Small Business Owners (SBOs) especially should take note of any vulnerabilities that could leave a trail of irrevocable damage and potentially sink their business.
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shared by da7327 on 30 Oct 17
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5 Ways Small Hospitality Businesses Can Strengthen Information Security | Hospitality T... - 0 views
hospitalitytech.com/trengthen-information-security
hospitality business technology solution IT tech hotel restaurant
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The average total cost of a data breach in the United States has increased from $7.01 million to $7.35 million, according to the Ponemon Institute. The severe financial loss and potential reputational harm caused by a breach is overwhelming for any sized organization, but especially for small businesses that may not have the resources to recover.
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For small businesses, the financial and reputational damage of a data breach can be insurmountable. Small businesses must understand their information security vulnerabilities and take a proactive approach to data management in order to protect their customers, their reputation and their people.
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This article introduces five ways about how small hospitality businesses improve information security. Compared to big hospitality companies, small business owner(SBOs) are not fully aware of the importance of security and in turn, they are vulnerable to damage their brand and potentially sink the business. Especially, small business highly depends on word-of-mouth to advertise their brand. If they face the security issue, they might have no resource to recover when we consider their business size and budget. In order to help SBOs strengthen their information security protocols, first, disposal protocol should be kept when they dump or change the computer. In other words, they should remove and safely destroy the hard drive to ensure information is not recovered. Second, training is necessary. Training is one of the easiest ways to protect confidential data and employees should be knowledgeable of handling the information. Third, organizations must understand the responsibilities for data protection and ensure their protocol comply with new laws. Thus, they should keep up with any changes in legislation. Fourth, paper shredding is necessary. Though we pursue paperless office, still paper is being used, so paper shredding is required to avoid the risk of data breach. Lastly, SBOs should use locked storage consoles to protect sensitive data.
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Red Robin CIO Drives Change Through IT Management - 0 views
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Statistically speaking, CIOs don't become CEOs. But it's not because they don't want it. Research shows that nearly half of CIOs aspire to become chief executive, but only four percent actually get there. Much more frequently, CEOs for the world's top companies - about half in fact - come up through C-level financial or operating roles (Vanson Bourne, 2012). Chris Laping, CIO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (www.redrobin.com), strongly believes this is because technology executives are too often focused on engineering and IT solutions to embrace their most valuable leadership quality: the ability to manage change. Technology leaders, he believes, possess powerful project management skills that can and should be leveraged across the business for even the most non-IT initiatives, with the particular role of being agents for change. Laping's official role at Red Robin is indicative of that practice: he's the company's senior vice president of business transformation and CIO. In that role, he oversees the company's technology, learning and development, enterprise project management and operations services teams. In this exclusive interview with Hospitality Technology, Laping shares how the technology team has taken on a business transformation role at Red Robin, and describes his overall vision for IT leaders. But it's not something CIOs are handed; they have to drive it, says Laping. Driving this change, perhaps, will also help more CIOs chase down their chief-executive dreams. HT: Let's start with some definitions: "business transformation" and "change agents" are pretty heady buzzwords that get tossed around executive boardrooms. What does business transformation really mean? LAPING: If you look at a classic Wikipedia definition of business transformation, it talks about people, process and technology. So when you push change through people, you usually do that through training. If you want to change business performan
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GDS vs. Channel Manager: What's Better for Small Hotels? - 1 views
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Small accommodation providers have two options when it comes to distributing their online inventory. They can either do it via a global distribution system (GDS) or via a channel manager.
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GDS acts as a middle-man that connects your small hotel to a network of travel agency professionals, including corporate travel bookers. You connect to the GDS, giving you access to all of the travel agents your GDS is connected with. Those travel agents then sell your rooms to their customers (a mix of corporates and leisure travelers), and any bookings made are automatic.
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Retail model This is the traditional model, ie. how you would work with a retail or traditional travel agent.
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Merchant model This model applies to third party service providers that connect you to retail travel agents (by integrating with a GDS) and online travel agents.
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Opaque model In this model, your guests don’t know they’re staying at your specific property until after they’ve made the booking.
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Small accommodation providers can benefit greatly from using a GDS to connect to retail travel agents and corporate buyers. However, we highly recommend that you steer clear of the merchant model, because you would be paying commission to both the third party service provider and the OTA.
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In this kind of business relationship, it’s much better to retain full control of your rates and inventory
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In the distribution landscape, Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are just one of the many players involved in selling your rooms to a world of travelers. They are one of the oldest kinds of distributors in the industry, so it’s important that you understand how you can work with them effectively.
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A GDS doesn’t work exclusively for accommodation providers – it does the same for airlines, activities, and car rental companies.
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Your rooms are sold through all channels connected through the GDS e.g. traditional travel agents. Whoever sells your room earns a standard commission. Your guest pays you, then you pay your agent. An easy way to understand this model is if you think about how you would work with your local brick and mortar travel agency, that caters to walk-in customers. This is the default model used upon connecting with a GDS.
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In this model, you would work with online travel agents (OTAs) like Booking.com via the third party service provider. An OTA sells rooms on your behalf, allowing your guests to find and select your hotel, check your availability, and make a booking.
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However, this is very costly. As they are a third party provider of GDS services, you would not only pay commission to the OTA (a percentage of each booking), but you would also be paying the third party service provider a commission for use of the system (usually $10-$12 per reservation).
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The only difference is, they won’t guarantee it (there is less of an incentive to sell you because there is no additional commission for them), and they will de-emphasise your listing (by placing it at the end of the list, hiding images, hiding room rate, and other strategies).
