Mainframes →Minis → High-speed RISC computing → PC LANs → ASP cloud →Handheld.
The force behind mobile-ready development, iPhone apps, and having a mobile-ready website goes way beyond being cool. It is about company survival and meeting travelers where they are with effective tools to make business decisions.
Fast-moving business travelers today are not hairy-knuckled laptop draggers. They use a handheld and breeze through airports stroking an iPhone, Android or Droid X to do their work.
Business travelers are power users. Mobile by definition, they use web phones to search flights, hotels and car rentals, and book millions of dollars in reservations based on what they see in their hand.
This is why mobile solutions, including iPhone apps and iPads, dominated this year’s HITEC (Hotel Industry Technology Exposition and Conference) in Orlando in late June. Hospitality tech vendors know their solutions must be mobile-ready. No one whips out a laptop to book a room or check a flight anymore.
The handheld future of travel is coming from companies like TripCraft with its mobile total enterprise platform. This new system enables travelers to see an entire hotel chain with regional attractions, availability, and instant reservations for loyalty-powered bookings. Its integration with Cendyn’s eCRM suite also lets travelers access their frequent-stay profile to personally engage the chain. (Cendyn is a Softscribe client)
With technology evolving to a smaller and smaller physical presence, the question is: what is next? We give you a view into the future in our next blog entry – stay tuned.
What did you see at HITEC 2010? Let us know.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/
