Before liberalisation, reputation was tied in a big way to stability. Today, the desire for stability is passé. Many old-world behemoths are either struggling for survival or their spotlight have been usurped by startups and innovations that emerged suddenly, changing business paradigms almost overnight. Innovation, disruption and change are buzzwords of global boardrooms as stability almost comes to denote stagnation.
Leading companies have realised the pressing need to innovate and upgrade their ideas and models to stay ahead in the race and are responding suitably. The disruptive and transformative power of technological innovations cannot be ignored today, except at existential peril.
The industry is also witnessing a behavioural shift at the consumer-end. People are more comfortable using apps instead of human interface or assistance. A large part of our interpersonal interaction is now happening online — whether through the phone, or through social media platforms. From telecom and aviation to e-Tailing and media, innovation is the key driver of adoption, performance and profits, especially in the case of startups.
India’s hospitality industry too has been witnessing to the paradigm shift brought about by the on-demand business model. Until a few years ago, travellers in India had little or no notion of predictability while booking a hotel online. As a result, the industry had abysmal rate of online adoption. Poor technology fixes for suppliers meant lesser inventory for the platforms. Guests — particularly overseas travellers — would realise to their shock that they couldn’t make payments by card.
The launch of the hotel aggregation model with OYO Rooms has transformed travellers’ experience from sordid to superb. Contrary to the unassuming descriptor, the business involves a lot more than just aggregating supply and marketing it online. A lot of diligence and effort has gone into analysing guest-interactions, points of failure, critical interventions and points of standardisation.
Now, travellers can book a hotel room at the click of an app. Three taps and five seconds are all it takes to book a room on OYO. Besides searching and booking rooms, the app allows guests to place room-service requests, book a cab and search nearby restaurants. The impact on the hospitality industry has been disruptive and transformative. Where it could earlier take a decade to build a thousand room brand via organic and inorganic growth, a hotel aggregator now has more rooms under its logo than most conventional hotel groups.
However, with new companies emerging every day, one can’t take the risk of not experimenting or innovating with their core offering and product. With the rapid pace of change and technology innovation in today’s era, businesses — both old and new — need to build moats and defence — lines to avoid being out — disrupted.
