In the 21st century to stay competitive, companies must embrace innovative forms of technology to maintain or gain market share. Because the hospitality industry – which includes casinos, lodging brands and cruise lines – all have similar needs, but use different software solutions and vendors to operate their enterprises, they can be stuck with limited choices in finding off-the-shelf software solutions.
There is no question that new software companies enter the market every day hoping to gain a foothold on one of the coveted verticals that make up the travel and hospitality industry. In most cases it may come down to a single feature or solving a pain point operationally that drives a casino, hotel or cruise line to “rip and replace” a core customer software solution. Early in my career, I believed product equals sales or the company with the most toys won. But what specific feature or module drove replacing an enterprise PMS, POS, inventory/purchasing or casino system… was it because of cloud? Executive relationships? Integrated modules? Was it because the POS hardware was less expensive or “cooler” than the legacy system? Did management fall out of favor with the incumbent vendor, or maybe they failed to innovate or just were no longer responsive to needs or support calls, or the customer no longer felt special?
READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY MICHAEL CARUSO IN THE 2021 FALL EDITION OF GAMING & LEISURE MAGAZINE.