d2o Taps Industry Veterans Orkin and Ellis to Grow US Market

d2o is bringing its transformative performance navigation technology to the US, building on its track record in Scandinavia where it holds over 60% market share. Offering a new category of software-as-a-service for the hospitality industry, performance navigation provides real-time revenue and productivity management for hospitality operations that need to continuously balance supply and demand fluctuations across a large number of service and food & beverage departments.

With d2o's Performance Management Intelligence (PMI) solutions, department heads see their latest business on the books as well as their real-time progress against goals, and have the ability to modify forecast expectations to reflect changing market conditions. This creates a powerful living platform that guides dynamic decision making as inter-dependent departments optimize their staffing and purchasing levels based on the most current information, and senior management can easily see which departments are off track and need coaching midstream.

"As we started out on this venture in the US, we wanted to tap the experience and insight of innovators who have helped redefine the market before," said Founder and CEO Young Nguyen, who recently relocated from Norway to the United States to lead the expansion. "Eric and Bernard stood shoulders above others in their understanding of the industry and how to translate transformative technology and practices into positive outcomes for hoteliers."

Eric Orkin, Chief of Research and Development

As Chief of Research and Development, Eric Orkin will advance d2o's offerings with even more sophisticated forecasting science as well as ensure that the technology evolves with the unique needs of the US market. Best known as the founder of Delphi Management Systems and OPUS2 Revenue Technologies, Orkin has been pivotal in shaping today's hotel performance concepts and has been a trusted consultant to the world's major brands as well as a thought leader to the industry as a whole. A member of the HFTP Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame, he attended the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, and has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Performance navigation is a new concept for hotels and the approach is truly game changing," said Orkin. "It transforms performance management from a deadline-driven reporting event into a continuous process that engages teams and systems as it integrates with each department's daily workflow."

Bernard Ellis, SVP of Sales and Marketing

As Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Bernard Ellis will drive US market penetration of d2o's transformative technology. With twenty years of experience in hotel revenue management, distribution and operations, Ellis connects with the US hotelier - on both the strategic and tactical levels. Most recently, he was IDeaS' Managing Director for the Americas, heading the successful broad market penetration of the company's revenue management solutions, which resulted in its acquisition by SAS. Prior to IDeaS, he held executive roles first with Micros-Fidelio, then later at SynXis, now part of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, where he led sales and business development to build a customer base of over 6,500 hotels. He graduated from the College of William and Mary, and holds a Master's degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.

"d2o's solutions bring a new paradigm to the industry," added Ellis. "Continuous reforecasting will become second nature to department users as they navigate through changes in market demand on a real-time basis. And what was formerly just the purview of the revenue manager - dynamic performance management -- will now be embraced by the rest of the enterprise, eliminating waste."