Analysing the true impact of AI on workforce management

People are, and always will be, at the heart of the hospitality industry. Within hotels, as well as across the sector, guest engagement and satisfaction will always rely on human interaction, which is something that makes the industry unique compared to others. But, in a world that is rapidly becoming more and more technologically advanced, there are a myriad of benefits and opportunities that the sector runs the risk of missing out on if it doesn’t adapt to the changing times.

Simplifying the day-to-day

The hospitality industry is notably complex, due to the sheer variety of activities and processes that are functional within it. The larger an organisation - for example, a multi-site hotel group versus a one venue operation  - the more processes it needs in place to ensure a high standard of service for guests.

Without a workable solution, this can slow down operations. It also places general managers in the back of house focusing more on processes and logistics, which, whilst an important part of hospitality management, can lead to guest experiences and employee wellbeing being neglected. At leadership level, this not only drives EBITDA down, but can stifle the opportunity for growth and impact opportunities for re-investment and development.

Technology, and the latest developments around AI, can help make these day-to-day complexities a thing of the past, and ensure that your organisation is operating via its optimum workforce across every shift. For example, Sona’s workforce management systems have enhanced scheduling capabilities, to make sure you have the best team in place each and every time, to avoid overstaffing impacting costs or understaffing affecting customer experiences - all tailored to each specific location.

This new generation of solutions was built from scratch on a scalable code-base (similar to how WhatsApp scaled to billions of users), that is capable of ingesting millions of data points, in real-time, and producing forecasts significantly more accurate than those of legacy systems. This coupled with modern workload rules tailored to each location means true auto-scheduling that general managers can trust and use together with their experience and natural intuition is now a reality. This is what the real-world, practical application of AI looks like right now in Hospitality.

Unlocking your team’s productivity

Undoubtedly, one of the primary benefits of next generation workforce management systems is their ability to significantly boost productivity across the board. In the past, legacy models were based on historical data, such as EPOS insight, revenue patterns and granular workload rules. However, modern solutions can take in many more real-time data points, from things like room and restaurant bookings, sales and promotions, as well as footfall drivers such as weather, school holidays and local events.

By improving accuracy through these datasets, this generates a labour forecast that general managers know they can trust through a one click auto schedule and provide a guaranteed best fit labour to meet predicted demand. This ability to optimise each and every shift will enable productivity through to every aspect of your business, as you’ll have built your schedules using total precision.

Adding to this, an openshift marketplace also promotes a healthy work-life balance for employees, providing them with greater levels of flexibility and the capability for them to work around their personal lives and other commitments – all while saving the employer on labour costs through more efficient team deployment.

Predicting the unpredictable

Within the education around AI and how best to utilise it in the hospitality sector, it's important to reiterate that the best way to implement it is to demonstrate how AI and general managers can work together. Agentic AI can give general managers additional superpowers - acting like a cape to superheroes, it supports and prompts them to continually optimise staffing, not only to control costs but also to drive sales. What’s more, the unity of AI-driven workforce management solutions and general managers will only help the growth of the business and boost customer experiences. Accuracy breeds productivity; therefore, effectively using AI to remove any guesswork is going to breed business development and, ultimately, profitability.

The last two decades of workforce management have been dominated by legacy software solutions. At Sona, we have built a truly next-generation workforce management solution, with a Google-backed, AI-driven platform that enables organisational leaders in complex, multi-location enterprises to put the right people in the right place at the right time, and to seamlessly manage their workforce end-to-end.

Ben Dixon is Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Sona