Investment and innovation to drive digital hospitality in Africa

Investment and innovation to drive digital hospitality in Africa

Across the globe, competitive organisations in all industries are transforming every aspect of their operations through a commitment to digitalisation. Transformation in the hospitality industry is proving to benefit the businesses, as well as the guests, as innovation drives superior guest experiences, greater profitability and enhanced property and asset management.  

Infor, a global leader in business cloud software specialised by industry, has announced its significant product investment and commitment to its hospitality suite of solutions.

Over the past fiscal year ending, Infor has overhauled product suites, partnered with leading companies, acquired organisations to expand its breadth of products and received significant acknowledgement for industry-leading customer service. Customers enjoy maximised revenue potential, streamlined operations and the opportunity to build a better guest experience.

“Infor’s industry-specific cloud software delivers rich capabilities to manage hospitality operations, while also providing the reliability and security of hosting data in the Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud,” said Rentia Austin, Hospitality Executive – Infor Services at iOCO, Infor’s Master Partner in Africa.

“However, the company is not only focused on creating modern solutions, it is helping customers maintain and use them.”

Infor Support Services won a 2019 Confirmit ACE (Achievement in Customer Excellence) Award for the 11th straight year, while it was also selected in the ‘Voice of the Customer’ category, which recognises companies that have developed a strategic approach to listening to customers, including multi-channel and multi-touchpoint programmes that deliver the Voice of the Customer at key moments of the customer lifecycle.

Last year, Infor solidified its leadership position in the global hospitality market through the acquisitions of ReServe Interactive and Vivonet, adding Infor Sales & Catering and Infor POS to the Infor Hospitality product suite. Infor is now able to offer a comprehensive and integrated solution for hospitality organisations and expand the Infor Hospitality footprint with solutions that increase Infor’s presence and scope in non-hotel hospitality venues, such as entertainment centres, restaurants, stadiums, food service providers, wineries and conference and convention centres.

In addition, Infor has focused on the digitalisation of Infor HMS with the launch of guest self-service tools.

“The new HMS Online Check-In process allows hotels to better prepare for guest arrival and have room keys ready,” said Austin.

“With Infor HMS, guests receive an email invitation for online check-in on their mobile device and can start the process through their browser – eliminating the need to download additional applications to access these features. Now, when guests arrive at the hotel, they can quickly pick up their key and head to their room. This entire process optimises hotel operations and guest experiences, driving brand loyalty.”

Infor released the latest iteration of Infor HMS, version 3.8.0, incorporating feedback from customers to develop new features and functions designed for specific markets in the hospitality and gaming industries. This included additional accounting functionality, tools to allow hotels to track guest-requested amenities as part of a loyalty programme, player rank, or specific guest status, enhanced HMS events capabilities, new mobile applications and a compliance update.

Finally, Infor has shown its commitment to redefining the user experience, using mobility as a pillar of that strategy. With the transformative upgrade to Infor EzRMS Mobile and the Infor EzRMS Pricing Engine, functionality, forecasting and optimisation have been up leveled and hoteliers of all sizes can confidently set pricing strategies from anywhere, at any time. As key components of Infor’s overall portfolio of Hospitality Revenue Management Solutions, the mobile application delivers the right information at the right time, so hoteliers can analyse trends and make more-informed pricing decisions on the go.

“Infor’s continued investment in its hospitality-specific product suite is sparking change for hoteliers across the country,” said Jason Floyd, General Manager, Infor Hospitality.

“They are hiring smarter, making quicker decisions and finding new and innovative ways to elevate the guest experience.

“From a boutique to a global chain, we’re proud to be the choice of thousands of hotel brands across the country. Our hospitality-specific knowledge, coupled with our modern technology suites that help teams work the way they live, allows us help hoteliers drive new levels of usability, connectivity, and insight.”

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