The document discusses applications of information technology in three industries: retail, banking, and manufacturing. For retail, it describes how wireless networks enable mobile point-of-sale, improved inventory management, enhanced customer service through price verification kiosks and assistance requests, wireless voice communication between employees, efficient price changes and auditing, and RFID tracking of inventory and equipment. For banking, it outlines applications for lending operations, legacy system modernization, anti-money laundering compliance, Basel II support, testing processes, and lending optimization. For manufacturing, it notes how RFID and wireless sensors improve visibility of operations and help optimize production processes.

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Subject : IT
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Topic : A Study on IT applications in Three Industries
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6/28/2011
Surabhi Agarwal
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PG-FW/10-12
Section- A
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2. Retail
Introduction
The retail industry is one that lives and dies on margins, with managers on a never-ending
quest to increase revenue and decrease costs. Technology has been an area of intense
focus in retail industries as a way to accomplish both goals. Improvements have been made
in areas such as supply chain management, inventory management, customer experience,
and loss prevention. Wireless technology, permitting communication between people and
devices anywhere and without cables, has enabled the dramatic transformation of business
processes in the past, and continues to do so. However, wireless deployments in the past
have been limited by security requirements, the cost of deployment, inadequate
management solutions, lack of standards, and availability of innovative solutions. Rapid
advances in wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in recent years along with
widespread adoption of the technology in the consumer and enterprise space have
eliminated many of these roadblocks. Today, a new wave of opportunity exists for retail
industries to improve margins through the use of wireless technology. This white paper
discusses the applications for this technology, the security requirements in a retail
environment, and considerations when selecting the right architecture for mobile network
deployments.
Retail Applications for Mobility
In the general enterprise market, wireless LANs are being adopted primarily as part of the
networking infrastructure, to support standard desktop applications such as email, web
browsing, file server access, and other conventional enterprise applications. In the retail
industry, wireless LANs are deployed to support much more specific and innovative
applications, with a focus on either improving existing processes or adding new ones.
Mobile Point-of-Sale
Point-of-Sale (POS) is the physical location where goods are sold to customers.
Traditionally, this was a counter where a cash register was located. Customers would line
up in front of the counter and wait for their turn. Sales counters are a fixed size, however,
and can support a fixed number of people.
Increasing the size of the sales counter is not possible, so customers are forced to endure
long lines during congested periods such as holidays. Studies show that as many as one in
ten customers will abandon the line while waiting, leaving the store without making a
purchase. Long lines also engender ill will from customers, making them less likely to return
to a store in the future. Wireless LAN technology can help in two major ways:

3. ƒ Fully mobile point-of-sale stations can be set up using handheld computers, scanners, and
printers with integrated credit card readers. During high-volume sales periods, salespeople
outfitted with these mobile POS terminals can be positioned throughout a store at small
tables.
For customers paying by credit card, the full transaction can be completed and a store
receipt printed where it is convenient for the customer. Clearly, strong security is a
requirement from the network when credit card transactions are involved. A later section in
this white paper will discuss security requirements in much more detail.
ƒ Mobile “line busting” personnel can move through checkout lines with handheld
computers to accelerate the checkout process. The sales staff can use their own judgment
in processing each transaction. For credit card customers with a small amount of
merchandise, the entire transaction may be completed while the customer is still in line.
For other customers, merchandise can be scanned with a barcode scanner and a ticket
printed with prices and a master barcode on it. While waiting in line, the customer has the
chance to review prices printed on the ticket. Upon reaching the checkout counter, the
ticket is scanned, the total amount is recalled from a backend system, and the transaction is
completed without the checkout clerk needing to process each item individually.
Traditional cash registers and desktop scanners can also be attached to backend systems via
wireless LAN. This benefits retailers with both reduced cabling costs and increased flexibility
in store reconfiguration. With wireless-connected equipment, checkout stations can be
moved anywhere without a need to hire cabling contractors to run new network cabling.
Inventory Management
Management of in-store inventory, both in the retail space and the warehouse, is a major
area of expense for retailers. Merchandise must be entered into inventory upon arrival at
the loading dock, tracked when it is moved to the floor, and removed from inventory when
it is sold. In addition, real-time inventory information must be available to store clerks when
an item is out of stock on the floor, but is available from the store room or warehouse.
Finally, accurate inventory information can reduce out-ofstock conditions. The Grocery
Manufacturers of America (GMA) Direct Store Delivery committee commissioned a study
that found that shoppers cannot find the product they are seeking 7.4% of the time they
shop, with 40% of those shoppers postponing their purchase or going to another store
instead.
i Reducing out-of-stock is therefore a clear way of boosting sales and increasing customer
satisfaction. One clothing retailer implemented a system through which store associates
using wireless handheld computers and in-store wireless kiosks were continuously
connected to a regional inventory database. If a customer found an item out of stock in the
store, the associate could immediately place an order to have the item drop-shipped

