Interviews

Agile and digital transformation in the hospitality sector: How to reach the last mile

Agile and digital transformation in the hotel sector at niikiis
This week we interviewed Guillermo RademakersHe is the director of compensation and benefits at Grupo Piñero, where he is leading the agile and digital transformation of the function. He is a benchmark in the field of remuneration as well as from the perspective of the challenges and opportunities that can be found in the hotel sector.

With him we will talk about how to lead the agile and digital transformation in this sector, as it is essential to be able to adapt to the new situation, focus on new opportunities and optimise different areas of the organisation.

Welcome, Guillermo. First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself: how did your interest in people start?

My interest in the area of people and culture management is vocational, because since my degree as an industrial engineer in organisation, I already had a glimpse of my focus on the continuous improvement of processes and their practical application in organisations. Moreover, I have had a career in which I have been able to see this function from three perspectives, the development of management software, from business consultancy, and finally as a direct manager in an organisation. That's more than twenty years managing in international environments for multiple sectors of activity.

So, what is the agile and digital transformation of the compensation and benefits function?

The function of compensation and benefits focuses on defining the value proposition for the employee and how this is integrated into management both at the level of the manager and from the aggregate perspective of the organisation. A distribution of roles and responsibilities is defined, and a remuneration package must be provided that attracts and retains professionals for successful performance, as well as providing a path for growth and change. This involves many challenges in decision-making, which is where technology is a differential element to make it more flexible, adaptable and reliable in the recording of information. Digital transformation is the process of automating and providing greater support in the definition of registration, decision-making and information exploitation flows. Obviously, in the current times and with the speed of change in markets, business models and organisations, this cannot be done in a hierarchical and bureaucratic way, hence the agile mentality is an accelerator and facilitator of greater flexibility.

What are the advantages of promoting this transformation within the hotel sector?

The hotel sector has the characteristic of being a 24×7 service, an operation where presence continues to be a sign of identity and differentiation, each person is looking for exciting experiences with different approaches and content. So you have to give answers, with continuous improvement, but with a great sensitivity to sustainability, because usually the experiences are integrated in unique environments. This is a very demanding organisational environment, with great cultural diversity, due to the international perspective, and which obviously requires a tailor-made approach in its value proposition for employees. Compensation and benefits, along with talent management, and internal communication are the main functions to ensure that there is coherence and consistency in the management of people and culture. Doing this in a manual, bureaucratic, or very hierarchical way does not add value and does not generate competitive advantage.

What are the biggest challenges in implementing it?

Adoption and return on investment are the main challenges for the digital transformation of the compensation and benefits function. Coffee for all is not a recipe that generates internal equity, external competitiveness and also serves as a decision-making tool (employee, manager and organisational perspective). There is a quote I like to mention, it is not (always) a question of paying more, but it is always a question of paying better. Adoption generates traction as it demonstrates attractiveness and credibility, while the return on investment demonstrates the efficiency, relevance and sustainability of the approach adopted. From these considerations comes the big question, how do we measure, what metrics and what do we compare them to?

What would you say are the best practices for a good transformation?

The great risk of transformation is the mere digitisation of transactions of little or no value to the employee or as a means of facilitating decision-making. And the great Trojan horse is the lack of integration of tools. What is the culture of the company, what is the context of the level of consolidation of processes and systems, what is the user profile, what are the processes that have the greatest impact and that need to be improved through digitisation. This reflection process generates a lot of value in the consideration of priorities and the architecture to be developed.

What tools can be used to facilitate transformation?

There are many tools that facilitate digital transformation, and for many perspectives and needs, how we communicate total rewards, or how we give employees a voice so they can flexibly tailor their reward package, or how we facilitate recognition of their successful development and performance. We need to go beyond just data management, to put the employee at the centre and give them a positive experience.
Hotels need innovative solutions to lead the digital transformation. The value niikiis brings goes beyond solving a need, such as recruitment management or performance evaluation, with the benefits that this entails.
Don't miss the live show we did with Guillermo Rademarkers and learn more about agile and digital transformation in the hotel sector.

With niikiis you can significantly improve turnover, internal communication or continuous feedback, talent retention and much more. Do you want to know more? Request a free demo to find out more!

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