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You set up several rates (usually 25%-45% less than retail rate), selling your rooms based on bids that guests make based on location, star rating, and other attributes. For example, Priceline uses a bidding system, and Hotwire allows guests to make bookings based on discounted rates.
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GDSes are great for tapping into the corporate travel market – however, it is being used more for other types of travel than for accommodation.
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Compared to large hotel chains and airlines, the GDS can play a different role for businesses of smaller sizes. For small hotels, it may be beneficial to make use of a channel manager instead of depending on sales from a GDS. The article suggests to smaller hotels that channel managers, who work directly with travel agents, can mean more profit for your business. Using the GDS and a travel agency, you are technically paying 2 commissions. With a channel manager, you would only be paying one. Having this business relationship will cut out a middle man, and hotels with smaller budget will find this strategy more efficient.
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I find this article a little misleading. The GDS are channels, can be managed by a channel manager, or in conjunction with, or separately but usually for smaller hotels require an intermediary. Accessing the GDS(s) are used less by smaller hotels for two main factors: 1. Costs and Fees 2. Scope of demand (driving the right customers). 3. Program Fees The article cites figures which have changed substantially since 2015, as of Q4 North American GDS growth was up 6.4% and ADR was up 4.2% YOY with 18.4% of all bookings coming through GDS. TravelClick, Inc. (2019, March 4) What isn't highlighted in the article was the fact that margin agreements with OTAs for smaller independent hotel range anywhere from 20-35% . If the article had done an actual cost comparison (access through intermediary to GDS instead of OTA) the 10% commission + access and delivery fee may have proven more profitable. It would have been better if they had done a little more comparative cost analysis. TravelClick, Inc. (2019, March 4). GDS Booking and ADR Growth Drive Strong Q4 2018 RevPAR Performance in Hospitality. Retrieved from https://www.hospitalitynet.org/performance/4092226.html
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This article from the Little Hotelier talks about what exactly is GDS and the Channel Manager and which on is better for Small Hotels. Small Hotels should opt for the system that gives them what they need, but in their price range and for the size of their business.
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Why Your Small Business Should Go Green Today | Computerworld - 0 views
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While corporate sustainability initiatives make headlines, small businesses have been slower to go green.
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While corporate sustainability initiatives make headlines, small businesses have been slower to go green.
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Going Green is something we all hear about in todays market and the importance of it. Many big business have been finding ways to go green any chance they get. However, with small businesses they have been slower to go green. Embracing sustainability practices for your business is something that should be practiced at any business no matter what size. With small businesses it's much more easy to move towards sustainability versus larger ones. Though their IT department don't have the financial resources of enterprise businesses. Their sizes gives them the ability to change direction quickly something that happens when initiating green practices. There are six reasons why you should embrace sustainability, which are it attracts talent, it's a market differentiator, more efficient, reduce risks, and most importantly customers demand it.
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Who doesn't like to "feel good" when choosing to use a product or stay somewhere. Going green makes perfect sense. Companies that adopt green policies and procedures allow their guests to feel better about choosing their goods and services.
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9 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Apps for Small Business » Small Busi... - 0 views
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Infusionsoft is one of the market leaders when it comes to CRM, e-mail marketing and marketing Automation.
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if a customer responds to a specific campaign, then phones in a question, you can trigger your Infusionsoft system to automatically respond appropriately — which goes beyond e-mail and includes faxing, voicemails, even letters.
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if you only want to store your customer contact information, you can do it for free with InTouch. If you want to be able to use the powerful customer database and communicate via e-mail or SMS with your customers, then you’ll have to subscribe to a paid plan.
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Social CRM applications encourage many-to-many participation among internal users, as well as customers, partners, affiliates, fans, constituents, donors, members and other external parties, to support sales, customer service and marketing processes. Social CRM works within each of these domains, for example, to provide a social enterprise feedback mechanism in the service domain, or social monitoring or product development in the marketing domain.”
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generally defined as a look at a person’s online identity, activity, relationship to other people and content.
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Rapportive scours the social landscape and provides links and details from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and numerous other sites to give you a fast glance at just who it is you’re corresponding with. It will also tell you location information, if they are nearby and using such services, of course.
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It works with Gmail, with Outlook, with the iPhone and Android phones, with Salesforce.com and even Lotus Notes, to create a powerful listening post.
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You can view blog posts, photos, tweets and more alongside contact history, so if part of your customer experience involves knowing what’s going on in your customer’s life, this is a tool worth trying out. Lots of great reporting and integration with many other small business apps like Mailchimp, Shoeboxed and more.
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Sales teams can see and access prospect and customer contact information via the Web and mobile devices.
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To know who your guests are and what they like is definitely a competitive strategy for hotels. From this article, there're tons of Apps working to assist and improve Customer Relationship Management system. According to what I searched, infusionsoft is very time consuming and team initiative to customize properly. It's hard to make each application perfect but the purpose behind them is clear: to communicate with customers as more as we can. Those Apps make teams spread across large distances (and businesses set in one location) to collaborate on leads, contacts, discussions and other items and make this extremely simple to do. So being able to collaborate on more aspects of your daily operations is much more beneficial to overall sales and customer experiences. Some applications bring collaboration to a few narrow aspects of CRM, some bring collaboration to the center of the app, and regardless if you're managing other aspects of your business through software you will need to find ways to collaborate on that as well. Many companies accomplish this by using a variety of applications, but it absolutely brings integration issues and high monthly bills. So a lot of helpful solutions are center collaboration with a feature-consolidating environment across a variety of aspects of business management software. WORKetc is a business management app that combines CRM, PM, Finances (expenses, invoicing, etc) and help desk software into one - and brings collaboration to all of these aspects. Thus, it's essential to collaborate them wisely instead of combining as more as possible.
