FINAL WORD
Why hospitality must accelerate Digital Transformation to secure long-term recovery
As hospitality ’ s doors finally swing open and footfall increases again , hoteliers must work fast to encourage on-premises interaction and achieve customer delight . But a huge part of this will be reliant on managing data at the Edge , which in turn requires having the right infrastructure and solutions in place to support next-generation technologies . Jacob Chacko , Regional Director – Middle East , Saudi and South Africa at Aruba , a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company , explains .
Colossal advancements have been made over the last couple of years to tackle the pandemic . But COVID-19 is still casting a long shadow of uncertainty across the globe . Businesses in almost every sector have had to quickly adapt to a digital-first world and , as economies start to fully reopen , many are finding that the challenges faced so far were just the tip of the iceberg .
Hospitality organisations know this only too well – while some were able to adapt to online models to continue trading , others were forced to close their doors for 12 or more months , leaving huge swathes of the industry – and its digital advancement – largely dormant . Now , property IT managers and asset managers in the sector find themselves playing an urgent game of catch up in order to guarantee their long-term recovery .
Digital-first demands
For hospitality businesses to bounce back better they must quickly demonstrate they ’ re able to respond to the digital-first expectations that have emerged from / been strengthened by the pandemic – delivering safety-conscious contactless experiences , hyper-personalised engagement , and digital interactions .
It ’ s a fine balance of automation and driving the innovation without losing the personal experience we have been accustomed to in the past . And this applies
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