Systems

The unified approach

The plethora of ways to improve guest services and operations through technology could change the hospitality landscape. It's time for hotels to take proactive steps to face IT challenges and win customers. By Sanjeev Bhar

Technology has today become imperative irrespective of the industry. In such an atmosphere, how can the hospitality sector remain unaffected? No matter how true this understanding might be, the lackadaisical attitude of Indian hospitality towards adopting technology seems to display a diametrically opposite picture.

The Indian hospitality industry's urge to match its foreign counterparts has rocketed of late. But achieving that would mean strong emphasis on its all-round technological development. Introduction of better software, laced with gadgets to enable faster communication between hotel personnel for a smarter approach to customer services is receiving recognition. Given the new thought process towards customer service, reality reveals a different story. Atanu Ghose, head (Technology), Dynamic Verticals Software (DVS), argues that Indian hospitality still has a long way to go. Citing examples from various hospitality forums, he says, "We hardly discuss technology. It does not lead to a proactive thought process and I strongly feel that there is a need to understand technology and not merely introduce new software and gadgets to lure customers."

Understanding technology

The question is inevitable: how should technology be understood in the hospitality domain? According to Ghose, "There is a need for clarity in understanding how technology should help customers and not remain a service to be showcased in hotel advertisements. Hotels are Wi-Fi empowered these days but from personal experience I can say that they are of no use to customers. Firstly, they are charged enormously; and secondly, connectivity is horrible. Further, the process for facilitating the connectivity is cumbersome and this needs to be addressed through preparedness and being technologically advanced."

Communication will decide the future of hospitality. Rahul Mathur, VP (India Operations), UniCorp, Systems Integrator at Nortel, says that technology in hospitality should be aimed at offering a simplified platform for guest access to various services while at the same time enabling organisations to up-sell services. "It has therefore become pertinent to bring uniformity in the various systems being operated upon to bring balance and clarity. It is high time for the hospitality industry to make a transition from proprietary systems to seamlessly integrated operations," he said.

It is true that today guests are technologically spoilt for choice. Therefore, they are well connected, whether in offices or at homes. Sudip Mukherjee, director (Hospitality Sales), SoftBrands India, says, "Guests expect this interoperability when they travel. They are conscious of their needs and are rapidly becoming less dependent on hotels or restaurants to facilitate their communication and entertainment needs as they carry their own means."

According to him, to sustain competitive advantage, hoteliers are seeking in-depth analysis of their operation. Apart from software and communication areas, security and safety has emerged as a key concern, relying heavily on technology. Dara E Byramjee, vice president and business head at Godrej & Boyce's Security Equipment Division, feels that no system can be taken as foolproof - irrespective of security needs. "However, this can be overcome to some extent with the right kind of expertise in technical know-how, ability to understand and comprehend customer needs rightly and thereafter offer a customised solution to them rather than offering a product," Byramjee says.

Not many IT professionals are to be found in hospitality, given its disinclination to shift from one technology to another. This is owing to the nature of the operation i.e. capital intensive. Therefore, optimising revenue becomes a key issue. At this juncture, to facilitate competitive technology, hotels also have a choice to offer online knowledge centres serving as integral service strategy to hoteliers. "Highly skilled customer-focused staff help hoteliers leverage existing IT investments while integrating systems and business processes with partners and suppliers to deliver sustainable competitive advantage," Mukherjee adds.

Factors limiting progress

Today, hospitality is striving to adapt to the preferences of each traveller. If this is to be achieved then technology overhaul is pertinent. The solutions that may answer some of the relevant issues e.g. auto check-in, real time billing, etc a lot of hotel would have to get into a full-automated mode. "This migration is vital in order to achieve a completely integrated system," argues Ghose.

He is of the opinion that unless there is an automated system in place with paperless operations, customer satisfaction will be difficult to achieve. The problem will remain if hospitality continues to be reactive instead of proactive. Mathur seconds the opinion by adding, "Cost of business needs to be reduced. Conventional systems cause a lot of damage. Offering a unified platform for all hotel department operations will depend on the price points. Managements have to ensure that the adopted technology allows guests the best of services and enables it to manage optimum productivity level at all times."

Speaking of that technology change, older PMSs were not designed for data exchange. So for every interface, each pair of vendors had to agree on exactly which data elements were to be sent and received; of what length and type and in what order. "The slightest change could render the interface cold and that inter-vendor relation could become a little acrimonious if a client interface were to stop working," avers Mukherjee.

Many in the industry have concerns on going for a single platform of operations, which would bring every department into a common loop. "Security is not an issue for an integrated approach. There is role-based access that assigns authority to access data besides everything being under scanner all the time," retorts Ghose. The hospitality industry can deliver better with enhanced communication solutions that support innovative services, improve guest loyalty and bolster profitability. Byramjee remarks, "The development in the security systems is proliferating with the increase in threats. The hospitality industry needs to take proactive measures to avoid any mishaps."

Dhananjay Ganjoo, vice president (Enterprise) at Nortel, feels that selection of company with right understanding of the sector is vital and says, "Technology has to meet the sector's needs and those of its customers." Talking of the right approach for technology selection, having RFID-based applications is also claimed as a potent weapon for taking hospitality to a new high. According to Mathur, only issues related to its implementation will be that of cost associated with bandwidth price point. "As we move ahead a consolidation will eventually take place, which will bring down the prices to make hospitality grow further using applications that are based on IP platforms," he adds.

To curb any limiting factors especially related to IT issues, hotel IT companies can emerge as a relevant solution. Companies like SoftBrands establish end-to-end enterprise solutions for independent hotels, corporate chains and service apartments to streamline the operations for better experience. "Hotel IT companies can easily be appointed as host solution provider for a chain, which can be delivered from on- or off-site locations," suggests Mukherjee.

Futuristic trend

The financial services industry (Citibank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank) is a good model of how technology to tackle strategy is imperative. Mukherjee is of the opinion that hospitality must follow suit. "Fragmentation of its ownership and management combined with its high capital and fixed costs limit its ability to invest in its technology infrastructure. While there are practical challenges, technology implementation should be considered with focus on high strategic priorities," he adds.

There is a need for understanding the technology needs intertwined with consultancy, auditing, solutions applicable and continuous maintenance. "To make a system work properly in XML - eXtensible Markup Language environment, you need more than interfaces. You need interoperability. Also, architectural design that makes it relatively easy to figure out how to hold the building blocks together," he says.

Taking leaf from the way enterprises have moved ahead with IT approach, Mathur says, "Hospitality too has to adopt data centre application where one source will serve every hotel of a chain within the country on a single IP platform for a smarter way to approach management needs." This in turn will help them share data and update the same to facilitate guests' needs.

Following a centralised approach allows operational standardisation with advantages e.g. greater reliability and availability, more consistent performance, better security, avoidance of CapEx battles, ease of new application introduction and for multi-property operations huge improvements in data consolidation and reporting, simpler interfaces. "This also helps bring a new property online faster, greenfield project or otherwise," Mukherjee informs. He feels that to hold competitive edge, solutions pertaining to integrated distribution channel services, business intelligence, customer relationship management, loyalty programme and reporting solutions are now becoming priority requirements for not only hotels but also restaurants.

Use of innovative tools by implementing business intelligence in hotels could bring about a marked change every traveller dreams of. "Today it is possible to have RFID-equipped loyalty cards to beam information about an approaching guest to the front desk staff once he enters the lobby. This enables facilitation of his check-in formalities. The day this happens in India, we can rest assured that other services will be taken care of as well," sums up Ghose.