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The Advantages of E-Business | Chron.com - 0 views
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Cost-Effective MarketingWith an e-business, all of your marketing efforts end with one goal—to drive target traffic to your business website.
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Most of these online marketing efforts are very low cost or free, so an e-business allows for highly cost-effective marketing strategies.
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Flexible Business HoursE-business breaks down the time barriers that location-based businesses encounter, according to eCommerce Education. Because the Internet is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, your business never closes. An e-business can literally be making money while you are fast asleep.
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Eliminates Geographic BoundariesAn e-business also allows you to broaden your reach. An online business can reach customers in the four corners of the Earth. As long as someone has an Internet connection, you may be able to reach and sell your product or service to these visitors to your business website.
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Reduces Transaction CostRunning an online business reduces the cost per transaction because it takes less manpower to complete an online transaction.
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Low Overhead CostsRunning an e-business cut back or out most of the costs involved in running a physical location. E-businesses have less expensive phone, rent and utility bills than businesses with physical locations
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Some e-businesses do not require any additional space and can be run out of your home, which you are already paying rent for or your mortgage payment.
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The article written by Kristine Loretta, details five key benefits of why business owners should launch themselves into the e-business market.
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Due to the growth and advancement of technology, businesses have been able to grow in ways bigger than ever before. As we all know, e-commerce has become more popular today and is taking over many industries now. In this article, it discusses how this trend of e-commerce is extremely innovative and is proven to be a good alternative to the normal ways of business is usually conducted. Just to name a few things, conducting business via the internet saves tons of money. Customers are now able to shop and add items directly into a virtual cart instead of it been a paper trail of the items that are attempted to be purchased. Also, in addition what was mentioned above, e-commerce has opened up new and better channels for communication that can occur faster. Convenience is another key role that e-commerce plays in this. "No longer do people have to wait for stores to open". Patrons can now shop whenever they want to due to online shopping and have the items shipped directly to their home. Which leads me to say that this also is way that reduces cost and save money, especially for small businesses.Last but not least, without a doubt, it is pretty evident that e-commerce create different and many avenues of ways for money to be made. All in all, e-commerce is relevant in today's industry and many other businesses and these are the advantages that allow for it to thrive as it does.
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shared by rderonville on 17 Jun 17
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Restaurant Accounting Software | Small Business Guide | Xero - 0 views
www.xero.com/...restaurant-accounting-software
restaurant accounting software small business guide business technology customer experience
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A good POS (Point of Sale) system will handle these payments for you, and connect to your accounting software.
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Not just surviving but thriving in the restaurant industry is tough – and like any other business, it all comes down to the numbers. Having the right restaurant accounting software means you’ll understand how those numbers affect the bottom line.
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This article gives small businesses insight about the importance of having an efficient accounting software. Many restaurants may do poorly not because of bad food but because of bad account management. Constant transactions may be overwhelming so having a system in place can help alleviate issues that can transpire. This article persuades future restaurant owners to invest in an online accounting software that can be used anywhere and anytime on smart devices or laptops. It also stresses that it must be accurate with information, easy to use, smart (as in to see the business operating in real time, and flexible. It also stresses the importance of having a POS system that works well with the accounting systems. The article states that "it helps update cash flow and predictions daily". There will be records of everything that is bought, returned, wasted, and etc. I believe this is important because it can make or break a restaurant or rather any business. Whether it is for revenue or payroll, accounting systems help with identifying inconsistencies and helps management in determining if the business is healthy, numbers wise. There can not be good management if there is not good measurement. With accounting, everything that goes in and out of the restaurant is accounted for. This in turn helps a business make adjustments to effectively grow and manage a business.
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Factors Affecting the E-Commerce Adoption by Small Hotels - 1 views
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Factors Affecting the E-Commerce Adoption by Small Hotels Introduction In today's world, ICT's are absolutely necessary for just about every facet of life. More and more people around the world are finding themselves increasing their use of the internet to assist them in almost everything they do. Computers and the use of the internet have become daily tools in the lives of people, changing the way we live, communicate with each other and educate ourselves. The use of the internet for commercial purposes has also increased significantly. Many businesses depend on computers and internet for their daily operations. The internet serves helps small businesses by bringing their customers together in one setting to conduct business transactions and discuss pertinent matters. It is also a very inexpensive way to conduct business transactions and still maximize profits for small businesses. The use of computer and Internet has affected many industries, however, the one most impacted is the hospitality industry. Despite this, small hospitality business owners still do not use the internet and the web to its full advantage. As a matter of fact, only a small number of these businesses use a secure server for online bookings (Hudson & Gilbert, 2006). If the small businesses expect to remain competitive and sustain their businesses, they need to adapt to the revolving technological environment. Conclusion After examining a small percentage of small hotels to ascertain what some of the factors are affecting small hotel's adoption of e-commerce it was determined that the implementation process was not as easy and straight forward. They also found that it was not a uniformed process for everyone. Finally, despite some of the hotels adopting the implementation process quickly, it took longer for others to adopt the e-commerce applications. Further, the study also highlighted the perceived benefits and complexity as the most important factors affecting the adopt
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shared by jfuen093 on 13 Jan 18
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7 Most-Popular Hotel Management Software for Small Hotels - 3 views
blog.capterra.com/ions-for-small-hotels-compared
small hotels hotel management software Tech solution
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For hotels, finding the right software fit is especially important, because without a suitable software solution, you’re wasting time and money—big things that take you away from your customers and keep you from providing a stellar guest experience. For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run tours as well and need a feature for managing that aspect of your business.
