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Social Media Marketing: Cheat Sheet for Hotels - 0 views

  • Social media marketing in the hotel industry is an effective technique for hoteliers to connect with potential visitors, increase reservations and revenue, and boost the visibility of their hotel or property.
  • Using social media for marketing will open a lot of doors, quite literally, to your hotel.
  • In the hotel industry, social media marketing is especially beneficial. It is because platforms like Facebook and Instagram are ideal for engaging old and potential guests with fresh promotional content.
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  • These platforms also have analytics tools built-in, allowing you to track user activity and engagement.
  • Furthermore, these sites frequently feature useful components for hotel advertising, such as customer reviews, ratings and the features to invite users to events.
  • In the hospitality industry, the function of social media is to attract new guests and engage with both new and existing customers.
  • Social media influencer marketing has given rise to many social media celebrities, and in the same way, it can boost your hotel business. Because of their large following, many Instagram travel bloggers and influencers make money through influencer marketing.
  • In exchange for money or a luxurious package deal, you can seek their services in social network advertising in your hotel. Discover the influencers in your region or those who can persuade your target audience to act and reach out to them.
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    Social Media Marketing in Hospitality is especially useful to engage existing guests and attract new guests. The hotel can use this form of marketing for advertising, getting customer reviews, and promoting hospitality industry events. One thing that is trending now is using Social Media influencers with followers to boost business.
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Chapter 2: How Do Restaurant Cloud-Based POS Systems Work? | CAKE - 0 views

  • If your restaurant uses email services, social media networking sites, or an online application like Google Docs, you are already using the cloud to store information. Instead of using a computer in your restaurant to process and store data, a cloud-based POS system processes and stores data online. Let’s look at data storage and security so you can see exactly how it works.
  • As a restaurant owner with a cloud-based POS system, you will not be working directly with data storage. You’ll be running a SaaS application on servers in your vendor’s data center.
  • Most cloud storage systems store the same data on multiple servers using different power supplies. This way, if the power fails, you can still access your data.
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  • Greater protection against data loss:
  • Less susceptible to viruses:
  • Monitored by IT professionals:
  • Security is a priority:
  • Encrypted data:
  • Authenticated and authorized:
  • A cloud-based POS can also be the better choice for lower startup costs because you won’t need to pay for installation, on-site maintenance, or a back-office server. Instead, a small restaurant can use these savings in other ways, such as hiring the best staff or marketing their new restaurant.
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    I chose this article because my paper will be on POS systems in restaurants and this article outlines a bit about Cloud-Based POS systems. It explains how the data storage works remotely through the vendors servers. It also outlines a list of reasons why Cloud-Based storage could potentially be more secure than local storage. I think that if I were opening a restaurant I would definitely use a cloud-based SAAS POS.
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How to maintain security in the data-driven hotel industry | Hotel Management - 2 views

  • It is no secret that customer data is king in the hospitality industry, providing powerful insights to operators that enable them to create personal relationships with their guests
  • Data security is not just a box to be checked, it’s a core component of any business strategy.
  • here are three main types of data collected by hospitality operators: personal data, preference data and transaction data. Personal data includes guests’ basic information including name, date of birth and contact information.
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  • The best protection for hospitality operators is to always, first and foremost, make sure all employees know best practices and then move onto external factors.
  • rom there, they can segment who can access what information and put strict permissioning in place to lock down the sharing of more sensitive data.   
  • However, with the rise of cloud access security brokers, companies can now expand the reach of their security policies, using these CASBs to ensure network traffic between managed and unmanaged devices and cloud-based software vendors follows pre-existing protocols, and comprehensive audit logging captures user activity and behavior.
  • First and foremost, before operators can protect guest data, it is crucial that they understand what type of data is collected, where it is stored and how it is used.
  • Cybercriminals are most interested in personal information, like social security numbers, license numbers, and contact information, as well as transaction data and credit card numbers. Being aware of the most valuable information and knowing where it is stored is a crucial first step in keeping it safe.
  • When data is exported and, even worse, shared through insecure channels such as  email or unsanctioned cloud software, whether internal or not, the information is instantly at risk. 
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    In this article, you will find several practical applications to hotel data security. The most interesting point was the role staff plays in data security. Hotel staff needs to be trained on the proper way to handle sensitive data .
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Hospitality Digital Technology: Challenges, Priorities and Buzzwords | - 4 views

