Information Technology's Impact on Holiday Inn's Business Strategy

This report delves into the crucial role of information technology (IT) in the success and potential failures of businesses, using Holiday Inn as a case study. It examines how IT tools, including hardware, software, and telecommunications, drive innovation, enhance competitive advantages, improve business-to-consumer relationships, and expand client bases. The report also addresses ethical and social issues related to IT, such as privacy, data protection, and the rise of ransomware, emphasizing the importance of a code of ethics and data security measures. Furthermore, it outlines different networking technologies like LAN, MAN, and WAN, highlighting their applications within the hotel industry. The report concludes by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of IT investments for Holiday Inn, encompassing communication improvements, cost-effectiveness, and potential job security concerns. The report underscores the strategic importance of IT for businesses aiming to thrive in a competitive and rapidly evolving market.

BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTON...............................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY.....................................................................................................................1
Role of IT in success or failure of a business organisation...........................................1
2 Ethical issue and social issues related to Information technology which are pertain
to run business:..............................................................................................................2
Different types of networking technologies .................................................................4
Advantages and Disadvantages to Holiday inn for investing in IT:.............................5
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTON
Information technology is a growing field in business which deals with computing
especially software, telecommunication and hardware. In case of business organisations, it
involves the use of computer to retrieve, manipulate, store and transmit business related
information(Fayolle and Gailly, 2015). IT drives innovation which results in business success.
This assignment is based on Holiday Inn hotel which is a Britain based American hotel brand. At
present, hotel is successfully representing itself in all prime locations. This report involves role
of IT in failure and success of a business. Beside this, social & ethical issues while managing
business and different network technologies are mentioned.
MAIN BODY
Role of IT in success or failure of a business organisation
With the help of internet and information technology, local businesses are transformed
into renowned international household names(Filser Kraus and Märk, 2013). To gain competitive
advantage over rivals, business organisations are using IT tools such as hardware,
telecommunications and software to boost their productivity and performance. It has a
considerable impact on the revenue of business. Below is discussed the role of IT in success and
failure of a business organisation.
Role of information technology in success of a business:
It is very essential for hotels and restaurants to upgrade their services in accordance with
the changing needs of customers. In this purpose, IT plays a vital role. Different roles played by
information technology in the success of Holiday Inn is mentioned below(Jacobs, Chase and
Lummus, 2014):
 Enhance competitive advantage: IT assists guests in accessing different kind of
information before selecting an hotel and its accommodation services. This includes
check in- check out timings, menu details, rate charts, discount and offers etc. This
helped in enhancing the experience and comfortableness of customers. This will results in
increased revenue and profitability for Holiday Inn as more people will make reservations
for their stay. This will results in enhanced sales which results in getting competitive
advantage against rival companies.
1

 Improves business to consumer relationship: IT helps Management in Holiday Inn to
stay in contact and building a positive relation with ex-customers for repeatable business
with the help of e-mails, SMS and social media .
 Increased clients base: More than half of bookings in Holiday Inn is done via hotel
website, other booking websites such as Tripadvisor etc. and mobile applications. If hotel
management will timely upgrade itself on social media and all necessary information
related with services offered by hotel is available online, customer base of Holiday inn
will increase considerably.
 Assists in formulating new strategies: Internet which is a subset of Information
technology plays a vital role in the development of hotel sector. With the help of social
media such as twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. managers in Holiday Inn collect
feedbacks, opinion and views of customers regarding their services. According to
customer response, new strategies are formulated and implemented which helps in
satisfying needs of customer appropriately.
2 Ethical issue and social issues related to Information technology which are pertain to run
business:
The fundamental ethical issues which every business face are trust and integrity. When
the customers perceive that an organization is exhibiting an unwavering commitment to ethical
business practices then it lead to develop high level of trust between the customers and the
business. Whereas social issues is related to the society perception of individual personal lives,
as different society have different perception. What may be normal behaviour in one society may
be significant social issue for other society. So it is very much essential for Holiday Inn hotel to
take into consideration ethical and social issues specifically for Information technology in order
to run business smoothly and effectively. Some of the ethical and social issues related to IT are
specified below(Myers, 2013)
Many organization and professional companies develop their own code of ethics. A code
of ethics refers to the collection of principles which serve as a guide for the workforce of an
organization in order to carry out there activities effectively. There are specifically four kinds of
ethical issues namely accuracy, privacy, accessibility and property. Information privacy is an
important aspect which the Holiday Inn hotel must take into consideration in order to retain and
attract more customers. If the hotel manager will ensure security of customer information then it
2

