When Outrigger Hotels & Resorts began a program of expansion, they sought to centralise their operations through an infrastructure quick to scale and deploy.

Cloud Computing Case Study

Outrigger

Hotels & Resorts

1300 500 000 | www.brennanit.com.au

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts is an international chain of hotels

and vacation properties. Based in Honolulu, the company’s

operations extend from the Hawaiian Islands to Guam, Fiji,

Thailand, Bali and Queensland.

In Australia, Outrigger once owned a sizable portfolio

of hotel properties, but sold these holdings to take full

advantage of excellent market conditions. Recently, however,

Outrigger has again entered the local market, making a

series of strategic acquisitions and re-establishing the

Outrigger brand.

“With new properties in Noosa, Airlie Beach and the Gold

Coast, we are embarking on an exciting expansion plan

– it’s a real growth stage,” says Grant James, Outrigger’s

Regional General Manager.

To support this growth strategy, Outrigger wanted a

centralised IT infrastructure that would lower operational

overheads while delivering rapid roll-out capabilities to new

locations anywhere in Australia.

“Re-entering the market, we had an almost blank slate,”

says James. “We knew we wanted to do things differently,

and that meant a single system to track guests, reservations,

fi nances and operations across each of our hotels.”

Industry Hospitality

Country Australia

Business Challenge

Deploy a centralised IT, infrastructure

unifying the delivery of IT services to a

growing portfolio of hotels

Solution

A business-wide cloud system

combining Infrastructure-as-a-Service,

Private IP WAN and 24/7 support

Services

• Infastructure, network and data,

technical support and strategic

advice

Results

• Improved business effi ciency and

performance

• Reduced capital expenditure costs

on new acquisitions

• Increased business agility via rapid

new location deployments

The Situation The Summary

An intelligent cloud infrastructure that has laid the foundations for growth.

The Solutions

Outrigger approached Brennan

IT for advice. “Brennan IT have

delivered our IT needs for almost

a decade,” James explains, “and

we were eager to investigate how

cloud computing could help us

expand.”

Having examined Outrigger’s

requirements, Brennan IT

recommended that the company

deploy a three-pronged

solution: using a combination of

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS),

Private IP WAN and Managed IT

Services to create a fl exible cloud

platform.

Now available at each of

Outrigger’s hotels and its

head offi ce, Outrigger’s cloud

infrastructure is delivering 100 per

cent of the company’s IT services.

In addition to shared email, fi le and

data solutions, the infrastructure

also plays host to Outrigger’s

Property Management System

(PMS). This allows Outrigger to

deliver uniform reservation, front-

offi ce, point-of-sale, housekeeping,

accounts and check-in functionality

across its operations.

Microsoft Terminal Services

delivers client services where

and as needed, while strict

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

guarantee Outrigger the highest

levels of up-time and connectivity,

with redundant wireless links

“As we continue to look for opportunities to expand, we take confi dence from

the fact that our infrastructure is designed to grow. The cloud system we’ve

implemented with Brennan IT is helping to drive productivity at the same time

as providing new levels of insight into our daily operations.”

Grant James, Regional General Manager

Cloud Computing Case Study

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts

in place to ensure network

availability. A Managed IT Services

agreement offers 24/7 support and

monitoring.

The Benefi ts

Grant James says that hotel

operators can sometimes be

late adopters of new technology,

but through a forward-thinking

approach Outrigger has been able

to leverage the potential of the

cloud in their business.

Many of the benefi ts of the

solution, he says, stem from the

power of centralisation. “In the

past, our hotels have operated

more or less independently, with

separate infrastructures in each

location,” he says. “Now, each

Outrigger property is part of the

same system. That has unifi ed our

fi nancial services, allowed us to

implement business-wide changes

with minimal fuss, and provided

real-time reservation and other

data tracking across the group.”

James says that Outrigger’s

customer service has also

improved. “Our guests now

register once to be recognised

wherever they stay across

the group. For us, that’s an

important way to strengthen guest

relationships.”

James also points to the cloud’s

rapid deployment capabilities,

saying that – where adding a new

hotel to the chain once meant

investing in, confi guring and

deploying database and PMS

servers before the fi rst guest had

booked – Outrigger can now ‘bolt

on’ a new property with relative

ease.

“Physically, we only require

network connectivity and terminal

clients to be placed on site,” he

says. “As a result, the cloud has

actually altered the cost equation

when it comes to acquisitions. It’s

an important advantage as we

continue to grow.”

Asked about Outrigger’s

relationship with Brennan IT, James

says that the relationship has

lasted so long for good reason.

“We’ve built an outstanding rapport

with Brennan IT. They are proactive

and reliable, and because they

manage everything for us we

rarely have issues. We also trust

their strategic advice. The fact that

they’ve gained experience serving

others in the industry means they

bring an informed perspective.”

James adds that he would

“absolutely” recommend Brennan

IT to anyone seeking a cloud-

based infrastructure. “I know

that some organisations can be

nervous about outsourcing their

systems, despite the fact that they

want the benefi ts of the cloud. But

with Brennan IT, we haven’t looked

back,” he says.

For more information on how

Brennan IT cloud computing

can benefi t your business,

call1300 500 000 or visit

brennanit.com.au.

1300 500 000 | www.brennanit.com.au

Outrigger Hotels & Resorts