20 November 2008

PhocusWright08 Postscript and Reflection

So Phocus is over for another year. The party's are over and people are on their way home.

The #phocus08 Twitter is quiet - no post for 3 hours.

So what did we learn and what is my take away from it all.

There is little actually fundamentally different. Actually that is good because it shows maturity. The old battles of legacy thinking vs more recent think still emerge. I have to agree with Spike/Hudson Crossing - there are a few fundamentals that can power some changes over the next year. BUT while there are some very worrying issues - there are some fabulous opportunities. And actually these are in places that many people are not looking.

One of the more interesting observations I have is that the world is finally waking up to the real impact of Google. It took a while. Denial is a wonderful thing. The options to create web real estate or not that great but people are going to try. I believe that next year there will be at least one player who is going to go through major restructuring. Spike's prediction of one less OTA is about right. For a few drinks I will give my prediction on that.

Finally - I think the GDS will take a very hard hit next year. The planets are definitely aligned on that one.

So thanks to the PCW folks for their efforts. The show was pretty spectacular - but we expect that. Philip, Bruce and Carol are to be congratulated. This is the watershed moment. We are now in for a period of significant retrenchment.

Cheers till next time... and no I am not going to be a Twit....

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