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Easy-to-use interface Customizable availability calendar Personalized guest, company, and travel agent profiles that can be exported into marketing campaigns Data encryption on secure servers, and the ability to restrict user privileges
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For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run tours as well and need a feature for managing that aspect of your business.
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For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run tours as well and need a feature for managing that aspect of your business.
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For smaller hotels, you may think you’re getting more bang for your buck with a solution designed for enterprise hotels, but in reality you might need some tailoring. You may be paying for a bunch of extra features you’ll never use, or perhaps you run t
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Cloudbeds serves as an all-in-one hotel management system that can also connect your property to hundreds of channels (such as Booking.com and Orbitz) with real-time, two-way integration
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Rate management to maximize revenue through seasonal rates Mobile application to receive reports on smartphone/tablet Event management Self-service check-in kiosk
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Capterra is a webiste that offers the proper research for businesses to look for a software that works best for them. The article discusses the most popular software solutions that works best for small hotels. The list of the software's discussed already included what reviewers loved, their advice for improvement, and cost. This is a great article for small hotels to look at because it is an easier way for them to select a software that suits them best.
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For any hotel, it's important to find the right operating software. Especially for small hotels, choosing a well-designed software is able to save more money and time. In this article, the author has introduced 11 most popular hotel management software specially for small hotels, including Cloudbeds, eZee Frontdesk, Frontdesk Anywhere, Hotelogix PMS, Maestro PMS, MSI CloudPM, OPERA Property Management System(PMS), RDPWin, Rezlynx PMS, roomMaster, SkyTouch Hotel OS.
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The following article reviews the 11 most popular PMS systems that are used within the lodging industry. The importance of choosing the right system for your property is vital and should be taken seriously when comparing the different features offered, etc. I found the article to be very helpful in the fact that it goes into detail analyzing the different systems and highlighting what each have to offer. Depending on the size of your property, facilities, and even location are just a few factors that truly depict which system is best for you. Comparing cloud based systems to dashboards is also something to consider and can drastically change the overall functions of your property based from the system that is used.
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This article is about the new software technology ad uts benefits in the hospitality industry
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This article discusses the 7 different PMS systems that would benefit each hotel style in the hospitality industry. It's important for hotels to find the right PMS system so they do not waste time and money. Cloudbeds serves as an all-in-one PMS system, it connects your property to hundreds of channels with two-way integration. It allows guests to make direct reservations through their desktop or mobile device. eZee Frontdesk serves to help with rate management to maximize revenue, mobile access to reports, event management, and self-service check-in. This PMS system is mainly used at boutique hotels, hostels/lodges, resorts, and small hotels in 140 countries. Frontdesk Anywhere serves to create personalized guest, company, and travel agent profiles that can be exported for marketing campaigns, data encryption on secure servers, and the ability to restrict user privileges. Hotelogix PMS serves as a multi-device booking engine for third-party integrations with OTAs. This system is mainly used by small to midsize hotels and is used by more than 10,000 properties worldwide. Maestro PMS serves its purpose by helping small properties. Maestro is designed for the cloud, and brings 20 different modules under one umbrella, including reservations, front desk, sales, space and club management, and dining POS. Maestro aims to simplify things, enabling hotel managers to run everything from one dashboard. MSI CloudPM serves to keep costs down by bypassing the purchase of additional hardware. It provides an Automatic backup and optional on-site backup. Lastly, OPERA PMS system serves to help big corporations, as well as independent hotels with profile management, housekeeping management, accommodation management, and much more. These PMS systems all are beneficial to understand them to learn what PMS system fits best for your business instead of going into the hospitality industry blind.
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Smaller hotels run with tighter profit margins. This article discusses the 7 top softwares that are available to a small hotel that have many features i.e. front desk, bookings, food and beverage - all in one software application.
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shared by anonymous on 20 Sep 20
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Blasting the 'gastro ceiling' with financial literacy - 0 views
www.nrn.com/...tro-ceiling-financial-literacy
Financial literacy glass ceiling women in business culinary
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trustee of the James Beard Foundation and co-founded the JBF Women’s Leadership and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Leadership programs
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The culinary “gastro ceiling” is especially appalling with less than 7% leading women executive chefs
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scholarships and more education will not make a dent in parity. It’s not a lack of entrepreneurial spirit either — according to the National Restaurant Association, 40% of restaurants are women-owned businesses, or WOB, and startups by women are growing much faster than the industry overall.
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grim reality that 96% of WOB do not cross $1 million in revenue. Fewer than 8% seek external financing,
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less than 4% of Small Business Administration loan dollars, and less than 2% of venture capital dollars.
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o raise external financing and be successful entrepreneurs, however, women have to vanquish three areas.
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by women learning to pitch themselves
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investing in public speaking and negotiations coaching.
