Because I have been given the opportunity to meet and learn from several hundred local IT executives over recent years, it has been natural for a few impressions to form in my mind.  For me, Linwood Hayes conjures up images of one who is highly organized. He can be visionary and still deal with the details within complex environments.  My conversation with him today reinforced the image in my mind.

We all know about the difficult conditions that exist in the travel industry and that Travel Inc. has endured lately. They have used this challenging time to anticipate, research, learn and plan for their future. Linwood Hayes is optimistic about their plans for good reason.  He’s also interested in what others are doing.

“Other IT leaders who have dealt with these issues are of interest to us. We are always open to learn from the experiences of others so let me mention the two areas which are our primary focus now,” commented Hayes.

Cloud Computing – Three Classification Groups. 

“Increased efficiencies delivered by the cloud are inviting and we are moving in that direction. We are organizing our efforts into these clusters: (1) Software as a Service, (2) Platform as a Service and (3) Infrastructure as a Service. Others might have suggestions or advice as to better ways to configure our plans,” said Hayes.

 Going Google – A Communications Platform.

“We are making a move that will allow us to continue our growth within a standard communications platform and that is exciting to us,” he remarked. “We plan to use Google Mail, Calendar, Talk, and Google Apps. Obviously this is a bold departure from how we have operated in the past, but we also know there are others moving down this same adventure trail. We want to learn from them as we go.”

By Mike Adkinson

March 2010