Bangkok--19 Jun--Smart Finder
Smart Finder is a homegrown Thai brand that founded by former hotelier Soros Raktham who is also the CEO of the company. As a hotelier, Soros found that local staff often had issues dealing with complex imported technology. Rather than solving a problem, many of the so-called ‘solutions’ made daily tasks seem more challenging.
‘As a former hotel IT manager myself, I had issues with staff trying to cope with tech issues when performing what should have been fairly simple day to day tasks using their property management system. We couldn’t afford that kind of frustration and this is why I tried to find a SMARTER solution. Back in 1990s, all major PMS providers provided software that ran on the DOS Operating System. Users had no idea what to do with that expensive software that their hotels had just invested in. I thought why ‘Why does this have to be such a burden for hoteliers? Surely there was a smarter way for hoteliers to work?’ So, in 1997, I decided to start Smart Finder with only one intention; to dedicate to finding smarter ways to improve the way the hospitality business does business.’ said Soros who was in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years
‘Since then, Smart Finder still sticks to that initial intention - offering smart solutions to hoteliers. ’ added Soros
In May 2015, Smart Finder launched its new flagship property management system, the Smart HMS M Series. The product features lots of new technology that is sure to change any negative preconceptions that hoteliers and hotel employees might have in regard to property management systems. Cloud-computing, mobile technology and integrated reservations are all incorporated in this new version.
In line with international standards international standards, Smart Finder is moving toward comprehensive implementation of cloud-computing technology. We are leveraging cloud-computing technology and gradually incorporating it into our solutions to prepare our clients for this new era of hospitality management.
When asked if Smarfinder will migrate completely to Cloud technology, Soros said ‘For now, it’s still not cost-effective for most of our clients to fully adopt cloud-computing technologies that include IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service). While some properties might want to stay on with their locally hosted software, others would definitely prefer to migrate to a SaaS property management system as it would be cheap and less-risky only if all they want is to get their basic requirements met such as the ability to check-in / out, make reservations, etc. But it’s still not a complete cloud-computing solution. Right now with many of these solely cloud based solutions, customization options for properties are limited and they rarely get the professional support and service that their individual properties require.’
Having been in the industry for 20 years, Soros believes that it is a people business industry and taking good care of clients is one of the top priorities at Smart Finder. ‘We have set high standard for our customer service, offering 24 hour support by highly-trained software experts and we are trying even harder to set the bar even higher as we get ready for our global expansion.’