A Focus On Customers, Channels, Content And Capital Is Driving A Changed Approach To I.T. In The Global Hospitality Industry – Presentation by Ian C Graham
Bag End at Fletchings | In a world that is changing, it is no wonder that the world of technology in hospitality is ever changing. In a speech made at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai on May 5 by Ian Graham, Managing Director of The Hotel Solutions Partnership Ltd, explored these changes and notes the strategies pursued by progressive executives.
Bag End at Fletchings | In a world that is changing, it is no wonder that the world of technology in hospitality is ever changing. In a speech made at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai on May 5 by Ian Graham, Managing Director of The Hotel Solutions Partnership Ltd, explored these changes and notes the strategies pursued by progressive executives.
He identified four drivers of change – at the centre is the customer who comes from home or office with changed expectations of the technology that they use in the bedroom or interface with in buying the experience. The channels that the customer uses, whether the end customer or their intermediary, are changing largely in favour of the on-line internet enabled channels. And this shift has brought back into focus the growing importance of channel management – ensuring the customer uses the channels the business wants him or her to use to use for each type of transaction. Increasingly the business has to focus on the content that is available on each channel – content is the only differentiator in the on-line world and only the end supplier controls the content describing all aspects of the experience. If the first three changes are therefore customer expectations, channel, and content management, the fourth change is an aversion to risk and lack of capital that is the result of the last 30 months of downturn. Capital constraints are limiting just how fast and how far the global hospitality industry is willing to respond.
He concluded that “The world of technology in hospitality is ever changing. Four drivers of change can be identified – customers, channels, content and capital. Progressive executives in the global hospitality industry are pursuing IT strategies that reflect and respond to each of, and all of, these drivers of change.”