INSPIRE 2023 featured extensive opportunities for Agilysys customers to network with their peers as well as to attend a wide array of education sessions spotlighting solution innovations and customer use cases. Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas proved an exciting setting for this popular annual conference where customers gain hands-on insights across Agilysys' Hospitality Core Collection™ of ecosystems:  Hospitality & Leisure, Food & Beverage and Inventory & Procurement.

Ramesh Srinivasan, Agilysys President and CEO, noted, "This annual ‘meeting of the minds’ with our customers never fails to generate deeper understanding of real-world opportunities and challenges in hospitality as well as new ideas and approaches to collaboratively creating success. Our customers are among the smartest and most accomplished in hospitality, so our interactions at Inspire are always energizing. The time we spend together at the conference is one of the most strategic things we do as a company.”

Networking + Knowledge = High Value

While networking tops the list of what many attendees value most, the new knowledge gained through solution education sessions and customer use case presentations draws many back each year.

“Inspire INSPIRES me,” said Lori Swehla, Hotel Manager at Angel of The Winds Casino. “It's my third year attending this conference and I take away something new from every class I attend.”

Attendees learned about technology and strategies to achieve High Return Hospitality by improving experiences for guests, customers and staff across touchpoints at various property types. Experts from Big Cedar Lodge, Pinehurst Resort, Saybrook Point Resort & Marina, Brigham Young University, and MGM Resorts shared their advice on how to define, champion, deploy and manage technology investments to transform and improve organizational efficiency, staff retention, guest satisfaction, revenue and margins.

Mario Cambeses from Horseshoe Bay Resort observed, “I really enjoyed the sessions with Big Cedar Lodge and Pinehurst Resort because we are going through similar situations. It is encouraging to know that you're not the only one going through a transformation process.”

Food & Beverage Ecosystem

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Operators from hospitality organizations of all sizes and types in various stages of technology adoption were able to connect with others working through similar challenges. They were able to learn about solution features and enhancements, participate in interactive training sessions, and explore various “next steps” firsthand with the help of Agilysys' experts.

“We get exposure to all the technology that Agilysys offers, but one amazing thing is that we all get to share our experiences with one another as well as what we are doing at each of our sites – all of the roadblocks we encounter and how we’re working around them,” Mario Cambeses commented. “It's been an amazing experience; everyone here comes with very unique developments, and it's honestly been very enriching.”

Maximizing Solution Impact

Tips & Tricks sessions proved to be among the most popular workshops at Inspire 2023. These expert-led sessions guided users on ways to optimize the operation and impact of currently installed solutions. In addition to examining specific solution features, use cases and advantages, each session highlighted power-user tips to achieve the highest performance and impact.

Sessions also covered how to enhance solutions through key integrations. “I've managed to network and take away tips and tricks for my property’s instance of Versa PMS, said Lori Swehla. “I also learned more about mobile check-in and mobile check-out – these are new products that we're going to be implementing.”

Inspire 2023 also debuted two levels of system training across Agilysys’ complete solution portfolio:  Base Camp training, offered at no charge, delivered basic user training while fee-based Advanced Training covered content designed to develop more experienced power users.

Hospitality & Leisure Ecosystem

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What’s Next and What’s Possible

Another popular session track was the Product Roadmap series, in which Agilysys experts shared updates and next-generation capabilities for Agilysys' most popular solutions. What's Next sessions provided an in-depth look at recently released solutions including Versa, Agilysys’ highly versatile Property Management System (PMS) equipped for cloud or on-premise operation.

“I enjoyed getting to meet with industry peers and making connections, learning what others are doing, and what's working for them,” said Ryan Schlimpert, SVP & CIO at Drury Hotels. “I enjoyed the sessions that I was able to go to, just learning about the products that are out there and what capabilities we can take advantage of to meet the needs of our guests and our team. I enjoyed the roadmap for Stay PMS. That's the center of our hotel universe, so seeing the new features that are coming along was exciting.”

Lessons in Digital Leadership

Additional inspiration came through keynote speaker Erik Qualman, motivational speaker, digital leadership expert and author of five best-selling books. Erik is a professor of Digital Leadership at Northwestern University, and more than 500 universities as well as the United States National Guard and NASA utilize his materials. He also has been featured on 60 Minutes and in The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes Magazine named him a Top 50 Digital Influencer.  Through insightful observations and engaging anecdotes and exercises, Erik instructed attendees on how to harness the power of focus, future trends, innovation, and digital transformation.

Elevating Service to Hospitality

A recurring theme throughout the conference was the power of using technology to move beyond excellent service to deliver true hospitality. Distributing customer and guest insights to staff across a property’s revenue centers equips them to make informed in-the-moment decisions that transform customer and guest transactions into relationships. The right technology can be the “secret sauce” that elevates a property from “well-run” to “well loved.”

"This is a very exciting time in the hospitality industry and for Agilysys and our customers," said Ramesh Srinivasan. "We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our customers as together we set higher bars for maximizing Return on Experience to drive High Return Hospitality.”