4. directly to the customer’s home. After implementing this system, the retailer realized a 3%
increase in store revenue – paying for the new system in only four months.
In the shipping and receiving area, wireless technology can be used in the form of handheld
barcode scanners and entry terminals linked to back-end systems over wireless LAN.into
inventory with the warehouse location of the items tracked instantly. Many retailers use
DEX/UCS (Direct Exchange/Uniform Communication Standard) to allow delivery drivers to
directly input invoices into a store’s accounting system, simplifying billing and accounting.
Most DEX interfaces use a wired port, requiring cabling to be run and a physical connection
between delivery driver handheld terminals and the DEX port. Some vendors are now
producing wireless DEX terminals that uplink over a wireless LAN. These wireless DEX
terminals can be placed anywhere, and require no cabling. In the future, delivery drivers
may be equipped with a wireless version of DEX that could securely connect to the retailer’s
system without the need for cables.
Store associates using wireless-enabled handheld computers can easily and quickly perform
inventory management tasks. For example, handheld computers with integrated barcode
scanners can be used during restocking periods to instantly track how much product is on
the floor and how much was moved to the floor from the back room. When merchandise is
available in the warehouse or back room but is out of stock on the main floor, store
associates can easily use wireless terminals to view the location of merchandise. With the
addition of wireless printers, price updates can also be performed on the spot.
Customer Service
Technology is a relatively inexpensive way to improve customer service. Besides long
checkout lines, two of the largest sources of customer complaints in retail establishments
involve pricing problems and a lack of available store associates to help locate merchandise
or answer questions. Wireless technology can help on both fronts, without requiring a
retailer to hire additional staff. First, price verification kiosks have become very popular
with retailers and tech-savvy customers. Promotional sales, mislabeled merchandise,
missing shelf price tags, and returned merchandise can make determining an accurate price
difficult for customers. If a price verification kiosk is nearby, customers can take the
merchandise, scan the barcode tag, and quickly determine the actual price. If a printer is
attached to the kiosk, customers can print their own advisory price tags as well. While these
price tags are not used by store personnel at the point of sale, they can be helpful in
resolving pricing disputes because the customer can verify that the cash register records the
same price the customer expected to be charged. Wireless technology assists in placing
price verification kiosks because it eliminates the need for cables and makes the kiosks
mobile. If a large sale is taking place in one department, it may be advantageous to place a
larger number of kiosks in that department. These kiosks can then be moved to another
department when the need shifts. This would be impossible if cables needed to be run each
time.

5. Another area where wireless can improve the customer experience is in obtaining assistance
with merchandise or other questions. Self-help kiosks can be easily placed around a store
giving customers touch-screen access to store directories, inventory information for all
nearby stores in a chain, current sales, and product information. Some retailers have
augmented these self-help kiosks with a “get help” button. When pressed, the system
alerts nearby store associates carrying Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that are voice-
enabled. A store associate may respond either by voice or through pre-defined text
messages such as, “I’m helping a customer now but will be there in approximately two
minutes.”
Such kiosks often can let customers find their own answers to questions, and eliminate the
need for a customer to walk around the store trying to locate associates.
Wireless Voice Communication
Many retailers use two-way radios or walkie-talkies for voice communication between store
associates. Two types of systems are in common use – one uses licensed radio frequencies,
the other uses unlicensed spectrum. Both have their share of problems – the licensed
radios impose extra costs on the retailer in order to pay for the frequency license, but
ensure that radios are free from interference. The unlicensed radios are free to operate,
but are subject to interference from other business nearby. Both systems are subject to
interception and monitoring by anyone with an off-the-shelf scanner, and both systems
require store personnel to carry around a radio.
A wireless LAN can enable secure voice communication that is free from interference,
operates in unlicensed spectrum, and is encrypted to prevent eavesdropping. Voice devices
can include purposebuilt walkie-talkies, but today are more commonly based on converged
devices such as PDAs with integrated retail features like barcode scanners. Popular
application software and devices are available today that give a store associate access to
store inventory, point of sale, voice communication, instant messaging, and even external
data such as inventory at other stores in the region. Voice communication can be
“broadcast”, where all employees hear the same thing, or “unicast” where a conversation
happens between two employees. Group communication, or “multicast”, is also available
which can be used to let groups of managers communicate only amongst each other.
Price Changes and Auditing
One retailer conducted a study of the time required to process price changes and shelf
labeling. Mid-day price changes are also enabled, since an employee with a mobile terminal
can print a new shelf label, place it, and update the store’s server instantaneously.
Price auditing can be equally time-consuming. With wireless handheld computers, a store
associate can walk aisles scanning shelf labels with a barcode scanner. The handheld
computer initiates a price lookup in the store’s UPC database – the same database linked to

