Living in a culture that is so saturated with technology and constantly changing trends can be both a blessing and a curse in the business world. On the one hand, technology provides a direct and inexpensive way to communicate with clients. On the other hand, clients now expect businesses to stay on top of the latest technology trends.
Depending on the type of business, staying up to date with the latest trends can be quite expensive. I have recently started working in the hospitality industry and one major technology shift occurring is electronic keys. Many hotels are now shifting over to a key that guests can access on their phone and unlock their hotel room simply by holding their phone up to the door.
This provides a very easy way for many guests to access their room, but it requires major change on the part of the hotel. All of the doors have to be updated with the new electronic key readers and new systems must be put in place. Hotels also have to consider how to deal with guests who might not have the latest technology or who might be intimidated by technology altogether.
Knowing when to embrace changes like this in the hospitality industry requires communication between the management and the staff along with communication between the staff and the customers. If there is a very high demand for the updated technology, hotels might consider upgrading to keep customers loyal to their brand. If a hotel decides to move forward and embrace the latest technology trends, it is absolutely essential that the management team appropriately train and communicate with the staff who interact with the technology as their main job. Changes in technology are only worth embracing if the business adequately communicates and implements a proper amount of training to ensure a smooth transition process.