Research, Reports & Reading

This is where you will find, what we consider, critically important links to research, reports, white papers etc… on different issues that impact our industry, which you need to digest and apply to your own business.

• Analytics
  Three’s Company: The Benefits of Forecasting, Optimization and Simulation
  Researchers from Cornell and industry experts from SAS discuss three powerful advanced analytics applications – forecasting, optimization and simulation – and how they can improve business operations and increase revenue.
• Customer Loyalty
  Loyalty, Rewards and Value: What Do We Want from Our Customers?
  To reduce customer defection and track their best patrons, many hospitality and gaming businesses include a loyalty program as part of their customer relationship management strategy. But knowing how to strike a balance between improving the customer experience and controlling costs can prove a daunting task.Colloquy Customer Engagement Loyalty – Sept 2013
  Colloquy found that 54 percent of loyalty program members are unhappy with the reward options offered by brands. This dissatisfaction is largely driven by a lack of real-time strategic understanding into the desires and purchase motivations of consumers.Conversely, innovative brands are gaining deep insight into the ever-changing customer preferences with advanced consumer management technology that strategically align their loyalty rewards with the specific actions and tendencies of customers on an on-going basis.Related to this, Colloquy’s survey also found that 93 percent of consumers feel that the type of loyalty incentive offered is important in driving their decision to join and remain with loyalty programs. “This is largely why many leading brands are relying on advanced consumer management platforms and the versatility they provide in driving campaigns based on dimensions like time, customer-type, SKU or even social media activity. The ongoing intelligence on consumer behaviors and actions the platform provides helps brands strategically design and adjust their loyalty programs around their customers,” according to Marg.The customer engagement study also found that 48 percent of consumers experience frustration with reward redemption processes. As Clutch Chief Operating Officer, Brad Marg, explained, “This is not uncommon for brands who don’t have strategic visibility and understanding of their customers. Many brands are essentially guessing as to how to structure and shift their loyalty programs and the related incentives, which often creates a disconnection and ensuing frustration for the customer. Understanding the priorities and preferences of customers can transform the efficacy and affinity of a loyalty program, making it a powerful asset for the brand.”The customer engagement survey reports that 43 percent of consumers have more frequent purchases due to a loyalty programs. This can be dramatically increased for brands that understand their consumers and strategically adjust their loyalty programs accordingly on an ongoing basis.
• Data Management
  Where’s My Data? Tips & Tricks for Designing a Strong DQ/DI Strategy
  Learn how a strong data integration and data quality strategy will enable you to capture high-quality enterprise data from across disparate operational systems and begin improving customer loyalty, while optimizing spending and increasing profits.
• Economy
  Preparing for Recovery
  After focusing so heavily on navigating through the economic downturn of 2009, how can hotels and casinos shift gears to begin capitalizing on the impending recovery? Learn how to take advantage of current economic trends and manage future investment and pricing strategies.
  
  Preparing for Profit – Outlook 2011 and Beyond
  Part of the Insights and Innovations for Hospitality and Gaming webcast series, this session brings back the Cornell University and SAS participants from the 2010 webcast Preparing for the Recovery as they discuss how last year’s predictions for the hotel and gaming industries turned out, the economic and industry climate they expect in 2011, and how to translate the lessons learned during the recession to strategies for growth in 2011 and beyond.
• Industry Trends
  Four Hospitality Industry Studies You Need to Hear
  Industry experts and researchers from Cornell and SAS present their latest findings on four critical issues: customer loyalty, social media, innovative business practices and forecast performance.
  
  Tackling the Biggest Challenges in Hospitality and Gaming
  Join experts and researchers from Cornell and SAS as they present their latest findings on four critical hospitality and gaming issues that could spell the difference between an organization thriving or simply surviving.
  
  The Things That Matter Most: The hottest trends and biggest issues for hospitality and gaming industries
  Join an in-studio panel of industry executives, thought leaders and academics as they discuss the most important trends, challenges and technologies of the hospitality and gaming industries. Also featured are interviews of industry practitioners from leading organizations such as Harrah’s, Wyndham Exchange and Rentals, Sonesta, Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, and others.
• Labor Planning
  Right People, Right Jobs, Right Time: The Art and Science of Labor Planning
  Labor costs represent one of the largest expenditures in the hospitality and gaming industry. Discover how you can achieve optimal outcomes from your current and potential labor force by implementing strategies that reduce costs while maintaining service levels.
• Media
  Neilsen, State of the Media, The Cross Platform Report Q4-2011, May 2012
• Revenue Management
  New Pricing Strategies for Hospitality and Gaming
  This webcast focuses on the latest pricing and revenue management strategies, and how they can be applied to real-world scenarios.
• Social Media
  Getting In on the Conversation: The power of social media in the hospitality and gaming industries
  Social media has taken word-of-mouth and elevated it into a global conversation, where opinions travel far, fast and furious. Learn how successful hospitality and gaming companies must capitalize on new media trends.
  
  Drive Profits and Improve Decisions with Social Media Analytics
  This session focuses on how hotels and casinos can turn the social media data they’ve collected into meaningful and profitable information. An expert panel will discuss strategies for using advanced analytics to transform volumes of unstructured text data into insight about operations, revenue and guest interactions that can be shared across the enterprise.2012 Channel Preference Survey
  Research is the 14^th report in ExactTarget’s Subscribers, Fans & Followers research series. The study is a follow up to ExactTarget’s 2008 Channel Preferences Survey and includes comparisons between the 2008 data and 2012 outcomes throughout this year’s report. To download the report, click here.
• Service Design
  Data and Analytics: The Blueprint of Service Design
  This Webcast explores how data and analytics can be used to intelligently inform service design in order to attract new customers and remain competitive. Join experts from Cornell and SAS as they discuss new approaches to service design based on data-driven insight into customer behavior, needs and preferences that will ensure an optimal return on investment.
• Sustainability
  Sustaining a Balance: Green Initiatives for Hospitality and Gaming
  Sustainable business practices are becoming more prominent and important in the hospitality and gaming industries. Faced with limited resources, new governing policies and a growing number of environmentally conscious patrons, companies must determine which initiatives are right for their customers and their business.

External Articles

• Larry Bossidy: The Thought Leader Interview
• Ram Charan: The Thought Leader Interview
  
• Between Chaos and Order: What Complexity Theory Can Teach Business
  
• Complexity Theory: Fact-free Theory or Business Tool?
  
• Power Laws & the New Science of Complexity Management
  
• Clayton M. Christensen, The Thought Leader Interview
  
• Top-Down Disruption
  
• Leaning Toward Utopia
  
• The 7 Types of Organizational DNA
  
• The Four Bases of Organizational DNA
  
• The Cat That Came Back
  
• 10 Principles of Change Management
  
• An Interview with John Seely Brown
  
• The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
  
• Why Bad Things Happen To Good Companies
  
• The Value of Corporate Values
  
• Daniel Yankelovich: The Thought Leader Interview
  
• Can We Really Train Leadership?
  
• Noel M. Tichy: The Thought Leader Interview