LOS ANGELES— An educational session at HITEC here entitled “IT Bloopers: Lessons From The Front Line” brought to light some horror stories and provided examples of how to avoid such situations in the future.
Mark Haley, partner, The Prism Partnership, LLC, amused the audience with this tale.
“We had a GM for a hotel who was fond of the assistant front office manager. She would install a new PBX into the hotel. The only thing she knew about PBX was how to make a phone call. There were no milestones, the data center wasn’t ready, and there were no timelines. Everything that could go wrong did. We called for help and the PBX was down for 3 weeks. It significantly and negatively impacted the hotel,” he said.
For example, Tom Murphy, senior vp & CIO, AmerisourceBergen, discussed a failed program from his days with Omni Hotels. “We had a strategy with everyone doing repeat guest program. We got them to recognize [preferenes], but nobody knew how to execute it. We ending up dropping back to fax to each hotel,” he said.
Jon Inge, president, Jon Inge & Associates, discussed an early PMS system that went array.
“Sometimes no one thinks about how a physical system is going to run. In the late 70’s,we had one of the first PMS and we had shag carpeting. Everyone that walked by a got a shock that wiped out the system and it had to be re-entered. We kept a watering can nearby to sprinkle on the carpet to avoid static electricity,” he said.
Paul Major, director information technology, Aspen Skiing Company Hotels Division.
“The best laid plans can be thwarted by the end user. We converted everybody from Lotus to Excel and we got spreadsheets the size of a billboard and it took us a week and a half to replicate what it was all about,” he said.
The group was asked for some final thoughts on avoiding such problems.
“Everybody needs to look at core competencies. How much of this are you prepared and skilled to do,” said Major.
“The biggest mistake is not having courage to admit the mistake. That can cost a company more,” said Murphy.
