Imagine yourself one fine day in a summer of 1991, and you wish to plan a backpack trip to the border of Vietnam. How will you book a hotel? Upon reaching there, there was a miscommunication and you failed to make a reservation. And you are left stranded on the street of Vietnam, what will you do if there is no handphone, no internet?

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

ICT is the use of communication and technology to help individuals and organizations to use information.  It is the integration of information processing, computing and communication technologies and is related to storage, retrieval, manipulation, transmission or receipt of digital data.

The efficiency and effectiveness of technologies that enables us to communicate allows for us to handle information. Information is used for decision-making and only information that is available to users can be used. Information can be divided into four processing activities: input, processing, output and storage. These activities normally occur in sequence. Source documents are prepared and used for input. Following which, the data from the source document will go through some steps as it is being processed. The information resulting from it is either communicated to users or retained for use later or for output.

ICT is changing the way we learn, work and live in society.


Where can we find Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in our daily life?

The technology used can be categorized into two types – the traditional computer based technology and digital communication technology. Examples of traditional computer based technology are office applications (Microsoft word, excel, PowerPoint etc.) and examples of digital communication technology include mobile phones and fax machines and much more.

ICT is commonly found in any product which stores, retrieves, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form. Examples of such products are mobile phones, digital cameras, RFID tags, computers, medical instruments such as the MRI scans, PDA etc.

ICT is widely used and heavily dependent on. One example would be the usage of 3G phone plan. Mobile phones are going 3-G and the number of people signing up for 3G plans have also significantly increased.  People are relying on the internet to search for information, for example: directions to get to their destination, movie timings. And the internet can be easily accessed everywhere through high technology.

ICT in Healthcare: widely used to help doctors, nurses and other practitioners to give better care to patients across Singapore's healthcare landscape, in both administrative and medical fields. One example would be the sharing of medical reports between hospital and polyclinics.

ICT in digital and media & entertainment: A major changes in the digital media and entertainment sector. ICT is transforming the production, processing and distribution of content and services. It has eased the process of meeting up with people and exchanging of information, hence creating more opportunities for new businesses and experiences. One example would be amazon.com. In the olden days, we have to go down to the bookshop to choose and purchase the books we want. But with amazon.com, all we need to do is to access to the website and it does everything for you.

Information Processing Cycle

Business process

A business process can be defined as a chain of activities within an organization that will lead to a specific goal. It involves fulfilling the requirements of the customer by providing a service or product.

Business process can be broken down into a few steps:

Step 1: The acquisition of raw materials. The raw materials used are of the lowest cost and highest quality. This is to ensure the highest profit without compromising the quality of the output.

Step 2: the structure and efficiency of the production. The skills of the employees and efficiency of the machine are important to this aspect of the business process.

Step 3: sales and marketing. It is necessary to think of ways to inform customers of the product, so as to raise awareness of the product. By making the process of placing an order easy for customers, they will be more willing to purchase it.

Step 4: delivery to the client. To meet the needs of the client, the order should be processed as soon as possible and the delivery date schedule must be met. On top of that, so as to improve on their product or service, the client’s feedback should be obtained on the product and delivery of it.

The Business Process of Tripadvisor.com:

Introduction:

Tripadvisor.com.com is a free travel guide that provides unbiased reviews from individuals who have personally experienced the location themselves. It features reviews mainly on hotels and restaurants.  It is said to be the world’s most trusted travel advice as mentioned on the website. It has travel forums that customers may wish to participate in.



Picture 1: How to write a review on tripadvisor.com?

                                       
-How it works? 

To write a review, choose the hotel in which you have stayed.  Click on the link that says “Write a Review”, which would bring you to fill up details of your stay. Photos and videos could be uploaded to provide a better picture of the hotel/restaurant to other potential customers.

Using the Step-by-Step guide of the Business process, the Business Process of trip advisor can be summarized as follows:

Step 1: Tripadvisor.com acquires information on the hotels and restaurants it helps to advertise. 

Step 2: Collating the information from all the hotels and restaurants, sorting and classifying them into groups.

Step 3: Using communication technology such as Facebook, Tripadvisor.com attracts viewers.

Step 4: It delivers the information that customer which to know of on the website where it is easily accessible to them.

Tripadvisor.com has successfully made use of communication technology like Facebook and MySpace to create awareness of the website and attract more viewers. The advices of different encounters by different individuals enable potential customers to assess and review the quality of the hotel/restaurant.

However, Tripadvisor.com could provide false, biased and unsubstantiated reviews. It has been said on other travel forums that students are paid to write reviews, and some have also said that some businesses have written bad reviews of their competitors. There is no guarantee that there are safeguards to prevent fraud.

Makemytrip.com

Makemytrip.com is an Indian online travel agency which allows to do trip arrangement all at a glance. It provides a variety of travel services and products ranging from international and domestic airline tickets, to purchase of Railway tickets and Bus tickets. Besides travel services, it also provide hotel reservations, car rentals and even holiday packages. Makemytrip.com has many franchises found all over the world.

