The hospitality industry has always been faced with the challenge of cost management. Often, the use of technology is at the expense of being able to offer customers a personal touch. Then there’s the dilemma of investing in new hotels or upgrades versus sweating existing assets.

The advent of cellular technology and wireless connectivity has made the traditional PBX an expensive, non-performing asset, which in itself has created its fair share of financial challenges. The lack of individuals with the right technical skills is an ever-present problem too, especially when all you need is for someone to make the most of your existing information technology and systems necessary to operate on a daily basis.

Today’s challenges for anyone operating in the hospitality industry include:

• Cost management, including the principles of REVPAR (revenue per available room) and GOPAC (gross operating profit per customer)
• Management and retention of key skills and resources
• Developing a channel strategy to maximise exposure to available room inventory
• Balancing the use of technology with being able to provide a personal touch
• Profitable growth in a world of fierce competition.

The quest for excellence has never been higher. Gijima subscribes to the core business drivers in the hospitality sector and can help you to:

Reduce costs through flexible service delivery models

Central reservation system using software-as-a-service (SAAS)

Our solution allows you to reduce the cost of ownership of applications, which are core to the success and functionality of your organisation. We offer Reservation Hub (ResHub), a world-class hospitality distribution tool that operates on a usage-based pricing mode. ResHub enables anyone seeking accommodation to be able to view room availability in an online, real-time interface and to reserve and book accommodation in accordance with predetermined and in some cases, contracted rules.

Your business may also be able to reduce channel costs by moving from US dollar to local currency-based transaction (reservation) fees where applicable, giving you total control of your operating costs.

Infrastructure managed services model

Instead of worrying about the cost of attracting, training and retaining IT staff to manage and support your IT environment, you can achieve cost improvement goals with Gijima’s outsourcing models and managed infrastructure service offerings. Gijima can manage your hardware and desktop infrastructure, inclusive of connectivity and applications systems, either by deploying onsite technicians to your premises, through remote cost effective tools, or through a combination of both. We can help you optimise your IT infrastructure, therein maximising both the financial and operational returns on your current investments.

Through consolidation, virtualisation and co-location, your business saves on its direct costs and indirect costs, including a reduction in your energy consumption. By providing your business with remote support, we can manage and resolve faults without the need for technicians to visit your site. This not only reduces the resolution time, but also eliminates the cost of travel.

State-of-the-art performance optimisation solutions help our hospitality clients attain efficient use of their IT resources while our monitoring services enables us to anticipate problems before they occur, without sending someone to your site, which results in significant cost savings.

Our five years track record in the hospitality industry has helped our clients achieve cost reduction and operational improvement through long-term strategic collaboration and by managing their changing business environment. Our long-term relationships within the outsourced environments have enabled us to achieve a client retention rate of more than 95%.

Improve occupancy through accurate booking information

By adopting ResHub, your business will have a complete view of all properties by date range and by available inventory for reservations. You receive real-time inventory availability updates, reservations and restrictions for up-to-date system continuity, ensuring that accurate data is always at your fingertips.

Gijima is a market leader in the central reservation management environment, with more than five years’ experience in hospitality and a large local and global customer base in the industry making us their trusted partner.

Increase inventory exposure across reservation channels

ResHub is connected to both advanced distribution systems (ADS) and global distribution systems (GDS). By using ResHub as your core reservation system, you will be able to facilitate the broad-based distribution of hotel group inventory across current and future reservation channels, therein increasing the exposure of available rooms for booking.

Enhance guest experiences with innovative unified communication solutions

Our integrated unified communication solutions will make your quest for attracting and retaining guests a reality. Now your guests will be able to conduct business from the comfort of their rooms by using our integrated data and voice solutions. The result is that your guests gain access to your organisation’s facilities and will be able to make reservations for restaurants and other amenities without leaving their rooms or lifting a telephone handset. This is thanks to our automatic call distribution system combined with state-of-the-art mobility solutions.

The integration of voice and data with other hotel management systems enables you to increase efficiencies by instantly deploying your relevant resources whenever required. Furthermore, our managed Internet services provide you with an opportunity to meet or exceed your guests’ expectations through agreed metrics.

Gijima has a major footprint of voice PBXs in the hospitality industry. Through the convergence of communication technologies, we have moved into providing our clients with innovative telecommunication solutions.

Manage and minimise your safety and environmental risk

Gijima is well positioned to provide accredited occupational health and safety training to your employees, providing you with peace of mind that the necessary steps are taken to create and promote safe facilities for your guests.

Our electronic document management solutions, delivered in flexible models, will ensure that your business information is securely retained and easily accessible in accordance with legislation. All our communication products are approved by ICASA, which reduced your risk of non-compliance.

Why Gijima?

Gijima is the only ICT company in South Africa that has an established hospitality practice. Our hospitality business knowledge and understanding offers you thought leadership in business and information technology.

We are privileged to have a selection of blue-chip local and multi-national clients with which we collaborate by providing thought leadership and guidance to optimise their business drivers and unlock their human capital potential.

Our services are delivered based on the industry validated frameworks such as ISO9001 and ITIL V3. This ensures that our service is always predictable and aligned to your business requirements. In addition to this, we apply the Project Management Institute (PMI) standards to our project management approach and transfer this knowledge and learning to all our clients, equipping them with skills essential in today’s business environment.

We offer year-round, 24x7 professional support through our Incident Services Management Centre (ISMC), which ensures that your IT services are always available to support your business. Underscored by our 70 points of presence across South Africa, we are able to provide on-site support and ease of access to each of our clients.

For further information or a demonstration of our services and solutions, please contact our Hospitality Industry Sales department on 012 675 5000 or e-mail hospitality@gijima.com.