Our Clients
The following are real-life examples of client case studies of which Tony Amante Schepers and/or the Canto Solutions team were asked to consult.
Hospitality, Travel, & Tourism
To identify online experiences affecting enrollment in its member travel program, this $48B international hotel chain's digital department needed to view disparate data in one platform. Tony and team designed a digital dashboard depicting loyalty program statistics throughout the customer journey, which helped stakeholders increase enrollment by 4.5% in 90 days.
Consumer Products
Customers at a DC-area BestBuy store were experiencing frustration with the in-store returns process, which was known for miscommunication and long waits in line. Tony and company consulted with the store manager, recommending simple but effective improvements to signage and employee training.
Higher Education
Western Michigan University’s Banquet & Events department needed a more efficient way to deliver plated dinner to guests at 500-person formal events. Tony acted as “secret shopper” for the client, both as a guest and as a kitchen staff member. He then mapped improvements to where and when specific dishes could be prepared and plated to cut delivery-to-table time in half. Tony’s process improvement and guest experience designs remain in use at the University today.
Hospitality, Travel, & Tourism
A $48B international hotel chain's distribution and connectivity team was in need of a way to assess whether OTAs (online travel agencies like Booking.com and Expedia.com) were communicating factual details on the hotel's 7000+ worldwide properties. Tony and team interviewed algorithm vendors and made recommendations of the needs of internal stakeholders, culminating in selection of software with an applied warning system that triggers the hotel's associates on OTA inaccuracies. This tool saves the hotel's properties over $240k monthly in missed bookings.
Restaurants, Food & Beverage
Wingo’s, a Washington, DC chicken wings restaurant in Georgetown, had to pivot to take-away orders at the onset of COVID-19. Tony was hired to assess temporary Wingo’s initial adjustments, to provide a plan for long-term carryout methods, and to encourage customers to order directly online rather than through GrubHub, UberEats and other profit-depleting delivery services.
He helped assess ways to move from 60% pre-pandemic online ordering to 100% online and phone orders. His recommendations included offering GrubHub and UberEats users free wings and free delivery if they ordered directly online or by phone, helping the client boost profits by 14%.
International Services & Technology
Panrimo Study & Intern Abroad Programs, offering higher education students educational and short-term work opportunities worldwide, saw a drop in enrollment and couldn’t determine why.
Tony and team charted out the customer journey, identified points where prospects dropped off, implemented a user survey and international loyalty program, and suggested changing time-consuming applications and confusing “customized” packages to all-inclusive ones. The next semester, the company saw an enrollment increase of over 50%, along with 30% higher profit margins. It also exceeded $1 million in revenue for the first time.
Financial Services
XcelHR and its affiliate companies, a payroll services firm part of a $2B holding company, tapped Tony to analyze its current processes and design future-state improvements. Goals included streamlining insurance coverages quotes from insurers and onboarding new clients faster. Stakeholder interviews were conducted across all departments, redundant positions were eliminated, and a user-friendly online RFP form was created. Personnel savings and new client revenue increased more than 8% YoY.
Hospitality, Travel, & Tourism
For the US rollout of OYO Hotels, a $14B global chain, Tony designed a “go live” process for rebranding newly acquired properties and training their staff. When COVID-19 struck, he designed work-from-home procedures, implemented First Responder room discount messaging with 300+ hotel owners, and recommended IT help tools within OYO’s proprietary operating system to answer front desk managers’ questions and help them respond efficiently to guests at check-in.
Hospitality & Event Planning
A $48B international hotel chain's meeting and events team was experiencing a drop-off in event planners’ RFP submissions. from event planners but didn’t know why. Tony and team held a half-day info-gathering session with 5 different departments, discovering that planners found the RFP process cumbersome -- they had to submit separate requests to individual properties, versus one request distributed to all. Based on offered recommendations, the hotel implemented a “one-stop-shop” that now disseminates planner RFPs to applicable properties automatically.