It is indeed a useful service to consumers when they plan their trip. With this online agency, they are able to do their planning comfortably at home and able to plan their itinerary properly. The website also tells consumers which hotels and airline are popular. With these information, it helps them a lot when it comes to making a decision which and what to book. In any case consumers have decided to cancel their trip; they are also able to cancel their bookings easily from the website.

On the other hand, there are also come shortfalls for Makemytrip.com. Some customers complained that it does not state the complete terms of the ticket (example: whether baggage are allowed, advisement on the flexibility to change date of travel or cancel ticket) before booking tickets. Some customers also complained about the false terms stated when booking the ticket. And also, refunds to credit cards are sometimes delayed.

History of operation of Hotel Operation

Prior to the computerized system, tourists have to use the method of "request and reply" to book a hotel. They can either do it through the help of a middleman which is the travel agency or calling and faxing directly with the hotel that they are keen. Once the hotel gets their booking, they will then check the availability of the hotel with the master record in the form of a book or index cards in their filing cabinets. Since consumers have little access on the information of hotel, they will greatly depend on the travel agency recommendation. Hence, travel agency usually works closely with the hotel and earns a commission from the hotel by introducing their clients to their hotel.

However, the problem exists when the rooms are fully booked. The hotel employer will have to inform the sales agent, which is the travel agency; then the travel agency will have to ask the customer if there can choose an alternative date of travelling or even an alternative hotel. Especially in the busy schedule period, the hotel and the travel agency will have to experience a high volume of calling.

The evolution of Hotel Operation in embracing the advancement of ICT through their Business Process

When computer reservations system is implemented, the hotel operation greatly evolves. Internally, the hotel reduces greatly its paperwork as they can easily upload their customer data and the transaction into an online system. This in turn saves the time and trouble of employee going to the cabinet to search for customer date. On the flip side of the coin, since hotels have computerized many of its processes, many previously job position such as bookkeepers may be found redundant. The expenses of the hotel have transferred from manpower to setting up and maintenance of the information communication technology (ICT). However, the hotel will now require employee with specialized IT-trained personnel to maintain the system.

Picture 2: Making an online reservation at Marriott Hotel

Not only the computerized system benefits internally in the hotel, the ICT is able to reach out to the customers directly through the hotel direct online booking system (picture 2). To digress, we have mentioned that hotel has been working closely with the travel agency to clinch a business. The hotel has moved from a B2B (Business to Business) model to a B2C. The hotel can reduce its reliance on the travel agency as a middleman to find and liaise with the customers. The hotel now may chooses to collaborate with travel website such as www.makemytrip.com where it can reach to a bigger customer base since most of the customers will book online rather than going down to an agency to book a tour package. The hotel has also changes its market strategy where it previously relies on the travel agency and travelling book, such as lonely planet, to market the hotel to the consumer. Since everyone can get all the information about a hotel on the tip of their finger within a split second through websites such as www.tripadvisor.com. There is a decrease in information asymmetric between the consumer and the hotel. Through comparison sites like Tripadvisor.com, fellow travelers post online photos of the hotel and pinpoint the good and bad sides of the hotel.  To date, Tripadvisor.com has more than 35 million travel reviews around 70,000 destinations worldwide^[1] , it has indeed ease the traveler’s research time in comparison between hotels and unfound worry in finding accommodation that caters their needs. Hence hotel industry is getting more competitive, they have to provide worthy service for people to spread good words to the potential customer present in practically anywhere anytime. In contrast, each unique hotel also tried to form and market itself with a theme, ranging from cheap chic hotel (hotel Re!) to boutique hotel (nostalgia hotel)  to suit to the need of individual consumer.  There have been a surge in the people travelling for many different purposes, partly due to the advancement in information communication technology, and having a theme in the hotel will help in catching the attention of the customer. On the other hand, the surge in travelers is also due to the ease of booking a hotel directly with the hotel’s online reservation system or travel site which used Global Distribution Systems to sell hotel online as explained in the introduction. The customer can get an instant result upon the availability and confirmation of their hotel booking. Furthermore, most of the time customer will not be penalized if they cancel or add on booking 48 hours before their booking date; allowing customer to plan and update their trip efficiently. The hotel is also saved from trouble as cancelling the booking online will automatically release the unavailability slot online without having to disrupt the hotel online operation system. Another customer can book the release slot immediately. Adding on, hotels can also encourage the promotion of sustainability where booking, confirmation and payment can be done paperless which saves both the paper and paperwork.

In conclusion, ICT is here to stay and will keep on advancing in the near future as people are heavily dependent on it convenience and accessibility provided. As shown, ICT has greatly impacted on the way hotel operates, from the booking of a hotel room to using a swipe card to get into our booked room. Indeed, ICT helps people to brainstorm new ideas and explore new business opportunities like the rising of e-commerce website: Tripadvisor.com. However, ICT and business process must go hand in hand to work out. Only with business process, we can determine the ICT specification to form new information solution. We can then be organized, and be focused in getting the information we need and not getting unnecessary data that does not help in the operation. Without technology, probably travelling will not be so enjoyable as we have to face the uncertainties.