A group of New Zealand’s top hospitality technology whizzes came together on October 29 to make it easier for the sector to connect, implement and benefit from technology in an environment where it’s becoming increasingly vital.
New Zealand’s first-ever Hospitality Tech expo was held in Queenstown at the Mountain Club in Beach Street.
Top hospitality tech leaders, James O’Connell of The Hospitality Company, Mat Weir of First Table, Paul Wilson of the food safety company, Chomp, and Richard McLeod of the hospitality operations software company, Loaded, have come together to share their knowledge in the free, two-hour session.
The aim of Hospitality Tech was to help hospitality professionals, including general managers, head chefs and kitchen managers, to engage with all tech options at one time rather than on a piecemeal basis, says Richard. “New Zealand and Queenstown in particular is producing some phenomenal hospitality tech, so we want to bring all the options together making it easier to engage people in what’s available to provide a more seamless offering.”
The leaders discussed the key gains available right now in the hospitality technology sector to assist businesses with key organisational and leadership changes, marketing automation, compliance and general focus on where efforts should be concentrated to improve business efficiency.
MC for the forum, Simon Small, is a New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Digital Implementation Coach and a champion of technology for all industries and former managing director of Diligent (UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa), as well as co-founder of world-leading AI company Arria AI. Simon provided insight into how other industries have embraced technology, highlighting the success businesses within have seen as a result.
Raising awareness amongst hospitality businesses of the technology opportunities available has never been more important in the face of the challenges that are currently being faced through the COVID-19 pandemic, says Richard. “The efficiency and productivity technology can bring could not be more significant than it is now.”
