Technology is facilitating many changes in the hospitality
industry. And, as Computer Weekly discovers, the IT director of a
multinational hospitality retailer has to pull a lot of
levers
These are busy times for Mike Fisher, IT director at Six Continents
Retail, but he is used to it. The IT department he has presided
over for the past nine years has had to accommodate many changes in
the business.
Six Continents is the new name for what was Bass Breweries. The
sale of the brewing business and trademark to Belgian company
Interbrew earlier this year marked the final step in the refocusing
of the group from a brewer to a leading international hospitality
retailer.
This meant the company had to adopt a new name and identity. With
the Holiday Inn, Post House, Crown Plaza and Inter-Continental
hotel chains under its control, "the name Six Continents was chosen
to reflect what is now a truly global business", says Fisher.
But while the hotel division has been hived off, Fisher, as head of
the IT function of Six Continents Retail, is still responsible for
an IT strategy that encompasses more than 2,100 pubs, bars and
restaurants in the UK and Germany. If you have ever raised a glass
in All Bar One, O'Neills, Ember Inn or Harvester - you have Fisher
to thank.
He says the firm's strategy is based on developing excellent
brands, churning a portfolio of premium sites and having low cost,
excellent support in the back office. Fisher says IT contributes a
great deal to all these areas.
Central to his strategy is the outsourcing of much of the IT
infrastructure. The company's decision to outsource its datacentre
to IBM earlier this year was a vital step along this path.
The 10-year, £38m deal builds on an existing relationship where IBM
already provides a managed service for the shop infrastructure -
the tills and pub servers and maintenance.
"Unless it is a technology swap, the decision to outsource must be
strategic," says Fisher. "The real drivers must be understood, not
just for IT, but how it will benefit business. It is the drivers
that are important, not cost savings."
He describes the cost savings from outsourcing the datacentre,
"£200,000 on a £4m budget", as nominal and says that one factor was
the need to consolidate the datacentre onto one platform managed by
one contractor.
Development of staff and access to new skill sets were also major
reasons. "I felt we didn't really have vital skills in-house to
take the company forward," he says. "I'm talking about people with
technical B2B Internet skills who also understand how to move the
business to the Internet.
"Also Six Continents and Bass have a culture of keeping people.
There are a few people in my department with more than 20 years
service. They needed a challenge."
Fisher says he was impressed with the way IBM accepted its
responsibilities under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of
Employment) rules and says the supplier made an effort to win
people over. He is now talking to several companies, IBM included,
about outsourcing a third function - the telecommunications
systems. But what does that leave in-house?
"The determination of IT strategy must always stay in-house as must
the development of project management," says Fisher. "The analysis
is also central to the business - that is the defining of
requirements and seeking of solutions."
When purchasing, he says he will always choose a software package
over a bespoke solution, "because you can be sure that a package
has been thoroughly tested and more man-years have gone into
it".
Fisher goes on to say that IT is instrumental in facilitating the
way the Six Continent Retail's business model is changing with
strategy. "The pub landscape is changing," he says. "We are now in
a branded game - it is as much to do with fashion as brewing. We
are segmenting the market and creating brands that match
segmentations."
Under the old Bass strategy, the pub manager could set prices to
suit local conditions and would decide which drinks were stocked.
He acted as a local entrepreneur in a micro-market.
"As we move to a more branded pub, we have a template. Local
differences are less important. IT is fundamental in centralising
business processes from the till prices to the stocking policy," he
says.
This shift has seen Fisher supervise the replacement of a
batch-processing system with a real-time browser-based network
where every site has an ISDN line.
"Now all 2,100 sites can be seen from one point. Management costs
are reducing, while the bar managers are out front with customers -
not administering the business at the back."
Fisher says he has never had a problem approaching business people
in the companies he has worked. "I feel no sympathy for managers
who say that IT is undervalued," he continues. "It is the
obligation of the IT person to speak to the business not
vice-versa. He must talk the language of the business, talk numbers
and contribute."
As a member of best practice organisation the Research Project,
Fisher says he has gained knowledge of a technical and commercial
nature from networking. "I can't think of another industry where
people - sometimes direct competitors - share knowledge. It's like
the freemasons. "Everyone has the same access to technology but it
is the quality of management and implementation that are the real
differentiators."