  • With the explosion of the “digital way of life”, the customer journey has become increasingly complex, forcing hoteliers overhaul not only their corporate and marketing strategies, but also their technology stack in order to engage, acquire, service and retain these digitally-enabled travel consumers across multiple digital touch points and across all digital channels and devices.
  • Today’s hospitality is being transformed into a 100% digital technology-enabled industry powered by online, mobile, cloud, IoT, AI and blockchain tools and applications.
  • there are two categories of guest-facing digital technology:
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  • Today, the vast majority of hoteliers are primarily focused on and investing in Guest Services Technology, while underinvesting in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology.
  • Guest Services Technology
  • Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology
  • cloud hosting and CDN (Content Delivery Network) provides far better server response times and faster download speeds.
  • In other words, hoteliers’ technology focus and investments end where the OTA focus and investment begin.
  • With nearly 59% of online travelers now visiting the hotel website from mobile devices,
  • a mobile-first website design is a must.
  • Mobile-first responsive website with
  • Today’s hoteliers must create and manage a robust digital presence and engage, acquire, service and retain travel consumers in this increasingly mobile-first world.
  • Quite often different teams at the property use different sets of data in their day-to-day operations, creating a total “data integrity mess,” which directly affects the property’s guest acquisition and retention efforts.
  • They must understand and invest in digital technology and marketing that enables the best possible user experience, provides the best customer service, increases efficiencies and boosts revenues.
  • From a technology perspective, the challenge to hoteliers is to create a hotel and room environment that at least matches but preferably exceeds their guests’ home environment. In other words, hotel and room technology, amenities, and features should be the same or better than what guests already enjoy at home. These include:
  • The future of this technology is the Smart Guestroom which will be completely personalized to guest preferences and loyalty member profile.
  • “Imagine a world where the room knows you, and you know your room.”
  • Hoteliers are overwhelmed by the amount of technology, data, and digital marketing silos and the need to work with multitude of vendors in their guest acquisition and services efforts.
  • Each team has its own technology tools, databases, and vendors which are not in communication with the other teams.
  • These are the major impediments to the industry becoming a digital technology-driven and technology-savvy industry:
  • Reluctance to invest in digital technology:
  • Antiquated accounting in hospitality:
  • The technology and data fragmentation in hospitality
  • Unlike hoteliers, the OTAs are focused exclusively and investing only in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology since they do not have to worry about on-property technology and guest experiences.
  • Recently, an independent hotel introduced room service delivery robots, which would have been great if the rest of the hotel tech stack were in order, and if it weren’t for the 6-year old property website, and absence of any CRM technology.
  • Hotels should first focus on the fundamentals of the technology stack before implementing more advanced things.
  • The U.S. hospitality industry is a $155 billion industry. This provides endless opportunities for smart technology vendors to thrive and service the industry with state-of-the-art solutions.
  • The industry needs fewer, as opposed to more, technology vendors servicing the industry.
  • The industry has a “vendor deficit disorder” in the sense of being overwhelmed by the number of tech vendors and solutions out there.
  • Hoteliers need to monitor, proactively inquire about and familiarize themselves with the Next Generation Technologies that are already making their way into hospitality, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Voice Assistants, Chat Bots, Robotics, and Blockchain.
  • Over the next 3-5 years we will witness wider adoption and implementation of the following next gen technologies:
  • Hoteliers must wake up to the fact that by being primarily focused on and investing in Guest Services Technology, while underinvesting in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology, they are allowing the OTAs more visibility to engage, acquire and retain the online travel consumer.
  • Unlike hoteliers, the OTAs are focused exclusively and investing only in Guest Engagement, Acquisition and Retention Technology.
  • Digital technology is making its way into every aspect of the industry: hotel operations, guest services and communications, revenue management, distribution, CRM and marketing.
  • Today’s hotelier must understand, know and use digital tech solutions in their everyday environment, and be able to assess, evaluate, recommend and acquire technology solutions to improve guest satisfaction, operational efficiencies and productivity, customer service and revenue.
  • Website Technology: The property or hotel brand website has become the gravitational center of all hotelier’s efforts to engage, acquire and retain the customer. Any marketing efforts of the hotel today lead the potential customers to the hotel website. Today’s website technology includes cloud-based Content Management System (CMS), comprehensive merchandising suites, reservation abandonment tools, personalization pricing and content, technical SEO, cloud hosting, and robust analytics suite
  • The goal here is very clear: bridge the guest data and technology silos in hospitality and create an end-to-end solution, empowering hotels to acquire new guests, engage current guests, and retain past guests by combining digital marketing, website, and CRM data into one cohesive marketing and personalization platform.
  • The “digital way of life” adopted by today’s tech-savvy travel consumer is forcing the hospitality industry to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies and become a 100% digital technology-enabled industry.
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    The article covers a great deal of the technology products in all of the hotel aspects. it also focuses on the fact that hotels are investing a lot in offering technological tangible services to the clients where must shift its focus a bit and invest more in the guest engagement technology to close the gap between them and OTAs.
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    Hospitality is being transformed into a 100% digital technology-enabled industry; however, it is very challenging to maintain. Employees are overwhelmed by the amount of technology they need to lear to do their job efficiently
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    This article focuses on the fact that technology is now being used in almost every aspect of the hotel industry. This is because hoteliers are beginning to understand that guests are expecting to enjoy the same level of technology used in the comfort of their homes when they are at hotels. Therefore, hotels that are more technologically advanced are more empowered to satisfy guests' technological needs, but the information collected by the hotels' systems also enables the hotels to acquire new guests, engage current guests and retain past guests; as such, there are benefits to both the hotels and guests when the level of technology offered is updated.
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Augmented Vs Virtual Reality - Which Should I Choose? - 0 views

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    what I enjoyed about this particular article is that it actually not only explains the concepts of AR and VR and hw they elate to AI but also how it contrasts them: see the highlighted excerpts in quotes below; "Augmented Reality Definition Augmented Reality (AR) is the overlaying of computer-generated objects upon the real environment. The application recognizes some element in the real environment and then places objects in relation to it with differing levels of interactivity." And, "Virtual Reality Definition Virtual Reality (VR) is a completely digital experience that is viewed inside a closed visual environment. It may also include physical elements from the outside world such as movement, temperature, and sound." I discussed these contrasts in my academic journal in which VR is a completely digital experience in most cases, although there can be some physical animation involved that may be perceived as a type of AI or AR incorrectly. it does however allow a greater margin that the its counterparts to create a complete fantasy world that has no similarities with reality whatsoever. Ai however presents a more reciprocal thinking addition to the equation which in my opinion at some point will blend seamlessly with VR. AR on the other hand in a way does this by allowing the concepting of augmenting the reality by definition. They all have advantages and limitations, to where these are pushed will be the real question in the future.
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Automation and artificial intelligence in hospitality and tourism | Emerald Insight - 0 views

