Post Covid-19 New Normal: High Tech – No Touch in the Service Sector
Instructor
-
Sanjay NadkarniDirector of Innovation & ResearchDr. Sanjay Nadkarni is a Director of Research in Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai. He holds a Master of Science in Management, M.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics and a Ph.D. He was employed as a Programme Coordinator & Assistant Professor in Faculty of International Tourism of Macao University of Science and Technology from 2005 to 2009 and also as a consultant in Asian Development Bank in China. Furthermore he used to be a Researcher in School of Travel Industry Management in University of Hawaii in Kyrgyz Republic, in School of Development in University of Central Asia/Aga Khan Development Network in China, a director of research in Institute For Tourism Studies in Russia and a Lecturer in Information Systems in Institute For Tourism Studies (IFT) in India. Deputy Manager and Project Coordinator was at the first years of his career.
The impact of Covid-19 has been particularly acute for the service sector which includes hotels, holiday rentals, restaurants and allied travel verticals. As the new normal sets in, the adoption of digital platforms in facilitating recovery in these businesses is witnessing accelerated growth. Cyprus’s economy is dominated by micro small and medium businesses (MSMBs) many of which are engaged in the hospitality and travel related services activities. The overall competitiveness and wellbeing of this sector which has been strongly impacted by Covid-19 is key to ensure sustainable socio-economic growth by way of generating tourism Euros and employment opportunities. The role of digital platforms and technologies hitherto focussed on guest convenience and business efficiency has now expanded to enabling guest safety and hygiene protocols for the businesses in the post Covid-19 era. High tech-No touch is the new mantra that will ensure long term viability of hospitality and restaurant businesses by instilling confidence in guests to make an informed choice without compromising health and safety. Putting it into perspective, digital disruption on the back on Industry 4.0 is an inherent change in how businesses are able to deliver value to their customers. In addition to leveraging the opportunities of a mix of innovative digital tools for staying ahead of the curve in a hyper competitive and hyper personalized environment, Industry 4.0 solutions such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Internet of Things will now become part of this mix for providing a non-negotiable layer of safety and hygiene in the post Covid era. In practical terms, Cyprus’s hospitality and tourism related businesses will need embark on a familiarization drive with the eventual objective of adopting these technologies to ensure business continuity and thus continue to strengthen Cyprus’s service driven economy.
The primary target segments for this seminar are the private sector owners, managers and supervisory staff of micro, small and medium businesses in the services sector, in particular, hospitality and tourism including the sub-verticals comprising of bars, cafés, car rentals, event organisers, hotels, holiday rentals, tour operators and travel agents.
The key takeaway from the seminar for the participants’ benefit will be the ability to effectively leverage the Industry 4.0 platforms for rejuvenating driving value in their day-to-day operations.
The specific objectives pertaining to knowledge, skills and attitude are as follows:
Knowledge related objectives
- Recognize the need to familiarize with Industry 4.0 platforms.
- Identify the suite of platforms best suited for line of business.
- Analyze the resource implications and financial impact of deploying these platforms.
- Revise existing standard operating procedures in line with the adopted platforms.
Skills related objectives
- Use evaluation templates for assessing best-fit technologies.
- Operate cloud based platforms for capturing and analyzing guest sentiment data with live dashboards.
- Chart real-time asset sanitizing protocols with agile cloud based PMS tools.
Attitude related objectives
- Adopt the right attitudes about the importance of Industry 4.0 tools.
- Advocate a design thinking and futures thinking culture among internal stakeholders of the business.
- Recommend the right culture in the organization that will build and support confidence to self-manage critical digital assets, independent of third party agents.
Recent Program Participants
Hourly Schedule
Day 1
- 7:45 - 9:45
- Seminar overview and introduction
- 9:45 - 10:00
- Coffee Break
- 10:00 - 12:30
- Case Study 1: Feasibilities of Industry 4.0 for the Hospitality Sector with the Lens of Management Practice
- 12:30 - 13:30
- Lunch Break
- 13:30 - 14:30
- The Hotel Tech Stack
- 14:30 - 14:45
- Coffee Break
- 14:45 - 16:15
- Agile PMS demo in post Covid Context
Day 2
- 07:45 - 09:45
- Seminar recapitulations
- 09:45 - 10:00
- Coffee Break
- 10:00 - 12:30
- Practical implications of the use of IoT and Big Data in hospitality on information technology infrastructure, business models, security and standardization highlight the scope for further empirical research.
- 12:30 - 13:30
- Lunch Break
- 13:30 - 14:30
- Identify use cases for smart voice assistants specific to your business.
- 14:30 - 14:45
- Coffee Break
- 14:45 - 16:15
- Tech Innovations for Food & Beverage Industry
SUBSIDY, ATTENDANCE, AND CANCELLATION POLICY
HRDA Subsidy and Seminar Attendance
- A company’s participant is eligible for a subsidy when their Social Insurance and Industrial Training contributions have been settled in full by the time of registration/seminar. In case of ineligibility/disqualification, the company will be invoiced the full amount per participant.
- A company’s participant is eligible for a subsidy if he/she completes an obligatory attendance of 75% during seminar and 100% on the company visit. In case of failure to complete the attendance, the company will be invoiced the full amount, per participant.
Cancellation and Substitution Policy
- Cancellations can be accepted up to 5 working days prior to the seminar without penalties. For any cancellations received after the deadline (or no-shows), the company will be invoiced the full amount per participant.
- Substitutions can be accepted any time prior to the seminar without penalties.
- Τhroughout the seminar participants must have their camera and microphone open, for better communication and as defined by the specifications of HRDA otherwise participants will not be approved by HRDA.