HT-NEXT Insights From Security Validation
How can hotels best leverage technology right now to meet the challenges of the pandemic and economic downturn?
The economic downturn has impacted too many of our partners. As we look to come out on the other side of the pandemic owners and operators are taking the opportunity to analyze their current technology strategies and make necessary changes that will allow them to operate more efficiently, reduce costs and enhance the guest experience.
Implementing new strategies requires hoteliers build a strong, enduring foundation rather than a haphazard collection of systems and applications. Security is the most important building block on which new technology strategies are built. Security is the keystone on which your brand and guests are protected. Security should no longer be perceived as an expense with no tangible benefit but rather the building block on top of which strong work from home strategies are built. It is the foundation on which we build centralized reservations desks focused on the guest experience and offering upsell and cross sell opportunities. It is also the foundation on which we build virtualized computing environments. Virtualization reduces support expenses, extends out by years the need for hardware refreshes, maintains security and compliance, and elevates the associates work experience making them more efficient and happier employees.
All of these strategies built on the back of a sound security program results in tangible cost savings in the short and long term. They also help to eliminate costly Capital Expenditures many of which are a result of poor planning or lack of guidance.
How should hoteliers start thinking beyond the pandemic as they chart their tech roadmaps for the coming years?
Hoteliers have always been keenly aware of the importance data analytics and reporting plays. You currently feed and receive data from third-party sources such as TripAdvisor, Medallia along with others to stay better connected with your guests. It is interesting that hoteliers overlook some of the most valuable data that is sitting right on property. The likely reason is that hotel operators do not know how to mine this valuable data which contributes to why little or no attention is being paid to it.
Data Analytics is the collection of disparate data sets, aggregating them, correlating them, and then presenting them in a coherent meaningful format.
Security Validation | SecValMSP believes adding a Data Analytics component to hotel operations will be the most important change to hotel technology and will yield some of the most significant operational improvements.
A sea of data exists within a hotel and critical metrics can be harvested to improve the financial and operational picture. Data is also collected from IT resources and provides snapshots into how well your computers or applications are functioning, how effectively are they being patched and how frequently, as well as are you staying aligned with your compliance mandates.