Holiday Inn: IT Role, Ethics, and Networking Technologies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the role of information technology (IT) in the success and potential failures of Holiday Inn, a global hotel brand. It examines the impact of social media and digital technology in expanding the brand's reach and enhancing customer engagement. The report also delves into the ethical and social issues relevant to running a business, such as data privacy, hacking, product liability, and equal opportunities for employees. Furthermore, it identifies and differentiates various networking technologies, including LAN, MAN, and WAN, highlighting their characteristics and applications. The report concludes by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of IT investments for Holiday Inn, emphasizing the importance of customer service, effective audience targeting, and the challenges associated with implementation costs and security risks. This report is essential for understanding the strategic role of IT in the hospitality sector.

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1) Role of social media in success or failure of your organisation........................................1
2) Ethical and social issues that pertains to business.............................................................2
3) Identify and differentiate different types of networking technologies...............................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is defined as the development, maintenance and usage of
computer network, software and system. It is widely used in processing and distributing data.
Data can be in the form of statistics, information and facts which can be collected with the
purpose of analysis, reference or storage (Schwalbe, 2015). This report is based on Holiday Inn
which is a British owned American hotel brand, headquartered in Buckinghamshire, UK. Hotel is
a subsidiary of Inter-continental hotel groups and managing around 1180 active hotels at present.
This report will cover role of IT in the success or failure of a business organisation. Also, social
and ethical issues pertaining to run businesses are mentioned. At last, identification and
differentiation of various types of networking technologies are discussed.
MAIN BODY
1) Role of digital technology in success or failure of your organisation
Role of information technology in organisation success is enhancing at a fast speed. As
more and more individuals are joining with digital media and uses them for work and
entertainment purpose, it is beneficial for business organisations to invest high in digital
technology and social media. Below are mentioned some aspects which will describe the role of
digital media in the success of a organisation:
 Provide global reach to brand: Reach of an individual over digital media is not limited
to the neighbourhood. It is expanded beyond region and country. As technology is
growing at a fast rate, people are preferring to visit international trips more. This is a
good opportunity for business which are dealing in hospitality sector to earn high
revenues and income. In case of Holiday Inn, digital media and information technology
can help the hotel in enhancing their customer base in a considerable manner. But if
company is not capable to deliver them promised services then it will negatively impact
holiday inn (Bainbridge, 2013). To enhance global reach, company can take help of
platforms like Facebook, official website of company, LinkedIn etc.
 Promotion and advertising: Information technology is a great tool by which business
organisations can promote and advertise their services & products to the people in a
shorter timespan. This will benefits Holiday Inn in gaining wide attention of customers in
a desired manner. This will help the company in enhancing their sales and revenues.
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Different social platforms like Facebook, Instagram are widely assessed by the people on
a regular basis. Manager of company is require to advertise about hotel on different
social media platforms, official and other websites of company so that people will get to
know about these services.
 Collaboration opportunities: Other than high revenues and profitability, information
technology can benefits an organisation in finding appropriate collaborating partners so
that market reach of company can be enhanced in a great way. Each website and platform
posses a built in search engines which can help the manager in Holiday Inn to find key
business and people so that hotel can expand their market shares desirably. With the help
of different database and information which is collected by different software, manager in
company can those business organisations which can help Holiday Inn in enhancing their
market reach.
2) Ethical and social issues that pertains to business
Ethical issues associated with running business
Ethics is defined as a branch associated with philosophy in which situations are treated as
right or wrong in terms of morality. Ethical issues are specified as a situation or problem in
which an organisation is required to choose among different alternatives that can either be
evaluated as right or wrong (Waser, 2012). Rights aspects will be treated ethical whereas wrong
aspects will be considered unethical. As UK is technologically advance, more than half of the
work is performed with the help of internet and technology. Due to this, it is possible that
Holiday Inn can face different kinds of ethical issues. This can considerably impact the brand
image of Hotel in market and Hotel management will face losses of revenue and profitability.
