Changeworknow - the online resourcing experts

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Thinking and Technology: The Future for the Hospitality Industry

With the recent announcement of a strategic partnership with Fourth, Changeworknow were delighted to join over 400 hospitality industry professionals at the Fourth Conference at the BFI IMAX in London this week.



With industry insight, panel discussions and thought leadership the conference focused  on the tools, thinking and technology which will be shaping the  market in the future.

It was a great opportunity to hear from a range of business leaders and some interesting themes and trends emerging. Lots of good information to digest and the top three that we came away with were:

Digital and Mobile: There is no doubt that mobile technology is the future and has a vital part of play both for consumers and employees. From a consumer perspective we are using our mobiles increasingly to check availability, book and in some instances for payment so how can this technology be leveraged to improve the experience even further? From the employee side how can mobile provide a means for better employee engagement and management such as staff rotas, holiday booking, swapping shifts and overall labour productivity? (Fourth have some very new and smart technology to start to address this!)

The Feel Good Factor: Staff want to feel good about where they work - their environment and the product and with the "Millenniums" making up a significant proportion of front line employees they really do care about issues such as sustainability, authenticity and provenance. Us as consumers also want to know that we are getting good healthy and sustainable food and products so this should be a key consideration for the industry as they develop new ideas and new products. We all want to have the feel good factor.

Employee Engagement: Already referred to in the first point but absolutely critical for an industry where the average turnover of staff is 92%. The front line employee are key to delivering the service and the brand experience so how can they be motivated, engaged and committed to deliver what the business needs in a way that supports the brand and what the business stands for?  At Changeworknow we get quite excited at this point as this is where we come in! Our approach and solution helps organisations recruit individuals with the right skills and motivations to deliver great customer service in line with the brand. Just check out Wagamama, Carluccio's, Pizza Express and Ask Italian's front line staff!

All in all a really great informative conference and a great chance to network within the industry. And a big congratulation to Fourth on the new product launch - great job!

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