What is it that drives technology innovation today?
Innovations today are driven by the individual moments in people’s journeys that enhance the total experience: product excellence, operational excellence, customer engagement, innovation, number of new products and services, operations and business models, compliance, sustainability, and real time response.
How do you identify the technology that differentiates your hotel and that supports a cost-effective structure?
Digital Transformation Sets the Mark for Your Hotel’s Technology Funnel
When I start looking at the technology funnel through the lens of a digital transformation framework, the primary focus is on differentiation and cost-effectiveness.
Through the experience cycle we now have a good understanding of employees, customers and, the community’s pain points.
Here are the steps to start identifying the technology that will supports differentiation and a cost-effective structure for your hotel;
1. Create a digital transformation framework
We have put in place a digital transformation framework that assures you pick the technology that best serves your hotel and you have the full understanding of how this will impact your business processes.
A thorough audit of your hotel’s current state of business needs and a flexible vision of the future will help you define and fine-tune your digital journey, which will help you select a technology platform that best supports your needs.
2. Understand your hotel’s needs
We want investments in people and technology to be important not to tip over into urgent. With an urgency mindset, many tend to invest in wants and not needs.
The goal for your hotel is to invest in technology that helps employees with performing their jobs.
Employees have to understand and use the technology your hotel invests in.
3. Take a peek at your competition
Differentiation is an important principle in my digital transformation framework. But it is also important to find lessons and inspirations in the success of others.
4. Customer experience gateway
With our digital transformation framework, we focus on bringing back existing customers and acquiring new customers with a clear and visible UEP (user experience path). Advanced API technology will allow the customer to mimic their journey. Technology will help you with a new aspect of the onboarding process that will increase direct bookings for your hotel.
5. Have a plan for the present, and prepare for the future
Investment and implementation of technology is a step-by-step process. And each part of the process has to be audited by employees and feedback from customers.
What are your hotel’s criteria for successful technology investment and implementation?
This is a dynamic and flexible process and makes sure to put your hotel in a position to make changes when needed.
6. Compliance and security
Make sure your hotel technology is compliant with all relevant regulations. With security you want your hotel to have both a proactive and a reactive plan in place.
Your hotel’s technology should not be the weakest link that put your all customer data in jeopardy. Security is one of the key points where you want to make sure you invest. Taking shortcuts here can become a very costly mistake.
Even the most proactive hotel can experience data breaches, so make sure to have a reactive plan in place that ensure swift actions.
7. Learning and helping to learn
Ongoing training for skilling and upskilling your employees is a requirement today. With today’s technology hotels can also provide personalized training placing employees on custom learning pathways based on individual needs, resulting in the most beneficial learning experience.
And then encourage and involve employees to take an active part in the educational process helping others to learn.
Digital Transformation Framework Partnership for Hotels
Hotels today have to invest in people and technology in a context that adds value to everyone involved.
Don’t continue to neglect or take the people’s transformation for granted. Technology is a digital tool that will help your hotel when implemented in collaboration with your employees.
Partner with your employees and they will help with retaining and hiring people.
I also invite you to work with me as your hotel partner to help implement a new innovative digital transformation framework that opens the digital gateways to more direct bookings without competing with the OTA.
Shoot me an email at: [email protected]
Are Morch is a digital transformation coach helping hotels open their digital front door, reimagine their processes and culture, and transform experiences in a fast-paced world!
