Debating hot industry topics at the ALMR's Ops Academy

I was recently asked to co-chair a debate featuring high-flying members of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers' (ALMR) 'Ops Academy'.

The Academy enables the crème de la crème of the operations manager's world to discuss relevant issues in complete confidence - eg, I'm not allowed to report who said what. That said, I found the get-together highly interesting, and a bit of an eye-opener.

The debate looked at three topics: the definition of 'yield''; whether product quality was a defining factor in business success - versus service standards and environment - and the usefulness or otherwise of technology in a business.

Yield, my panel concluded, might be a useful indicator of performance for senior management, but demands to hit targets can backfire, rewarding 'bad' managers who can work the system over good ones who "do the right thing".

Product quality, it was said, shouldn't be divorced from the experience of environment and service. Great-tasting beer would not be enough to redeem a pub visit if it was served by surly staff in average surroundings.

And while technology clearly has its uses, the use of resulting data will likely evolve just as much as the gadgets do.

Not exactly rocket science stuff I'll agree, but nevertheless I was fascinated to hear operations managers from different companies picking apart the commercial demands made of them.

The day highlighted for me that while there are those who take the view that the ALMR is an irrelevant organisation - whose members would be best served by a merger with another body, such as the British Beer & Pub Association - events such as the Ops Academy show it can highlight serious issues and open up debate.

The real challenge will be to put the findings of such events to good use...