InterContinental Hotels Group
Company: InterContinental Hotels Group, Atlanta, GA
Company Description: IHG is the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms that owns, manages, leases or franchises over 4,400 hotels in over 100 countries. IHG operates seven hotel brands: InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, and the world’s largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club Rewards with 48 million members worldwide.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Information Technology Executive of the Year
Nomination Title: Bill Peer, VP of Enterprise Architecture
1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2009 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Bill Peer is Vice President of InterContinental Hotels Group's (IHG's)
Enterprise Architecture (EA) organization. Bill focuses his strong people
skills on building working alliances with a wide range of organizations
throughout IHG and the hospitality industry. His animated presence and ease with
discussing technology with any audience makes Bill a tremendous draw at
conferences worldwide, and he is recognized as one of the industry's leading
innovators and speakers. In 2009, Bill co-chaired the Hotel Technology Next
Generation (HTNG) Architecture Workgroup, was a key speaker at the 2009 HTNG
Annual Members' Meeting and Conference, and has spoken about Cloud Computing at
several conferences.
Bill Peer is a true agent of change resulting from the alignment of business and
technology, and as such leads a culture of aggressive innovation. In 2009, Bill
embraced the challenge of planning, designing, and evangelizing a new
architectural paradigm to improve IHG's information flow, increase the speed of
system agility to support business, and ensure data consistency and quality
throughout the enterprise. Given that IHG corporate offices, data centers, and
properties are located around the world, this would appear to be a daunting
task, much like turning a battleship whose crew comprises over 750 globally
dispersed technologists.
Bill's team of experts comprises Enterprise Architects and technologists across
global and organizational boundaries. Bill and his team expose business needs at
all levels and drive a global technological solution – the Advantaged Technology
Platform (ATP). Bill established the ATP strategy as the driving force of all
technology solutions; it is the key to building a loosely-coupled technology
that supports business strategies with the same adaptive velocity faced by lines
of business. The agile, flexible, scalable frameworks are based on SOA/WOA,
virtualization, cloud computing, Complex Event Processing, and globalization.
ATP enables IHG teams to develop solutions that are based on open standards, are
network-conscious, and are interface-driven.
Under Bill’s leadership, IHG is transforming its core systems into modern
SOA-based best-of-breed cloud-capable solutions, which include cutting-edge
Reservations, Loyalty, and Hotel systems. The inner cloud is architected so IHG
can easily slide into the public cloud when ready. A year into Bill's four-year
cloud computing strategy, 60% of its hotel Loyalty/Reward program data has been
moved to servers on its inner cloud and 5% of the data has been moved off its
Reservation system mainframe. IHG's Customer Relationship Management, Contact
Centers, and Central Reservations System are currently transitioning to the cloud.
Bill's magnanimous presence extends into the community at large. He helped
introduce the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) to IHG and was
instrumental in promoting the Women in Technology (WIT) Society throughout the
company. Bill attended the Women in Technology Day and the annual WIT Nominee
Dinner. He also participates in the annual Kaiser Permanente Charity Run/Walk.
Technology's partnership with IHG business units provides unprecedented
opportunities to embrace new technologies rapidly and wisely. This partnership
is primarily due to Bill's vision and humanitarian leadership. He will doubtless
continue to be a galvanizing force at IHG and the industry as they evolve.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
• SOA for Dummies, 2nd Edition – Bill referenced in IHG case study on SOA
January 20, 2009
http://www.amazon.com/Service-Oriented-Architecture-SOA-Dummies/dp/0470376848/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271086554&sr=1-1
• Hotel Technology Next Generation HTNG – Presented an overview of the
Advantaged Technology Platform to the 2009 HTNG Annual Members' Meeting and
Conference in Irving TX March 2-4, 2009
http://www.htng.org/events/nammc/2009/index.htm
• The Register UK – Bill referenced in the article "Zend Offers PHP Cure for
Java Bloat" April 7, 2009.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/07/zend_php_application_server/
• G-Force Orlando – Presented "Great Hotels Guests Love: Future Proof
Architecture" to over 1,000 attendees of this conference April 22, 2009
http://www.genesysgforce.com/orlando/agenda.html
• Information Week "Terracotta Helping Hotelier Build Individualized Services" –
Charles Babcock interviews Bill Peer about IHG's use of Terracotta in their SOA
implementation May 29, 2009
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/integration/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217700735
• G-Force Barcelona – Presented "Great Hotels Guests Love: Future Proof
Architecture" to over 950 attendees of this conference June 10, 2009
http://www.genesysgforce.com/barcelona/agenda.html
• Catalyst Conference San Diego -- Presented "Getting in Touch with Your Inner
Cloud" to approximately 400 attendees of this conference July 29, 2009
http://www.catalyst.burtongroup.com/Na09/
• Burton Group Data Center Blog -- "Cloud Computing Morning Sessions at
Catalyst" -- review of Bill's Cloud Computing presentation July 30, 2009
http://dcsblog.burtongroup.com/data_center_strategies/2009/07/cloud-computing-at-catalyst.html
• Search CIO – "One CIO's Private Cloud Experience" August 12, 2009
http://searchcio.techtarget.com.au/articles/34724-One-CIO-s-private-cloud-experience
• Contact News ContactCentres.net -- "Genesys Builds on its Vision for Dynamic
Customer Engagement" -- List of speakers for G-Force Melbourne 2009 August, 2009
http://www.contactcentres.nhttp:/www.contactcentres.net/CALLCENTRES/LIVE/me.get?site.sectionshow&CALL435et/CALLCENTRES/LIVE/me.get?site.sectionshow&CALL435
• G-Force Melbourne – Presented "Great Hotels Guests Love: Future Proof
Architecture" about how key technologies are integrated to enhance the guest
experience to approximately 900 attendees of this conference August 13, 2009
http://www.g-forcemelbourne.com.au/2009/agenda.html
• "How Mobile Technology will Change the Future of Customer Service" – Podcast
from G-Force Melbourne August 13, 2009
http://searchcio.techtarget.com.au/articles/34757-PODCAST-How-mobility-will-change-the-future-of-customer-service-according-to-Bill-Peer-Vice-President-Enterprise-Architecture-InterContinental-Hotels-Group
• IT Radio Australia "Smart Call #68: The Geek Show!" – Podcast on the future of
customer service from G-Force Melbourne August 31, 2009
http://itradio.com.au/?p=294
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:
During his 20 years of professional experience, Bill Peer has worked in nearly
every IT capacity and his career even includes time at the National Security
Agency. He has spent the past decade focusing exclusively on large scale systems
and has worked in many industries including hospitality, insurance, and retail.
Bill conducts numerous presentations around the globe on technology topics
ranging from Enterprise Architecture to the internet to system design to cloud
computing. Bill earned his baccalaureate in Physics (Cum Laude) and received a
Masters degree in Computer Science.