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Contents contributed and discussions participated by jalipman

jalipman

Sun, Sand and Cyber: Does the Hospitality Industry Need to Invest in Cybersecurity Now?... - 0 views

  • To ensure businesses are in the best possible position to compete during and long after the Coronavirus pandemic is over, both customers and employees need to be educated on the security measures on offer to feel comforted in this brave new business climate. 
  • For businesses to feel empowered against today’s many challenges, a consistent approach to risk management is absolutely crucial. A CISO with the authority to carry out real change and impart strong governance across the business would be hugely valuable.
    • jalipman
       
      An entity to regulate and update cyber security in order to keep all information safe would be very helpful. But it could be argued that an organization that has access to all systems could pose a larger risk to cyber security than it would negate.
  • These burdens come into sharper focus when you consider the digital environment in which hotels are operating. Individual hotels are often connected to the organization’s national or international network, meaning only one hotel has to be breached before the entire company is at risk of hemorrhaging huge volumes of its data.
    • jalipman
       
      This is a good example of why every hotel needs to be constantly updating and on alert for cyber attacks because if one hotel server is compromised the entire national system is at risk.
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  • Most crucially, a cybersecurity strategy must include a solid plan for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in order to prepare for any worst-case scenarios. In the era of COVID-19, incidents of the worst kind are fast emerging and businesses deserve a fighting chance to succeed.
  • The root of this cyber crisis lies in the way hotels are hampered by disparate legacy systems and out-of-date software where breaches are rife for the taking, particularly on hotels’ Point of Sale (POS) systems and other external vendors. Adding to this, hotels often outsource their customer IT connectivity but unfortunately forget to consistently monitor and audit suppliers’ security measures. 
  • Today, the systems used for various functions in a hotel’s back and front operations are manned by employees who are not yet well-equipped to pick up on and counter large-scale cyber-attacks until it’s too late.
    • jalipman
       
      Simply put, hotels are not focusing enough on these attacks and their security systems are made primarily to identify and ongoing attack rather than preemptively stop them.
  • Mobile phones, tables and laptops connected to open networks become a hunting ground for hackers to harvest banking details through card payments. 
    • jalipman
       
      Not only is personal information stored but guests use these open networks for many different things allow hackers a direct link to the guests devices as well.
  • Worth billions of pounds, the hospitality industry is a perfect victim for cyber-criminals. Its make-up of luxury resorts and hotels alongside huge volumes of high net-worth individuals has fast become prey for hacker
  • While financial services and the public sector have been forced to endure an endless stream of cybercrime, the hospitality industry has also become a prime contender for hackers in the wake of its rich data-base. 
    • jalipman
       
      The constant influx of new information makes hospitality company databases prime targets for hackers.
  • No matter the size of the business, inefficient cyber support diverts crucial time from business activities and relationships with customers.
    • jalipman
       
      Not allocating for proper cybersecurity not only puts you at risk but takes away from time you spend on business when you are dealing with potential or ongoing threats that would have been better addressed by a proper cyber security system.
  • With global business fighting relentlessly to survive against the chaotic threat of the Coronavirus, all industries are exposed to criminal cyber-threats, and so the security of highly sensitive data must be handled appropriately.
    • jalipman
       
      In unprecedented times like we are currently going through things like cybersecurity will be put on the back burner in order to deal with issues at hand but this can create environments for cyber attacks.
  • British Airways and Marriott International are two major hospitality companies to be victims of high-profile breaches in recent memory. They serve as a stark reminder of the heavy costs faced when the safety of customers’ data is compromised. 
jalipman

Gale Academic OneFile - Document - The anti-Venmo? Banks' p-to-p payment product eschew... - 0 views

  • Talie Baker, an analyst at Aite Group, said that she does not think users are demanding a social network for P-to-P payments. "Most users are interested in security and ubiquity," she said in an email, referring to the overall size and scope of the payment network.
  • But over time, Zelle's partner banks hope to support a wide range of business-to-business and business-to-consumer payments that seem more likely to generate revenue. Participating banks are also hoping that the P-to-P service will result in more satisfied retail customers, who are less likely to leave for another bank.
    • jalipman
       
      During the COVID19 pandemic this is especially true. A restaurant that can use venmo can create and literally contactless pickup of food as well as retailers can do this as well.
  • "If you owe money, you definitely want to show people that you paid, that you're not a deadbeat," said Crone, the CEO of Crone Consulting LLC in San Carlos, Calif.
    • jalipman
       
