Use Of Technology In Improving The Bottom Line By Pramod Kulkarni, Senior Vice President (Group), The Ambassador Group of Hotels & Ambassador’s Sky Chef (NIHPL)

Use Of Technology In Improving The Bottom Line

Pramod Kulkarni, Senior Vice President (Group), The Ambassador Group of Hotels & Ambassador’s Sky Chef (NIHPL) | Monday, 30 September 2019, 04:58 IST

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I follow the principle ‘Change is permanent’, if you don’t adapt to changing environment you will become obsolete for sure. Change management is perfectly applicable for any Company. We have examples of many top brand got vanished due to technology change which wasn’t adapted in timely manner.

Today CIO’s roles is not just bringing a technology change but work more like a visionary for his/her Company and understand technology change and its impact over Company’s business. Timely set the budget based on priorities to sustain for long term.

“CIO’s critical role is to choose right technology, at right price at right situation to ensure ROI to the organization with long term growth aspect in strategic investment”

I must say I feel great to witness complete paradigm shift in technology from old Celeron processor to newest core i7 processor used as client machine and how local client-server architecture slowly changed to today’s cloud computing. In India we saw internet bandwidth of 128 kbps shifting to today’s 100+ mbps bandwidth. Mobility, IoT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Virtual Reality (VR) are introduced and implemented by many companies successfully. Chat bots installed on many websites are simple examples of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

                                  Pramod Kulkarni, Senior Vice President (Group), The Ambassador Group of Hotels & Ambassador’s Sky Chef (NIHPL)

In the past couple of years technology has evolved rapidly. It is difficult to predict new technology trends for next years. When we talk about innovation & technology trends of 2019, I can say top most is off course Artificial Intelligence (AI). I do remember adopting AI technology in Guest feedback analysis for hotels way back in 2006-07 to get correct analysis of positive and negative comments segregation automatically from descriptive guest comment with 99 percent accuracy. Not only segregation but AI really helped us as system was timely alerting on problematic areas to management to improve guest service index (GSI) in hotels with suggestive measures. The critical parameter in AI has decision making like human intelligence which saves lots of time and energy to get more accurate results. AI become part of every day’s life, from Smartphone devices, cab booking app to home assistance you will find AI everywhere.

AI will evolve further creating various opportunities in IT Sector in next few years.

Machine Learning can be defined as a subset of AI. Computers are programmed to learn themselves by discovering data patterns to perform action like human brain. Supervised and unsupervised learning are coming up as a bright future for many industries. Complex patterns get simplified, analyzed and the work is processed to great extent efficiently.

Blockchain revolution is in full swing, trusted crypto currency is evolving with additional security layer allowing Add-only data in blocks and previous blocks although accessible but are not editable or removable, making it a safe transactional mode. Revolution of Blockchain will soon change a concept of currency distribution globally.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is getting popular while dealing with big data, processing routine transactions / invoicing. RPA is used basically to automate repetitive tasks or processes.

Virtual Reality (VR), one of the favorite and popular trend today, connecting user to virtual world by creating simulated 3D world environment for user. Many architects has started using VR to give a feel of the interior / hotel room and experience before even constructing in reality. Same way Travel companies are using VR technology to showcase various destinations as if user feels to be at the destination and this experience leads to good conversion and help to grow business with minimal cost.

Edge Computing is an emerging technology where dependency of network is reduced as compared to existing Cloud computing, as processing units are located closer to those devices (at the “edge” of data sources) it helps in processing information quickly. IoT is the primary driver of edge computing today. Innovation and research going in developing Edge Computing with further will definitely create a fruitful future for every industry.

Cyber Security has emerged as the most important aspect and is evolving with easy internet connectivity. As technology evolves fast, dark-web is also strengthening with latest technology and ways to access data illegally by hackers. There are cases of targeted cyber-attacks on company or individual by their rivals. Thus constant efforts are paid by experts to enhance security on regular basis to defend against hackers with new threats. Hardware / IP authentication, data loss preventions, timely updating database with new threats and protection is covered under cyber security.

CIO’s critical role is to choose right technology, at right price at right situation to ensure ROI to the organization with long term growth aspect in strategic investment. Keeping an eye on bottom-line with futuristic view and prioritizing your need to fit in to IT Budget is essential. While doing this you need to keep an eye on replacement cycle which is shrinking due to frequent technology change. Every technology change may not be feasible; it depends upon situation and varies from company to company. Making best use of technology in improving your bottom line is most important.

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