6. point-of-sale terminals that determine the price charged to customers. If a discrepancy is
found between the price on the shelf and the price in the database, the store associate can
immediately print a new shelf label to correct the discrepancy. Accurate pricing protects
the retailer’s profits when a pricing error favors the customer. It also helps reduce the time
associates must spend checking prices at checkout, and increases customer loyalty.
RFID and Location Tracking
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has received a huge amount of attention in recent
years, with many predicting that the technology will revolutionize everything from logistics
to inventory processing to the customer experience. While time will tell if these predictions
hold up, the use of wireless technology to track objects is certainly promising. There are
two general types of RFID in use today – passive and active. Passive RFID uses small,
inexpensive tags or stickers that contain a unique identifier. The cost of RFID tags is not yet
low enough to place tags on every individual item, so tags today are typically placed on
cases or pallets of goods. Passive RFID tags contain no battery, and must be energized by
RFID readers located within a few meters. The typical use for passive RFID is to track
inventory as it moves through doors, loading docks, or other “choke points” in a retail
operation. Passive RFID systems keep track of events such as “Tag 125532 passed reader 26
on conveyor belt 3 at 14:52:11.” Some RFID systems can determine direction of passage, to
record if a tag moved into or out of a room.
Active RFID tags, on the other hand, contain a battery and active electronics and are thus
slightly larger and more expensive. The current generation of active tags uses standard
802.11 wireless LAN technology and can interoperate with other devices, such as barcode
scanners and PCs, on a wireless LAN. This means that only a single network needs to be
deployed and managed, with all radio devices in a retail operation using the same network.
Active RFID tags need not be physically close to a wireless access point – they can
communicate with access points as far as 150 feet (46 meters) away.
Because of this property, active RFID tags are often used for location tracking. Location
tracking works when three or more wireless access points detect a short signal, known as a
“blink”, coming from anactive tag. By comparing the signal strength at the different access
points, a triangulation algorithm may be applied that determines the physical location of the
tag within a building. Active RFID is useful for locating inventory, capital equipment such as
forklifts or pallet jacks, or other high-value items that move around. Because active RFID
tags are just special-purpose wireless LAN radios, location tracking may also be used with
any wireless LAN radio. This includes laptop computers, PDAs, wireless barcode scanners,
printers, voice handsets, and any other device that operates on the wireless LAN. Location
tracking enables applications such as paging the associate physically closest to a particular
department, or keeping track of how many employees are working in different parts of a
store.

7. BANKING
Application services for banking:
Lending value chain sourcing - Provides highly effective and efficient application
management services across fulfillment and servicing operations.
Legacy application modernization and rationalization - Reduces the cost of
managing legacy applications within your core banking environment.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Solutions - The maintenance and support of AML
solutions utilizes IBM's AML Centre of Excellence.
Basel II application management and support - Reduce maintenance and support
costs to enhance business value for critical applications.
Testing assessment -Identify and implement improved testing processes in critical
business areas, as when there are complex interfaces with third party data services
or high volumes of data to be managed.
Self-funded business transformation -Direct savings into business transformation,
with no increase in overall net cost.
Lending optimization - Application development and management can assist in
driving out cost within the lending process. Outsourcing also results in the ability to
focus on your core processes.
Applications of Information Technology in Banks in India While computer by itself is the
most cherished invention that man has ever accomplished, its union with communication
technology which is at its pinnacle, has brought yet another amazing extension to its already
fabulous capabilities. From the period of Marconi to this day , the improvements that have
taken place in the television , have literally brought the entire world into an individual’s
bedroom. Joining this powerful communication environment , the IT has opened flood gates
for global economic activity.The contribution of economic and political changes that have so
far taken place to encourage international trade will bear fruit only when banking and the
associated services can catch up with the new trends. The modern IT has enough
capabilities to enable banks, financial institutions and others to bring about the desired
changes.
Banking sector reforms introduced a decade ago in 1992-93 , have been based on five
fundamentals:
1.Strengthening of prudential norms and market discipline.
2.Appropriate adoption of International benchmarks.
3.Management of organizational change and consolidation.
4.Technological upgradation.

