{"id":12418,"date":"2018-07-23T06:49:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T05:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revva.net\/?p=12418"},"modified":"2024-01-12T19:46:31","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T19:46:31","slug":"how-to-short-guide-hotelbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/biflix\/how-to-short-guide-hotelbi\/","title":{"rendered":"How-To Guide for Hotel BI Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Intro<\/h5>\n

BI projects may be quite simple, or mammouth endeavours. In this article, I’ll try to propose a simple how-to guide for hotel BI, starting with the basics. Large corporations discovered many years ago that outsourcing is a winning bet. A proven fact, magnified when it comes to software development. The IT universe is so vast, it makes no economical sense to develop in-house all the possible solutions needed. Besides, \u201cintrapreneurship\u201d and \u201cinnovation\u201d are top buzzwords these days. However, the real thing is out of reach for slow-moving, Jurassic behemoths. As a consequence, industrial giants compensate by buying specialized, fast and lean startups (Hello, Amadeus!).
\nOthers try to modernize their aura by absorbing startups via acceleration programs, incubators, etc. But what about intermediate and smaller players? Is all the above valid about business intelligence solutions?<\/p>\n

Travel is always behind<\/span><\/h5>\n
It\u2019s no secret that, in the travel arena, technology is either invented or assimilated after years of delay, compared to other industries<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>BI is a term that has been around for decades in several environments, although popping out recently among hoteliers, distributors and tour operators<\/span><\/span>. No surprise there: business was good for so long, it was unnecessary to gather intelligence<\/strong>. <\/span>Only when balance sheets are grim, actions will <\/span><\/span>be taken<\/span><\/span>\u2026 although technology improvements would be the last ones considered<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>A case in point is BI: beloved but underutilized in large (and lucrative) corporations. Also a difficult to operate lifesaver for small organizations<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Regardless of internal policies or rooted beliefs, it <\/span><\/span>is undisputed<\/span><\/span> that BI can actually save companies (see related article here >><\/a>)<\/span><\/span>. It should be also <\/span>abundantly<\/span><\/span> clear to everyone that BI does not refer to reports browsing, stats perusing. It\u2019s a bit more complex than that! Any travel business calls for BI<\/span>, but its implementation will be fruitful as long as minimal requirements <\/span>are met<\/span><\/span>, and certain shortfalls tackled… <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Money or not<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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While prospecting for travel-tech among mid-small sized companies, it\u2019s very easy to find two kinds of people: those holding budget but lacking expertise, and those lacking both<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Neither would buy, because they usually search for alternatives that, they assume, would cost less than third party products<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Allow me to illustrate the evident sophism in this reasoning with an example. <\/span>The marketplace offers dozens of free CMS options, and as many free widgets or plugins for reservation systems<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Supposing you’re a small hotel or tour operator owner, if you do it yourself you would save between 300 and 10000 euros for a <\/span><\/span>professionally<\/span><\/span> looking website, sporting a booking engine<\/span><\/span>. It would take a couple of days from set up to publishing\u2026 as long as you know how to do it. <\/span>If you don\u2019t, it would demand at least an online (free) course, one or two borrowed books, and paying some freelancer to fix the mess you\u2019ll end up doing<\/span><\/span>. Is the second option <\/span>really<\/span><\/span> cost-free or cheap? <\/span>Add up the hours you\u2019ll need for the course, reading the books and actual website building, and multiply that figure for your hourly wage<\/span><\/span>. If the result is less than a thousand euros, let me know. I may have a job for you.<\/span><\/div>\n
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To each, their own cup of tea<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Now let\u2019s expand the idea to a multinational bed bank or hotel chain, for instance. <\/span>That kind of company <\/span><\/span>typically<\/span><\/span> has a medium to large IT department, populated by very capable engineers and developers<\/span><\/span>. Yet, those are very specialized teams, given the nature of their daily tasks. Enter the enlightened top manager, who\u2019s decided it\u2019s time to put data to work. \u201c<\/span>Hey nerds, I want a BI system by next week!<\/em>\u201d, the savant would command from the grand stand. Sure enough, the computer wizards will deliver in a semester or two, as expected. <\/span>Problem is, the resulting \u201cBI\u201d creation will -99% of the time- be useless or unused, <\/span><\/span>quickly<\/span><\/span> forgotten in spite of its sophistication<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Again, many production hours wasted for no measurable result, in pursue of hypothetic money-savings<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Both cases, the SMB owner and the multinational corporation, show a blatant contravention of the 80\/20 Law<\/strong> (<\/span><\/span>Pareto Principle >><\/span><\/a>), not to mention a total disregard to the Lean<\/strong> <\/span><\/span>methodology<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Who cares, these are rather startup concepts<\/em>,<\/span> somebody would argue. Right, I don\u2019t agree with that, but point taken. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Why BI projects fail so often? <\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Aside generic drawbacks, here\u2019s my list of <\/span><\/span>endemically<\/span><\/span> spawned reasons for BI project failures in travel businesses:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Miscommunication between IT and management<\/strong>:<\/strong> this is quite obvious. Each side speaks a different language, sees business under a different lens. One has an <\/span>extremely<\/span><\/span> practical approach, the other must rely a lot on creativity. <\/span>One contemplates supply and demand in commercial terms, the other thinks it\u2019s all about push or pull, bad or worst APIs<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Even so, they have a common trait: none has the time, patience or skills to <\/span><\/span>deeply<\/span><\/span> dig into BI instruments and methods<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Difficult marriage between data and internal processes<\/strong>: this is not a technical challenge, only a consequence of the previous issue<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Managers know exactly what they want, but are unable to explain it in IT terms, while programmers are too busy (or single-minded) to realize that coding might not even be necessary for whatever the managers asked<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>To worsen things, adoption of third-party solutions is <\/span><\/span>inevitably<\/span><\/span> a trial & error process. There should be previous expertise or the vital skills to use them<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Top to bottom commissioning<\/strong>: the natural outcome of the first two problems. Picture the top manager from the earlier example\u2026 <\/span>Just<\/span><\/span> for fun, assume it\u2019s a middle-aged guy. He\u2019s been around, fought many battles, knows his stuff. He\u2019s heard too many times the buzzwords, so he decides it\u2019s worth trying one or two of them. <\/span>Summoning the IT posse, the top man orders a clever and complete (from his point of view) project that would result in a collection of KPIs displayed on a dashboard\u2026 by spending the most ridiculous amount of company\u2019s resources, both sides of the money gauge, depending on company\u2019s size and manager\u2019s power<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Best case scenario, the result -after long development- consists in a static console that could\u2019ve <\/span><\/span>been a<\/span><\/span> bloody spreadsheet. Or made with a stupid freeware<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Internal politics<\/strong>:<\/strong> while the first three problems in this list are ubiquitous, internal resistance is a symptom <\/span><\/span>commonly<\/span><\/span> found in larger organizations<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Some departments may oppose alien methods (or external leaders); IT teams could rise against (or even boycott) whatever they deem unproductive stuff<\/span><\/span>. Let\u2019s be honest here:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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