Have you considered how hospitality technology can transform and enable your business after the Covid-19 lockdown?

Over the next few months, hospitality businesses around the UK will finally be allowed to open their doors and welcome customers back into their establishments. While, this is a welcome relief to many, new customer expectations, government guidelines and significant safety measures mean that some businesses will need to change and adapt their ways of working.

This is where digital transformation will be key. We have outlined the top tech considerations hospitality businesses should be making to ensure success and a seamless customer experience when reopening.

Enabling the customer experience

The customer experience has digitally evolved more than ever in the past 12 months. Hospitality businesses need to be at the forefront of this change, utilising hospitality technology to satisfy the customer experience. In doing so, they can build loyalty, enhance reputation, and gain the competitive edge after what has been a very challenging period.

So, what does the digital savvy customer want? After 21st June when hospitality businesses are expected to at their busiest, online booking systems will provide an easy and efficient way for customers to secure tables for restaurants or book tickets for events, cinema and even bowling alleys. During the guest’s visit, mobile applications can enhance the customer experience by allowing customers to order food and drink and pay for services at their table. Hospitality technology like this provides guests with a much more relaxing experience.

The wrap-around service is just as important as the solution

While customer-centric tools can be invaluable, without the right wrap-around solution, these tools could fail, leading to a significant financial loss and at worse, frustrated customers. For instance, high-performing, on-premise Wi-Fi is vital, so customers can access and use the application without issue. Wi-Fi is something that consumers have now come to expect as standard, especially if using an app or other technologies but a slow network will slow down the process, often leading to a less than desirable customer experience. Therefore, Wi-Fi needs to be fast and reliable to cope during busy periods.

For businesses with a large geographical spread, we can also offer connectivity solutions, such as SD-WAN, to streamline high usage of applications or booking systems during peak periods to provide an always-on, dynamic connection that will automatically select the best path for your network traffic. This allows the customer to stay connected always, avoiding frustrating downtime periods. Additionally, when deploying Wi-Fi for chain restaurants, Guest Wi-Fi SSIDs can be uniform across its outlets to provide continuity to returning customers.

Protect the customer with hospitality technology

In addition to connectivity solutions, providing a safe and secure quality guest experience with cyber security needs to be a key part of the wraparound service. As hospitality businesses start to return to normal, clever cyber thieves will be looking for opportunities for attack. For those customers parting with personal and financial information through booking services, applications, and payment services, they want to know that their data is protected. A breach in data would not only result in a hefty fine, but a loss of reputation and customer loyalty.

At Digital Space, we offer solutions to increase protection against cyber threats and attacks, combined with threat monitoring and intelligence. We can provide managed services or help put business owners back in control, and in turn, provide customers and guests with the assurance that their data is being handled and stored securely.

Keeping staff happy

Staff are just as vital to the success of a business as customers. It has been a challenging year for them as well and it is important that they feel supported and at ease, especially after returning to work. Technology solutions can be hugely beneficial in helping employees carry out their tasks easily and efficiently. Portable smart hospitality technology, for instance, can provide a systemised process, which allows staff to access bills, bookings or menus and even collect customer data at a click of a button, speeding up service delivery and easing the workloads on staff during busy periods.

UC&C solutions can also connect staff with each other on a large geographical scale to enable them to collaborate and work together in a productive manner, whether they are front of house or in the Head Office. It can support work timetable scheduling, HR, finance and employee training, while also opening up opportunities for instant chat, video conferencing and communication. This allows employees to take advantage of a wider and supportive team, benefitting from their support and advice to succeed in their role.

Transform your hospitality technology with an IT Managed Services Provider

No customer is the same. At Digital Space, we have supported a number of hospitality businesses from national pub chains to takeaways and each one of them has had unique and individual hospitality technology requirements.

As an IT Managed Services Provider, we can provide tailored recommendations and advice on the best IT solutions to meet customer expectations and growth plans, while also accessing how a hospitality business might need to adapt post-Covid. We can also monitor and review an organisation’s IT infrastructure regularly, highlighting when an upgrade may be required, so you always stay ahead of your competitors.

If you would like to talk to us about how we can support your business with hospitality technology and prepare it for reopening, then sign up for a free consultation by clicking here.