      Venmo does leverage social pressures to pay which also can limit its market when "charging people on venmo"
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  • oreover, as Venmo moves into in-store payments, its use of social media may offer a way for PayPal to monetize the app's growing popularity, Crone said. After all, when a social media user endorses a particular retailer, that thumbs-up is valuable to the merchant. So the merchant may be willing to pony up for the positive buzz.
  • Zelle's architects considered, but ultimately decided against, mimicking Venmo's marriage of payments and social media, according to Alexander.
    • jalipman
       
      Zelle has placed there focus on security rather than the social aspect in order to reach an older market. It seems as if in the long run Zelle will be able to retain its market better when the social aspect of money sharing becomes an issue. (which in my opinion is almost inevitable)
  • So as we're thinking about the use cases for Zelle, sharing the bar tab for last weekend certainly is one of those. But also other use cases that wouldn't lend themselves to some of the comical social interaction that you see," she added.
  • At the same time, Alexander pointed out that younger adults who have been early adopters of the technology are likely to shape the habits of their parents and other older consumers. "So absolutely we are not ignoring the millennials and their influence," she said.
    • jalipman
       
      This has been mimicked for many things in new technology like smart phones. As well as many social media websites. The younger generation influence drives the market.
  • Transaction volume for Venmo, which is owned by PayPal Holdings, Inc., has grown by at least 130% in each of the last four quarters.
    • jalipman
       
      Venmo being the mainstream digital payment app allows it to continue to dominate. Additionally social pressures to use the app drive the market even further.
  • ts prospects also hinge on whether the big banks have made the right assessment about the willingness of middle-aged folks to mix payments data with their social networks.
    • jalipman
       
      A continual problem with technology advancements is security. In addition to this older people are less willing to use technology and mixing those two together can create an environment where older people are not willing to make the change even if it is more convenient.
  • The successor to a lackluster venture called clearXchange, Zelle is courting adults ages 18 to 54 who already rely heavily on their mobile phones. All told, 103 million U.S. consumers fall into that category. "We would say we're moving P-to-P from millennials to mainstream," said said Lou Anne Alexander, group president of payments at Early Warning Services, the bank-owned company that is developing the system
    • jalipman
       
      Zelle targets a larger demographic allowing it to target possible whole families which eventually would lead to it being the mainstream app overtaking Venmo.
  • But in rebranding and reintroducing a P-to-P payments service, the nation's biggest banks are targeting a broader demographic and betting that people who came of age in the 1980s and 1990s want to be more private about how they spend their money.
  • t's one reason why the person-to-person payment app Venmo -- which encourages users to share spending habits with friends -- is so popular with the 18-to-34-year-old crowd.
    • jalipman
       
      Venmo came in ahead of the curve in the digital banking market. Mainly targeting a younger demographic it has taken off. But this ahead of the curve mentality has allowed banks to create their own digital banking apps engineered towards the older markets.
  • t's one reason why the person-to-person payment app Venmo -- which encourages users to share spending habits with friends -- is so popular with the 18-to-34-year-old crowd.
jalipman

How Restaurant Operators Can Optimize their POS Investment in the COVID-19 Environment ... - 1 views

  • Perhaps they’ll see that they’re better prepared for contactless and touchless payment technologies of the future, or that customers are willing to share valuable data and feedback at the time of payment – or that they’re suddenly getting more value out of their POS investment than ever imagined.
  • oving forward, the protection of personal health will now be on par with protection of personal financial information.  Whether restaurant operators like it or not, these responsibilities are now table stakes for the restaurant industry and the new fundamentals for delivering the ultimate dining experience
    • jalipman
       
      This is very valid it will open an entire new market for touch less safe POS systems
  • These financial and health assurances are vital to bringing diners back to restaurants, and to the resurrection of the industry as a whole. 
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  • Through direct integration with the POS, restaurant operators can extend their POS to create a truly secure and touchless environment. This option is available for several well-known and widely used POS systems such as Aloha, MICROS, Squirrel, Dinerware and Focus – and can be utilized without the hassle of having to re-program menu items and prices, or retrain waitstaff.  It can also help operators avoid any changes to merchant processing or pricing.  
    • jalipman
       
      The direct integration will be very helpful and create and ease of service that will drive people to go to restaurants more. The idea of safety and touch less environments will be a driving force in the food market from now on.
  • By using a fully PCI and EMV compliant pay-at-the-table device that extends the POS to the table, restaurant guests are empowered to use their phone to facilitate the transaction. With the simple scan of a QR code, guests can immediately launch a payment process that’s both encrypted and entirely touchless. 
    • jalipman
       
