You’ve got to be kidding me, really? Collaboration, it can’t be!
Now call me crazy, but there’s something amazing happening out there for those of us who call the Travel, Hospitality and Gaming industries our home. It’s something that you think would have happened years ago in this business — ok decades ago in this business — but I’m here to say that it’s finally, finally, finally taking place — and the results are outstanding.
Those of us in our former “silo-ed” divisions of marketing, sales, operations, finance, games and revenue management are actually talking. I mean not just talking within our own comfortable departments, but we’re breaking out…having, real, constructive, quality discussions on around what is taking place within in the business, the whole business! It’s almost as if an “enlightenment” bulb is coming to light whereby the once dim thinking of “this is my department” and that “is your department” — and the two shall run independently on their own — are now finally burning bright by coming together with a new found mentality that is healthy, holistic and downright productive.
What is it that is bringing collegues together you ask? Believe it or not, it’s technology that makes our business lives much, much easier. A new form of “mini applications” are being sent by coworkers in their emails that contain great looking graphics, eye-catching colors and interactive “roll overs” that shout “HEY LOOK AT THIS…and THIS!” are being noticed, big time.
Dynamic dashboards are now the new medium and the “glue” by which we can automate the process of culling together large data sets from multiple databases/departments that allow executives, management and front line staff the ability to keep an eye on the pulse of our business. With simple dropdown boxes, and easy-to-use “click and drag” usability, anyone in the company who is given permission can interact with these dashboards to get an instant update.
For those of us on the business side who have difficulty with building our own simple Excel spreadsheets, let alone couldn’t write SQL if our lives depended upon it, dashboards are a life saver! We now can get EXACTLY what we want, view the metrics that are most important to us…and better yet, attach them to an email or update that PowerPoint presentation that you plan to give next week at the Quarterly Performance Review Meeting. Now when you are asked a question by the CEO, you will be able to interact with the data “on the fly” and actually show the results by drilling into the details, without having to say that uncomfortable phrase, “I’ll have to get back to you on that!”
Dashboards are truly revolutionizing the way we look at our business; they are helping us understand our customers’ needs and bringing together REAL collaboration that, at the end of the day, is making us better at our craft.
Tags: collaboration, dashboards, gaming, hospitality, travel
