Big Data is making its way through every industry possible, including the hotel industry. This industry is another perfect example of how effective use of analytics can dramatically change how a business is run. There are many types of data being collected including video, audio, and web data, and there are huge volumes of each. However, many hotels are carrying all of this data with them, but not acting upon a majority, if any of it.
Many hotels gather loyalty information about their guests, but fail to take it a step forward. This, to me, is the perfect opportunity for any and all forms of predictive analytics.
Hoteliers could exploit their data and deepen their knowledge of guests in order to develop a more granular understanding of segment behavior, needs, and expectations; identify profitable customer segments and their buying preferences; and identify opportunities to attract new guests.
In this industry, understanding guest preferences, purchase behavior, and profit potential can dramatically increase brand loyalty and wallet share of their most valuable guests.
One key factor that hotels must be aware of throughout this process is what guests they are targeting. Targeting the frequent guests who are likely to take advantage of other hotel amenities would generate much more overall profit than targeting the guests that are just stopping by. By marketing to their most loyal guests preferences, hotels will find themselves staying ahead of trends, setting strategies, and achieving their goals. This will then lead to happier guests, and more money in the bank.
And look at that…all of that can be done with the right analysis of data!
As the average American I hear gas and oil and automatically picture money flying out of my wallet. Assuming that this is the mindset of most of our population, it is hard to feel bad for the oil and gas companies when we hear they are losing money. The problem is that most people don’t look at both sides of the situation- the lower our gas prices become, the more employees that being laid off in the oil and gas industry.
Startups such as Tachyus are jumping at the opportunity to develop models that will aid in the oil and gas industry. Tachyus has a data model that is helping oil production increase by 20%-30%. These data models can predict mechanical failures and stimulate specific wells by calculation optimal settings such as water injection rates. As oil and gas companies acquire more information about each unique well, they will be able to specialize maintenance, allowing each well to produce at its full potential, while also preventing spills.
As the oil and gas companies learn to operate more efficiently they will hopefully be able to create more jobs again and no longer have to make any more cuts.
Let us know what you think, this is an oil and gas conversation… I know you have an opinion!
The broadband marketplace faces constant transformation, attempting to derive as much value as possible from existing infrastructure, while simultaneously adding new products and services. To achieve this the business requires systems that allow routing by service or service combination, matched to the technician skill-set and location. With increased choices, customers have come to demand products and services that are faster, higher quality, and less expensive. Customer loyalty has created a conflict between escalating customer expectations and profit-driven management.
For this purpose one of the largest Multi System Operators (MSO) in the broadband industry sought the assistance of Cliintel to align their workforce management operational support systems.
Focus on the routing group resulted in an increase of two jobs per day that the in-house technicians could complete. In doing so, the market’s dependency upon their contract groups was reduced.
The Client:
The MSO was the nation’s largest provider of cable television, high-speed internet and local telephone service in 14 markets across the country.
The Business Issue:
The Sacramento market has over 40 dispatchers and 300 technicians supporting a market with 350,000+ subscribers. The market utilizes multiple groups of contractors to assist in field installations, service and audit functions. A recent billing system conversion prompted the client to implement CSG’s Workforce Express product to enhance service delivery. The market had limited success in previous implementations of similar projects. The client assigned Cliintel to manage the Sacramento market implementation to increase the probability of success based upon the experience gained in similar markets. Cliintel project managers worked with the Sacramento Management Team to determine where the largest ROI could be achieved, and then to help them achieve it.
The Solution:
Cliintel and the Sacramento Management Team determined that the largest ROI could be achieved by gaining control of the contract groups, as well as their internal technician group. For this project Cliintel utilized their proven implementation methodology referred to as “DART”.
DART is a representation of the four critical areas within a service provider’s Field Operations organization:
Dispatch
Administration
Routing
Technicians
DART enables all resources working on the implementation project to focus their energies on a specific department while reminding them that there are other departments dependent upon them for success.
Lessons learned from previous implementations had shown that different markets, even though they deliver similar products, have widely varying delivery processes and procedures. Due to the variations, a flexible deployment methodology would be required to increase the adoption of the tool and the resulting return on investment.
During the initial scope meetings, the team determined that the most appropriate manner to approach the implementation would be to focus initially on the Routing group, followed by the Dispatch group, and ending with the service technicians, with the appropriate administrative aspects being handled within these three groups. This approach would satisfy the market’s greatest needs by increasing the client’s control over their contract groups and their internal technician group. In addition, it was believed that by winning over the highly visible Routing group first, the remainder of the groups would align themselves quickly thereafter.
Within the implementation process, even though initial focus was given to the routing group, the technicians were given their new handheld devices at the beginning of the process. That way the technicians could become familiar with the capabilities inherent to the new handheld solution by the time the system was installed.
The Results:
By managing the implementation with a process that allowed for flexibility based upon the client’s needs, the approach maximized the ability of the Sacramento market to succeed. Focus on the Routing group resulted in an increase of two jobs per day for the in-house technicians. In doing so, the market’s dependency upon their contract groups was reduced. The net result was an increase in control on the available work to be done.
Also, since the technicians had familiarized themselves with the handheld devices, they began utilizing the wireless functionality provided by the WFX product before the “turn-up” of the devices. In doing so, the technicians realized that they no longer were dependent upon the existing paper Work Order system. Thus, the technicians helped push the implementation of the project.
Even though the focus of the initial project was on the routers, it was the technicians that took advantage of the implementation. In doing so, it increased the buy-in to the system and ultimately added to the success of the implementation.
We’re proud to help our clients solve tough problems and achieve stunning results. To see what kind of big data results Cliintel.com can deliver for you, please Call 720-200-3001.
The saying “Time is Money” is one that has always been true whether you take it in the sense that life is short and therefore time is precious or more literally as in the amount of money you can make per hour. In regard to most businesses the saying is more about the second interpretation. What businesses should be asking is how can we make more money for our hour?
You cannot stretch time so the value that must be manipulated in money, and you make more money by being more productive. Therefore it all comes down to efficiency. Efficiency is something everyone strives for; being able to be more productive in a shorter amount of time.
The way to be more productive is to make whatever you are doing easier. This was the case for Pioneer West Virginia Credit Union who discovered their lack of efficiency in managing their 12,000 members. Before the use of Big Data Pioneer was receiving monthly status reports that were outdated and fragmented. Not only were the reports outdated but some poor employee was wasting hours on putting it together every month on a spreadsheet.
Pioneer also discovered they had excessive delinquency ratios on loans and were unsure how to fix it. Once Pioneer began using their Big Data as a tool they began receiving status reports daily and cut their loan delinquency from 150 basis points to 14 basis points. Not to mention that poor employee that was previously doing the reports manually, now has time to actually do his job.
This is a very small scale example of how Big Data can save money but it also shows that Big Data is not something just for the big boys, it is extremely useful for any business. No matter what you do, being more efficient leads to making more money. The best way to be more efficient is to use the tools and information available to make your job easier.
See how Big Data can make your job easier in this short video.
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