Time to future-proof IT and Focus on hospitality

Tech investment must be measured and relevant for the business. How three very different operators secured commercial success through efficiency and innovation in a Digital Age.

In an increasingly competitive landscape, hospitality businesses are leveraging robust IT infrastructure to move beyond basic connectivity and achieve genuine operational efficiency. By partnering with technology experts to build a secure digital foundation, operators are "future-proofing" their businesses, enabling them to reinvest savings and capture new commercial opportunities.

The Headland Hotel, a historic five-star property, illustrates the power of a proactive IT partnership. Faced with the need to modernise, the hotel moved beyond simple support to establish a digital backbone with Focus on Hospitality. This relationship shifted the hotel from reactive firefighting to a forward-thinking strategy, enabling them to address complex challenges like cybersecurity and AI implementation. By identifying potential risks early and ensuring the network is scalable, The Headland can now integrate new technologies without disruptive overhauls.

For larger operators, the gains are equally transformative. Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) recently launched one of the UK’s largest hospitality digital transformation programmes, deploying a next-generation Cisco infrastructure across over 1,700 venues. By utilising an automation-first approach, M&B achieved significant operational and cost efficiencies. Critically, the business chose to reinvest these savings directly back into the project, expanding the scope to include more sites and advanced capabilities that were not initially planned. This commitment ensures their 6,000 users operate on a resilient, cloud-managed foundation.

Technology is also directly driving commercial success restaurant Viva Brazil in Cardiff which introduced Focus on Hospitality’s AILA, an AI-driven telephony solution, fundamentally changing how the restaurant handles bookings. AILA manages inbound calls, captures customer data, and integrates seamlessly with TableFox, ensuring bookings go live instantly without manual intervention. Within three weeks, the system generated over £7,400 in additional revenue and reclaimed 60% of the time staff previously spent on the phone.

“With Aila the booking journey becomes far more seamless. It allows our team to focus on what they do best, which is work face to face with guests. That’s the way it should be,” said Andy, Managing Director, Viva Brazil.

These cases confirm that when hospitality businesses treat IT as a strategic asset rather than an overhead, the results are clear: greater stability, streamlined operations, and a sharper competitive edge. By investing in the right digital foundations, operators are securing their future.