will help in building long term relationship with customers. As information privacy is the right to
determine up to what extent an information about oneself can be communicated to others. The
specific issue that need to be considered here are electronic surveillance and personal
information in data base. In addition to this, other ethical issues are specified below:
Privacy and data protection: In some cases, evaluation in information technology is a
technique of removing ethical dilemmas which the IT manager of Holiday Inn faces. A case in
point is software piracy as it is being seen that approx 37% of software on personal computers
are being unlicensed. So, the manager of Holiday Inn must use licensed software so as to
increase profitability ratio per year. In addition to this manger of hotel should also ensure
employees and customer information privacy from being exposed to the public or from being
hacked by hackers. So Holiday Inn manager must uses Firewalls, Encryption technologies and
virtual private networks so as to ensure that data system are properly configured.
Ransoms: In recent years, it is being seen that ethical problems in information
technology is becoming more complicated due to rise of ransomware attacks. As hackers
infiltrate a computer network and take control over it in order to demand for code of payment. If
the company will not pay the ransom then the company might lose all the data stored on
computer network. So the manager of the Holiday Inn must ensure that their data are secure so as
to ensure privacy of customer and employees information. Thus, it will help in building strong
relationship between customers and company.
Social issue related to Information technology which are pertain to run business:
Social issues refers to the perception of individual personal lives, as different individual
have different perception as per the society rituals and culture. Therefore, some of the social
issues which are related to information technology and which pertain to run business are
specified below(Schaper and et. al 2014):
Distraction to individuals: Management team in Holiday Inn provides all necessary
information regarding services of hotel on different websites. Due to this, large number of people
get attracted toward their services. In, addition to this they also advertise about types of services
that they provide through different social media like Facebook, twitter, Instagram etc. Thus, it
result in distraction for customers from their daily routine work as they prefer to visit more due
to standardised services. But side by side it benefit for hotel too as it results in increased
profitability ratio for the industry by attracting more customers towards their goods and services.
3

Impact on livelihood: Due to use of advanced information technology, large
organizations like Holiday Inn prefer to conduct their business operations and activities through
online means. Therefore, manual work have decreased and employees are insecure regarding
their jobs. This has impacted the livelihood of individuals which are working as part-timers and
full time employees in holiday Inn. Due to this their incomes and living standard has decreased
which leads towards difficult survival.
Different types of networking technologies
In order to understand the differences between the types of network technologies, it is
very essential to understand about the concept of network. As it is defined as a system of two or
more connected computers or other devices which are linked for the purpose of sharing or
communicating resources(Swift and Piff, 2014). Thus the connection can be either wireless or
wired through the use of cables, radio waves, infrared light beams, satellites. By an large most
common type of networking technology is LAN(Local Area Network). In addition to this
different types of networking technology which can used by Holiday inn are specified below:
 LAN(local Area Network): It is a networking technology that can be used by Holiday
Inn to connect group of devices within “local area”. This type of connection are generally
powered with the use of Ethernet cables, which have length limitation. It is different from
MAN and WAN because its propagation period terms to be short, whereas in MAN
propagation period is moderate and in WAN propagation period term to be long.
 MAN(Metropolitan Area Network): This is a type of networking technology that can
be used by Holiday Inn so that they can cover an area as large as a city by linking
multiple LAN s through wired back-haul. An example of MAN is citywide Wi-Fi
network. It is different from LAN AND WAN because its speed termed to be moderate
and whereas on the other hand LAN speed terms to be high and WAN speed terms to be
low.
 WAN(Wide Area Network): It is a type of networking technology which can cover any
distance necessary and is used to serve all over the world, like internet could be
considered a WAN which covers the entire earth. It is termed to be different from MAN
and LAN because it expand to wide area network whereas MAN expand network to
metropolitan area and LAN expands its network within local area.
Difference between LAN, WAN and MAN
4