  • Human knowledge, services and robotics applications were the most significant factors influencing automation and AI implementation. Practitioners and researchers in the hospitality and tourism industry could apply the proposed framework to develop sustainable strategies for implementing and managing automation and AI. The proposed framework may also be useful in future studies examining AI implementation in the hospitality and tourism industry.
  • Smart technologies like automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have become important elements of hospitality and tourism
  • Hospitality and tourism firms use smart technology to dynamically enhance consumer experience (Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019). Smart hospitality and tourism have provided opportunities for firms to enhance their operations and productivity, resulting in higher quality products and better processes for delivering services to customer
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  • Although hospitality and tourism organizations have already implemented smart technologies such as AI and robotics into their business activities (Epiknetworks, 2018), the companies adopting them are still limited owing to the individual, organizational and external environment barriers.
  • Researchers still need to engage better, investigate and understand these nascent developments (Murphy et al., 2017), and limited studies have examined the implementation challenges.
  • Technological development plays a vital role in tourists’ decision-making processes. Digital technologies and cyber-physical systems may even act as extensions of a tourist’s self (Stylos, 2019). Several researchers have focused on the importance of including AI in tourism education (Murphy et al., 2017) and to be prepared for technology shifts in their industry
  • They also suggested that employees in the hospitality and tourism sector should study robot design and machine learning to link changes in technology to the international tourism industry.
  • In future, tourism will take place in a robonomic economy and tourists will demand a high-touch service experience
  • The use of smart technologies such as chatbots usually receives positive feedback and the benefits of this technology outweigh the challenges (Buhalis and Yen, 2020). The advancement of novel technologies involves a process of knowledge management, including maintenance, disruption and change. This needs the integration of technologies and institutions and results in the growth of new values and services (Vargo et al., 2015).
  • Service providers need to think critically about how AI applications in hospitality and tourism might affect people’s use of the service. They should also consider what needs to be changed to ensure that robots and employees work together seamlessly to augment the service experience (Buhalis et al., 2019). Smart technologies and AI could disrupt services in the hospitality industry, altering customer engagement plans and expectations (Helkkula et al., 2018).
  • Hospitality software has moved from local to server-based to Web-based to cloud-based platforms (Leung, 2020). The future smart infrastructure with high-speed networks enables efficient data exchange amongst databases in real time and therefore immediate service (Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019)
  • Technologies tested in previous studies have been improved by highly interactive systems, increased capability and a more user-friendly interface, so examining perceived interactivity of technology has become more important for advanced robot acceptance models (Go et al., 2020). Ivanov et al. (2019) stated that robotics was not introduced early to the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, because of the complexity of human reactions to customer needs.
  • Customers must experience feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction interacting with the robot. Customer attitudes are shaped by experience, and employee skills depend on education and training, as well as the company’s needs (Ivanov et al., 2019). Robots are expected to eventually overtake humans for cognitive tasks, with human input only required for duties requiring empathy and emotion
  • Intelligent agent technology is one of the most useful methods for supply chain management because it combines social ability, intelligence and collaboration (Alsetoohy and Ayoun, 2018). Alsetoohy et al. (2019) claimed that current procurement practices lack coordination and proactivity between suppliers and buyers, intelligent tools for finding suitable suppliers, performance evaluation and automation
  • By pairing robots and humans, service delivery can be optimized, leading to increased productivity and reduced costs
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    This study was about adoption and automation of AI in hospitality. It gives great insight on the process as well as what people think of AI and their opinions. In addition to that, this study goes into different techniques that were used to understand how and why AI should be implemented. Human interaction cannot be beat, along with personal touch and humans can't remember everything a computer can, but if you have robots and humans working together you can get the best of both worlds. Smart technologies are now and the future.
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Suspected Ransomware Attack on InterContinental Hotels Affected Over 4,000 Guests | Spi... - 0 views

  • Ransomware generally entails infiltration and compromise, exfiltration of data, and the encryption of data/systems/networks. Hospitality was the eighth most targeted sector by ransomware groups between March 2021 and April 2022.
  • 4,053 ICH users and 15 of its 325,000 employees were compromised in the attack whose perpetrator remains unknown.
  • The company was unable to accept online bookings
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  • determine whether the latest cyberattack is more significant than the 2016 breach of the ICH systems. Initially thought to have been a minor breach that affected 12
  • Between September 29 to December 29, 2016, 1,175 properties were infected by malware designed to steal credit card data
  • Marriott International has been breached thrice, resulting in the compromise of the personally identifiable information of up to 338 million guests
  • Marriott was also fined £18.4 million ($23.8 million) by the U.K’s data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office for failing to protect the data of the 338 million guests
  • This is yet another reminder of the damaging impacts of cybercrime. Not only is IHG potentially getting held to ransom for its data access, but it is also losing out on customer bookings
  • Organizations should use this as a warning to never gamble with their cyber defenses. After all, the cost of preparing and preventing an attack is far less than the cost of recovering from one
  • Data breaches, on average, cost organizations $4.25 million in 2022, according to IBM’s 2022 Cost of Data Breach report.
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    This article discusses a recent cyber-attack on ICH that is believed to have been a ransomware attack. It's stated that hospitality is the 8th most targeted sector for ransomware as of recently. The recent attack on ICH 4,053 users and 15 employees were compromised, which is actually far less than their last attack in 2016 that effected 1,175 properties. Hotels must take as much precaution as possible against cyber attacks because not only does it decrease their bookings, but they can also be charged millions in fines for information breaches.
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10 Ways to Reduce Cybersecurity Risk for Your Organization | UpGuard - 0 views

