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1013: Wyndham’s Scott Strickland on AI, loyalty, and how digital innovation is reshaping hospitality.
In this episode of Technovation, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Chief Commercial Officer and longtime CIO Scott Strickland joins Peter High to share how Wyndham is redefining hospitality with digital innovation, from its owner-first philosophy and the new Wyndham Gateway loyalty initiative to the creation of a guest engagement platform that powers mobile check-in, digital tipping, and personalized upsells; Strickland also discusses Wyndham’s $350M technology modernization journey, how it prepared the company for AI adoption, the role of data and personalization in shaping future guest experiences, the impact of user-generated content and micro-influencers, and practical leadership lessons for CIOs aiming to expand into broader commercial roles, proving that in hospitality, where there’s a Wyndham, there’s a way.
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How can AI revolutionize the $2B+ quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry? In this episode of Technovation, Wendy’s CIO Matt Spessard joins Peter High to reveal how the company is leveraging AI, automation, and digital transformation to enhance customer and crew experiences.
With 7,000+ locations worldwide, Wendy’s is redefining fast food with FreshAi, its AI-powered drive-thru assistant, developed in partnership with Google Cloud. Matt shares how this cutting-edge technology is boosting order accuracy, improving speed, and optimizing crew workflows. Plus, he discusses how Wendy’s revamped CRM, loyalty program, and mobile-first strategy led to 40% growth in digital revenue in 2024.
937: In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Joe Park, President of Digital and Restaurant Technology Ecosystem and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Yum! Brands. Joe discusses Yum!’s incredible journey from 19% to over 50% digital sales in just a few years, fueled by innovations in proprietary technologies and AI-first strategies. He shares insights into how the company has built and scaled an integrated technology ecosystem—referred to as “Restaurant in a Box”—to empower franchisees and enhance the customer experience globally.
Joe also highlights Yum!’s strategic use of generative AI and voice AI to streamline operations, reduce team member attrition, and improve restaurant operations. Additionally, he delves into leadership training initiatives, including an AI and digital mindset curriculum developed in partnership with Harvard Business School, to prepare Yum!’s leaders for the digital future.
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885: Organizations navigate a landscape marked by frequent AI interface releases, expanding interaction channels, and heightened expectations for quick, seamless, personalized experiences. Emphasizing responsible customer data use, they strive to balance AI with human touch to enhance both customer and employee engagement. In this episode of Technovation, a panel from our May 2024 Metis Strategy Digital Symposium features Bala Subramanian, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at UPS, and Marty Brodbeck, Chief Technology Officer at Priceline, in conversation with Metis Strategy Co-Head of Research, Media, and Executive Networks Steven Norton about customer experience in the age of AI. Bala discusses UPS’s tech-driven improvements in customer and employee experiences and operational efficiency, while Marty outlines Priceline’s use of AI tools for enhanced customer care and efficiency. They delve into evolving customer expectations, generative AI applications, and the balance of tech with human touch. Both emphasize leveraging data and innovation for efficiency, effectiveness, and new business models, stressing the importance of robust data infrastructure and foreseeing AI’s potential to boost operational productivity and drive future development.
858: The world of travel today is defined by digital experiences and powered by technology. At Marriott, CTO Naveen Manga is leading a digital transformation across the company’s 30 brands to bring guests the digital experiences they desire and transform the hospitality industry as a whole. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Naveen about technology transformation and Marriott’s new tech-enabled headquarters, which serves as a symbol of how the company has embraced technology in its corporate strategy. Naveen provides insight into the new technology capabilities his team has delivered, including a revolutionary composable architecture, and a range of other initiatives. Finally, Naveen looks ahead at trends in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies and shares how he has fostered a culture of innovation in his team to be able to act upon these trends quickly.
772: Eswar explores how data and artificial intelligence are transforming the high-performance lifestyle industry and helping customers to achieve their macro and micro health goals. With over a decade of experience at Equinox, Eswar shares his remarkable career journey, discusses the pivotal role of technology in improving customer engagement, and details the types of innovation his team is driving within the company. We delve into Equinox’s comprehensive data strategy, emerging tech trends, and the keys to Eswar’s career success.
770: Our latest episode features a panel from our Metis Strategy Digital Symposium in May 2023 where Rajan and Eben share their experiences applying a product mindset to advance digital and technology capabilities at their organizations. Rajan explains the project-to-product transformation at Ascension, the shifting customer expectations around digital interactions, and the metrics he uses to measure the success of the company’s customer-centric culture. Eben expands on the role technology plays in customer care at Hyatt, the agile and data-focused culture at the company, and driving the long-term strategic mission through the day-to-day empowerment of teams. Finally, both executives speak on the organizational impacts of moving to a customer-centric mindset, the workflow changes as a result of that mindset shift, and the partnership between the CDO and CIO to advance digital within the company.
757: In this episode, we dive into the concept of the “brilliant basics” with Eben Hewitt, CIO of Hyatt Hotels. Eben shares how he achieves reliability, scalability, speed, and transparency in IT at the company while also improving customer experience. We explore Eben’s experience in replacing Hyatt’s central reservation system, developing better communication throughout the organization, and rebuilding the company after the pandemic shook the hospitality industry.
746: Anita Klopfenstein, CIO of Little Caesars Pizza, joins Peter in a conversation about the IT transformation that she has led at the company, the emerging technologies her team leverages to drive improvements in the customer experience, and the positioning of the IT organization as a profit center for the business. Anita also shares how she implemented an IT steering committee to prioritize the most critical elements of the organization and collaborated with franchisees and customers to identify opportunities for improvements. She describes her team’s process of becoming a predictive enterprise, flexing IT to support the diverse array of additional venues, and giving back to the community during the height of the pandemic. Finally, Anita reflects on her career, the keys to her success, and the tech trends that are on her radar.
735: Our broadcast today comes from our recent Metis Strategy Digital Symposium on the topic of Optimizing Value Delivery through Digital and Technology Capabilities. The panelists who spoke about this topic were Anita Klopfenstein of Little Caesars and Kirk Ball of Giant Eagle and the conversation was moderated by Metis Strategy Partner and East Coast Lead Alex Kraus. Both executives talk about how they align business objectives to operational needs and leverage data & analytics capabilities to improve the employee experience and internal training. Anita shares thoughts on Little Caesar’s “Area 51” initiative to help pilot innovations and measure their success at select locations while Kirk discusses the philosophy behind the co-creation of strategy to build commitment within the team.
