The Cloud has the power to transform customer experience: Manoj Mohanty, IDS Next

Manoj Mohanty, Senior Vice President of Sales (South Asia & SE. Asia), IDS Next shares his insights on leveraging cloud computing to increase operational efficiency

A survey by the Harvard Business Review found that 71% of companies expect cloud to reduce complexity in their business. Therefore, cloud solutions can be used to offer guests a smoother and more personalised experience. Hoteliers can create and save guest profiles, making them accessible across all hotels and services. This information can be easily used for membership, loyalty rewards management, and newsletters.

Enterprise cloud solutions allow hoteliers to access security tools like system-wide access management and cloud security monitoring. The solutions come with user detection services that can detect any unauthorised or suspicious activity.

Cloud solutions wash away most indirect costs like server space, maintenance, specialised technical personnel, etc. A cloud system, within the first five years of deployment can generate up to 50% more savings than an on-premise solution.

Transforming customer service

Cloud computing provides convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of resources with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. In simple terms, it allows hassle-free collaboration between employees and provides a seamless experience for guests. Its roots lay with IBM, when it was one of the few tech companies providing comprehensive services combining hardware and software with training and maintenance. Although the technology is less than 15 years old, it has an estimated adoption rate of 72% for private clouds. Yet, the hospitality industry has been slow to adopt this change.

However, cloud solutions have the power to transform the customer experience at all levels of their journey. From enabling personalised welcomes to smooth departures while leveraging hotel analytics, cloud solutions allow hospitality organisations to achieve the full potential of their processes and services.

Leveraging cloud computing

IDS Next brings in 33 years of unparalleled domain expertise into the hospitality arena. Our products are specially designed to increase operational efficiency, enhance guest experiences, increase profitability, and reduce costs of organisations across all market segments.

We provide comprehensive, fully integrated hotel ERP both on-premise and on-cloud with seamless connections to revenue, distribution, and CRM solutions. Our enterprise cloud solution covers front and back-office solutions (SaaS products) and is hosted securely on MS Azure Cloud.

Microsoft Azure Cloud services pools in knowledge of more than 3,500 global cyber security experts. Azure offers a seamless experience for its users by simplifying complex and distributed environments across on-premises and multiple clouds. In just 12 months, Azure grew by more than 1,000 new capabilities, and the technology receives continuous innovation from Microsoft.

Focus of hospitality…?

The focus should be on adopting solutions with simple operations and intuitive UI designs which do not require specialised training. These systems must be easy-to-use models with quick deployment.

All-in-one solutions are a better option than separate PMS, POS, contactless solutions, housekeeping, and service management since these systems facilitate smooth front-office and back-office operations. All-in-one solutions designed to be B2B2C will be further beneficial as they will allow some operations to be carried out by the customers, creating an interactive experience for the guests while minimising the workload for the staff.

Additionally, the cloud technology must be mobile-centric. This will enable the staff to carry out functions on the go, reducing unnecessary movement time. Research suggests that integrating mobile technology can save around 7.5 hours per employee, per week.