Assessment 1: Individual Industry Sector Report - Managing E-business

This report examines the profound impact of e-business and digital technologies on the hospitality sector, with a specific focus on Marriott International. It delves into the influence of emerging technologies like IoT, cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence on business operations and customer experiences. The report analyzes the evolution of digital business models, including e-commerce and digital marketing strategies, and their effects on customer engagement. It also explores new forms of customer engagement, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how Marriott adapted its strategies. Finally, the report considers the implications of these changes on organizational culture, emphasizing innovation and the adoption of a customer-centric approach within the hospitality industry. The report concludes by highlighting the transformative power of digital technologies in reshaping the industry's landscape.

Individual Industry
Sector Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
The impact of new technologies:................................................................................................3
Impact of digital business models:..............................................................................................4
New forms of customer engagement...........................................................................................6
New organisational culture.........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
E commerce and the growth of digital technology has complete transformed the way
different industries are functioning across different parts of the world. There has been complete
change in the way organisations now perceive their functionalities and operations with context of
fast changing customer needs and requirements. It is very important to analyse the overall impact
of changing nature of digital technology on the hospitality sector (Shabhati, 2021). There is
analysis of the effect of digital technopolis like IoT, Big data, cloud and artificial intelligence the
industry. Further there is analysis of e commerce & other digital models in the business. Along
with it there is evaluation of the changing customer engagement in industry and the altering
organisational culture of the industry.
The impact of new technologies:
Internet of things is reference is regarded as collection of various devices and objects that are to
be linked together by use of Internet connection. The hub for collection is based on sending and
collecting data by use of Internet that helps devices for making decisions and based on particular
patterns.
Cloud computing technologies: For the purpose of being more competitive and add value to the
organisation there is need to embrace the digital transformation process in business. In
Hospitality industry there has to be integration of new form of technologies that can speed up
and improve the business process.
Benefits:
In hospitality industry Marriott hotel it is having several benefits in terms of:
Higher flexibility that is there is organisation development and management that is helping in
saving costs and maintaining IT resources.
Cost effectiveness: Cloud solutions are tailor made in hospitality industry as per business
requirements it provides a scalable framework model (Prasojo, 2020). Organisations are able to
choose cheaper solutions for maintaining expensive IT infrastructure.
Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence has improved the overall efficiency at workplace as
it has augmented the way working is done by human beings. AI is taking receptive tasks and then
human workforce is free up so that they are able to involve in more creative tasks. AI has

disrupted the hospitality industry in many ways. The artificial intelligence has altered the overall
experiences by use of chatbot messaging services. Such as Marriott international is suing
chatbots consist of Marriott rewards chatbots that are available on various platforms that include
Facebook messages, slack, Google assistant & we chat. It is powered by driven by data logic and
specialised algorithms (Petit, Velasco and Spence, 2019. It is not only enhancing the
convenience of guest but also helping in management of labour costs for Marriott. With having a
platform for chatbot answer there is addressing of all concern of guests that may take place at
any time of the date. Marriott has been able to cut down cost and maintain higher cost efficiency
by offering chatbots in multiple languages that is providing additional convenience to hotel
guests. Chatbots are detecting guest behaviours and language processing with use of hyper
personalise recommendations.
Big data analysis:
Big data analytics is use in hospitality industry for the purpose of optimization of workforce
management, enhancing guest expenses and enhancing of marketing effect with streamlines
processes. Marriott is focussing on use of big data analytics to get competitive advantage. The
organisation is using data for tracking competitor hotels and brands. The organisation is having
its main area of focus on customer satisfaction and revenue management. Big data is used for
predicting customer behaviour and understanding of their properties with respect to its other
competitors by targeting similar profiles. There is introduction of new digital technologies by
relying on data function while collecting of precious data for higher customer satisfaction &
guest’s tastes.
IOT:
IoT is a tool that is used in hospitality industry for the purpose of increasing integration with
personal gadgets of guest. In Marriott there is offering of facilities in terms of prodding a
seamless hospitality experience to customers, there is use of mobile integration so that hotels can
remember guest preferences through previous data.
Impact of digital business models:
Digital business models are very important for the organisation digital disruption and
digitisation. In Marriott the digital marketing model is based on moment makers series that si
taking deep dive into way marketers are using technology for building up of data driven

customer experiences. Marketers today are having more tools for creation of excellent customer
expenses, valuing the efforts and driving of growth.
Marriott is making use of artificial intelligence as a tool that is they are operation 30 different
brands, 7000 hotels and 1.4 million rooms across world. They are having in house agency that is
named as Marriott digital services that is helping 3000 hotels for driving traffic to sites,
optimisation of content and execution of paid media among services. In 2019 Marriott has started
projects for moving to new reporting platforms for reducing of operating costs, enhancing
consistency and efficiency in reporting to customers and speeding to market.
Marriott has been using the new data capabilities for growing their service differers. In 2019 they
have been running 58 programs for 38000 Marriott clients across 115 countries, the programs is
based on annual contract and cost ranging from 5500 $ to 75000 $ to maintain.
Another monthly solutions in Marriott digital services is treatment that is granted to customers to
access Datorama dashboards for showing the performance metrics on their website, paid media,
audience segments & SEO without any annual commitments (Marriott Digital Services’
Business Model Was Turned On Its Head During the Pandemic — See How It Got Things Right,
2021).
Impact of e commerce on the hospitality industry:
There are many forms of personalise services that are part of hospitality industry and affecting its
functioning in long run. The use of virtual and augmented reality is transformation the overall
functioning of hospitality industry as it is becoming normal part of everyday life and noticeably
in case of e commerce. Hotels in hospitality industry are now providing their customers with a
virtual tour for building rights in the hotels website; Marriott hotel is using this as a opportunity
of offering a 3260 degree panoramic view of its hotel rooms, exteriors and lobbies.
Embracing the use of VR and AR it is used as a way for hospitality industry as it drive sales by
helping customer replicate the overall experience by staying at their homes. E commerce has
complete blown the international markets wide open (Megargel, Shankararaman and Reddy,
2018). There has been higher automation and artificial intelligence chatbots that are combined
with availing opportunities of growing overseas markets that is opening up opportunities for
enhancing the present customer base. Many merchants are also looking up for global e
commerce solutions. International hotelier Marriott is focusing on use of big data for getting the