  • ‍Cybersecurity breaches have been on the rise, and it's expected that by 2023, they'll have grown to 15.4 million
  • Make sure all your sensitive data is encrypted
  • Saving your data in normal-text format only makes it easy for hackers to access
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  • Some data encryption software even lets you know when other people try to alter or tamper with the information
  • You should also conduct regular backups for your important information
  • statistics show that over 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent globally
  • a hacker may send an email impersonating leaders in the organization asking for personal details
  • make sure you use a patch management system to automatically manage all updates and uphold information security
  • over 80% of organizational data breaches result from weak passwords
  • Chances are that your cyber security is highly dependent on third-party vendors, which is why you can’t afford to ignore vendor risk management
  • Conduct a security assessment and determine whether your critical infrastructure is safe from security breaches.
  • have your IT security teams analyze all server logs frequently and conduct cybersecurity framework audits to make sure their integrity is intact.
  • you should defend your networks from cyber attacks by installing firewalls
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    In this article, the author discusses many different ways to help a business reduce their risk for cyber attacks. The article touches on a statistic about cybersecurity, stating "During the first half of 2021 alone, over 118 million people were impacted by data breaches". There is quick talk about how the policies that a business implements is the make or break of the cybersecurity for your business. For example, one of the main tips to reduce cyber attacks in your business is to make sure your data is encrypted. "Saving your data in normal-text format only makes it easy for hackers to access. Data encryption, on the other hand, limits data access to parties that have the encryption key". Another tip to prevent cyberattacks highlighted in the article is to keep all your employees educated and informed about malicious emails. Conducting regular employee trainings about the dangers of these types of emails could save your business. These types of emails are known to send links that could hack the system, as well as pretend to be higher-up employees in the company asking for personal data or financial information. The article is extremely educational to every business, as well as just the everyday consumer. Keeping your confidential information as confidential as physically possible is very much doable, as long as you make sure you follow these 10 simple tips.
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12 Ideas for Your Hotel's Social Media Marketing Strategy in 2023 - 1 views

  • social media is one of the most crucial tools in any hotel’s marketing strategy for promotion and advertisement. Social networks can give your property exposure like never before to help increase brand awareness and drive more direct bookings.
  • promote your hotel as an experience,
  • Social media marketing requires consistent posting, testing, and optimization across various social media channels to attract new customers and build brand awareness.
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  • Engagement.
  • Brand awareness.
  • Analytics
  • Acquisition.
  • Content marketing
  • Customer service
  • TikTok
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • find an influencer that aligns with your hotel’s brand and voice
  • Snapchat.
  • key to standing out is to develop your brand’s voice and consistently share your values to attract like-minded travelers to your property
  • 5 most popular social channels in 2023
  • you must emphasize features that make your hotel stand out, including your unique design, beautiful surroundings, local food specialties, and nearby attractions worth sharing.
  • launch a marketing campaign that offers exclusive loyalty discounts. This approach shows both past and potential guests that you value their loyalty and are willing to recognize them with rewards.
  • launching contests on various platforms, you engage with a larger portion of your customer base and accumulate more followers.
  • To maintain active engagement and foster new bookings, you need to make sure you:
  • Regularly share updates
  • Answer prospect inquiries in a timely manner Add new, high-quality images and videos Showcase your property’s best features Promote a unique guest experience
  • tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to help manage your accounts by allowing you to schedule future posts in bulk and view and manage all your social media platforms from one dashboard
  • Influencers are usually content creators or bloggers who are viewed by their followers as brand ambassadors and people who share authentic experiences.
  • Once you’ve found your brand’s voice, your visual content, videos, descriptions, and interactions with travelers must be consistent with your brand culture and follow brand guidelines where possible
  • By strategically adding popular hashtags to your content, you make your social media posts more searchable and easier for potential guests to find
  • digital marketing tool you can use is paid social media campaigns
  • Facebook ads are probably the most popular way to target your audience, and from the Facebook Ads Manager platform, you can also create ad posts for Instagram.
  • a “call to action” button that links directly to your booking engine so visitors browsing your social media page can get to your booking engine in one click.
  • Love it or hate it, TikTok is the social platform taking over the world of social media marketing. Increasingly travelers are using TikTok to research and plan their upcoming trips, especially Gen Z’s and millennials, who make up 80% of platform users (between 16-34 years old).
  • To increase your online presence and rank higher in search engine results, 2023 is when hoteliers need to prioritize short-form video content as part of their marketing plan.
  • Highlight activities or local places to visit, like restaurants or cafes, in exchange for a repost on their social platforms.
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    Social media marketing is impacting the hospitality industry and if you don't already have a strategy you need to start one. You can do this by reviewing your goals which might include increasing engagement, brand awareness, analytics, acquisition, content marketing or customer service. Next you will want to pick a social channel to implement your strategy on and be creative with it. Whatever you decide strategy wise start small and build on it to reach new customers and build loyal ones.
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What is cloud computing services, features and benefits, types? - 0 views

  • From the perspective of service users, cloud computing services have these main features: Hosted and maintained by the provider. The cloud hosting provider purchases, hosts, and maintains the necessary hardware and software in their own facility. Service users avoid the capital expenditures and maintenance headaches that they would have if they developed the service themselves on-premise. Self-service through a web interface. Service users can initiate specific service functions, and increase or decrease their service usage level, though a web interface with little or no interaction with the service provider. Pay for use. Service users pay only for the amount of service that they use. This can result in substantial cost savings compared to the traditional approach of developing on-site IT capacities geared toward maximum usage scenarios, and then having that capacity be under-utilized much of the time. Near-limitless scalability. Cloud computing services providers typically have the infrastructure to deliver their service at massive scale. For cloud service users, that means that the cloud can easily accommodate business growth or periodic spikes in service usage.
  • The wide range of services offered by cloud computing companies can be categorized into three basic types: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). IaaS provides users access to raw computing resources such processing power, data storage capacity, and networking, in the context of a secure data center. Platform as a Service (PaaS). Geared toward software development teams, PaaS offerings provide computing and storage infrastructure and also a development platform layer, with components such as web servers, database management systems, and software development kits (SDKs) for various programming languages. Software as a Service (SaaS). SaaS providers offer application-level services tailored to a wide variety of business needs, such as customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, or business analytics.
  • In support of mobile cloud computing, we also offer services for automated content transformation and optimization, so your end users can tap into the cloud from any device, from anywhere, at any time.
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    The positive of cloud computing have it's benefits as it helps to establish business for what they are today by maintaining by the provider, self-service through web, pay for service use only and near limitless scalability. The could computing services can be divided into 3 types: Infrastructure, Platform and Software.
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PCI and PSD2 Compliance: Why Are Hotels on the Hook? - 0 views