Some of the ethical issues which can be faced by Holiday Inn are mentioned below:
 Hacking- In today's time, it is considered as one of the biggest ethical crime that is
enhancing at a fast rate. It is a method by which a professional computer programmer
access information present in another system without any authorisation and permission.
The main purpose behind hacking is to steal useful and relevant data of an organisation
so that company can gain competitive advantage by using or destroying it. If Holiday Inn
will perform unethical practice like hacking to steal the information of its competitors
then this will impact the brand image of company in a negative way. (Laudon and
Laudon, 2015).
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 Infringement of private information– As people prefer to share their important
information such as bank account number and card number with hotels during their stays
and visits. So, it is the duty of manager in Holiday Inn must consider the privacy of
customers and employees. Unsecure information can harm the guests as it can be taken
and used by their enemies or hacker against them. Due to this reputation of hotel will
decrease and the victim customer or employee can file a case against them which can
results the company a heavy fine and penalties.
Social issues that pertains to businesses
There are numerous advantages of technology to individuals and societies as IT helps in
performing difficult tasks into a simplified manner. But there are some social issues that can be
faced by an organisation by using information technology for their business purpose. Some of
these issues are mentioned below:
 Product liability: It is the responsibility of hotel management to properly take luggage
of guests to their rooms and outside during check-in and check-out respectively. If
mismanagement of luggage takes place, this will cause inconvenience to the customers
due to which reputation of company will get impacted. This can be a major social issue
that can impact the sales and revenues of company in a negative manner.
 Equality of opportunity: It is essential for the manager in Holiday Inn to provide equal
opportunities to its workforce so that all the employees can perform hard and deliver their
best performance. If manager is not offering equal opportunities to workers then it can be
a big social issues as employees will feel unsatisfied and happy while performing their
business activities. This can create differences in their mind due to which organisational
productivity will reduce and overall impact is shown on the environment which turns into
negative.
3) Identify and differentiate different types of networking technologies
Network technologies are the usage of connected systems with the help of satellite,
optical cable or any other wireless connection. It requires an infrastructure to transmit
information either through internet networking, voice call etc. Mainly, there are three kinds of
networking technologies i.e. LAN, MAN and WAN which are mentioned below:
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LAN: It stands for local area network. This networking technology will connect network
device in manner that workstations and personal computers can share their programs, tools and
data in a desired manner. As limited computers are linked with LAN network, data transmitting
rate is high. It is privately owned and covers a small geographical location. In earlier time, LAN
data rates ranges from 4 to 16 Mbps. But now this speed has increased to 100 or 1000 Mbps. But
propagation delay is very short in LAN (Buabeng-Andoh, 2012). Usually, it relies on wired
connections but wireless connections can also be used to connect LAN.
MAN: It is abbreviated as Metropolitan area network. It covers an area which is bigger
than LAN but lesser than WAN. It is capable to connect two computer systems which are apart
form each other but resides in same city. This networking technology can serves as an internet
service provider. It offers high speed connectivity but maintaining it is a complex task due to
wide coverage. It has less fault tolerance due to which congestion is more in its network. This
network technology can either be owned by a single company or more than one company in
partnership (Devaraj, Ow and Kohli, 2013).
WAN: Wide area network is a networking technology which can extends up-to a large
geographic location i.e. a country, state or an entire continent. A WAN network can be specifies
as a LAN which is connected with other LAN with the help of radio-wave and telephone. It is
expensive and offers very high speed. Data rate of WA is very slow which is approx one tenth
rate for LAN. Devices which can be used for transmission purpose are satellite, microwaves and
optic wires (Aliyu and Tasmin, 2012).
BASIS LAN MAN WAN
Full name  It stands for
Local area
network
 It stands for
Metropolitan
area network
 It stands for
Wide area
network
Distance coverage  It offers limited
distance
coverage up-to
2500 metres
 It also offers
limited coverage
of distance
which is around
200 km
 It provide
unlimited
coverage i.e.
about 1000 km
distance or more
than that.