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67% of executive women are in support roles (HR, Marketing, IT, et al) as opposed to running their own line businesses
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ulinary world, women abound in the softer side (pastry, baking, freelance, cold stations, personal chefs
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Policy should also incentivize commercial lenders and venture capital/private equity to do the same with their loan dollars
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Despite women leading the way in scholarship and culinary education, they are suspiciously vacant at the top of the leadership ladder. According to Bloomberg, only about 7% of executive chefs are woman, and "67% of executive women are in support roles...as opposed to running their own line of business." This doesn't appear to be because of a lack of entrepreneurial spirt, as "405 of restaurants are women-owned businesses or WOB, and startups by women are growing much faster than the industry overall." This made me reflect on my own city, as I do see women in executive positions, such as Stephanie Izard, Sarah Grunenberg, and Mindy Segal, they all got to their positions in very different ways. Probably the most successful, with currently 7-8 restaurants, is Izard, she got her start by winning a reality tv show and then joining forces with two male business owners (BOKA). Grunenberg also started visa vi the reality TV route, and now eventually owns and runs a very successful restaurant downtown. Mindy Segal is the only woman executive in this group that has built her business, her cookbooks, her brand, and now her cannibis retail, mostly by herself. It is interesting to relate these women to this article because while they are all three incredibly successful, only one was able to pull herself there through the three points mentioned in this article. In order for women to break the glass ceiling in restaurants and culinary, they will need to accomplish three main goals: 1. Gain confidence, 2. Increase their aspirations, and 3. Learn and Maintain Financial literacy. The "grim reality (is) that 96% of WOB do not cross the $1 million in revenue...(and) fewer than 8% seek external financing. Women "receive less than 4% of Small Business Administration loan dollars and less than 2% of venture capital dollars. For confidence, this article recommends to women to learn how to advocate for yourself. Use coaches, practices public speaking, and learn how to pitch your business
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Benefits of E-Marketing over Traditional Marketing - 0 views
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No initial investment: How much would it cost you to create an account on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and post some updates on those accounts? This is one of the major benefits of e-marketing; you can easily reach millions of potential customers without burning a hole in your wallet.
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Extensive reach: By renting an advertising banner beside a highway, you can only count on people who drive on that road to cast a glance at it.
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E-marketing has replaced traditional marketing globally, and given its advantages, it will likely enjoy a tremendous success rate in the future as well.
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EMarketing is the ability to market your products or services with Internet capabilities. In other words, it includes emailing, websites, follow-up, and every other marketing approach. Through computer/Internet capabilities, small business owners that embrace eMarketing will save themselves hours of time. With eMarketing, business owners can automate nearly all of their business management functions. That means that eMarketing capabilities are taking care of the day-to-day tasks small business owners and their employees would normally be engaged in. eMarekting also has some other benefits. E-marketing eliminates the printing and postage costs of direct mail and is substantially less expensive than other traditional forms of advertising. Customers opt in to receive your news via email. E-marketing is affordable, so you can advertise more often.
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EMarketing is the ability to market your products or services with Internet capabilities. In other words, it includes emailing, websites, follow-up, and every other marketing approach. Through computer/Internet capabilities, small business owners that embrace eMarketing will save themselves hours of time. With eMarketing, business owners can automate nearly all of their business management functions. That means that eMarketing capabilities are taking care of the day-to-day tasks small business owners and their employees would normally be engaged in. eMarekting also has some other benefits. E-marketing eliminates the printing and postage costs of direct mail and is substantially less expensive than other traditional forms of advertising. Customers opt in to receive your news via email. E-marketing is affordable, so you can advertise more often.
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Negative Effects of the Internet on | eHow.com - 1 views
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Small businesses often have a hard time ranking in search engines, which are the number one source of organic consumer traffic.
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In class we spoke about how the internet has an impact on small businesses and how small businesses are having a hard time being compared to the bigger businesses. This article talks about how they are being ranked in the search engines. When a consumer goes online to search for a product, he or she will like at what the article refers to as an established brand such as hp or dell in computers oppose to smaller brand names which although theyre known theyre being bypassed by these big brand names. The article talks about the "bid per click" bases that business advertisers use to promote on google. This makes it hard for a smaller business to compete with a bigger business because of their promotion level. It is very expensive.
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New Study Reveals Technology Investment Priorities for Hotels - 0 views
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Chain hotels 77% more likely to increase technology investments, while independent counterparts prioritize room renovation
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Reliance on technology is becoming increasingly important in the lodging industry as hotels begin to recognize how they can gain key competitive advantage with strategic technology investments.
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more than half of the chain hotels prioritize technology that seamlessly integrates with their existing systems.
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small independent hotels surveyed, 1 in 4 cited complexity as their biggest challenge when adopting technology, with 1 in 3 saying ease of use is a priority when evaluating solutions.
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The study polled 1,215 global hotelier participants in July 2019 for a choice based study to determine how hotel properties are prioritizing their technology investment spend.
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According to a new survey of more than 1,200 hoteliers by Expedia Group, the world's travel platform, chain hotels1 are nearly twice as likely as small independent properties2 to prioritize technology investment. Alternatively, small independent properties are 1.5 times as likely as chain hotels to prioritize room renovations - indicating a gap in technology investment strategies among different hotelier segments.
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Expedia Group is making enhancements to its platform so partners not only have the right resources whenever and wherever they need it, these solutions are delivered through intuitive and easy to use tools.
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Chain hotels are classified as properties self-selected as part of a chain affiliation or group of properties with more than 100 rooms, while small independent properties are classified as properties with no chain affiliation and 100 rooms or less.
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This personalised experience that enable suppliers to identify certain time-sensitive tasks they should take to accelerate booking potential on Expedia Group's marketplace.
