In every industry sector, we are seeing the pace of innovation moving at fast speeds. Fully leveraging all of the mobile- and cloud-based solutions – in ways to help organizations stay fully ahead of the curve – can be tremendously challenging.
The hospitality sector is going through its own information revolution where new innovations make it possible to not only mine guest data more effectively, but also serve up offerings that please guests in highly individualized ways.
This is all very exciting, but how can large hospitality providers keep up with the pace of innovation?
According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, the new ‘digital title wave’ should cause organizations to move the function of IT from the ‘back of the bus to the front seat.’ The article also underscored how this hypothetical bus is moving very fast.
For many years, we have believed and supported client projects that only provide direct business value to an organization. This new fast-paced digital frontier reinforces our long-held philosophy about IT being a business catalyst, but takes it to the next level.
Rather than just pushing for IT to have a seat the management table, it is time for this role to be the ‘bus driver.’ This requires IT professionals to have a strong business knowledge base, along with the ability to embrace and procure the most bleeding-edge innovations. Simply put; IT leaders needs to wear many hats – some that will push them out of their comfort zones.
This is no small challenge for hotel IT professionals. The stakes have become much higher for technology and everyday we are seeing new examples of how it can be the foundation for true business differentiation.
“The challenge for every business is to look across the enterprise to see how silo-based operations are impacting the guest experience,” said Tobias Bray, Innovation Strategist at NetLink Resource Group. “Guest expectations are being shaped by the efficiency and innovation they find in personalized interactions on mobile platforms outside hospitality. Brands are making the transformation, but have to walk carefully around the deep cultural expectation of high-touch services that are common today.”
We believe that this is one of the most exciting times in technology. Yes, things are moving very fast, but it’s time for all of us to adapt and take a ‘smart, fast’ approach to implementing the most cutting-edge innovations.