      This aspect of the POS system will really make the dining experience virtually all from your phone. It may adversely affect the in person staff because it is a lot easier to tip less and leave honest feedback if you can do it from a distance.
  • he consumer can choose either to reduce contact with a payment system where they control their own credit card, or to eliminate all contact with a touchless payment option.  
  • It also represents one of the largest investments for a restaurant operator, so it only makes sense to explore how the investment can be leveraged to provide additional value. 
  • ow can their existing point-of-sale (POS) system and related technologies help to provide a safe environment with secure payments?
  • Despite these conditions, the expectations placed on restaurant operators are greater than ever.  On top of the everyday commitment to prepare great food, provide stellar service, and maintain an inviting environment, restaurant operators have, in recent years, been challenged to meet higher standards for protecting customer payment information – and now to preserve public health and safety.  The responsibility is daunting, some may say overwhelming.
    • jalipman
       
      As we go further into the corona virus epidemic it is becoming even more evident that proper safety precautions are important. Using these POS systems is also difficult during a time like this because they are very high touch areas.
  • There have been many industries that have had to adjust to the new reality of COVID-19, but likely none have been more dramatically impacted than the restaurant industry.
jalipman

Apple expands global recycling programs - Apple - 1 views

  • Apple will also be supporting the efforts of environmentally-focused non-profits Conservation International, SEE Foundation and The Recycling Partnership — expanding on its conservation and resource efficiency work from last year.
  • Today, Apple released its 2019 Environment report, which contains additional information on the company’s climate change solutions, including its recent announcement that 44 of its suppliers have committed to 100 percent renewable energy for their Apple production
    • jalipman
       
      Apple is working to cut down their carbon footprint in all facets further than just e waste.
  • Apple today also announced the opening of its Material Recovery Lab dedicated to discovering future recycling processes. The new 9,000-square-foot facility in Austin, Texas, will look for innovative solutions involving robotics and machine learning to improve on traditional methods like targeted disassembly, sorting and shredding. The Lab will work with Apple engineering teams as well as academia to address and propose solutions to today’s industry recycling challenges.
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  • Starting this year, aluminum recovered through the Apple Trade In program is being remelted into the enclosures for the MacBook Air.
    • jalipman
       
      The other question that comes from this information. While it is very good that they are doing this. Would they be doing it if they had the option to cheaply ship it off to china.
  • he company’s engineering of an aluminum alloy made from 100 percent recycled aluminum allows the new MacBook Air and Mac mini to have nearly half the carbon footprint of earlier models
  • Apple also uses 100 percent recycled tin in a key component of the main logic boards of 11 different products.
  • Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “We work hard to design products that our customers can rely on for a long time. When it comes time to recycle them, we hope that the convenience and benefit of our programs will encourage everyone to bring in their old devices.”
    • jalipman
       
      This is very interesting considered apple has been known to create products that DO NOT last very long. Also it is surprising that this position within their company even exists.
  • Daisy is now able to disassemble 15 different iPhone models at the rate of 200 per hour, recovering even more important materials for re-use.
  • Once materials have been recovered from Daisy, they are recycled back into the manufacturing process. For cobalt, which is a key battery material, Apple sends iPhone batteries recovered by Daisy upstream in its supply chain. They are then combined with scrap from select manufacturing sites and, for the first time, cobalt recovered through this process is now being used to make brand-new Apple batteries — a true closed loop for this precious material.
    • jalipman
       
      Here they have closed the loop and allowed for them to not be taking away from our natural resources as was discussed in "the story of stuff" Shows apple is being environmentally conscious. Would be very interesting to see the ratio of how many phones they implement the old cobalt and how many are new.
  • In 2018, the company refurbished more than 7.8 million Apple devices and helped divert more than 48,000 metric tons of electronic waste from landfills. 
    • jalipman
       
      Apple clearly has been working to brand themselves as a green company. Since they are one of the main companies that quickly cycles through products and getting rid of your old one it is smart that they are now moving towards putting used products and materials back into the cycle for a second time.
  • Customers can also turn in their eligible devices to be recycled at any Apple Store or through apple.com as part of the Apple Trade In program.
  • pple today announced a major expansion of its recycling programs, quadrupling the number of locations US customers can send their iPhone to be disassembled by Daisy, its recycling robot.
jalipman

Gale General OneFile - Document - Smart Hospitality Market Forecasts 2020-2025: Growing... - 0 views

  • North America and Europe have a significant amount of market share in the smart hospitality market due to presence of big hospitality companies which are focusing on moving towards the use of advanced technologies and smart building management systems for efficient energy consumption, reducing operational cost, and providing guests with modern amenities for better services.
  • Regionally, the global smart hospitality market is classified into North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The APAC Smart Hospitality market will witness substantial market growth during the forecast period owing to the growing investments by international hotel chains in countries like India and China in smart hospitality solutions.
  • he smart hospitality solutions help in serving the guest with advanced communications technologies that assist them in conducting meetings, conferences, and connecting with associates around the world without any hindrances.
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  • These hotels have increased the demand for smart hospitality services by using more of on-premise and cloud for better management of hotel resources and improved hospitality services. It even helps in reducing operating costs by providing energy-efficient solutions and increases revenue.
  • However, factors such as high initial cost of deployment and lack of technically skilled professionals are hindering the smart hospitality market growth.
    • jalipman
       
