Going Beyond ‘Service’ with Raja Rajarajan: Services are becoming increasingly consultative and insight driven
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Raja Rajarajan, Senior Director Companies, APAC, Agilysys
TDM has began a sequence of interviews beneath the theme ‘Going Past’ that convey to the forefront ‘a behind-the-scenes look’ on the experience of Agilysys APAC workforce members throughout product engineering, companies, HR, and gross sales, highlighting how every operate performs a strategic position in delivering worth to hospitality shoppers.
This sequence of interviews explores how these groups contribute to key enterprise outcomes — enhancing the visitor expertise, driving RevPAG, enabling seamless, interoperable options, and many others. — whereas offering a deeper understanding of the individuals, processes, and innovation that energy Agilysys’ influence throughout the hospitality sector.
In Half 3 of the ‘Going Past’ sequence TDM interviews Raja Rajarajan, Senior Director Companies, APAC, Agilysys.
Raja Rajarajan explores how the companies workforce helps hospitality suppliers via easy implementation, ongoing optimisation, and long-term success with Agilysys options. He shares how service excellence drives operational outcomes, permits seamless integrations, and immediately contributes to enhancing the visitor expertise and supporting RevPAG development throughout the APAC area.
Journey Day by day Media (TDM): As Senior Director of Companies, how do you and your workforce assist shoppers throughout APAC maximise worth from Agilysys options, and what does a typical day in your position appear to be?
Raja Rajarajan (RR): Because the Senior Director of Companies for Agilysys within the APAC area, based mostly in Sydney, my focus is on serving to shoppers not simply implement our options successfully, however maximise their long-term worth. My workforce and I work intently with lodges, resorts, and hospitality companies throughout the area, supporting them at each stage of their journey – from preliminary session via to onboarding, implementation, coaching, and ongoing optimisation.
Purchasers typically describe us as ‘modern and responsive,’ and we take delight in that. It displays our deep dedication to creating a significant distinction of their each day operations and guaranteeing that know-how by no means turns into a barrier to nice service.
No two days are the identical, and that’s one of many facets I take pleasure in most. A typical morning may start with venture updates, addressing any escalations, and reviewing useful resource planning throughout the various markets we serve. Collaboration with our product groups is a key a part of my position; bringing shopper suggestions immediately into the event cycle to repeatedly improve our options.
Managing groups throughout geographies and time zones will be advanced, however I see it as a novel alternative to drive innovation and influence. It challenges me to remain adaptable, talk clearly, and stay intently attuned to the native wants of every market. The variety inside APAC sparks recent considering and helps preserve us aligned with the fast evolution of the hospitality trade.
On the core of every thing we do is a straightforward, shared objective: to ship service excellence and assist our shoppers succeed.
TDM: Agilysys is understood for delivering seamless, end-to-end options. How does the companies workforce assist hoteliers in attaining easy implementation and long-term interoperability throughout their tech stack?
RR: Our companies workforce isn’t simply targeted on deployment – we’re with our shoppers all through the whole journey. Our objective is to make sure every implementation not solely runs easily but in addition aligns with the property’s long-term operational and business targets.
We conduct detailed wants assessments to realize a deep understanding of every property’s workflows, visitor interactions, and any third-party methods in use. With this basis, we create a tailor-made deployment plan that minimises disruption, reduces downtime, and ensures seamless integration with present know-how. This considerate, proactive strategy is an enormous purpose shoppers see us as responsive and reliable.
We work throughout a variety of hospitality environments, from unbiased lodges to resort teams, new openings, and properties transitioning from legacy methods. Whether or not it’s upgrading a single module or implementing a full end-to-end ecosystem, we collaborate intently with every shopper to customize the strategy.
Importantly, our assist doesn’t cease at go-live. We stay actively engaged via common upgrades, efficiency critiques, system well being checks, and ongoing coaching. Our objective is to make sure Agilysys options proceed to evolve alongside our shoppers’ wants – turning into not only a software program platform, however an extension of their operation.
TDM: In your expertise working with a various vary of hospitality suppliers, what position does companies excellence play in bettering visitor experiences and supporting RevPAG-focused methods?
RR: In hospitality, know-how ought to by no means be a barrier – it needs to be an enabler. When methods are carried out and optimised with precision, they liberate workers to concentrate on the visitor. This has a direct influence on satisfaction, loyalty, and in the end, income per visitor.
