See the world with Fidelio, a leader in property management

See the world with Fidelio, a leader in property management

By Vishnu K. Mahmud

JAKARTA (JP): Four years ago, Feri Kurniawan was bored. He had
been in the hotel industry for seven years, working his way up
from Bell Boy to Front Office Manager after graduating from a
hotel school.

"At the end of the day, I felt that I did not learn that much
anymore, so I become bored with the entire routine," he recalled.
Today, Feri is a Project Manager with PT Filosoft Indosistem, the
Indonesian subsidiary of Micros Fidelio. The Columbia, Maryland-
based company is the global leader in advanced property
management and central systems with more than 10,000 systems
installed.

Property Management Systems (PMS) is the Information
Technology (IT) backbone for a hotel or restaurant establishment.
It not only provides networked computer systems that checks in
and checks out guests, but it also handles back office
accounting, reservations system, guest history and guest
recognition programs to name a few. Property Management Systems
are basically efficient tools to help the hotel employees provide
excellent service to their guests.

"Micros-Fidelio has one of the largest user bases in the world
as most international hotel chains use Fidelio as their PMS,"
says Chris Surjaseputra, Filosoft's Operations Manager.

"As the software is used worldwide, the Fidelio program is
more dynamic since it incorporates inputs and requests from many
different hotels and restaurants. Fidelio can also be customized
according to each individual property's requirements."

In addition to it's worldwide user base, hotel schools around
the world are also beginning to teach the Fidelio hotel system.
Currently, two Indonesian hotel schools (located in Jakarta and
Surabaya) are planning to install Fidelio in order to give their
students an advantage in the hospitality job market. And it is
the Project Manager's duty to install the Fidelio system and
train all the members of staff (or students).

Feri's job has taken him around the regions. He goes to the
hotel, trains the staff in the new hotel system, sets up the
computer programs and eases the hotel into "going live" from
their old PMS to Fidelio. But the job is by no means monotonous.

"Before, as the EDP (Electronic Data Processing) Manager at a
hotel, I had to maintain the network, take care of payroll and do
the monthly closing. It was routine," remarks Rovian Rusmin,
Filosoft's Back Office and F&B specialist. "Now, I get to travel
around the world and install in different hotels, meeting new
people. Each property install is always a different experience."

Most Fidelio Installers are not Computer Science graduates.
"Mostly Hotel D3 is the minimum but what counts the most is the
work experience, which is hotel operations background." says
Chris.

Having a hotel background allows the Project Manager to
anticipate and understand the concerns of the hotel employee
learning a new computer system. He/she would also understand the
needs and requirements of the guests, front line staff and
management.

And most Project Managers have travel stories to tell. Endang
Sunarya, Filosoft's network wizard, recently completed an
installation in North Korea. His journey back was dreadful. He
had to wait and walk across the border to China (straight out of
a Cold War movie!), spend the night at the border town, take the
only flight to Beijing (the rest was canceled due to a typhoon),
wait another night, take a flight to Singapore, missed his
connection, and waited another 13 hours before reaching Jakarta.
Four days to travel the equivalent distance of Jakarta - Tokyo.
For the same amount of time, one could travel around the world
twice!

Bram Marzuki, formerly of the Shangri-La Jakarta, has also had
his share of travel woes. While traveling from Bombay to
Singapore, he transited in the small city of Chennai, Madras,
where you must identify your luggage prior to boarding (after
check in but before they load the luggage on the plane). He
forgot to do so and lost his luggage for about six hours. He
still does not understand why one must identify their luggage
after checking them in at the counter!

When asked about the current crisis in the Indonesian hotel
industry, Chris states that Fidelio Jakarta will continue to
provide technical support for the hotels in Indonesia. There are
no new projects as yet since most hotel owners and operators are
in a "wait and see" mode before deciding on investing.

In the meanwhile, Feri and the other Project Managers at
Filosoft will continue to help install Fidelio in other
countries, spreading goodwill and being ambassadors for
Indonesia. Hopefully they can come back with their luggage
intact! (vmahmud@yahoo.com)