8. 5.Human resource development.
The Financial Reforms that were initiated in the early 90s and the globalization and
liberalization measures brought in a completely new operating environment to the Banks
that were till then operating in a highly protected milieu.Services and products like
"Anywhere Banking" "Tele-Banking" "Internet banking" "Web Banking" , e-banking, e-
commerce, e-business etc. have become the buzzwords of the day and the Banks are trying
to cope with the competition by offering innovative and attractively packaged technology-
based services to their customers.Reserve Bank of India constituted a committee under the
chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan. The main task of the committee was preparation of a
plan for computerization for the period 1990-1994 ( for 5 Years ).
For the purpose of computerization , the committee selected the important areas relating
to customer service , internal-decision-making process , productivity and profitability. The
committee furnished its report on November 9, 1989 with the following recommendations-
1.The branches having daily average level of vouchers at more than 750 should be
computerized .
2.Computerization on branch level should be achieved on any of the following basis-
(i)Selected branches will have on-line terminals with micro and mini-computers which will
be linked with central main-frame computer to provide counter service and other office-
services.
(ii)Personal computers will be installed at counters which will be linked with local area
network.
(iii)For third option , the banks will have to depend on Telecom line.
3.The banks should gradually use developed devices such as- Photocopier , FAX , Duplicator
, Microfilm , Signature Storage , Scanners etc.
4.Non-computerized branches can take the services of other local computerized branch /
office in case of important task.
5.The customers should have the facility to route their business to any branch of the bank.
6.All-Bank Credit Card should be issued.
7.Computers should be made bilingual and proper training arrangements should be made to
provide training to staff members.
8.The regular customers should be offered On-line facility.
9.Like some European countries , there should be a system of credit clearing. 10.BANKNET
should be used for interbank and intra bank applications.

9. 11.All Regional offices and Zonal offices to be computerized in a phased manner.
Rangarajan Committee – 1989: A Statistical Analysis Rangarajan Committee ( 1989 ) has
focused its stress on computerization of banks. A statistical analysis was also made in the
report of committee. In this analysis ,it was mentioned that following jobs can be rapidly
and easily performed at Regional Office/Zonal office level.
1.To ascertain the bad and doubtful debts and to make provision for them.
2.To claim the amount under Credit Guarantee Schemes of DICGC.
3.To communicate , analyze and forecast the data for trade-plan.
4.To make action plan for recovery of advances.
5.Personnel Information System.
6.Credit Information System.
7.Checking of figures of priority sector advances.
8.Consolidation of statements/figures to be sent to the RBI.
Present level of Computerization: Based on the norms worked out by Rangarajan
Committee (II), 7827 branches of the Public Sector banks were identified for full branch
computerization up to March 2000 of which around 4620 were computerized as on March
99. Meanwhile, the networking of the already-computerized branches also assumed
urgency and some of the Banks have started inter-connecting their computerized branches
using leased telephone lines or Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATS). This is meant to
provide a more comprehensive service to customers and at the same time give banks better
centralized control over the branch operations. As of now, New Private Sector and Foreign
Banks have an edge over Public Sector Banks as far as implementation of technological
solutions is concerned. However, the latter are in the process of making huge investments in
technology.
Emergence of Smart Cards
The establishment of so called ‘electronic cash’ facilities have been the latest major IT
development in bank markets. The main difference between e-cash and previous
applications is the possibility for individuals to engage in economic transactions but without
recourse or claim over bank liabilities. Smart cards are the latest stage in the evolution in
the use of plastic cards. Smart cards (e.g. Mondex and Visa Cash) and some applications of
electronic commerce over the Internet are innovations that have emerged as means of