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Data transmission
speed
 Speed of
operation is very
high and varies
as 10,100 or
1000 Mbps.
 Operation speed
is high which is
around 100
Mbps.
 Speed of
operation is very
slow i.e. about
1.5 Mbps.
Types of
computer systems
 Specifically used
for desktop and
portable
computers like
home computer
or laptops.
 Mainly used for
mini computers
and desktop
computers.
 Can be used for
any device but
mainly used by
desktop users.
Widely used  It is widely used
in schools,
hospitals and
colleges.
 Used for city
and small towns.
 Specifically
used for a
continent or a
country.
Benefits for investing in IT
There are different benefits which can be enjoyed by a company during investment in
information technology. In case of Holiday Inn, these benefits are mentioned below:
 Meeting customer needs: Main aim for each organisation is to provide efficient
customer service so that exceptions and desires of clients can be fulfilled. Investing in
information and digital technology can help Holiday Inn in implementing web chat
software which helps in resolving the queries of customers in a proper way. IT will
benefits Holiday Inn in acknowledging the review of customers about their services so
that required improvements can be carried out. This will help the company in meeting the
requirements of customers in an appropriate manner.
 Targeting audience segments effectively: Holiday Inn can use different online search
engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. to target different sections of societies in respect
with demography, living standard, behaviour etc. It will also benefits the business
persons to provide information to large number of customers in a short time period. This
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will supports the company in acknowledging about their services to the existing and
potential customers in a proper manner.
Drawbacks for investing in IT:
Along with merits, there are different disadvantages which are associated with investing
in information technology. In context with Holiday Inn, these aspects are stated below:
 Implementation cost: Investing in IT is advantageous for a business organisation but
implementing it is very expensive and costly. To implement IT in Holiday Inn, company
is require to spend heavily. Also appropriate training is required for employees if Holiday
Inn will invest in information and digital technology . This can reduce the revenues and
profitability of company.
 Security risks: To sustain a firm position within marketplace, it is essential for the
business organisations to provide safety and security to its customers & employees. But
maintaining a robust security system is very difficult. For ex, hackers can use
ransomware to hostage the official site of company. If manager in Holiday Inn is not
capable secure sensitive information of guests, they will feel unsatisfied and start
avoiding Holiday Inn as their staying place during holidays and visits.
CONCLUSION
From above mentioned report, it is concluded that information technology plays a vital
role in the success and failure of an organisation. There are different ethical and social issues
such as hacking, lack of privacy impacts the business in a negative manner if not managed
properly. Different type of networking technologies helps an individual and organisation to
interact and communicate properly. This benefits a company in preforming complex work in a
simple and timely manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aliyu, A. A. and Tasmin, R. B. H. J., 2012. The impact of information and communication
technology on banks’ performance and customer service delivery in the banking
industry. International Journal of Latest Trends Finance and Economy. 2(1). pp.80-90.
Bainbridge, W. S. ed., 2013. Converging technologies for improving human performance:
Nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Buabeng-Andoh, C., 2012. Factors influencing teachersâ adoption and integration of information
and communication technology into teaching: A review of the literature. International
Journal of Education and Development using ICT. 8(1).
Devaraj, S., Ow, T. T. and Kohli, R., 2013. Examining the impact of information technology and
patient flow on healthcare performance: A Theory of Swift and Even Flow (TSEF)
perspective. Journal of Operations Management. 31(4). pp.181-192.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Mackert, M. and et. al., 2016. Health literacy and health information technology adoption: the
potential for a new digital divide. Journal of medical Internet research. 18(10).
Magrabi, F. and et. al., 2013. A comparative review of patient safety initiatives for national
health information technology. International journal of medical informatics. 82(5).
pp.e139-e148.
Okumus, F., 2013. Facilitating knowledge management through information technology in
hospitality organizations. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology. 4(1). pp.64-
80.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Waser, R. ed., 2012. Nanoelectronics and information technology: advanced electronic materials
and novel devices. John Wiley & Sons.
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