What these clients had failed to recognise, and it takes a great deal of diplomacy from the consultant, was that technology does not fix an inherent weakness in people skills -- some self inflicted. The foundations need fixing whilst architecting an appropriate technology and application strategy. The foundations must be fully repaired before implementing a new strategic direction.

Do you recognise any of these constraints in your organisation? - shuffle the cards and take your pick;

• High user staff turnover
• Weak "hand me down" training and no planned refresh training
• Lack of technology management and direction
• Limited experienced technology staff who understand our unique 365x24 hotel world
• No documented IT policies, procedures, contingencies, disaster recover planning.
• Single point of failure -- A poorly paid and positioned IT manager in control of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of technology (if not a couple of million) with all the "know how" in his/her head.
• COO doesn't reach out to the technology leader to be a major contributor in the management team.
• Chief executives not taking ownership, or responsibility for the issues or past performance.
• Poor I.T. thinking or non-existent budgeting therefore no continuous, timely investment in upgrades and competitive technologies -- a "flog it 'til it drops" mind set.
• Not listening or giving air time to technologists -- hear them out, they have smart ideas - not all are geeks, we promise.
• Shoot from the hip "I know best" leadership crushing confidence and contribution.
• No understanding of the annual running costs incurred by the technology in use or better ways to redeploy the "accepted" running costs.
• Weak relationship with technology suppliers and therefore no knowledge of how to better use what is in place or what is in the pipeline for the future (next generation)
• Failure to renew support agreements. No awareness as to what would be achieved and improved with a support service in place.
• Resistance to outsourcing at least some of the core systems and services.
• Lacking business acumen and negotiating skills for obtaining best price/performance.
• No knowledge of what the competitors are doing, no membership of peer technology groups and certainly no learning or networking at such events as HITEC (www.hftp.org/hitec), HosTec (www.hostec-europe.com) or BAHA (www.bahaconference.co.uk)

If many of the above "cards" are not in place (or not being seriously worked through) what on earth is the point of developing a technology strategy and implementing it? Isn't it doomed to ultimately fail at a colossal cost and disruption to the business?

As far as we are concerned experienced, skilled, visionary technology people who are part of the teams led by rounded outward looking chief operating officers and/or hotel general managers provide the foundation for successfully implementing the latest, greatest (and dare I say sometimes fashionable) technologies.