Daniel Blanchard says he was a “typical tech geek” initially of his profession at Boeing, the place he was supervisor of methods administration. There he labored on applications for the Military, Navy, Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Expertise, and the Protection Superior Analysis Tasks Company.
Nowadays he’s chief expertise officer at IHG Lodges & Resorts, the place he leads the imaginative and prescient and technique for areas of the product and expertise enterprise in a corporation with greater than 6,600 resorts globally. They embrace InterContinental Lodges & Resorts, Crowne Plaza, Vacation Inn, and Kimpton Lodges and Eating places. As CTO, he ensures that expertise runs properly with service-level agreements and monitoring different metrics. Previous to IHG, he spent greater than 25 years in IT enterprise administration, technique, transformation, structure governance, and program administration.
“As you’d count on, there are similarities and variations between working expertise for an airline and a hospitality firm,” Blanchard says. “On one hand, each organizations leverage options for reservation methods, loyalty methods, operational methods, and so forth. And each organizations’ expertise methods deal with offering methods and assist for vacationers and for colleagues to assist them preserve the enterprise up and working.”
In an e mail interview, Blanchard talks about his profession as a tech chief and his methods on every part from cloud migration to sustaining agility and a development mindset.
From Transportation to Hospitality
Blanchard has labored in a number of industries, from airways to manufacturing to authorities and hospitality.
Earlier than IHG, Blanchard labored at Delta Air Traces as vp for IT infrastructure and reliability. He led IT reliability transformation throughout Delta worldwide. Earlier than that, he labored for greater than 20 years at Marriott Worldwide.
“At Delta, I all the time took very critically the position I performed in serving to folks journey for large life occasions like an interview for a brand new job, a enterprise alternative, a relative’s commencement, or a long-saved journey of a lifetime,” Blanchard says. “The belief folks put in us to get them the place they wanted to be impressed me to do my finest to supply excessive reliability and constant IT providers to get them there.”
All through his profession, Blanchard has taken an curiosity in planning and management methods, from protection contracting to mission-critical IT administration in airways and now the connection administration and strategic deployment of the superior expertise in hospitality.
“All are nice industries and challenges stuffed with alternatives to study and be a greater chief,” Blanchard says. “I actually wouldn’t change my expertise working in a wide range of industries for something.”
Overseeing the Tech of A number of Resort Chains
Blanchard helps greater than 100 purposes globally all through IHG. He began on the firm in February 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic took maintain of the world. He helped oversee the tech technique for the corporate’s lodge chains through the well being disaster.
Not too long ago Blanchard oversaw IHG’s cloud migration, transferring the group’s whole setting to the cloud. He was aware to finish the work at a tempo that retains visitors and house owners completely happy. Now he’s labored on rolling out IHG’s Visitor Reservation System and Income Administration System to the group’s resorts globally.
Dan Blanchard
“I can’t let you know how proud it makes me when a possible proprietor truly desires emigrate to our expertise as a result of they’ll see the worth to their enterprise,” Blanchard says. “That could be a nice feeling.”
Nowadays, Blanchard is busy overseeing management metrics that preserve IHG working easily. A few of the metrics are trade customary, and others he and his group have developed through the years.
“Whereas these metrics are essential, an important factor I’ve discovered is to have a single individual answerable for every of them — whether or not they’re management metrics (the place a extra junior member of the workers could also be accountable) or outcomes metrics (the place one among my direct experiences will lead),” Blanchard explains. “Typically there are inputs and dependencies which are out of a person group member’s management. However in a dynamic and fast-paced setting just like the hospitality trade, a transparent and single accountability mannequin is essential to creating leaders who perceive find out how to navigate these tough conditions whereas nonetheless reaching the general goal.”
At IHG, Blanchard helps the corporate’s “asset-light mannequin,” through which IHG groups don’t management day-to-day operations, insurance policies, or procedures of the franchised resorts. Nevertheless, they nonetheless work carefully collectively to ship a “constant model expertise for visitors.”
Blanchard cites 4 key areas which are integral to his position: working with the chief info safety officer to maintain methods dependable and safe, speaking a viewpoint all through the group on structure and innovation, constructing a technical setting to ship merchandise quickly all through the corporate, and specializing in organizational and enterprise administration.
In hospitality, Blanchard sees the position of IT in serving to lodge workers tackle clients’ preferences. IHG lately signed a take care of Genesys, which affords an AI-powered, cloud-based expertise orchestration platform, to spice up the visitor expertise. IHG’s largest-ever buyer expertise heart transformation consisted of migrating 1000’s of visitor providers brokers in addition to 1000’s of toll-free numbers throughout eight world websites.
“Some visitors need a touch-free transaction the place they’ll move the desk and go straight to their room with out speaking to anybody,” Blanchard says. “Others need a high-touch strategy the place their each want is taken care of by workers that has the data and methods out there to ship superior customer support.”
Agility and a Strong Digital Expertise
Key abilities and challenges as an IT chief embrace sustaining a excessive stage of agility and efficient communication.
“The larger problem is to take care of a excessive stage of agility — and never simply within the sense of adopting an agile improvement methodology however reasonably being mild in your ft and nimble to supply options to evolving enterprise wants,” Blanchard says.
For Blanchard, he bases his IT choices on how lodge house owners can drive income and supply a strong digital expertise for visitors. As well as, he plans to construct on his deployment of cloud-based property administration methods and enhance the group’s One Rewards loyalty program, for which the group makes use of knowledge and analytics to grasp ever-changing visitor wants.
“There’s actual potential to capitalize on our enhanced deal with knowledge and analytics, and to higher perceive and leverage altering visitor behaviors to enhance visitor experiences,” Blanchard says.
The Subsequent Technology of IT Leaders
Blanchard advises that future IT leaders keep a “development mindset” and deal with having enjoyable of their roles as they supply worth to the group.
He cites the late Colin Powell, former secretary of state, who stated, “Optimism is a pressure multiplier.” He explains, “This is applicable to you, and it applies to the folks you encompass your self with. You’ll merely be more practical in case you embrace this.”
He stresses that understanding the angle of colleagues is vital.
“The attitude you deliver, and your experience, is necessary, however folks, notably new leaders, are inclined to deal with their very own views an excessive amount of,” Blanchard says. “Spend time making an attempt to grasp the motivations and desires of the folks round you. You’ll seemingly uncover that they see very legitimate challenges and views you may not see out of your vantage level. As soon as you might be each on the identical web page, you can begin working collectively to unravel issues for them and for you.”
For leaders, enterprise objectives are extra necessary than expertise, in line with Blanchard.
“My recommendation: Don’t get too enamored with the shiny, new tech and overlook the mission,” he advises. “I actually realized that lesson alongside the best way, however I nonetheless stay a proud tech geek at coronary heart.”