  • In September 2019 the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) went into effect and applies any businesses who could potentially engage with European customers. Even businesses with little international business should
  • In September 2019 the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) went into effect and applies any businesses who could potentially engage with European customers. Even businesses with little international business should
  • Established in 2006, PCI stands for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which contains guidelines for accepting, storing, and processing credit card information
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  • These days, cyber security and regulatory compliance aren’t just necessary skills for the IT team. Every hotel manager - even the “non-tech savvy” ones - must understand these crucial components of data protection in order to protect their businesses.
  • A few rules of thumb include using PCI-compliant POS and PMS providers, storing both digital and paper data securely, and limiting access to sensitive data to only the employees who truly need it.
  • Examples of these guidelines include using an online checkout/payment page controlled by a licensed 3rd-party service provider, storing credit card data via a 3rd-party “vault” provider rather than in your own system, and masking the full credit card number on receipts, showing only the last 4 digits instead.
    • earagon22
       
      As an example, if guests book through a 3rd-party like Expedia then I at the front desk see an Expedia card not the guest's card. The card I see is pre-loaded with the amount of the stay ONLY. Even then, I cannot see the 3rd party's full cc number. I only see the last 4 digits just like guest credit cards.
  • “The attack on Marriott was hapless and still has many gaps to fill on what actually happened. A popular entry point for adversaries is through email spoofing. This tactic is used in phishing in order to get malware onto a target network to then move laterally across all systems,” Ryan Cornateanu, Application Security Engineer @ CrowdStrike.
    • earagon22
       
      This attack mentioned compromised cc details, passport numbers, and dates of birth for 300 million guests in their database. This happened in 2014. https://hoteltechreport.com/news/marriott-data-breach#:~:text=And%2C%20the%20financial%20burden%20is,the%20largest%20data%20breaches%20ever.
  • because of increased payment security, the amount of chargebacks will likely become much lower, which is something all hoteliers can celebrate.
  • In September 2019 the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) went into effect and applies any businesses who could potentially engage with European customers. Even businesses with little international business should still comply, since regulations like these are often mirrored in the United States and other countries soon after.
  • PSD2 includes enhanced guidelines for online payments and the handling of sensitive data to reduce the risk of credit theft, fraud, and security breaches. One major change is the requirement of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for online transactions. With SCA, rather than simply typing in a credit card number and clicking “pay,” consumers will need to provide a second layer of authentication, which could be a PIN code or an SMS verification code, before the payment can go through.
  • Guests book nearly three-quarters of hotel reservations online, so PSD2 will likely impact every hotelier as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) becomes a requirement for payment processing.
  • Are any charges processed after the guest has checked out, such as minibar chargers? To prevent any hiccups with payment after check-out, charge an authorization on the guest’s card for the full incidental amount and have the guest provide two-factor authentication in person, such as chip-and-pin, when the guest checks in.
    • earagon22
       
      A property rule where I work is that each guest must insert or tap their cc at check-in in order to follow this rule and we take an incidental hold each night. Guests that have not traveled for years are surprised by incidental holds which makes sense based on when this was implemented.
  • The key takeaway here is that transactions initiated by the hotel at a time when the guest isn’t present won’t comply with PSD2 requirements.
  • protect consumers’ sensitive data, and, as a result, every merchant that uses credit card information must follow these rules, from small businesses to large corporations.
  • By partnering with a trusted technology solution and investing in PCI and PSD2 compliance now, hoteliers can prevent the potential catastrophe that could come with the theft of sensitive data.
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    PCI compliance is a crucial and necessary set of guidelines that all hotels must follow. The Payment Card Industry Security Standard was created in 2006 and outlines rules regarding accepting, storing, and/or processing card information. These rules were put into place to protect consumers sensitive information. For example, in 2014 Marriott hotels was attacked and 300 million guests information was compromised. This attack led to new regulations being put into place, the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2). These regulations take into account international customers and enhanced guidelines for sensitive data.
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Hospitality Industry Benefit from Integrated Communication Platforms in Cloud PBX Marke... - 0 views

  • Cloud-hosted branch exchange (PBX) system is a major technological advancement in business phone system traditionally used by organizations.
  • Integrated communication platforms harboured by cloud PBX have thus become go-to platform for numerous verticals including the BFSI, retail, healthcare, government, and real estate
  • . Ranging from offering high-quality voice and call recording to intelligent call routing, service providers in the cloud PBX market are expanding their portfolio of integrated communication platforms
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  • a cost-effective strategic move to further the scope of their client communication strategies
  • save substantial costs
  • Integration with vendor services also makes the cloud-based PBX an attractive business proposition for various end-use industries.
  • companies must maintain high-speed internet and the advanced networking technology to support that.
  • providers in the cloud PBX market must improve their quality of service (QOS) schemes to leverage the full benefits of cloud hosted VoIP systems for dispersed organizations.
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    Cloud PBX is a great communication tool that is becoming more relevant after the pandemic hit. Cloud PBX is now the go-to platform for different industries including hospitality is able to offer high-quality voice and call recording to an intelligent call routing.
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JOSHUA BERGEN - ProQuest - 0 views

