(From Left to Right) Madhusudan Shekar, Evangelist at Amazon Internet Services; Sivaprasad Gangadharan, Senior VP Enterprise Business, Hotelogix; Premjeeth, GM Operations & Training, Bloom Rooms; Satish Gangappa, Corporate IT Manager, Mrg Group, (Goldfinch); Praveena Thantry, AVP IT, Mint Hotel & Suites
Hotelogix partners with Amazon Internet Services, along with ShawMan Software Pvt. Ltd. and Airpay Payment Services Pvt, to highlight the benefits of cloud-based solutions in the hospitality industry and how it can help hotels become more competitive in this dynamic marketplace.
Global hospitality brands are entering the Indian market with better processes, advanced technologies and better distribution capabilities. This influx is putting a great deal of pressure on hoteliers in India that lack the right technologies to up the ante, and to take the competition head-on. Hoteliers that rely extensively on traditional client-server models (also known as ‘on-premise’) have to deal with overheads with respect to maintenance, upgrades, and licences, not to mention the lack of proper connectivity to the latest hospitality technologies. For newer hoteliers, the old technology requires huge upfront costs and ongoing expenses to setup and maintain servers and to invest on an IT workforce.
The event was hosted in three Indian cities–Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi respectively
To address these pain points and to help hoteliers stay ahead of the curve, Hotelogix, a global provider of cloud-based hospitality software solutions, along with Amazon Internet Services, ShawMan and Airpay, came together last month to host events in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. The event was attended by industry stalwarts who shared their views on how to leverage the right cloud-based technologies to become more competitive and agile in the hospitality industry.
The event was marked by a number of educational, networking, and brainstorming sessions along with panel discussions. It provided an interactive platform for industry experts and hoteliers to collectively discuss how cloud is disrupting the hospitality segment and what the future holds for cloud. We have a quick roundup of key takeaways from this event.
Aditya Sanghi, Co-Founder & CEO, Hotelogix
Benefits of shifting towards cloud for hoteliers
Due to the benefits of cloud computing (security, scalability, faster implementation, agility, value for money), the expected growth in cloud solutions (in hospitality) is expected to grow 100% from 2015-2020 (source: Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure).
Talking about the benefits and future of cloud-technology, Aditya Sanghi, CEO and Co-Founder, Hotelogix said, “With the rapid digitization happening in the travel industry, it’s imperative for hoteliers to upgrade their operations to cloud-based solutions that will enable them respond to the changing market dynamics. It’s important they embrace this change to grow their businesses with the opportunities the online world comes with.” Aditya goes on to say, “Delaying this switch they are not just losing ongoing business but also run the risk of being left behind in this competitive world.”
Cloud computing is here to stay
Cloud technologies is enabling new business models, transforming business processes, changing market dynamics and, in some cases, creating new markets altogether. Cloud lets seamless people to people communications and interaction from practically anywhere. Any device powered by the cloud is enabling all of us to discover, execute, experience and provide feedback to each aspect of the customer journey.
Focus on core business & services
“We have been on cloud for years and that it is more secure than having to maintain on premise solutions,” marks T. Shivdas, Head – Information Systems & Technology, Ginger Hotels. The fact that cost of access to cloud technologies is quite low makes innovation faster and brings in newer products to the market.
Prasad Bal, GM – Online Revenue, Fern Group and Hesheta Shah, AGM – Revenue, Suba Group of Hotel feels having moved some of the core systems to cloud and integrated systems with payment gateways is making the overall experience to both hotel and customer much better.
Enabling new technologies products
Cloud is offering a host of solutions to the hospitality market and all of the new products are cost effective. Stressing on the advantages of cloud-enabled technologies, Sivaprasad Gangadharan, Senior VP, Enterprise Business, Hotelogix says, “The cloud Property Management System (PMS) has the potential to fully integrate many other systems. Open API’s from Hotelogix can help drive innovation and hotel partners like Treebo were using it to differentiate themselves.” Cloud systems have enabled hotels to have real time MIS helping better and faster decisions. Being on Amazon cloud has helped Hotelogix provide safer and powerful systems at a lower cost across the globe, driving innovation in hospitality globally.
(From Left to Right) Jimmy P Shaw, Managing Director, Shawman Software; Rajnish Malik, head of Technology Partners and Strategic Alliances at Amazon Internet Services; Richa K Singh, Executive VP- Business Development, Tree House Hotel; Amarpal Singh Chandok, Associate VP & Head of Business Development, ASIA Luxury Hotels Group; Prabhash Bhatnagar, Founder, Hotelogix
Cloud-enabled PMS is GST friendly
The benefits of cloud is endless. “GST roll out was seamless and efficient due to a centralized system in place. GST guidelines were put to practice by hoteliers who had the advantage of cloud-enabled PMS that did not hinder with the day-to-day hotel operations,” comments Praveena Thantry, AVP IT, Mint Hotel and Suites.
Richa K Singh, Executive VP- Business Development, Tree House Hotel, says, “Unlike cloud enabled tools, using on-premise or traditional server based models involves a lot of training and revision of systems. It takes time and leads to recurring charges.” Cloud is influencing the development of new technologies and products for hospitality and much of these products are cost-effective. “It is scaling down costs and have also improved operational efficiency by making information easily available. This has helped them scale up and expand their business faster,” feels Anuj Chaurasia, General Manager-Operations, Spree Hospitality.
Hotelogix is leveraging the benefits of the Amazon cloud infrastructure to provide safer and powerful systems at a lower cost across the globe. Hotel cloud technology has been a topic of interest for some time, but it has gained a lot of momentum in the recent past. It is fast becoming the leading hospitality technology trend due to its numerous benefits and a push to accommodate the growing needs of tech-savvy guests. Industry leaders and hoteliers collectively agreed on why cloud is the way forward.
This article was originally published in FHRAI August, 2017 issue.
