The hospitality industry is one of the most competitive industries. Also, it is an industry that has lots of uncontrollable factors that impact the business. The entire industry has struggled for business during the pandemic. In such circumstances, it becomes critical to optimise the utilisation of its time and resources. An ERP can be advantageous for the hospitality industry to increase overall productivity, streamline processes, and lower costs.
ERP for the hospitality industry is a comprehensive system that monitors all of your hotel’s operations and services in real time. It allows you to closely monitor every ongoing process and service of your hotel, from room service to inventory management and guest check-in.
The system enables you to manage orders, room service, the status of the services, and customer activity in sync.
The key benefits of implementing an Business Central for a hospitality business are as follows:
In the absence of a single integrated ERP system, there are chances that every department is using different software. There will be separate software for inventory management, front-office, housekeeping, POS etc. The challenge with this kind of set up is that some of these technology solutions might not be compatible with each other or might work in a silo, not communicating or sharing data with other systems.
An ERP could be a great way of bringing all these systems under one roof and get a unified view of the business. It can help make strategic decisions for business growth.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an ERP solution for the Hospitality industry with modules covering all departments right from front office operations, back-office operations, kitchen and restaurant management, POS terminals, finance management, inventory management, housekeeping, payroll management, omnichannel management, etc
In the hospitality industry, one of the biggest challenges is that every department may have scattered data. An ERP will allow integration of all this data and that too in real-time. The advancement in science and technology has allowed the ERPs to be made available on the cloud.
The cloud-based ERPs allow stakeholders to access critical data across departments and across multiple locations to be available in real-time. It provides a holistic view of all the business processes at any given moment.
Also, since every piece of data is available in a single system, data management and data analysis become easy and productive. It can help a business make quick decisions, gain more flexibility, and provide better customer service.
Nowadays, a small business may have multiple channels and various locations from which it services its customers.
In such a scenario, an ERP system can be advantageous. Each channel or each location will have specific requirements. Each will have different inventory requirements, may slightly vary in the services they offer, various accounting and taxation rules depending on their geographic location, etc.
An ERP can automate many processes and configured to manage the differences in a multi-channel/multi-location set up. As mentioned earlier, a cloud-based ERP provides real-time information and any time anywhere data access, which makes operating business in a single location or multiple locations, more manageable.
If you have different legacy systems managing distinct aspects of your business operations, then it may require you to have a sizeable IT team for its maintenance and security. Also, you may have different systems implemented in discrete locations. Each solution might have its separate infrastructure and IT personnel requirements.
It results in a huge IT team, as well as infrastructure spending, to maintain daily operations. An integrated ERP and CRM solution can substantially reduce your IT and infrastructure requirement. It means that you can manage your everyday operations with a small IT team. If they have to travel from one location to another location, they can do so without any problems since the same technology is applicable everywhere.
As mentioned earlier, a leaner IT team coupled with reduced infrastructure requirement will result in lesser spend on IT overheads as it is a cost centre for a hospitality business. An ERP implementation can help in the optimal utilisation of your finances.
Also, nowadays, cloud-based ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are available. A cloud-based ERP is easier to maintain. The ERP company handles the software security too. Regular and automatic updates to the ERP also make it a safer option.
The costs related to staff training also reduce significantly since they now have to be trained to use only 1 system compared to multiple systems. It saves a lot of time and frees up resources for reallocation to the core business functions.
As we see, there are numerous challenges that an ERP system can help overcome for a hospitality business. If you are in the hospitality business and need guidance about implementing an ERP for your business, you may connect with us at CCIT Services Pvt Ltd.
We are a trusted Microsoft Gold partner offering intuitive Business Technology Consulting, Automation implementation and provide on-going support as per your business requirement. We help businesses in their digital transformation journey by delivering Microsoft Business Automation tools, Power Apps, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power BI, and other technology solutions services and support.
CCIT Cloud (CocoonIT Services) is an expert Microsoft Cloud Solutions and Implementation Partner. Organisations around the globe, partner with CCIT to harness the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics, Azure Cloud and Power Platform.