  • From PCI DSS compliance to privacy, the company's president stresses the importance of education in ensuring data security
  • "It's very ironic now being that what we do, data security and privacy and protection in the credit card environment because what led me to the accounting world was finding credit-card fraud in my reservation department and reporting it," Bergen said.
  • Bergen divided Venza's business into three areas: privacy regulation compliance, data protection and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance. Between the three groups, Venza's services include antivirus, backup recovery, data-breach notification, firewall management, information risk assessment, penetration and segmentation checks, privacy management and remote monitoring. Outside of these central services, the company also provides an educational human-resources suite consisting of modules in sexual-harassment prevention, diversity and guest relations, antibribery and acceptable use of a company's network, website and equipment.
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  • Called Project Basecamp, the program will reach out to 500 students at 10 universities with hospitality programs and educate them about technological and financial security. "I've jokingly said if I do agood enoughjob, they should actually need less service from us," he said.
  • Companies may have incredibly advanced equipment, firewalls and encryption, he said, but all it takes is one accidental mistake from someone within the system and all of that technology becomes moot. "So that's why we focus on what we call the human firewall," he said. "They are the most valuable asset in all of this." Sidebar
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    PCI DSS compliance to privacy to data security
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Adoption_of_Cloud_Computing_002_.pdf - 0 views

shared by djohn304 on 30 Aug 22 - No Cached
  • The core requirements for a hotel to be successful were to be aliated to a hotel group and to have a good quality product in terms of rooms and facilities before the age of computer networks and cloud services
  • o ering comfortable home-like environment
  • data about customer habits, desires and preferences
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  • This is key to the success of a hotel group in a market where 1) mobile booking on travel websites are increasing at a faster rate (20% annually) than desktop bookings (2% annually), 2) 21% of bookings are originating from smart phones and tablets, and 3) 12% of mobile bookings are implemented by Apps
  • Cloud computing has been used for tourism management, for example to rank popular tourism destinations in cities
  • Cloud computing is a technology that allows the provision and utilization of resources over the internet in lieu of installations on a desktop computer
  • cloud computing de nition: Private, Public, Community and Hybrid clouds.
  • After the 2008 recession, when lowering costs was a key objective for hotels, PAR Springer-Miller, introduced ATRIO as the Next Generation Hospitality Management Software 3 into the market.
  • The cloud related challenges that have stood out from the hotel groups responses were a) the increase in Opex (OPerating EXpense), b) restricted access to the environments and c) concerns about information security.
  • traditional telephone system to a cloud based VoIP solution which is integrated to their SaaS hotel management system solution provided by Protel (16).
  • OPERA property management system cloud application in over 850 of their hotels. The hotel management system is no longer maintained on the hotel premises and storage of their data is outsourced (MICROS Systems Inc., 2013).
  • InterContinental Hotels Group were able to eliminate hardware infrastructure costs and centralize management activities such as updating prices, at the touch of a button across sixty one of their UK properties by adopting a cloud solution for their restaurant point of sale systems called SIMPHONY
  • Cloud computing is the only way forward for hospitality.
  • The distribution of the usage of cloud information system (IS) or on-premise IS in the studied hotel groups shows that the majority of IS used by hotel groups were running on the cloud, and that the smallest (in terms of number of rooms) hotel groups' (group 2) level of cloud adoption is equivalent to that of the largest (group 4).
  • The most common two bene ts identi ed are: 1) solving the problem of lack of hardware on site, and 2)transferring the risk relating to security and PCI / PA-DSS requirements to the cloud service suppliers.
  • how a Quality of Service (QoS) ranking mechanism enables cloud applications such as airline ticketing systems, hotel booking services and car rental services to interact with each other to deliver services to their customers.
  • Alternatively, it could be due to the change in process experienced by IT Managers and now having to depend on a third party for issues which previously could be quickly checked and resolved with servers being on site.
  • The challenge which received the highest average rank (12.38 points) by the participants was the Dependency on bandwidth whilst that of least signi cance was the issue of Software licensing (3.38 points)
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    This article investigates the adoption of cloud computing in the hospitality industry across the world. While identifying the benefits and challenges of this system, the findings suggest that cloud computing is utilized in hotel groups today, more often than not. The article is not an opinion piece but rather an investigation searching for evidence to support the theory that cloud computing is growing in the hospitality industry. It bases its arguments from the observances that in order to operate a hotel group on todays scale, you have to be willing to fall in line with the trends of today- technology + convenience. It also is described how operating systems that streamline property management in terms of reservations, billing, ticketing, etc aren't exactly inventions of right now, but have been developed and corrected more and more as time has gone on and necessity has demanded of them. Four hotel groups, across 2-3 regions were involved in the study where participants were all senior IT directors and managers, across hotels with varying levels of rooms. What they ultimately found was that majority of the information systems used by these hotel groups were based on the cloud system. When the benefits and challenges were surveyed, it was found that the most common reason groups were utilizing this system was relieving the site from not having certain hardware to perform certain functions, and transferring security related risks to the system suppliers instead of the hotel. However, challenges noted was that operating expenses increased, the on site IT leaders don't have access to the environment the hardware lives in, and information security concerns. Working with a cloud computing system daily, I thoroughly understand and appreciate the benefits of having one streamlined services for guest logistics. It creates multiple levels of ease for all aspects of the organization as well as the wider hotel group. For operations that span across the globe, there probably i
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Cloud Trends That Will Shape 2022 and Beyond - 3 views

