Studying the 2015 education program for the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC15) is a much better option.
The agenda covers what hospitality technology professionals are facing day-to-day and what they are looking to plan for going forward.
The program is designed each fall by the HITEC Advisory Council, a group of top technology practitioners, academics and consultants.
Here’s an overview of the larger themes you will find at this year’s event in Austin, Texas USA.
Integrating the marketing and technology roles
It used to be that these two practices would be considered two very disparate departments, one for creatives and the other for engineers.
But now with the influx of digital marketing tools, these two fields are partnering to capture a highly visible online presence and maximize results from collected data.
The discussion now focuses on who is taking ownership of these systems and how these two departments can work together.
To explore this further, the HITEC education program is hosting a Super Session panel with marketing and IT executives to discuss just this topic.
State of security – cyber and physical
Security is an age-old issue but the parameters are always shifting. With the incidents of cybercrime growing and methods evolving, hotel IT departments cannot remain static in this area.
And, as we’ve seen with recent high-profile cases such as Target and Sony, the aftermath is costly.
In our industry, we might as well have a big “Welcome Criminals” sign on our doors, as we collect vast amounts of guest personal data and oversee locations where there is a a high volume of people coming and going.
This year’s program offers a keynote by hacker Josh Klein who will cover cybercrime in 2015. And during the event there will be forums about both cyber and physical security.
