.

10.

Daniel Terdiman, The Tech Inside Cirques Big Tent, CNET News.com,
December 05, 2005.

11.

Cirque du Soleil Selects CGI for 10-year IT Outsourcing Contract,

www.cgi.com, April 06, 2006.

12.

Jane Dudman, The Systems Behind the Shows, Computer Weekly, August
15, 2006.

13.

Cirque du Soleil, CGI Annual Report, 2006.

14.

Martin Solfstra, CIO Roundtable, www.itbusiness.ca, February 23, 2007.

15.

www.cirquedusoleil.com

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