When front-of-house and back-of-house methods are tightly built-in and fine-tuned for operational effectivity, properties are higher positioned to personalise experiences, upsell intelligently, and reply to visitor wants in actual time. That’s how RevPAG is unlocked – not simply by having the correct instruments, however by utilizing them to their fullest potential.
Notably, our assist doesn’t finish at implementation. We view each relationship as a long-term partnership. Our companies workforce stays actively engaged, offering ongoing session, system critiques, and tailor-made recommendation. This permits us to reply as wants evolve and ensures that our shoppers can proceed to raise the visitor expertise over time.
TDM: Are you able to share a current success story or widespread problem the place the companies workforce performed a key position in serving to a shopper enhance operations or drive income outcomes?
RR: One widespread problem we incessantly see is fragmented visitor knowledge throughout a number of methods. Many hospitality suppliers depend on separate platforms for property administration (PMS), point-of-sale (POS), stock, and loyalty – which ends up in siloed data and an incomplete view of the visitor journey. This not solely impacts workers effectivity but in addition limits personalisation and focused advertising alternatives.
We lately labored with a multi-property resort group going through precisely this problem. Their entrance desk workers couldn’t entry visitor preferences or previous bookings from spa or eating retailers, lacking vital upselling moments and alternatives to personalise the expertise. In the meantime, their advertising workforce lacked a consolidated view of visitor spend throughout departments, making focused campaigns ineffective. Employees spent far an excessive amount of time manually cross-referencing knowledge – time that would’ve been spent with visitors.
Our workforce stepped in with a strategic strategy, not simply to implement Agilysys’ built-in PMS and POS, however to unify their broader ecosystem and create a single supply of fact. We began with a full knowledge stream evaluation, figuring out gaps and delays in how visitor data was captured and shared. Working intently with IT and operations, we developed a plan to import and sync legacy knowledge into the Agilysys platform.
This resulted in a completely unified visitor profile. In the present day, entrance desk brokers can immediately entry a visitor’s earlier spend, dietary preferences, or favorite actions, no matter the place that knowledge originated. Actual-time updates from new bookings – like a last-minute spa appointment – are captured instantly and mirrored throughout the system.
Past the tech, we targeted closely on cross-departmental coaching. It wasn’t nearly adoption, it was about workflow transformation. Entrance desk groups realized tips on how to act on visitor insights to supply significant upsells. F&B workers had been skilled to recognise returning visitors and tailor service accordingly.
The transformation was vital. Guide processes had been lowered dramatically. Employees turned extra empowered, visitor engagement improved, and operational effectivity elevated. Over time, these enhancements translated into measurable positive factors – stronger visitor satisfaction, extra ancillary income, and larger confidence in utilizing know-how to drive outcomes.
TDM: Trying forward, how is the position of companies evolving within the hospitality tech house, and the way is Agilysys positioned to assist hoteliers in assembly the expectations of as we speak’s – and tomorrow’s – visitors?
RR: The position of companies is turning into more and more consultative and perception pushed. As visitor expectations develop extra advanced – from hyper-personalised experiences to mobile-first interactions and seamless service supply – hospitality suppliers want extra than simply software program. They want strategic companions who can anticipate change, share finest practices, and unlock new alternatives.
At Agilysys, we’re investing in superior analytics, AI-powered assist, and steady training to assist hoteliers keep forward of the curve. Our companies mannequin is designed to evolve with our shoppers – guaranteeing they can’t solely adapt to shifting visitor expectations however constantly exceed them.
We recognise that many operators are understandably cautious about system change. That’s why we prioritise empathy and collaboration all through each engagement. Whether or not it’s a phased rollout, a migration from legacy platforms, or a full digital transformation, we stroll alongside our shoppers at each stage – serving to them construct the boldness and functionality to future-proof their operations.
TDM: What does ‘Going Past’ imply to you?
RR: For me, Going Past is about committing to shopper success in ways in which prolong far past contracts or service agreements. It’s about being proactive, anticipating wants earlier than they come up, and delivering outcomes that genuinely add worth.
It means staying engaged nicely after go-live – being there when challenges come up, responding with urgency, and celebrating wins as a workforce. It’s not nearly fixing points; it’s about creating moments of belief, readability, and collaboration all through the connection.
Finally, Going Past is a mindset. It’s about exhibiting up constantly, standing by our shoppers via change, and constructing partnerships rooted in long-term development. That’s what drives us – not simply delivering software program, however delivering confidence, continuity, and shared success.
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The put up Going Past ‘Service’ with Raja Rajarajan: Companies have gotten more and more consultative and perception pushed appeared first on Journey Day by day Media.