Every business, no matter the size, is almost totally reliant on computers and technology in order to function. In the hospitality field, in particular, technology can help you do more with less to create impeccable customer service. So why choose managed IT services for hospitality businesses?
Hospitality Managed IT Services
From checking guests in and out to ensure that each guest has access to decent WiFi, a hospitality business’s entire operation depends on functioning technology. Without sufficient IT support, a simple problem could escalate and lead to unhappy guests and bad TripAdvisor reviews, one thing every hospitality business owner wants to avoid. Therefore, deciding whether to hire an in-house IT team or whether to outsource your IT support should be considered carefully.
Ultimately, you want to choose the most effective way to support your systems and your people to ensure your business can continue running as usual. For many businesses, particularly those in hospitality, outsourcing your IT support has many benefits.
Here are 11 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your hotel IT support:
1. Hotel Cost Benefits
In any business, no matter the size, cost and budgeting will almost always be the top priorities. Similarly, it will be one of the top considerations when deciding whether to hire an in-house or outsourced IT support team for your hotel.
With an in-house team, there are many expenses. You have to:
- Ensure that they are sufficiently trained,
- Make sure that they are well managed,
- Provide cover for holidays and sick days,
- Ensure that they are continually challenged and can grow,
- Make equipment purchases and pay for maintenance and upgrades.
There may also be a number of unpredictable expenses, which can make it difficult for you to allocate a budget for IT.
In contrast, with outsourced hotel IT support, you do not have to worry about any of the above. Rather, you will have a consistent expense which you will be able to budget for. Furthermore, you will be able to plan for increased IT cost as your business grows and your needs increase. Therefore, outsourced IT support is almost always more cost-efficient for you and your hotel.
2. Hotel Experience and Skill
Second to cost comes experience and skill. When you have an IT problem, you want to ensure that your IT support team is able to resolve the issue as quickly and efficiently as possible. A team that has extensive exposure to hotels and hotel technology.
Outsourcing your IT support allows you to take advantage of the greater knowledge base that comes with a larger team. An experienced IT company will have dealt with a wide range of issues in hotels just like yours. Consequently, they will be able to pinpoint issues faster and solve them far quicker.
This is a huge advantage, particularly in hospitality, where IT systems are being used 24/7 and every moment of a system down causing irritation among guests.
Additionally, IT companies have access to continuous training and development which an in-house team wouldn’t have. This means that they are constantly developing their skills and building experience.
3. Hotel IT Security
Security is a huge focus in IT, and for a good reason. A single virus can bring down an entire business within minutes. A hacker who breaks into a hotel system could have access to valuable guest information and data, a business-threatening situation. It is therefore imperative that your IT support team is able to protect your software.
An outsourced IT company, with their wealth of experience, will be a lower risk because they know what they’re doing and they’ve dealt with hospitality businesses like yours before. They will be able to better understand where the threat comes from and will be more well-equipped to deal with it. They will also be able to more effectively maintain your antivirus software, run necessary updates and generally protect your hotel from IT security threats.
4. Hotel Compliance
When it comes to data protection, there are laws that you must ensure you are compliant with, PCI and GDPR being two of them. With an in-house IT team, there is a risk that they are unfamiliar with rules and regulations surrounding data and security, which could be a costly mistake for you.
An outsourced IT company, on the other hand, will be well versed in compliance and will ensure that you meet all regulations, meaning that you can have peace of mind.
5. Hotel Disaster Recovery
When something does go wrong, you want to ensure that the problem is resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible. Most hotel businesses are ill-equipped to deal with large-scale disasters. Whether it’s a flood, fire or virus, a specialist IT company will have the resources and experience needed to help you recover from any potential disaster quickly, helping to protect your brand reputation and your hotel revenue.
6. Focus on your Core Hotel Business
As a hotel owner or operator, your number one priority is your guests. You need to put your time and effort into ensuring that the guest experience is as pleasant as possible.
Outsourcing your IT support to a hotel specialist gives you time to focus on the smooth running of your business without having to worry about complex IT decisions. This allows you to focus on the unique selling point of your business to ensure that you stay relevant and competitive, without having to allocate precious resources and time to IT problems.
The risk of unpredictable incurred costs that come with an in-house IT support team is much lower with an outsourced IT company, meaning that your limited resources can be concentrated on the successful running of your hotel business.
7. Reduced Managerial Input
Following on, outsourcing your hotel IT support would free up your managerial time and allow your upper-level managers to focus on other aspects of your hotel operations. When IT support is delegated to a specialist hotel technology company, managers tend to be more productive; their time can be spent developing ideas and focusing on customer service rather than overseeing the IT department.
8. Better Hotel Technology
In order for an in-house hotel IT support team to keep up with current technology, you would have to spend a lot of time and money in researching the right solutions and then arranging the purchasing of new technology infrastructure.
A specialist hotel IT company, however, would have access to expensive, cutting-edge technology which they will then employ in your business. Moreover, they will spend the money on constant training and education in order to keep up with the current hotel trends and what is available on the market.
At the speed that technology is moving nowadays, keeping an in-house team at that level is far too expensive to be sustainable.
9. Improved IT Performance
Together with the better technology and resources that come with outsourced IT support comes to improved IT performance. Your network will be of higher quality and will be readily available with minimal downtime. The expertise of an outsourced company, together with their total focus on your IT systems, means that your overall hotel IT performance will be enhanced and as a result, you can confidently focus on running your business without worrying about your network.
10. Increased IT Coverage
When employing an in-house IT support team, you may only be able to afford to hire one person, or perhaps only junior people without much experience. Relying on a single person or juniors can be risky, especially as an IT problem could arise at any time of day or night. An outsourced IT team will have more people who understand your hotel business. Given the size of the team, you then don’t have to worry about people taking holidays or sick days, nor do you need to worry about an issue occurring in the middle of the night.
11. Level the Playing Field
Finally, outsourcing your IT support will level the playing field. You can now enjoy the resilient technology infrastructure and support that previously was the preserve of only the big, multinationals hotel chains and high-end independent hotels.
Good technology is the foundation of every business today, so if your hotel’s IT is handled by an expert company with the knowledge, resources and experience, you will not be at a disadvantage, no matter how small your operation.
In summary, a specialist hotel IT company will have the knowledge, experience, resources, training and technology to ensure that your network runs as smoothly as possible and they will be able to fix any issues when they arise. This will free up your resources and allow you to focus on developing your business.
Hampton Roads Communication Technologies (HRCT) has been working with hotels for the past ten years to help them overcome their technological challenges. Our group of highly experienced engineers is available 24/7 to assist and ensure that your hotel’s IT infrastructure is running seamlessly.
Hotel technology issues starting to impact your guests? Call us at 757-399-3350. Alternately, you can contact us online at wwwhrct.net. We will be happy to help you overcome your hotel IT challenges so that you can improve your guest experience and set your hotel apart.