By: Mike Provost
“If you think that, you must be living in a fairy tale world!”
I recently overheard this statement from a couple engaged in… let’s call it an ‘animated disagreement’. Since I’m apparently easily distracted, this got me thinking about folklore and the various fairy tales I’ve heard over the years; “Hansel and Gretel”, “Rapunzel”, “Cinderella”, and “Rumpelstiltskin” just to name a few. Many of these stories present recurring themes like dark, foreboding forests; mythical, half-human, half-animal creatures; objects with magical powers; and usually some underlying lesson in humanity, although sometimes those can seem lost with time and shifts in culture.
Oftentimes, the characters in these stories utilize ingenious, (or outlandish, depending on your point of view), methods for accomplishing a given task or overcoming a challenge – a trail of bread crumbs, or a ladder woven of human hair for example – and in the end, they may fail or they may triumph, but we’re typically encouraged to take some lesson away and apply it to our everyday lives.
Meanwhile, out here in the real world, we’re also often challenged to think “outside of the box” and to come up with new and innovative ways of looking at, and ultimately, resolving a problem. Interestingly enough, some of these same ideas from the stories of old, can be brought to life in the form of modern tools or concepts. The characters, their actions, and even some of their key phrases are embedded in our societies and our cultures, even today. So, in some ways, it’s the fairy tale world that lives in us (…and no, I really can’t believe I just wrote such a ridiculously wannabe quasi-esoteric statement, but there it is. Feel free to cringe with me).
At MICROS-Fidelio, as we work on OPERA 9, the next generation of our OPERA Enterprise Management System, we have continued our partnership with Oracle to leverage our powerful OPERA Version 5 database, while taking advantage of the latest tools and technologies. As we go along, we’re building in some modern versions of these storybook concepts, like using Accordions to hide parts of the page, Carousels to quickly scroll through multiple images, and Breadcrumbs to help you navigate back out of the sometimes dark and foreboding forest of complex hotel operations.
Working in the Hospitality Industry can offer plenty of adventures and leave us all with more than a few interesting stories to tell, some of which would rival even The Brothers Grimm. And as we move forward, we’re working hard to prepare for an eventual OPERA 9 Reservation Services Beta. So, who knows, maybe someday you’ll be one of the intrepid explorers, like in the tales of old, joining our quest to forge new frontiers and possibilities! …enchanted swords not included.