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This article summarizes the findings taken from research done within the Expedia Group's global hotelier panel consisting of 1,215 hotelier participants that used a choice-based study to compare technology investments between defined hotel chains and small independent hotels. In summary, chain hotels were likely to invest twice as much in technology when compared to small independent hotels. Conversely, small independent hotels were likely to invest more in rooms reservations than chain hotels. The I.T investment strategy varied among the two hotel segments. Small independent hotels choose technology based on affordability, value, and complexity of technology, whereas chain hotels bought technology based on its ability to integrate into their existing systems, the price was not mentioned.
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I think the biggest reason for the percentage of small hotels to not be thinking (as much as big hotel chains) for technological improvement is ROI. The small hotel chains mindset is to improve their rooms because they are going to give them faster results on the ROI than being edgy on technological advancements. While on the long run, big chains know that they are competing against other big brands to stay ahead on their technological improvements for their guests Even though the difference from big chains to small chains percentage in regards to "planning on increasing budgets on technological improvements for the hotels" is twice as much as small chains plans to increase budgets on "room improvement" which is 1.5. Hector Pachon
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This article is about chain hotels 77% more likely to increase technology investments, while independent counterparts prioritize room renovation.
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Technology investment is likely to increase at about 77% in large chains properties. Many properties are investing based on affordability and pertaining to their budgets. Some of them are relying more on their existing systems to integrate with the newer to remain cost efficient. Large hotel groups such as Expedia is taking large risks and movement into investing with properties of small and large chains to help grow the industry along with the development of I.T investments.
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Reliance on technology is becoming increasingly important in the lodging industry as hotels begin to recognize how they can gain key competitive advantage with strategic technology investments. The study polled 1,215 global hotelier participants in July 2019 for a choice based study to determine how hotel properties are prioritizing their technology investment spend.
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My opinion on this article surrounds my personal experience in the way I have been able to experience third party extranet portals and because of these enhancements that Expedia has developed for hotel partners, I have seen a tremendous amount of return on investment that goes into technology development. Many consumers have been influenced by these third party sites because they offer a type of experience that is different from traditional booking methods and often times consumers are able to snag cheaper rates than they would with booking hotel direct. I would like to see how this trend goes on in future years because I have seen more third party bookings in recent months and it should follow that trend for years to come.
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The article focuses on applying technology in the hospitality industry, based on the study conducted by Expedia Group (Big Think). The article summarized the research study conducted on 1215 hoteliers worldwide, assessing the focus and prioritization of technology investments by these businesses. The study provides that Chain of hotels are twice as likely to invest in technology than SME in the hospitality industries, with these SMEs being 1.5 times more likely to invest in renovations. In the year 2019, approximately 54% of hotels focused on increasing their technology investments, with only 8% focusing on reducing the same. This provided that more hoteliers were willing to "stay ahead of the curve" than those that focused on adopting the "wait and see" approach. In this respect, hoteliers identified that their main technology investments were influenced by the value and affordability of the same and the capacity to integrate them with existing technologies. On the other hand, the main challenges associated with the technologies were complexity, affecting 25% of the respondents, and ease of use, affecting 33.33% of the respondents (Big Think). In focusing on technological advancement, the Expedia Group focused on technological elements such as Partner Central Mobile Application improvements, new "rooms and rate," page improvements, new "marketing" improved pages, new homepages adaptive, as well as multiple-property portfolio dashboards. With regard to the market perspective, digital marketing/website optimization, smart room, reputation management, revenue management, guest check-ins, and payment solutions were the main technological focuses for the hoteliers. Focusing on the reasons hoteliers were motivated to invest in technology, the study established that improving productivity, improving loyalty and repeat visits, improving guest experiences and reviews, reducing costs, and improving revenue generation topped the list.
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The Advantages of Point-of-Sale Systems | eHow.com - 0 views
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This article is to emphasize the importance of point of sales system, including the advantages that help restaurant operating business every. For instance, counting is the simplest approach to checking your inventory on the shelves in a small business and this is called stocktaking, especially, for small businesses, like a small toyshop, stocktaking is a thoroughly practical approach. However, most of the time stock management is not that simple, and sometimes the practical option is not the best option. There can be discrepancies between the physical and the stock records, especially when it concerns annual stock management. This is why it is advisable for every business owner to use computerized POS systems in stock management. The best thing about having a computerized POS System in the retail business is: as new stocks arrives and as it is sold, it keeps the stock levels current and updated, hence making it is easier to identify which items are selling and which items are not. A POS System is also good in checking for any obsolete or out of date stock that needs to be disposed. For the managers, if they are still counting the inventory manually on the shelves or in the warehouse, something should be thought twice about the lacking of efficiency method, for there are many advantages in using a POS System mentioned in this article. One advantage of a POS System is its ability to help the business achieve detailed real-time stock level information. In addition, a POS System can also give some information such as weather forecasts, public holidays and major sporting events, which can be of great help in determining the stock level of seasonal products. Managers can now efficiently and effectively handle their stock management accurately.
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Cloud hotel software Vs. Installed hotel software - SabeeApp Blog - 0 views
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But a hotel management system can be effective only if it provides a wide scale of features. This ensures versatile services that can fit the wider range of customers.
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e very common stereotype is that after the change to cloud-based software all data will be easily accessible by “bad people”. In other words, data won’t be secure. But hoteliers should not forget that such systems are working with well-secured servers and have necessary certificates to protect sensitive data.
