Mercan Properties invests in Oracle's cloud hotel POS for greater portfolio flexibility

As the chief information officer for Mercan Properties, my needs for cloud technology mirror those of most hoteliers:

• Security, agility, flexibility and connectivity – to name just a few.

But there’s also one major difference, and it’s a cloud attribute that others might not appreciate as much as me.

• It is cloud’s ability to disconnect.

In the investment arena, it’s essential to be able to quickly adapt to any change in the business environment. The cost structure of cloud requires no capital investment, and its architecture doesn’t need on-premises servers, which mean I can easily add a new asset tomorrow. Just as importantly, if it’s the other way around, and we decide to sell a property, we can just as easily disconnect it.

That’s why we made the decision to install Simphony Cloud, Oracle Hospitality’s cloud-based, point of sale, in two of our new hotels – under the Hilton and Marriott flags – that just opened. At the end of the day, cloud gives you the most flexibility.

Nowadays, that’s essential because you need the agility to respond swiftly to changing market dynamics. And you need scalability. In other words, you need a system that has the capability to grow as your business grows.

From a business standpoint, there were two other factors that influenced our move to cloud: cost and cybersecurity.

In the past, financing a technology upgrade often focused on capital expenditure vs. operating expense. But, frankly, that’s becoming a non-discussion because the market is changing, and everything is moving to OPEX. The only capital expenditure element for our Simphony project was the POS hardware. And that wasn’t much of a concern, either, because the number of failures and malfunctions during the product’s lifecycle is much lower (than competitors’ offerings).

And when it comes to cybersecurity, I’m extremely focused on it – as anyone in our industry must be. Hospitality is a target; that’s just reality. My philosophy on this topic is simple: Who can do a better job? Me and my limited resources as a mid-size company or a tech giant like Oracle who is a service provider to the U.S. government?

We also selected Simphony POS, of course, for the impact it’ll have on day-to-day operations. Above all, it’s the value Simphony can bring to the guest experience.

Let’s put aside for a second that it’s a cloud solution. Simphony’s quality of design alone makes it easy to operate, and it allows greater interaction between staff and guests. Because they’re not punching orders on a clumsy device and not just looking at it and hoping everything goes OK, staff can really engage with guests. Rather than just be wait staff, Simphony allows them to become better salespeople. Such ease of use also is extremely important in our industry because turnover is so high; it’s important to have technology that flattens the learning curve.  

People tend to view Simphony only from the front-of-house view of the restaurant, but it plays a tremendous role in the back of the house, too, in terms of kitchen efficiency and production. That’s where you can use a lot of metrics and track savings. Simphony is an open-architecture solution, making it easy to connect it to recipe engineering and inventory management. Used together, these tools can help us better assess supply and demand, reduce waste and generate more cost savings.

Ultimately, our plan is to use OPERA Cloud property management system in tandem with Simphony POS. Whenever a cloud technology option is available, we’ll take it. The appeal of OPERA Cloud is its integration capability through the Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP). A part of the OPERA Cloud Suite, OHIP allows partners and vendors to connect to OPERA Cloud, giving them self-service access to the data within it for faster product development. It provides an openness of architecture, which is the most reliable sign that it can continuously evolve – meaning you can futureproof your investment. And it’s not just about integrating new guest-facing applications; it simplifies connecting any system to any system, which is a must.

Sometimes, people want to cling to the old way of doing things. But they need to realize that it’s a new world – and OPERA Cloud and Simphony Cloud were built for it.

Marco Correia
Chief Information Officer, Mercan Properties

Source: Mercan Properties invests in cloud hotel POS for greater portfolio flexibility (oracle.com)