Chicago
- (September 2005) - Whether you are an independent hotel, a franchise
property, or a multiple hotel corporation, choosing technology can be challenging
and risky. You must identify a software solution that meets your
business goals, operational needs, system infrastructure, and human resource
capabilities. The combination of these components makes your hotel
unique, and requires software that is equally so.
There are many solutions available from high-quality software vendors.
In fact, there are over 400 Property Management System vendors targeting
the hospitality marketplace. This makes finding the right system
for your hotel a challenge. For any hotel, the investment is significant,
for an upscale hotel or resort, the search for the right software can be
as difficult as finding the right General Manager. A PMS decision
can affect every aspect of your hotel's business; Guest Service, Guest
Satisfaction, Operations, Accounting, Distribution, Marketing, and Sales.
Be sure to take the right steps to find the best solution for your hotel,
while avoiding the many risks associated with searching for new technology.
What are the common risks?
-
Inexperience � many hoteliers only go through the evaluation process once
every five years, making them less than familiar with the software selection
process.
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Confusion � it is difficult to ascertain which of the 400 PMS solutions
meet the needs of your hotel given its amenities, target service levels,
and existing systems, while trying to stay within a budget.
-
Incompleteness � the needs of all groups within the organization are not
taken into account, causing incomplete requirements.
-
Misaligned expectations � most software evaluations typically focus on
no more than 20% of the software�s capabilities. Other capabilities
are simply ignored, missed, or misunderstood, creating false expectations.
-
Missed Opportunity - you work long and hard to define your business processes
and strategies, but then software is selected based on a subset of these
processes and strategies. This causes missed opportunities and process
gaps -- and will ultimately impact your guest experience.
To manage these risks, a thorough evaluation process is required.
However, taking the time to do this on your own is difficult, since it
requires a level of expertise not readily available to most hotels.
What does a thorough Evaluation Process look like?
Using a haphazard evaluation process is a recipe for disaster when it
comes to software. You could make a mistake that both you and your
guests have to live with for many years to come. To avoid these risks,
use the following best practice for software evaluations:
-
Identify the core reasons you intend to install a new PMS or upgrade your
existing PMS.
-
List the areas of your business and the amenities that the software must
support.
-
Search for at least ten available software products that can meet these
high level needs.
-
Gather an exhaustive set of business requirements from all areas of the
hotel.
-
Research each software product to determine how well it meets each business
requirement.
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Reduce your short list of software products to no more than five solutions.
-
Select a preferred vendor and negotiate your agreement.
What does this mean?
Put as much time into evaluating which software system will support
your business goals as you do into hiring key employees. Whether
you are spending $4,000 or $400,000 on your Property Management System,
the impact of that system is broader than nearly any employee you will
hire, so hire the right system!
How can Software Strategy help?
Software Strategy can help your hotel or organization select the best
software by offering you tools and support to avoid the common pitfalls
that arise during the selection process. The table below outlines
the tools we use in our own Software Evaluation service, the challenges
they address, and the benefits they produce.
.
Challenge
|
Software Strategy Products
|
Benefit
|
To identify the best list of vendors based on the
high level needs of your hotel.
|
Free
Vendor List
|
Save time researching software and quickly find
relevant software options.
|
To quickly and completely identify business needs
across your hotel.
|
RFP
Template
|
Save weeks of time gathering requirements and avoid
mistakes.
|
To accurately understand how well each software
product can support your needs.
|
RFP
Comparison
|
Save weeks of time tracking down vendor responses
and thoroughly evaluating each software product.
|
To identify appropriate software solutions and their
detailed capabilities, gather complete business requirements, and thoroughly
evaluate how well these two items match.
|
Software
Evaluation
|
Move through the entire evaluation process with
speed, accuracy, and confidence -- supported with a documented recommendation
from experts.
|
.
When using Software Strategy's full Software Evaluation, we can move
you through the evaluation process in two to four weeks. Hotels attempting
to navigate this process on their own typically take four months before
reaching a decision. Despite the longer timeframe, they still have
difficulty mitigating each of the previously mentioned risks due to both
resource constraints as well as lack of expertise in understanding the
details of Property Management Systems.
Two Special Offers:
-
If you would like to receive a free list of hotel software vendors able
to meet your hotel�s high-level business needs, complete our Free
Vendor List form. We will provide you up to 10 vendors for you
to research against your complete business requirements.
-
Through September 23, we are offering our RFP Templates for only $199.
Click
Here to customize and order your template online.
Whether you intend to evaluate your software options on your own or want
some help to ensure you make the best software investment possible, be
sure to review our entire portfolio of Hotel
Products and services. Our products help you save months of work,
avoid common pitfalls, and increase the accuracy of your evaluation.
Most important, you will find the software that best supports your business.
In addition to Property Management Systems, Software Strategy provides
hoteliers with an objective source for researching technology solutions,
including:
.
Internet Booking Engines
|
Sales and Catering
|
Revenue Management
|
Point of Sale
|
Spa Management
|
Customer Relationship Management
|
Club Management
|
Golf Management
|
E-Mail Marketing
|
Business Intelligence Systems
|
Web Site Design & Hosting
|
Other Technologies�
|
.
About Software Strategy
Software Strategy (www.SoftwareStrategy.net)
is an independent resource dedicated to researching hospitality technology
products in order to help hotels make fast and accurate decisions on their
technology investments. By working directly with software vendors
and using its own Technology Research Lab to understand the details of
each offering, Software Strategy compiles knowledge about each product
to support hotels in their software decisions. The output of this
research is a set of products and services designed to help hoteliers navigate
the entire software comparison and procurement process with greater efficiency. |