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For big hotels and hotel chains installed software might work perfectly as the business is pretty much going inside the hotel. But for smaller accommodation businesses mobility is value #1. Small hotel owners are managing everything by themselves. Therefore they need to have access to the system from any part of the world. During their holidays they must see if new reservation arrived or if they need to adjust the price. Apartment rentals most of the times don’t even have reception and has to follow up their reservations while being anywhere else. For such people and for such businesses cloud hotel software solutions are the key component for success. They can have professional technology that big hotel chains are using, just for more affordable price and better flexibility.
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This is an article that compares the new form of cloud property management systems versus the original installed in the property PMS. It compares the features missing from both ends such as the fact the installed PMS can not get free upgrades but it does not require IT expertise. The article makes a great point in stating that both systems can be great for a small business, where as most people assume only an installed PMS works for a small business because it is the more affordable option but because of the fact that one person is usually running the small business they can benefit from having access to the PMS from anywhere which is only capable from a cloud PMS. It is also important to remember that when moving to a new system it can not be assumed to be exactly like the previous system.
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The Internet and Small Hospitality Businesses: B&B Marketing in Canada - 1 views
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examine small businesses–specifically Bed and Breakfasts (B&Bs)–to develop theories identifying factors that facilitate and inhibit the adoption and implementation of Internet technology in the accommodation sector.
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These destination guides search engin directories. In an attempt to get a bigger piece of the online pie, other B&Bs are aligning with similar minded businesses within a geographic area
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The results of this study suggest that B&B owners are using the Internet as a low-cost method of increasing their customer base, especially from overseas markets.
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However, B&B owners do not use the Web to its full advantage, supporting contentions that the use of online marketing efforts has been relegated to a rel atively small number of marketing tools and tactics
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Simple measures exist that can assess the effectiveness of a site, such as hits (the number of times a site is visited), unique visitors (the number of different viewers during a particular time period), and page views (the number of times viewers view a page).
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This article examines how internet marketing is affecting the success rates and occupancy of bed and breakfast establishments in Canada. Though implementation of technologies and by various methods such as Search Engine Optimization, it enables small businesses to drive brand awareness, increase customer base and accelerate lead generation. By the use of internet based technology the success and efficiency rates can be tracked through various analytics tools, helping marketers adjust their strategy accordingly. Internet marketing is recognized as a cost-efficient tool to boost customer awareness quickly, and can be used by large and small businesses alike. Through implementing internet based technology, business owners are also able to receive instant feedback about their products and services from customers and gives them a chance to take corrective action in any areas that need improvement.
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Transforming Business with Mobile Payments - 12 views
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Mobile systems are transforming the payment environment. According to investment bank Barclays Capital, U.S. mobile commerce sales--that is, purchases made on smartphones and tablets--hit $5.3 billion in 2011, up 83 percent from the year before. Generator Research, a consulting firm specializing in digital media, projects that by 2014, usage by consumers will grow 600 percent to 490 million worldwide.
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Interesting information. Keep in mind there is a high level of cannibalization in that mobile sales are increasing, but the bottom line is unchanged because in-store sales are decreasing. In short, the amount of transactions and dollar amount is roughly the same; it is, however, important to recognize the shift in consumer purchasing patterns.
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Great article on the rise of mobile payment systems and how businesses who in the past may have been cash only or otherwise are seeing increased sales as the ability to take credit card payments with little hardware and software infrastructure costs. Down the street from me is probably my favorite Rib joint in town, Uncle Rodney's House of Ribs is the name. I love that place, but rarely go because they are a cash only business due in large part to the fact that the owner does not wish to pay for wireless or otherwise internet related services to make his business able to accept credit cards. What are everyone's thought to the increased use of mobile payment systems for restaurants and other businesses?
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I think mobile payment systems are great. I personally have not used them very much but I think they would be very handy at events. I am a Timberwolves season ticket holder and my seats are close to the court where a serving staff is able to get food and beverages for you. Fans are able to pay with credit cards but the server has to take your card to the back area to ring everything up. If the servers were able to carry mobile credit card readers they would be able to speed up transactions and take more orders. It would be a benefit to everyone - the team would be able to sell more items, the servers would make more tips, and the fans would be more satisfied. If someone wanted to keep an open tab until the end of the game I'm sure there could be an app for adding items to a specific seat location instead of doing multiple credit card transactions. I'm sure mobile payment devices are being used by staff at many events and I'm a little surprised it hasn't made it's way into the Target Center yet.
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That is an interesting artivle talking about the mobile payment that i have not seen in my life. If i was a owner of a store or a restaurant, i would like to try this technology that help to save my money and increase my businesses. On the other hand, as a customer who is asked to pay in this way, i would worry about the security problem because i dont know how it works.
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It sounds great. I think it is convenience, cause I can pay by my phone whenever I need. But maybe the biggest problem is the security. How to guarantee it, we always use mobile connect ing internet which increase the danger coefficient.
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I like this idea of mobile payments. It saves business people time and money which they were supposed to spend on the traditional way of credit card payment. It turns out more likely to be a self-monitored business transaction way. However, before signing the contract, the business owner should consider the security level of this payment method from the customers's standpoint. I'm pretty sure that some customers may feel weird and unsecured when they swipe their card on a mobile device.
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This is a fascinating article. On one hand I can absolutely see the benefits for a mobile business or a business that increases it's sales by accepting mobile payments. It also seems that security would be increased for the merchant as there is not much cash available on hand for petty thieves. The crooks of the future will need to be technologically sophisticated. The increased use of smart phones has greatly increased my small business as many of my customers make their purchases through their smart phones. My personal concern is that our country will see an increase in debt and over spending as purchasing with your credit card account becomes even easier. Will it even be possible to pay with cash in the future or will it all be electronic? Also, what happens if your cell phone is stolen and all of your financial world is on there. Do these scanning systems have much security if there is not a credit card to verify a signature against? Is everything stored in cyber space where the phone thief cannot reach it without expensive technical knowledge?