10. payment and the substitution of notes and coins issued by central banks by electronic data
interchange applications.
Credit cards would enhance the convenience of retailers and individuals. Convenience
increased because cards offered more stable value than cheques (which are easier to forge
or risk failure because of insufficient funds) and are more portable than cash (i.e., higher
value to bulk ratio). Cards did not and have not displaced bank issued money for two
reasons. First, because card-based transactions involve the payment of commissions to both
the merchant acquirer and the card issuer. This payment typically involves a percentage of
the transaction's value and thus, introduced the need for a minimum transaction value so
card payments would be cost effective for card issuers.
Secondly, card receipts are redeemable only by the merchant acquirer or the card issuer
rather than payable on demand.
As mentioned above, an added characteristic of credit cards was a magnetic stripe which
provided electronic means of supplying card details. Magnetic stripes would contain
information for verification of cardholders' personal identification through an ‘off-line’
transaction by a card-reading terminal.
Hence, e-cash technology seems likelier to succeed by drawing on:
• unattended locations (such as telephones, transport, vending, etc where operational
savings are high and customer benefits evident);
• customer segments who do not have a plastic card but desire one;
• closed schemes with multiple functions (such as university campus cards or social security
payments); and supporting infrastructure of electronic commerce (this assuming e-
commerce develops to support a significant proportion of total economic transactions).
Increasing the Service Offer
Partial success of most of these applications questions whether technological change in the
Digital Age(as opposed to those in the Information Age ) offers new forms of competition
and business models in bank markets. On the one hand, commercial banks have coped with
technological innovation and accomplished managers' intended objectives with varying
success. Technology has opened the way for banks to improve their cost structures provided
they could induce customers to change their behaviour according to banks' expectations. At
the same time, there have been uneven effects from the same technological innovation
across distinct geography.
The propensity of banking organisations to adopt technological innovation evolves around
the match between the new application and the resources, capacities and capabilities that
organisations have accumulated over time. Banks have had no proprietary hold on most of

11. their technology and this has been notably the case with the technology fuelling the growth
of the latest applications (such as Internet banking or middle-ware solutions). Some
established participants in bank markets have responded by offering non-traditional
services like holiday travel (e.g. Midland and Thomas Cook) and real estate agencies (e.g.
Lloyds' Black Horse Agencies). However, the vast majority responded through new service
offerings in core areas and by increasing the diversity in their products in terms of markets
and customer groups. A reduced number of banking organisations (such as HSBC, BBVA,
BSCH, ABNAmro, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup) also increased their geographical scope, but
most other banks found little joy in cross-border and foreign operations that failed to match
the returns available in home markets. Participants in bank markets have thus tried to use
technological applications and IT in particular to integrate retail and financial services into
‘one-stop’ shopping, support volume-oriented sales, and strengthen their brand name and
corporate culture.

12. Tourism
Abstract
The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to
reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service
quality and customer experience.
The intense competition in today's business environment means that tourism and
hospitality businesses have to work hard to maintain and develop their competitiveness.
The success of a business, to certain extent, depends on its ability to acquire and utilize
updated information to assist its management and marketing processes. Hence, Information
Technology (IT) assists organization to manage information dynamically and influences
business competitiveness through assisting decision makers to make appropriate
investments and decisions. IT helps to meet the demands for timely and accurate
information by customers and the IT diffusion in the tourism and hospitality industries has
recently increased at an unprecedented. This is evident by the ubiquitous presence of IT
systems that work cooperatively to assist managers to deliver quality service to their
customers and to enhance operational efficiency and control costs.
More strategically, IT is gradually reshaping the fundamental structure of industry and
society. IT can generate the knowledge at the center of a business's competitiveness
Tourism and hospitality are social phenomena, and the industries associated with them are
largely application oriented. Researchers in this field have conducted, and will continue to
conduct, research that generates innovative knowledge that will benefit these industries
and ultimately society. As investment in and the adoption of IT are now indispensable
components of the tourism and hospitality business, IT serves as a tool for both enabling
and inducing change. As such, IT has recently drawn the attention of tourism and hospitality
researchers worldwide, who have disseminated their findings in research journals. It is
advantageous for tourism and hospitality managers in general and marketing managers in
particular to be aware of the recent changes in IT and their relationship with customer
service. As IT development becomes more sophisticated, industrial practitioners, educators,
and policy makers may find increasing difficulty in selecting, analyzing, implementing, and
operating new IT systems. Research journals, as a vigorous channel of knowledge
dissemination, can offer peer‐reviewed and unbiased information on IT analysis, evaluation,
and industrial best practice. In view of the paramount importance of IT applications in the
tourism and hospitality industries and the absence of published articles that review the
recent developments in this area.
According to Kotler et al. (1999), no matter a purchase is conducted online or offline,
consumers will go though the five stages in buyers' decision‐making process before any
purchase is made. These five stages include need recognition, information search,

13. evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post‐purchase behavior. The studies
presented in the next five subsections show IT plays an important role in each of the stages
of the buyers' decision‐making process.
Consumer Need Recognition
Understanding consumer behavior and especially consumer information search behavior,
can help industrial managers to develop, optimize search engine, and customize their
websites to meet the needs of their customers. The Internet has become one of the most
important sources of consumer information especially for young and better educated
consumers (. However, mature and senior travelers still prefer printed brochures as their
major information source , and many travelers use the Internet in conjunction with offline
information to plan a trip.
Information Search
Consumers of different gender, age, nationality, educational background, and lifestyle
display different search patterns. Many people prefer to book online when they have
previously traveled to a destination and they feel familiar with the place, although many still
treasure their established relationships with travel agents Travelers required different
information from the Internet at different stages of travel. For instance, before departure,
the availability of information can affect travel planning while later on they may seek
reassurance from review sites that they have selected the right products
For customers searching on the Internet for the lowest room rates, the websites of travel
agents and reservation agents are likely to be the best choice . In the Internet era, search
engines play an important role in information searching , and the Google search engine in
particular is perceived to be the most important tool . To better understand the search
patterns of customers using a search engine, researchers have analyzed search query
formula and keywords . More recently, mobile technologies that provide a new and
convenient way for tourists to gather information from any location, and perhaps more
significantly at the destination, have been introduced. Mobile technologies support
location‐based services, interpretation at the destination, and dynamic interaction with
tourism
IT can also assist in examining the tourist movement and in marketing research. This
technique can have great benefits for tourism marketers to understand consumer behavior
while at the destination and to develop strategies for creating tourism experiences.
Interestingly, although tourists can locate travel information on the Internet, one study
showed that only 3% of tourists surveyed ate at a restaurant that they had found on the
Internet .
Evaluation of Alternatives
Consumers use IT extensively to evaluate alternative travel opportunities and to compare
and contrast offerings.In addition, online shopping motivation differs according to the
complexity of the website, with variation depending on the Internet skill levels of users .
Purchase Decision
More customers now purchase tourism products through websites, and perceive that a
website's image and usability directly affects their purchase intentions . As such,
understanding customer perceptions is crucial to the development of a successful website

14. Business travelers who look for comprehensive IT services in hotels are willing to pay for
certain IT services because they understand that hotels have to bear the high costs of
implementing such technology. Such guests look forward to hotels adopting e‐commerce
and IT applications that meet their needs. Understanding different consumer's online
behavior could increase the possibility of online transaction completion .
Post‐Purchase Behavior
After travelers have returned home, they often like to share and exchange their travel
experience. Review sites such as Tripadvisor or Holidaycheck.de and blogs are popular
digital platforms for travelers to express their feelings and to rate their experience .As
tourists enjoy sharing their travel diaries and photo albums, the creation of a 3D e‐tourism
environment has been recommended to enhance the playfulness of the digital environment.
This will be possible with new applications that emerge in the marketplace such as
Microsoft's Photosynth application.
Blogs themselves have changed the face of communication, and may lead to corporations
potentially losing control of information exposure. If managers do not closely monitor the
digital society, they will not know their customers' views and what is being discussed about
their brand online Different data sources—such as blogs, online travel magazines, review
sites, travel websites, and official tourism websites—project different destination images,
often chaotic and uncoordinated, because they bring content from different sources and
target different audiences.
Risk Management
One of the most important components in e‐business is payment, and the purchase process
cannot be completed without money being involved. As the travel industry gradually relies
more heavily on IT, there is also an increasing concern among consumers about privacy ,
although gradually consumers accept that they will have to sacrifice privacy for better
customer service.
Managerial Implications
In the hospitality and tourism industries, IT is critical for raising customers' awareness,
developing a realistic promise, and delivering a comprehensive service. Managers should
therefore use IT to manage their offerings according to their consumer behavior circle. For
instance, managers should ensure that their website information focuses on customers'
needs, and should maintain a high search engine ranking. They should also have a realistic
expectation of the target users of their IT implementation and develop comprehensive
solutions to satisfy the needs of all their stakeholders. For instance, restaurant managers
should also use their websites as a advertisement channel for targeting local clientele,
rather than purely to attract tourists. IT not only can enhance learning experiences and
reduce training costs by CAI, it is an important marketing channel for academic institutes
and industry recruiting students and staff .Industrial practitioners should also look at
customer comments on blogs and discussion forums in order to learn from each other's
experience. Finally, policies on customers' privacy protection in relation to IT usage should
be stated clearly.