When you get in a room with a bunch of CIOs and senior IT executives from a single industry you expect to hear a lot about technology, and that was certainly the case with the IT execs that attended the recent Hotel Technology Forum. These folks are the model for what you want from your IT group; they are totally focused on customer needs and customer satisfaction. They define customer needs and customer satisfaction beyond the technology in the guest rooms to include the services that are provided to the staff to ensure that the customers have a great experience at the hotel and walk away with a positive impression of the brand.

Brand is a key driver in this industry — whether it be the great service provided by the Four Seasons or the value to the business traveler provided by an Embassy Suites. What enables consistency across the multiple hotels that make up a hotel chain (brand) are the systems that drive the business and support the company’s culture, and these IT execs truly understand that connection. They are looking for ways to leverage the tools that they are using today to better support operations and drive customer satisfaction. Video, which was once relegated to the area of security, is becoming a powerful tool to drive operations efficiency and, as a result, customer satisfaction. Whether it be for training or sharing best practices or to allow key managers to increase their ability to manage remote sites, video is becoming a more common tool in the hotel operator’s arsenal. The key to realizing this value is to enable the video to be viewed remotely and delivered as a service. With the ability to manage video as a service and allow users to access video over the web and across multiple locations we will be seeing an explosion in the way video will be used in this dynamic industry.