Agilysys Debuts BI Solution for Hotels

Published: June 27, 2006

by Alex Woodie

A new business intelligence solution for an OS/400-based lodging management system was launched by iSeries channel master Agilysys last week. Agilysys says the new product, called the Hospitality Business Intelligence Solution, will enable hotel operators to extract valuable information from their core reservation and planning systems to make well-informed decisions that aim to enhance guest services, maintain guest loyalty, and increase overall profits.

The new Hospitality BI Solution software works with the Lodging Management System (LMS), which Agilysys bought from Inter-American Data in 2003, and an inventory and procurement solution called Materials Management System (MMS). Agilysys developed the new product with help from business intelligence software vendor Cognos.

The software works by pulling data from the hotel's reservation, point-of-sale, and inventory and procurement systems, loading it into a "cross-application content store," and then making it available to decision makers through customizable dashboards that are updated in real time.

Agilysys says users can expect results such as a closer alignment of staffing levels with guest levels, improvements to loyalty marketing programs, better tracking and management of guests' food and beverage spending, and better access to guest history information.

Bill Lashley, a senior vice president with Agilysys, predicts the new solution will be greeted warmly by LMS and MMS users looking for an edge. "In today's competitive hospitality market, guests have extremely high expectations from arrival through departure," Lashley says. "Property managers are continuously reviewing solutions which will allow them to quickly respond to challenges as well as take advantage of market opportunities in order to better serve their guests."