      Throughout the article we have talked about the cost cutting bonuses of adding smart systems in hotels. Here they touch on the fact that the actual physical implementation and start up costs are initially very expensive. This could be analogous to solar panels. They are very good for the environment (the hotel) but the initial cost of installation (implementation) makes it difficult to invest in the first place.
  • The rise in the number of smart hotels is driving the segment of software and services smart hospitality. The services are increasingly been used for integration, maintenance, and training.
  • According to the World Bank Data, the number of arrivals of international tourists across the world has increased from 911.85 million in 2009 to 1,442 million in 2018. As such, market players in the hospitality sector are using smart hospitality solutions in order to provide their guests with better hospitality services
  • The software helps in facility & emergency management response systems, building energy management, water management, security management, and parking management which will further reduce cost and save time on these services. This, in turn, will increase the demand for smart hospitality services, thereby positively impacting the overall market growth.
    • jalipman
       
      The smart hotel systems will be able to reach beyond just customer service it will allow better analytics and cost saving methods across all departments of the hotel.
  • or example, in April 2019, InterContinental Shenzhen signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei and Telecom to create the world's first 5G smart hotel. Viggo Smart Hotel is delivering the first true cloud-based smart hotel TV solutions for the global hospitality industry.
  • n addition to this, smart hospitality solutions allow energy-efficient management system. As such, growing environmental concerns and rising focus on CSR among hotel companies is also ramping up the demand for smart hospitality solutions.
  • Global hotel chains are increasingly investing heavily in smart hospitality solutions including in order to improve customers' impressions and satisfaction. Moreover, hotel companies are also adopting smart hospitality solutions as they help to save operational costs and generate more revenue while enhancing their hospitality services to customers.
    • jalipman
       
      Hotels are taking advantage of this point of sale type technology like at grocery stores where you have self checkout. Embracing that they can cut sots on personnel while allowing people the "luxury" of doing it themselves
  • For example, in some hotel, customers can use their smartphones to control the room's environment by way of allowing remotely open and close the window blinds and regulating the room temperature.
  • The increasing number of contractors are teaming up with different tech firms to build smarter hotels with low cost and less time which, in turn, is positively impacting the smart hospitality market growth.
    • jalipman
       
      The increase in number of tech firms investing themselves in smart hotels is actually driving the market itself. Hotels are basing their operations with smart systems due to things like safety concerns from viruses as well as just following the path the hospitality industry has down towards automating these processes
  • The market is driven by the rising internet penetration and growing inclination towards IoT which are encouraging the hospitality segment to offer smart solutions to their customers with the use of digital technology.
jalipman

CyberLink Partners With Advantech to Enable FaceMe® Facial Recognition for Re... - 0 views

  • vels of security compared to Cloud-based solutions. It supports more than 10 operating systems, including Windows, Android, iOS, and various Linux distributions such as Ubuntu x86, Ubuntu ARM, RedHat, CentOS, Yocto, Debian and JetPack. FaceMe® can run on low-power CPUs to enable facial recognition on cost-effective IoT/AIoT devices, as well as be integrated with high-end servers, workstations and personal computers equipped with GPU to provide highly efficient performance. FaceMe’s® high accuracy, flexibility and security makes it the leading facial recognition engine available on the market today.
    • jalipman
       
      Not only does it have multiple applications it has been made to work with the majority of the major operating systems at a low cost. Having a system like this will allow for smart computing to enhance the guest experience while also cutting costs at the same time.
  • FaceView aims to realize intelligent visitor management and access control in the smart city domain.”
  • “We are proud to partner with Advantech in providing core facial recognition technology to FaceView that will unleash powerful capabilities such as tracking visitor traffic, analyzing customer demographics, identifying VIP visitors, and more,”
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  • Advantech’s FaceView app, developed for smart security and visitor analysis, provides fast, high-precision, scalable facial recognition and can extract data on visitors’ gender, age and emotions. The resulting data empowers businesses to better understand and serve customers such as VIP or loyalty program guests, as well as facilitate loss prevention and area security.
    • jalipman
       
      In addition to being able to recognize a guest and tell if they are VIP or loyal guests this software will be able to detect emotion. Making it possible to tell when the guests is having or is a problem.
  • he integration empowers the app to perform real-time facial recognition and analysis of visitors’ gender, age and emotions for IoT applications in scenarios such as retail, hospitality, transportation and commercial building management, among others.
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