Cloud Security, Innovation Go Hand In Hand For Hotels
Judging by the growing number of high-profile data breaches that have happened in recent times; such as Orbitz and Target, it is not surprising that hotels are increasingly becoming worried about cloud security. This has caused many in the industry to doubt the need for a migration from tech stark to the cloud.
Despite this fear, the basic fact is that moving data to the cloud offers more benefit than legacy technology. It can be described as the future of hotel marketing, operations, and revenue management. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is rapidly replacing the need for an on-property server room in many industries, and the hospitality industry is definitely not left out.
As time goes on, there will be more bookings online and the e-commerce industry will witness a constant evolution. Therefore, it is necessary that hotels be in the position to accommodate this shift, the same way the online travel agencies have.
The migration to the cloud will only be a problem if the property or company is trying to save money via cutting corners and using poorly architected tech stack. But when the transition is carried out the right way, with the proper solutions, then hotels and casinos can benefit from cloud architecture’s superior availability, scalability, and security.
The much-publicized fear about cloud security in the editorial from HOTELS Magazine is blown out of proportion. Anyone who falls victim to these fears has clearly misunderstood the relevance of cloud for hotel technology.
Cloud is not only secure for hotels, it is the venue where important innovations are going to be conceived. It is about time to let go of legacy on-property technology.
How Hotel Knows They Are Secure In The Cloud
For hotels that are interested in the growth of their business, there is no better choice than to be in the cloud. Except, of course, if they are comfortable with ceding more and more of their transaction to OTAs.
The fact, however, that you don’t see a bunch of cables and other hardware lying around in your hotel does not translate to mean you are in the cloud. What SaaS really means is that vendors that are responsible for the building and managing of different solutions are continually available for the monitoring and improvement of these tools, thereby making them easily assessable to hotel users, regardless of the device they prefer.
When built the right way, solutions and applications are not only safe in the cloud but are also scalable as the hotel grows and demand new functionality. Below are some of the parameters that show security in the cloud;
1. You are safe in the cloud if your system doesn’t depend on a single data center:
It is safer when applications and solutions are designed in a manner such that their component services are distributed, rather than running from one singular location. Data kept in such a manner are protected in the case of disaster or outage.
2. If your growth doesn’t affect your capacity:
Being safe in the cloud requires that you don’t have any fear of capacity as your company scales up.
3. If you are using the latest version of a product:
One of the major advantages of the cloud is that users can enjoy the latest version of software without having to wait for the new release as it is obtainable in traditional software.
Where Innovation In Hotel Technology Will Happen
When developed properly, cloud-based architecture can ensure security, availability, and scalability of the information a hotel will need for proper pricing of rooms and streamline the booking procedure so as to achieve an increased conversion.
Compared to legacy technology, cloud-based systems and applications are better at handling heaps of data, but that’s not all. In order to make this data usable, it needs to be aggregated, decoded and unified such that all decision makers within the property, from the revenue manager and those in marketing and sales, can work from the same set of dat
