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This article is from the Fall 2006 issue of Hospitality Upgrade magazine.To view more articles covering technology for the hospitality industry please visit the Hospitality Upgrade Web site or to request a free publication please call (678) 802-5307 or e-mail. | ||
.By Jay
Troutman, October 2006
Business
Intelligence (BI) and the executive dashboards, scorecards and reports
it generates have been called the ultimate C-level tool for hospitality
executives. Corporate managers at top companies like
Starwood, Ashford Hospitality, Merritt Hospitality, Peabody Hotel
Group, Interstate Hotels and Host Marriott rely on BI applications to
provide accurate real-time data on the health of their properties and
enterprise.
Business Intelligence (BI) and the executive dashboards,
scorecards and reports it generates have been called the ultimate
C-level tool for hospitality executives. Corporate managers
at top companies like Starwood, Ashford Hospitality, Merritt
Hospitality, Peabody Hotel Group, Interstate Hotels and Host Marriott
rely on BI applications to provide accurate real-time data on the
health of their properties and enterprise. Companies like FedEx, Toshiba, BMW and Boeing are served by the broader BI industry’s three dominant vendors: Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ; Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), Cognos Incorporated (NASDAQ: COGN) and Hyperion Solutions Corporation (Nasdaq: HYSL). Among these, Cognos has penetrated hospitality the most. In our market, third-party providers have added their software to Cognos’ business intelligence and corporate performance management solutions. Known users of Cognos licenses include Blackstone, Concord Hotels, Strand Development, InnKeepers Hospitality Management, Sandals Resorts, HI Development, Highpointe Hotel Corporation, ZMC Hotels, Sage Hospitality and CHIP Hospitality. Warren Winslow, Corporate Controller for Peabody Hotel Group,
is an experienced BI administrator. “Peabody uses business
intelligence to create more accurate forecasts based on performance
facts that result in greater efficiency and profitability,”
Winslow said. “The BI tool provides us the ability to
access all historical and current month data on an immediate
basis. The tool has tremendously improved the efficiencies
associated with the overall access, comparability, and analysis of our
data, and more importantly, the quality of our data. The improved
quality allows management to make the necessary decisions with a much
greater degree of confidence. We are able to forecast energy
costs and other expenses by bringing in metrics from our general ledger
while taking room revenue, occupancy and other data from our property
management systems and using it all to build the performance reports
from our dashboards. The information from Peabody’s BI system
enables managers to make better business decisions for staffing,
purchasing and at many other operating levels.” As an industry, we are also benefiting from recent
enhancements to Cognos’ product line that include a breakthrough
in pricing structure. The new version allows BI decision
reporting to be accessed by a larger number of managers more
economically so operators can utilize 20 ‘audience’ seats
for the price of five seats under the previous plan. This means
one power user can cost effectively distribute critical information
throughout an entire company, giving more general managers access to
information for better decisions. Additionally, BI tools now
combine all modules of a fully integrated product suite into a single
version that enables a greater depth of data analysis, reporting and
email functionality. New communication usefulness automatically
links and distributes BI reports and dashboards via e-mails or on a Web
site, which can be used in sending daily performance and comp-set
reporting to hundreds of property managers. Although many applications that provide enhanced reporting
functionality are placing themselves under the business intelligence
umbrella, most are data mining and reporting applications within a
single system, like a PMS, that generates information in
spreadsheets. A true BI system is built around a free-standing
data warehouse with the ability to capture, standardize and store
information from many separate systems for analysis, graphic
presentation and reporting. This includes data from outside the
enterprise such as Smith Travel Research and PKF cost numbers. In
response to queries, a true BI system scans its database to produce a
wide variety of dynamic ad hoc reporting and delivers it to designated
managers and executives automatically. Dynamic business intelligence reporting output is extremely
powerful because of its ability to spot trends and exceptions in real
time. New functionality from leading BI vendors will make almost
all hospitality BI tasks simpler and more cost effective, and put true
business intelligence, and greater profitability, within reach of more
operators than ever before.
©Hospitality Upgrade, 2006. No reproduction or transmission without written permission. |
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Contact:
Managing Editor Hospitality Upgrade magazine and the Hospitality Upgrade.com website http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com [email protected] |
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