LAN MAN WAN
LAN refers to the communication
network which helps to link
number of stations in same local
area within the range of 1 to 10
km.
WAN networks shares the
characteristics of packet
broadcasting network and it range
is 100 km.
WAN is a
communication
network which
distinguished from a
local area network and
its range is beyond
100km.
LAN uses guided media MAN uses guided as well as
unguided media.
MAN uses unguided
media.
High bandwidth for data transfer. Low bandwidth with data transfer. Bandwidth is moderate
for data transfer.
Best LAN type used Ethernet Best MAN type used internet and
Ethernet
Best WAN type used
internet.
Thus, the mode widely used networking technology by Holiday Inn is WAN so as to
serve customers and individuals all over the world in order to generate and develop brand image
in the mindset of the customers.
Advantages and Disadvantages to Holiday inn for investing in IT:
Advantages to Holiday inn in investing in IT:
 Communication: One of the advantage that the Holiday Inn possess by making
investment IT is that with its help Holiday Inn can instantly message, emails, video call
and can easily attract and covey messages to large number of customers.
 Globalisation and cultural gap: By investing in IT Holiday Inn can bring down the
linguistic and cultural boundaries. Moreover by sharing the information relationship
between different nations and culture becomes much easier. Cost effectiveness: If the Holiday Inn makes an investment in IT it will be easy for Hotel
management to pursue their operational tasks in a simplified manner and cost effective
manner. As work carried out by software and application will consume less time.
Drawbacks to Holiday inn in investing in IT:
5

 Lack of job security: If the Holiday Inn will make investment in IT then it will create a
fear among the workforce regarding job security. As mostly work will be done through
different modes of software and paper work will be reduces which will result in
unemployment
 Privacy issue: One of the drawback of making investment in IT by Holiday Inn is that
hackers get access to identities about company data like customer information, personal
data on company management. As the hacker will then distribute the information about
the company to its rivalry firm or may use such information in order to damage
company's image.
 Implementation expenses: On of the major drawback of investing in IT is that it will
require pretty amount of cost in case of hardware, people and software. As hardware and
software will be rented and supported whereas employees need to be trained with
unfamiliar IT and software.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it can be concluded that Information technology is a
growing technique which is being used by every organization in order to deal with computing
especially software, hardware and telecommunication. In addition to this, it is also used to
retrieve, manipulate, store and to transmit data as well as ensure security and safety of
information for both the employees and for customers. Additionally there are different
networking technologies like LAN, WAN, PAN, CAN etc. Lastly, it can be concluded that It
plays an essential role for success and failure of business concern in marketplace.
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Fayolle, A. and Gailly, B., 2015. The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial
attitudes and intention: Hysteresis and persistence. Journal of Small Business
Management. 53(1). pp.75-93.
Filser, M., Kraus, S. and Märk, S., 2013. Psychological aspects of succession in family business
management. Management Research Review. 36(3). pp.256-277.
Jacobs, F.R., Chase, R.B. and Lummus, R.R., 2014. Operations and supply chain management
(pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Jeston, J., 2014. Business process management. Routledge.
Myers, M.D., 2013. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage.
Schaper, M.T.and et. al 2014. Entrepreneurship and small business.
Swift, L. and Piff, S., 2014. Quantitative methods: for business, management and finance.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Uhl, A. and Gollenia, L.A. Eds., 2016. Business transformation management methodology.
Routledge.
Weske, M., 2012. Business process management architectures. In Business Process Management
(pp. 333-371). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Online
Ethical issues. 2018. [Online]. Available through:<https://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethical-
dilemma-use-information-technology-18366.html>.
7