Technology
The cloud , from both sides
The daTa-hosTing soluTion improves efficiency and access , buT moving bulky legacy sysTems can geT messy . is iT worTh iT ? yes — mosT of The Time , experTs say .
Contributed by Juliana ShallcroSS
Making the switch
MoviNg to the CLouD shouLDN ’ t be A giveN . WhAt to CoNsiDer before tAkiNg the LeAp :
“ Moving to the cloud ” is meant to simplify a hotel ’ s operations , but making the actual transition from a physical data center to one hosted on the internet isn ’ t as simple as clicking the upload button .
“ Cloud tech can be a robust , scalable and safe solution when properly scoped , sized , selected , trained on , installed and maintained ,” says David Atkins , principal at Digital DNA Infusion , a digital management consultancy . “ Or it can be a mess that you can ’ t wait to get away from .”
The two biggest advantages of cloud-based systems are the ability to retrieve data quickly , often in real time , and the ability to retrieve that data from anywhere , by any employee , and from any device . Another draw is that maintenance and upgrades are handled by the provider , rather than a company ’ s internal IT team , which can greatly reduce costs .
PROS
• Data is available quickly , often in real time
• Data can be accessed from any device
• Maintenance and upgrades are handled by provider
• Cost savings ( if the transition is handled well )
• Ability to choose more than one provider
• Less system downtime
‘ No staNdard applicatioN ’ Preferred Hotels & Resorts , a collection of 650 independent hotels in 85 countries , put its entire infrastructure in the cloud in 2008 but has since piecemealed out several applications to different cloud providers . “ There ’ s no standard application of the cloud ,” says Charles Zieres , Preferred ’ s vice president of information technology . “ You can pick and choose providers based on what you need .”
At Preferred , websites are hosted on Rackspace , while Microsoft Office 365 hosts the company ’ s emails . Data backups are done with Amazon storage , which Zieres says can store 20 more times data for about half the cost of a data center . All this has increased Preferred ’ s “ up ” time , and making the transition to the cloud was no more complicated than moving from one physical system to another .
legacy burdeNs These benefits , particularly real-time access , aren ’ t always possible when hotels have legacy applications retrofitted to the cloud instead of using a “ true cloud ” service like the ones Preferred uses . Retrofitted applications , because they are so monolithic , also can ’ t be integrated with other cloud
CONS
• No “ one size fits all ”
• Legacy applications might need to be retrofitted and integrated
• Making an informed decision requires time and money
• Due diligence is required on solutions and providers
• Cloud providers still need to be proactively managed
July / August 2016 hotelsmag . com 57