Cloud Hotel PMS vs Legacy – Why it Still Really Matters
May 3, 2021
The hospitality industry has always been aware of how important it is to change with the times. Emerging new technology and the demands of evolving consumer expectations have always challenged the status quo. That underscores how important it is to adapt quickly as conditions shift, and in anticipation of how they might do the same in the near future. Lately, the principles of resiliency and recovery have been top of mind with hotel PMS technology central to that discussion.
That brings us to the question of cloud hotel PMS versus legacy on-prem PMS. The industry has been through a lot in the last twelve months and more. In that context, what are the implications of investing in a cloud hotel PMS versus staying with a legacy system right now? With our current environment as the primary context of this, this is still an important question. Here are a few reasons why that is.
Maintenance reduction is still a worthy business goal
Right now, a lot of hotel organizations globally are considering the cost of everything while also considering what the industry recovery arc is likely to be over the next year and beyond. Spending money on new systems is perhaps an unintuitive direction for many. Yet even with that in mind, reduction in operation costs is still a worthy and measurable objective. Moving from a CapEx (capital expenditure) model to an OpeX (operating expenditure) subscription-based model helps create opportunities by reducing the overhead of expenditure typically spent on managing infrastructure and maintaining it.
In the cloud and therefore with less hardware needed on every site, your organization then creates a greater capacity to allocate resources elsewhere – budget, time, and even physical space. But this isn’t just about cost-savings and lower maintenance day-to-day, right now. The central object to consider is long-term scalability determining what technology stacks must look like in the future to help your organization meet the next major challenge.
The importance of elasticity
The key principle here is about being more flexible, and less tied to the limitations of fixed, on-premises technology. It’s about having the elasticity to grow and scale back as needed to adapt to the forces that have the most impact on the industry. This capacity has major implications on how well your organization will manage costs and create business continuity, particularly during periods of disruption and recovery.
When organizations need to close locations, even temporarily, having flexibility around the resources you use over that period, and those which you don’t use, has a major impact on operating costs. Elasticity like this means being able to set your boundaries according to the most current conditions. So, when it’s time to expand, the same principle applies. This has always been best accomplished in the cloud as a part of a necessary digitalization journey, with the support of experts who can help manage those changes across your entire organization in a quicker turnaround time.
A question of global expertise
Greater and more diverse insight on how technology responds to external forces and industry trends is one of the reasons to begin a journey away from on-premises to a cloud hotel property management solution right now. The siloed nature of on-premises solutions cuts each location off from the others and presents barriers to clarity that decision-makers require to form strategies. It makes updates and maintenance more piecemeal and divides the internal talent your organization offers.
As we’ve seen over the last year, being able to act as a single business entity across locations and sub-brands is paramount to success. This is especially true when strategy must change quickly. Apart from faster reaction times, though, cloud hotel PMS with an SaaS partner with a proven globally-oriented platform is about the kind of stability and support you need right now, but also as things change. In the cloud, your partner’s expertise becomes a part of your own.
Being proactive with your hotel PMS software
Considering a shift toward cloud hospitality technology his doesn’t necessarily mean replacing your entire technology stack tomorrow. But proactively considering present state along with what will be likely required in the future is a good place to start. This is about considering a long-term plan to streamline operations and IT to be more agile with changing times.
Greater flexibility and elasticity and aligned to your specific business goals is a solid foundation from which to develop a scalable strategy. Putting cloud technology on the table in that context becomes a meaningful direction to suit where you need your organization to go.
The right hospitality software partner
What attitudes and approaches must your ideal hospitality technology partner reflect? What’s your ideal process within that partnership help you make important decisions about how to evolve your hospitality technology stack, including hotel PMS? We’re interested in your perspective.