Channel Post MEA speaks to George Linu, the Business Unit Manager for Middle East and India at F1 Infotech, about the opportunities present for the IT channel community in the regional hospitality sector and how to optimally manage IT infrastructure.
According to you, what problems does the hospitality industry face when it comes to IT management?
Hotels are diligent about meeting the expectations of their guests. They cannot afford to offer amenities that create headaches for their guests and staff, which is what often happens when Wi-Fi/DATA networks become overloaded.
Does the hospitality industry face any challenges related to IT management?
IT administrators are responsible for the backbone of modern information technology systems which are reliant on complex network infrastructures. For medium to large-sized companies there can be literally hundreds of thousands of devices which are mission critical to company operations.
The server and network devices can include many different types of hardware from a variety of vendors, security components, switches, routers, and other components that make up the infrastructure. Some of the challenges in terms of a manual approach to managing server and network infrastructures include Configuration Tasks, Network Growth, Network Security, No Centralised Management and Lack of Accountability.
Do you feel the hospitality industry could use certain solutions in order to ease IT management?
Thanks to a higher availability of solutions providers and automated tools, bandwidth and network management can be simplified. This leaves more time for IT staff to focus on new company innovations instead of performing time consuming and repetitive tasks.
Automated tools provide a way to keep track of configurations, reduce the possibility for human error, improve policy compliance, and reduce operational costs. Additionally, many companies choose to use a virtualization solutions provider that can oversee and manage server and network infrastructures either onsite or from a remote location.
What sort of services do IT solutions and services providers offer the hospitality industry?
Most solutions providers offer configuration, change, and compliance management services. They are also equipped with the necessary automation tools to reduce errors and perform audits and reports on the status of network configurations. With a quality virtualization solution in place companies can make the best use of their resources and time.
What according to you would work best for the regional hospitality industry? Automated solutions or a more manual approach to IT management?
Both are equally important for a fault-free network. One of the fundamental challenges facing network professionals is balancing ongoing responsibilities with reacting to daily events. Many spend the bulk of their time putting out fires or responding to unanticipated business requirements — often at the expense of dealing with the routine “care and feeding” of network operations.
A new generation of automated network-management software and services is helping in-house staff address this challenge. These let network professionals establish regular patch-management procedures to safeguard against escalating security threats; and create system-monitoring routines to identify load imbalances, which could cause service disruptions or performance problems.
They also discover, inventory, and track assets to make sure that hardware and software licenses are up-to-date and that problems can be resolved faster.
What are the negative effects of not managing IT infrastructure correctly?
Network has become critical to the daily lives of so many guests that being unable to get online effectively can nullify all other efforts by the hotel to provide a positive experience. This can have a negative effect on the hotel as well as the guest, as a disgruntled guest is unlikely to become a repeat customer.
What sort of precautions should the hospitality industry undertake in order to ensure maximum availability of its IT infrastructure?
Hotels need an infrastructure that can adapt and address challenges to meet customer expectations and improve the guest experience, while providing a highly mobile and flexible environment. As a result, a growing number of hotels are relying on WLAN to provide staff communications and 24/7 connectivity for guests and staff.
With strong network connectivity, employees are able to communicate with one another and interact with customers in real-time to provide a personalized customer experience. Guest requests and needs will be met in a timelier manner, and hotels are also able to collect data and learn about their guests’ preferences when choosing a hotel.
Have your property analyzed for potential “dead zones” for your staff’s communications network. The solution could be as simple as installing more or stronger access points to increase the range of your network. By doing so, you can ensure seamless communications throughout every square foot of your property.
A dynamic, reliable network can be the key differentiators in a guest’s choice of where to stay and can set up your property to be ready for the next improvements in technology and access. Ensure physical condition of network equipment is within range and not a cause of failure, and avoid unplanned network downtime.
What sort of effects do BYOD concept and personal devices have on IT infrastructure?
When each user has at least 2-3 devices connected instead of a single laptop, the result is oversubscription failures in high density areas which in turn cause hot and cold connectivity issues. Physical network equipment too gets bogged down with high Mb traffic and also saturates Internet connections. Ever increasing amounts of traffic – which now includes a larger percentage of video traffic – over hotel networks, contributes to a poor guest experience and new levels of guest dissatisfaction.
