Mr. Offutt brings over 20 years of experience in information technology, IT management and travel industry dynamics to Phocuswright. He was most recently the chief architect and senior vice president for Sabre Holdings where he defined the strategy and plan to migrate from a monolithic Mainframe environment to distributed open systems and a service oriented architecture. Prior to being Sabre's chief architect, Bob founded and led Sabre Labs, a technology incubator that made Sabre the industry leader in new online products and services. Before Sabre, he spent 26 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he led the agency's information technology unit. Bob has also served on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound, George Washington University and the University of Southern California. His education includes a B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a master's degree in management science from the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School.
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Bob Offutt's Areas of Research
Bob Offutt is a travel technology visionary. His vast experience and hands on leadership in travel distribution make place him firmly at the forefront of innovation in travel. In his role as editorial director of Phocuswright's Innovation Edition and a leader of The Travel Innovation Summit, Bob Offutt knows how to identify the trends, technologies and platforms that will define the future of travel.

To HTML5 or Not to HTML5? That Is the Question
Category: Technology Innovation Published: December 2012 Analysts: Bob Offutt US $250Businesses need to make smart decisions about the best way to deliver functionality and a quality user experience, through both the desktop and mobile environments. While many agree that HTML5 will...

The Siri Effect: What it Means to Travel Shopping
Category: Technology Innovation Published: December 2012 Analysts: Bob Offutt US $450The debut of Siri, Apple's intelligent personal assistant, was initially greeted with enthusiastic reviews. Since then, however, reviews have been decidedly mixed. In the meantime, interest in...

Search: The Key to Successful Travel Sites
Category: Destination & Activities Marketing Published: December 2012 Analysts: Bob Offutt US $350Search in its many forms has impacted the travel value chain more than any other technology. However, while search has evolved significantly in recent years, there still hasn't been a breakthrough...

Travel: Google the Elephant in the Room!
Category: Social & Search Published: October 2012 Analysts: Bob Offutt US $450Google's purchase of ITA Software prompted many to consider and speculate about the company's plans to enter (and possibly disrupt) the travel distribution landscape. In addition to ITA Software, Google...

Cloud Computing: A Mandate for Travel Companies
Category: Technology Innovation Published: August 2012 Analysts: Bob Offutt US $350Cloud computing is becoming pervasive as a way to enable ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared pool of resources. This analysis takes a look at how cloud computing works and the opportunities it...