The Human and Business Dimensions at the Heart of a IH&RA Hi-Tech Think Tank / Mar 2001

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The Human and Business Dimensions at the Heart
of a IH&RA Hi-Tech Think Tank

Paris, 26 - March 2001 - - Participants at the International Hotel & Restaurant Association�s (IH&RA) fifth Think Tank on Hospitality Technology held in Paris on 17-18th February 2001 could have been expected to talk about the future of e- and m-business, wireless applications, Voice Over IP and ASPs. But they sidelined predictions about �the next big thing� in favour of sharing their views on the most crucial challenge facing hospitality companies in the e-hospitality environment: the human and the business dimensions.

The group identified a series of �gaps� exposed by the tech revolution which the industry must make a priority of closing:

the gulf between the promise of what technology can do and what is actually being delivered,
the polarisation of state-of-the-art hi-tech and the �high-touch� personalised experience sought by guests
the �digital divide� between senior management and the IT-savvy generations X and Y now entering the workplace.
the widening �lag� between the pace of IT adoption in the hospitality workplace and the aspirations of younger generation recruits,
the techno-void in the existing �body of knowledge� available to hospitality students,
the technology skills vacuum in the industry

�The bottleneck today is human bandwidth,� was how one participant summed up the group�s findings which were presented at EURHOTEC 2001, the IH&RA�s technology show and conference (19-21 February 2001), by facilitator Dan Connolly, Assistant Professor at the University of Denver School of Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Management. There was unanimous agreement that the people dimension was crucial to the future of technology in the industry - the right skills, the right levels of IT awareness and the right organisational structures.

Other key challenges to be mastered include knowledge management and CRM, which the industry has embraced but not optimised. It also has a long way to go in inventing valid �tools� to measure ROI on technology investments, and to marry the on-line and off-line worlds successfully.

Driven by a combination of customer demands, new technologies, competition, and labour force expectations, hospitality is progressing but is still held back by its fragmented ownership structure, the complexity of the infrastructure and the capital outlays required.

The group concurred that it was imperative to establish greater credibility and trust among investors. �We have to shape the mindset first,� said Sander Allegro, of the Hague Hotelschool�s Knowledge & Innovation Centre, who co-led the debate. Because it is harder to demonstrate to an investor the value of improving IT than that, for example, of building additional rooms, a more
convincing case for IT must be made. Among approaches for the successful �selling� of technology to management and investors alike, the group recommended -

Make the business case � link costs and outcomes
Align it with strategic drivers
Ensure tech decisions are �owned� by the units involved, not simply the IT department
Explain the benefits of technology in language that business executives understand (e.g. ROI, NPV, bottom-line impact, share price impact)
Demonstrate the ability to create sustainable competitive advantage

For IT to become an industry success story, it must be embedded throughout the hospitality enterprise and culture, spanning departmental boundaries. The IT dimension should be estimated in every business decision or plan. It must evolve into an inter-disciplinary responsibility, as Connolly commented: �Every staff member should be a CIO� - educated to understand what IT can and can�t do.

Summing up the threats of the digital economy, Connolly concluded that today�s business definitions could be invalidated by tomorrow, competition was likely to come from where it was least expected and the �wait and see� approach could cost a company its competitive advantage. Constant vigilance for �the seeds of change� and a willingness to innovate and do things in a new way would pay dividends. �If you are not yet involved in technology and how it impacts your business, you could be a victim of Digital Darwinism,� he warned.

Companies represented at the Think Tank included Cendant Corporation Hotels Division, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne, Hcareers, Hermes SA, HotelNet Business, HotelSchool The Hague, HotelView Corp, IBM, IMHI, Lapa Plava, Leonardo Media BV, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Orient Express Hotels, Park Plaza Hotels Europe, Percipia, Synxis, Leading Hotels of the World, Surrey University and Washington State University.

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Contact:
Nicola Pogson
IH&RA
Director of Programme Development
[email protected]

Also See

Results of the IH&RA Summit Debate Set Priorities for Industry Action to Meet the Challenges of e-hospitality � go to

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