Why vendor support is needed
Technical support from a software manufacturer or official dealer is an absolute necessity, even if the hotel has an IT department or employs an IT specialist. The reason for this is easy to explain; although hotel staff can be well-versed in all the details, they need the assistance of someone who understands the product thoroughly in non-routine situations.
Specific tasks
The hotel IT specialist will be familiar with all the business transactions and specifics of their hotel and can deal with the standard issues that occur during day-to-day business, but difficulties arise when non-standard critical situations take place. These incidents usually happen at night, during weekends, or on public holidays, and it is at these moments that 24-hour technical support becomes essential. To quickly restore a system operation or solve a small but critical problem, thorough product knowledge is required.
Effective cooperation
The HRS Technical Service department works closely with our customers’ IT departments, and the extent of this liaison determines how quickly technical questions can be dealt with.
We can interact with customers via several channels; e-mail, customer liaison, online feedback, hotline, and to aid even faster communication we have created a mobile app, a fast path to instant feedback from a specialist. In addition to our customer service, we offer numerous training webinars, which explain how the systems work in detail.
As a service company, customer feedback is extremely important to us, consequently, we adjust and improve our performance regularly.
Adjusting for legislation and localization
Another important aspect of technical support is how we implement the legal requirements in each of the countries that our company operates. Legislative issues deal not only with fiscal requirements and reporting to the immigration authorities, but also the implementation of new functions that we provide to clients when connecting new payment services. For example, we have implemented projects on connection to the QR-code-based swift payment system (SBS) as well as payment links service, which allows our clients to pay at a time that is convenient to them, and from their preferred device.
The implementation of these complex tasks requires not only the configuration of our systems but also the development of new software modules. This part of our service will remain unchanged, even if all our software products move to the cloud. We will, however, continue to provide our services around the clock, and in a language that is convenient for the customer.
Turnkey service
I must emphasize that we still value those customers who turn to us for technical support as part of a one-stop-shop service. This type of technical support is of particular relevance for our chain restaurant clients, and those who only have a small number of rooms. If a client chooses this type of service, our specialists will take care of all technical questions, along with any communication with external companies.
Our service team consists of specialists with at least five years of experience. It is this expertise, based on IT and hospitality industry knowledge, that enables us to provide a quality technical service tailored to the business processes found in hotels and restaurants.
When implementing the requirements of fiscal legislation, we always make use of customer-friendly functions with a high level of automation. This is the main aim of our software products; regardless of work location within a hotel, we ensure that daily operational work is easy to understand, whilst at the same time providing a clear picture of the financial situation for hotel owners and managers.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope that all of your work proceeds without any technical failures, but should it not, HRS will be there to help.
Author: Irina Borisova
HRS Regional Director of Support Service
This article has been originally published on hotel.report on December 23, 2021.