best possible room rates from their travellers. This tool is used for the purpose of forecasting of
demand and calculating for the value of individual rooms.
With the evolution of e commerce customers are able to scan and make comparison sites to fined
the best possible deals by using of biog data analysis there is use of several economic factors for
enhancing the scope of hospitality industry there is also use of this technique for the purpose of
tapping in international market.
New forms of customer engagement
In the situation of COVID 19 Marriott digital services has pivoted the strategy with offerings and
innovative reporting that can drive value and meet the needs. With the covid pandemic stared in
2020 in March there has been stoppage of travelling, budget were cut and staff was furioughed.
COVID 19 has a great impact on Marriott business (Magnotta, 2019). The digital marketing team
of the hospitality brand further pushed forwards in a time period of four weeks and stared a new
reporting stem that is distribution mechanism and a proper standardized analysis. It has lead to
development of 500 newly data integrated data streams. There has been a efficient and stronger
data repository that is enabling Marriott to optimize its marketing performance and its impact on
customers. In hospitality industry there are some of the effective customer engagement
techniques that are now used by the organisation for the purpose of enhancing customer
interaction and ligament in the course of organisation functioning (Grönroos, 2017). For this
purpose of some of the customer engagement techniques that are being used are discussed below:
Use social media as a engagement tool:
Social media networks like Linked in and Facebook are not merely just platforms of connecting
with people but these are used as a tool for generation of better results. It is a rapidly evolving
behaviour for customers that are affecting perception about social media marketing.
Delivering customers with enormous values: In case of niche market it is important to put
customers first and then focus about their welfare. For this in hospitality brands like Marriott
there is creation of a custom content that can address the overall customer questions. For this
there can be use of B2B marketing usage techniques. For this there comes a need to produce a
interactive content for feeding up the customer demand. Marriott is working for creation of
positive content for engaging with its customers on various platforms like Facebook, twitter and
Instagram so that they are able tool for higher customer engagement.

New organisational culture
The overall culture of organisation is affecting their way of functioning in long run. It is related
with putting people fits as Marriott international is a leading hospitality brands that is
consistently moving towards recognition and awards across the globe.
Innovation: With the changing nature of technology in the dynamic environment Marriott as a
brand has helped in shaping of the modern hospitality industry. There has been a drive to
continually change the status quo for the purpose of anticipating the changing needs of
customers, new guest experiences and new global locations (Ghezzi and Cavallo, 2020). The
social global platform and the sustainability measures are serving as a force for good. There is
use of a 360 degree approach in every direction that is guiding the overall path towards
achievement of higher positivity and sustainable impact on the business.

CONCLUSION
From above mentioned aspects it can be concluded that hospitality organisation is
complete transforming the way organisations are presently functioning. Different technologies
like big data analytics, cloud computing and artificial intelligence has completed transformed the
way hospitality industry is presently functioning. There is focus on digital marketing
technologies for the objective of achieving higher market share and influencing target
cust9omers in a more creative manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Shabhati, A., 2021. The Impact of Digital Marketing, Personal Selling, Sponsorship and Brand
Image Towards Purchase Decision Wedding Organizer Client in Surabaya. Jurnal Ilmiah
Mahasiswa FEB, 9(2).
Prasojo, S., 2020. Analisa Pengaruh Digital Marketing Terhadap Brand Advocacy Dengan
Perceived Service Quality Dan Customer Engagement Sebagai Variabel Intervening Pada
Virtual Hotel Operator Reddoorz. Jurnal Strategi Pemasaran, 7(1), p.12.
Petit, O., Velasco, C. and Spence, C., 2019. Digital sensory marketing: Integrating new
technologies into multisensory online experience. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 45,
pp.42-61.
Megargel, A., Shankararaman, V. and Reddy, S.K., 2018. Real-time inbound marketing: a use
case for digital banking. In Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion,
Volume 1 (pp. 311-328). Academic Press.
Magnotta, E., 2019. Digital Disruption in Marketing and Communications: A Strategic and
Organizational Approach. Routledge.
Grönroos, C., 2017. Relationship marketing and service: An update. Journal of Global Scholars
of Marketing Science, 27(3), pp.201-208.
Ghezzi, A. and Cavallo, A., 2020. Agile business model innovation in digital entrepreneurship:
Lean startup approaches. Journal of business research, 110, pp.519-537.
Online
Marriott Digital Services’ Business Model Was Turned On Its Head During the Pandemic — See
How It Got Things Right, 2021 [online], Available through<
https://www.salesforce.com/blog/marriott-datorama-marketing-data/>