Leisure industry is the branch of business that is associated with tourism, hospitality, recreation, entertainment and sports. Leisure management is the process of dealing and controlling of this very industry.
With billions of dollars being spent on leisure activities every year, the need to organize and streamline the processes of this industry is necessary and must be done as soon as possible.
Why the leisure industry needs an ERP system
The most important feature of an ERP system is its capability to create a database that acts as the backbone to the multiple functions that are being served by the different business units of a company.
This is indeed required in the leisure industry, seeing as it is one of the industries that witness an erratic growth pattern.
The role of ERP in Leisure management
The following are some of the roles of ERP in leisure management so read on to find out.
Improve customer experience
ERP systems will automate the various department activities, make information accessible and available to the user on time as well as support the users decision-making requirements more accurately. This industry is concerned with pleasing the customer and making his association or experience with the company pleasant.
So, whatever can be done to improve customer satisfaction must be done. By using an ERP system, the customer will have a more efficient dealing with the organization since his or her requests or particular needs will be shared and accessed by all the intra-departments at one go.
Reducing chances of human error
Leisure management with ERP will mean automation of processes that are repetitive, thereby reducing the load on human effort, especially during the high-seasons when human error in this industry is more the rule than the exception.
ERP will give the managers a global view and real-time information of all the concerned departments. By reducing the human role, the chance for errors is also considerably reduced. If a person has to manually punch in information, either because of fatigue or neglect, errors can take place. Needless to mention, this also ensues less man-hours on the job and in the long run save money for the company.
Save precious time
T is a common trend that in the leisure industry, the staff have a way of wasting time because naturally, the industry conditions them to do so. However, ERP helps management overcome this workplace bane by putting a system in place.
Through ERP initiatives, the industry will save a lot precious time that is wasted on operations and mechanical work. This time can be put to better use and increase the efficiency of all the people involved.
Unity information flow
Solving issues of fragmented and disintegrated information within the various units involved is another role that the ERP system will play in the leisure industry. It ensures that information is available on one platform, which will act like a means for easy view and access by all levels of management.
The support processes of this industry particularly could benefit with automation and unification. For example, the F & B departments, the stock and supply, the front office, reservations and other department will greatly profit by having a single platform connectively. It is only when these units of a hotel function in tandem can you expect the hotel to do well and flourish.
Inter organization Improvement
The ERP system not only successfully integrates departments of an organization but also helps with connectivity between different organizations.
This includes such measures as helping build integration between intermediaries like the travel agencies and tour operators, between hotels and travel agencies or between tour operators and the hotels. If these links are smoothly put into place, then efficiency is bound to increase, individual business volumes are bound to increase and the industry is also sure to benefit as a whole.
Read data to infer new information
Data and information is very valuable in this industry. Customer’s personal details, his travel requirements, his preferences, his likes and dislikes (if logged in) are very important. Having a centralized system for data storage makes it safe and easy to infer.
The analysis and visualization of this data also becomes possible because of the ERP platform. A case in point is in the case of a hotel where one would need to know how many customers checked in on a particular day, how many had complaints, how much was spent by them etc. All such information is precious for the hotel to deduce future projections and reduce errors.
ERP systems can help solve the problems of unifying the information that is spread-out through the several heterogeneous information systems of the leisure industry. This will increase efficiency, reducing costs, increasing customer satisfaction and helping in a more planned and projected growth.