  • Cloud adoption has been on an upward trajectory for over a decade now
  • forced many employees to go digital and adapt to the work-from-home model. The workforce change heavily relies on the cloud model for continuity and growth.
  • Anything-as-a-Service (XaaS) model.
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  • wo reasons continue to be the major driving factors set to further bolster the growth of cloud adoption in 2022 onwards
  • global public cloud services are expected to grow by over 22% ($482 billion US dollars) in 2022.
  • expect better and more robust automation and AI
  • cost efficiency and accuracy of AI and ML
  • Cloud technologies are moving away from linear evolution and preparing for exponential evolution, adoption, and growth.
  • Cloud computing has been a very effective catalyst in enabling and developing AI, ML, and automation. Cloud computing can also offset the upfront project costs associated with AI and automation. It’s also helping businesses make efficient, data-driven decisions using AI and driving companies to adopt, implement, and scale automation services. That’s all helping achieve better data management, insights, security, and scale.
  • crucial driving factors in adopting AI and automation as they can deliver low latency and services-on-demand along with better data handling capabilities and processing power.
  • fraction of the price.
  • cybersecurity is growing, along with the demand for fast, efficient, and robust cloud applications through cloud-native apps
  • has numerous delivery models.
  • confined to infrastructure, platform, or software as services
  • cloud delivery models are ever-evolving.
  • Hybrid cloud infrastructure provides improved scalability and control, allowing businesses to deploy multiple delivery models
  • Businesses can then achieve increased agility and innovation, while also improving security and risk management.
  • A multi-cloud infrastructure empowers companies to uniformly distribute their workloads across multiple cloud environments.
  • enables optimized ROI, superior security, service autonomy, and low latency
  • serverless cloud computing and XaaS are also pivotal to the future IT landscape change.
  • Businesses are now more concerned about the security and safety of their digital resources.
  • Maintaining disaster recovery and data compliance is becoming more complex.
  • Secure Access Service Edge is a cybersecurity concept that creates a secure connection between applications/services and organizational entities, like users, systems, and devices. SASE is a framework that combines network security functions (like SWG and FWaaS).
  • industry experts believe SASE can assist companies in warding off cyber attacks.
  • more portability and agility
  • restore any affected data and resume normal operations after a disaster.
  • cloud-native apps have reached the next evolution stage
  • only increasing
  • Cloud disaster recovery is a cloud-based service that combines several strategies and services to back up resources, like data, applications, and configuration.
  • help companies focus on several key constraints to business development including challenges, maturity, expectations, and opportunities.
  • High speed and quick deployment.
  • Advanced data security and compliance.
  • Reduced latency
  • Disaster recovery.
  • Collaboration.
  • AI adoption has always been an optimization problem for companies worldwide. The cloud can be a solution for issues with cost, performance overhead, workload management, and data processing
  • Proper due diligence, scoping, and the right tools can also reduce these challenges.
  • Containerization is a form of virtualization.
  • added complexity and implementation challenges
  • forgo the tools individual clouds offer. Instead, implement unified cloud aggregator services to collect the data from multiple vendors
  • To mitigate these challenges, you can establish well-defined identity and access management solutions. You can also monitor the cloud environment and watch for misconfigurations.
  • It’s helping streamline the IT landscape, and will likely continue to do so well beyond 2022.
  • safe, streamlined cloud adoption.
  • ensure you’re making the most out of these cloud trends, and minimizing any negative impacts.
  • They can reduce costs, provide tailor-made solutions, and allow for cross-platform environments.
  • Hybrid cloud helps organizations further reduce costs, and helps increase agility and innovation
  • It’s an information security concept that enforces giving the lowest possible privileges/permissions level possible to minimize the threats associated.
  • A denial of service (DoS) attack is a cyberattack that shuts down a computer or a server.
  • XaaS is a modern and collective term that refers to the delivery of anything as a service.
  •  
    This article explains some of the trends most relevant to the topic of cloud computing, as well as explains some of the benefits and disadvantages of cloud computing currently. The top four trends include artificial intelligence, cloud delivery models, security and compliance, and new cloud technologies. The article further explains each of these trends and the impact they will have on the industry. The main concern when it comes to cloud computing is the safety and security, following dependence on the internet. The new and incoming innovations within cloud computing aim to eliminate theses challenges and improve overall efficiency and adoption. Cloud computing is expected to grow over 22% this year alone and adoption rates are expected to remain increasing.
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    To summarize, the article talks about how cloud use has been increasing for over a decade, forcing many employees to embrace digital and adapt to the work-from-home concept. For continuity and expansion, the workforce transformation strongly relies on the cloud model. Given the extensive development, acceptance, and cloud deployment in corporate IT in recent years, the anticipation of stronger and more robust automation and AI has grown and should expect cloud delivery strategies to shape the cloud ecosystem in 2022 and beyond. Also, the demand for cybersecurity is rising, as is the desire for cloud-native programs that are quick, efficient, and robust.
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Technology in the hospitality industry - exploring the very latest trends - 1 views

  • Hotel guests expect to be able to connect to the internet seamlessly and without too many interruptions, leading hotels to invest in better, faster Wi-Fi infrastructure so that people can do business and use their technology devices with ease when they book their stay.
  • Hotels are also starting to move away from user pay models. In the past, hotels could charge exorbitant rates and guests knew they would have to pay if they wanted to go online. Installing and maintaining a hotel-wide wireless network may be coupled with costs, but many leading hotel groups have started to install high density Wi-Fi and started to offer in-building mobile phone coverage as guests have come to expect these services during their stay (not only for themselves, but also for their guests if they are hosting a conference or function at the hotel).
  • Digital conference facilities
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  • including a guest’s name being displayed on the welcome desk at a digital check-in station; their food preferences or past purchases being displayed in a digital room-service order system; and similar.
  • A boutique hotel that is nestled between Apple’s headquarters and other tech companies, called Aloft Cupertino, has a robot butler called Botlr that is able to move between the various floors of the hotel in order to take items such as toothbrushes, chargers and snacks to guests.
  • Near field communication (NFC) technology is the next-generation short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that gives users the ability to exchange data between devices.
  • NFC technology
  • Entertainment on tap
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    This article plainly puts on display new aspects of technology that are currently being adopted within the hospitality industry. Wi-Fi infrastructure overhauls, digital conference facilities, and the latest in NFC technology are all touched upon in this article. I liked this article because it puts on display aspects of the industry I had not originally put thought to as being constantly changing.
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Professional Sports Venue Security Issues, Emerging Threats, and Technology Solutions -... - 1 views

