Last weekend, I traded my keyboard for a pair of skis at Snow Valley for my first-ever skiing experience.
While the holiday spirit was high and the family had a blast, I found my "ITIL brain" switching on the moment I stepped into the rental lodge.
As a service management professional, I couldn’t help but analyze the workflow. Snow Valley clearly has a well-documented process. The physical layout is designed to guide you through a logical sequence:
Registration > Boots > Helmets > Skis > Slopes.
However, as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details." Even with a solid design, there is a massive opportunity to Optimize and Automate to reduce friction.
The Friction Points
- Identity & Access Management: On day one, everyone hits the same front-desk queue. While first-timers need the "human touch," returning guests are slowed down by a lack of self-service. A "Fast Track" digital badge or kiosk system would allow veterans to bypass the noise and get straight to the snow.
- Asset Management & Data Persistence: Every day for four days, I had to restate my boot size and weight. In ITIL terms, this is a failure of Service Configuration Management. By not "remembering" my profile, the resort wastes manual labor hours and increases the risk of a "bad fit" each morning.
- The Paper Trail in a Digital World: The most glaring opportunity was at the final equipment stage. I watched staff manually write down names, program types, and equipment codes on paper clipboards. This creates a data silo, increases the chance of human error, and slows down the "Check-in/Check-out" process significantly.
The Digital Transformation Opportunity
By digitizing these touchpoints—linking a user’s profile to their equipment codes via a simple scan—the resort could:
- Improve the Customer Experience: Less time in line, more time on the powder.
- Optimize Human Labor: Reallocate staff from "data entry" to "safety and coaching."
- Continual Improvement: Use the data to see which equipment is used most, where the bottlenecks are, and how to prepare for peak holiday surges.
I left Snow Valley with sore muscles but a refreshed perspective. If you know anyone at Snow Valley who wants to turn their rental workflow into a seamless digital journey, I’d love to help them lead that transformation.
Wishing you all a refreshing and "optimized" New Year!