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While a few hundred years ago a life of an average person in a small town could consist of two or three events as a war in his country, governor's marriage and a crime in the neighborhood. In today's world the same as centuries ago every moment is full of things which happen somewhere but now we have a unique opportunity to know about them almost few seconds after they happen. Technology can make a huge difference in a small business when an employer finds a right time to use innovation, as Miki Nishihata and Joey Garza did. Their companies got an advantages of using card readers. Mobile systems are transforming the environment of sales and payment processing. A thing which simplifies the prosess of transaction is a benefit because a lot of consumers prefer FAST and EASY shopping when every minute may cost. Assuming all this information a Square company was created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and glass artisan Jim McKelvey. Nowadays almost everybody has a mobile phone and credit card and combining those two things with an innovative technologies of online sales is a fantastic invention!
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This is an interesting article, and it is quite amazing to see how the way of payment is drastically shifting with new technological devices such as smartphones, card readers. Just a couple of years ago, if I wanted to buy something online, I had to start my computer then go on whatever website I bought something from which took some time. Now, however, I don't even have to turn on my computer to purchase something on the web because I can buy many things through my smartphone whenever and wherever I want. It is a lot easier and faster than what it used to be.
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Spasibo bolshoe za interesting article! Ona mne ochen pomozhet v moem research!
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Mobile Point of Sale is Helping to Save Small Business|PaymentsSource - 0 views
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Leading the way to more efficient paperless businesses are technologies like cloud accounting software, digital payments processors, web-based payroll solutions and accounts payable/receivable software
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digital payments processors like Square, Stripe and Braintree in recent years have been a godsend for businesses
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making it faster and easier for them to accept money from customers in exchange for goods and services
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efore the launch of Square, local merchants like food trucks, artists and coffee shops, had to default to only accepting cash to avoid incurring exorbitant credit card fees
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Beyond the immediate and considerable technical challenges of building payments processing infrastructures into your app or Ecommerce store, there are also security issues to consider
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Technology is also advancing accounts payable/receivable, payroll and other business services such as accounting.
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The term known as a Point of Sale (POS) has evolved greatly in the past couple decades. From an actual human being in a ticket window, to instant mobile ticket sales, we've come quite a long way. Technology has given us the ability to purchase things on both a leisure and business level instantly. From a business standpoint, POS helps optimize inventory, cash flow, expenses, and revenue. And from a leisure standpoint, it just gets consumers what they want faster. This article focuses on the importance of today's POS in small businesses. Stripe, Venmo, and Square are just a few POS applications that help small businesses. This allows the company user-friendly access to invoices, billing, taxes, inventory, payroll, purchase history, etc, etc. Venmo, for example, allows instant payments to either individuals or companies with a few touches of a mobile device, without the presence of the actual card. This third-party POS system verifies and then stores your account information. Prior to these tools, many companies had to resort to only taking cash, or incurring overwhelming credit-card transaction fees. Although evolving POS systems are an asset to small business, there is still a risk of compromising confidential information. For example, WingStop had four locations' POS systems compromised. This results in a lot of bad press and a lot of upset customers.
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IT Investment, Emerging Markets Key to Business Growth - 0 views
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A survey sponsored by SAP suggests businesses are looking to make investments in IT and their workforce but struggle to find lenders
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Effective use of technology was seen as a key priority in achieving growth, and according to respondents, the three main internal obstacles to growth were finding and keeping new customers (79 percent), hiring and retaining people with the right skills (78 percent) and operating the business efficiently (76 percent).
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When it comes to technology, becoming more efficient and using IT more effectively over the next year is among the top three priorities of those surveyed, with 46 percent saying using technology more effectively was a top business priority.
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The survey indicated this was especially important in emerging countries, including India (72 percent), Brazil (75 percent), Russia (33 percent), China (44 percent) and Mexico (33 percent).
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In addition, 60 percent of respondents said they are automating more tasks and functions now than three years ago.
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According to the article, a survey sponsored by SAP suggests that businesses are looking to make investments in IT and effective use of technology is seen as a key priority in achieving growth. When it comes to technology, becoming more efficient and using IT more effectively over the next year is among the top three priorities of those surveyed, with 46 percent saying using technology more effectively was a top business priority. The survey indicated this was especially important in emerging countries, including India (72 percent), Brazil (75 percent), Russia (33 percent), China (44 percent) and Mexico (33 percent). In addition, 60 percent of respondents said they are automating more tasks and functions now than three years ago.
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According to an Economist Intelligence Unit survey, the survey of more than 1,000 SMEs included businesses from the developed economies of France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the United States. 53 percent of those in developed markets said growth were a top business priority. Effective use of technology was seen as a key priority in achieving growth, and according to respondents, the three main internal obstacles to growth were finding and keeping new customers, hiring and retaining people with the right skills and operating the business efficiently. When it comes to technology, becoming more efficient and using IT more effectively over the next year is among the top three priorities of those surveyed, with 46 percent saying using technology more effectively was a top business priority. The hotel industry usually does not invest enough to grow compared to other industries. I believe it is because they consider being a technological leader in this industry does not bring more profit than they invest. Investing on technology might not bring instant profits but it can be one of ways to become a top business priority.