From The Frontlines: A Conversation With Colin Markey On HCM Tech Adoption For The Long-Term

Welcome back to From the Frontlines! In this series, Harri highlights members of our team who are up to big things and have big insights into the hospitality industry. This week we chat with Colin Markey, a Senior Account Executive here at Harri. In this episode, we discuss the importance of adopting hospitality technology for the long-term and how businesses can ensure a successful implementation. 

Thanks for joining us today! What do you think drives tech adoption for hospitality businesses today?

Tech stack optimization is a huge priority in digital transformation. Before COVID, so many executives made technology decisions for the unit-level operators, even though those operators were the ones using the tech on a day-to-day basis. That disconnect meant the technology didn’t necessarily fit a business’ operational processes and ultimately did not come to fruition. They didn’t stack strategically. 

Nowadays, executives are more open to bottom-up feedback, which creates much better alignment across the business. This also opens new opportunities for managers looking to grow within the organization, by showing superiors and their peers what’s possible with the right platform. There’s a quote that I love which relates to this, “every employee can be an innovator.”

Great point, employee buy-in is important for long-term company success! Have you noticed any other roadblocks that might cause tech disconnect?

Definitely. The pandemic has increased cross-business collaboration, which has empowered hospitality businesses to execute more initiatives at a faster pace than ever before. However, HR, operations, and finance aren’t always aligned. 90-95% of companies silo these departments, resulting in individual tech perspectives and expectations. As someone on the software side, it’s important for me to understand each personas goals for themselves and the company as a whole, to help them make a decision that benefits everyone in the long-term. 

Alignment is a must-have. How have you seen workplace technology change since the start of COVID-19?

The workplace is shifting from Bring Your Own Device to Bring Your Own Environment. That means the technology utilized by a hospitality business must be built for that business and its employees in some way, shape, or form without adding any friction onto existing processes. Digital Twins is an interesting concept that I’d like to see integrated into hospitality’ tech priorities.

Any final thoughts on how hospitality executives and operators should approach tech adoption?

Earlier I mentioned how unit-level managers must be successful in using technology. However, not everyone is tech-savvy, and that’s okay. Businesses looking to stay ahead should overlay technological affinity within the organization’s cultural foundation and throughout the onboarding process.

While technology plays a major role in keeping businesses ahead of the curve, the most aspirational brands innovate with a clear and unified call to action. Taco Bell is a great example here; think of how much they changed over time. Brands need to do more on the backend to ensure that call to action is followed, brings about successful change, keeps employees happy, and sets the organization up for success for years to come. It all comes back to strategically stacking your tech, or better yet finding an all-in-one platform that encompasses it all.