  • A total of 40 venue directors hosting teams from Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL) completed the survey. Staffing and training, fan behavior, technology utilization, patron screening, cybersecurity, and drone mitigation were areas of focus.
  • The majority of respondents indicated that their current entry screening checkpoints caused lines to form outside their venues, and the average wait time is less than 10 minutes during the busiest times.
  • Top training requirements for security staff included venue/event familiarization, prohibited items, fan code of conduct, standard operating procedures, how to operate security technology, and crowd management. Facilitated in-person training was the most common method, followed by table-top exercises, routine refresher courses, e-learning, and workshops.
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  • fan behavior is worse than it was 10 years ago, and 65% indicated that COVID-19 restrictions caused increased tension between patrons and staff
  • Technology can bolster safety and security efforts when budgets permit acquisition. Closed-circuit television, walk-through metal detectors, electronic tickets, stationary bollards, explosive detection canines, and venue signage were utilized by 100% of the respondents. Facial recognition software, license plate readers, retractable bollards, automated barrier systems, and RFID for staff were most likely to be purchased if additional funding was available.
  • Many experienced staffing shortages in the last two years, and 70% of respondents indicated that staff absenteeism increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Most respondents (87%) use patron screening technology, including walk-through metal detectors, handheld magnetometers, and x-ray scanners.
  • Ideally, venue directors want to get patrons inside the venue faster without sacrificing prohibited item detection accuracy. If respondents were able to acquire new screening technology, they would likely purchase facial recognition systems, followed by millimeter wave scanners and explosive particle detectors.
  • Only 20% of respondents use artificial intelligence in their security screening, surveillance, or incident response technology. However, 62.5% believe they understand how artificial intelligence can help their security operations.
  • Most respondents have implemented a cybersecurity defense program and provided basic cybersecurity awareness training to full-time staff. In addition, patrons are informed of the secure in-house WiFi networks to use at their venues.
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    In the ever changing world of venue life safety, technology is becoming more prevalent. Within budgetary limitations, venues are looking for better ways to ingress guests while keeping the safety integrity of the facility. If applicable, venues would like to incorporate facial recognition and screening as guests arrive. While looking at capex for technology, what will the next wave of venue security look like? Is facial recognition and pass through magnetometers be the peak?
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The benefits of moving from CapEx to OpEx for IT spending - 0 views

  • The delivery of cloud-based technology solutions ‘as a service’ has made it possible to turn IT operations into an operational expense (OpEx), as opposed to a capital expense (CapEx), removing the need for any hefty upfront investments and replacing them with predictable monthly fees.
  • IT managers are realising that these smaller ongoing costs versus cyclic infrastructure builds are the key to bringing more value to the business and changing perceptions of IT.
  • According to a Cloud Technology Partners article, many companies carry up to 5 times the required hardware, networking, and data centre space during steady state business cycles. Most enterprises have hardware utilisation rates significantly below 20% because of the excess capacity required to handle peak demand, as a result spending much more on compute and storage than is required.
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  • The cloud-based OpEx model can provide significant savings and nearly infinite agility, so it doesn’t make much sense to spend massive amounts of capital on building, maintaining, and operating data centres. This is best left to a managed service provider who does this exclusively.
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    Companies should forecast differently when it comes to paying for technology. Instead of using a big chunk of change (Capital expenditure) investing in equipment it only uses just about 20% of the time, it can consider consider alternative, cloud based technology for a monthly fee (Operational Expenditure) This frees up money, time, and resources necessary for creativity and innovation in the company.
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How technology is impacting the online casino industry - Casino In The Park NJ - 1 views

    • amdelgad
       
      A CAGR of 12.3%! Whoa.
  • In fact, some casinos also accept cryptocurrencies to increase their pool of players
  • In fact, the industry plans to use Blockchain technology to further develop its security and weave a fine security network.
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  • It is predicted that by the end of 2022, the market capitalization of this industry will be close to $100 billion.
  • Just choose any industry and you will find that the success behind this industry is technological advancement.
  • A global report published in May 2021 shows that the online gambling market could well exceed 100 billion by the end of 2022. This means a CAGR of 12.3%. There is hardly any other industry that could develop such sound economic foresight.
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Benefits of cloud computing for the hospitality industry - Channel Drive - 0 views

  • Cloud computing offers hospitality properties a rapid return on investment (ROI)
  • Since the risk is low, cloud solutions allow hotels to achieve better information technology despite reduced capital costs.
  • support provided by Cloud solutions are performance tuning, patches, and upgrades, and systems can be rapidly integrated with ready-to-use services for administrators and end users
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  • Even if a localized computer network crashes there is no fear of losing information because it is accessible from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.
  • makes it faster and easier to integrate and extend legacy environments
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    This article outlines some of the benefits of cloud computing. I would have liked this article more if they touched on some of the downsides of cloud computing as well. This article talked about the low investment costs and rapid ROI. It also brought up the high level of security, the ability to access info from anywhere in the world with internet connection and minimum operating costs.
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