George Stergakis, IT Manager, Chatzilazarou Group: “We will invest in cybersecurity in 2019”
Information technology and new technologies play a key role in the development of the Hatzilazarou Group, as evidenced by the intriguing discussion NetFAX had with George Stergakis, IT Manager of the hotel group.
“In 2018 – July – the sixth hotel of the Group, which implemented a fiber-optic network, opened its doors, building a 10G backbone serving IP telephony, video streaming, IP TV, IP surveillance, access control, WiFi and Internet automation,” says G. Stergakis. Everything goes well beyond this network, which contributes to providing a “more up-to-date and better customer service, as well as increased staff productivity”. Project planning started in the second half of 2017 and was completed in April 2018, and was implemented by Smart NS. It is noted that the Group is a strategic partner of Cisco – 90% of its information infrastructure is Cisco – and within this was also installed in the new hotel Cisco solutions (IP telephony, switches, servers, etc.).
Smart Hotel The new hotel (Mayia Exclusive Resort & Spa) ran a building automation project, co-ordinated by the IT department, a project that will form the basis for what will follow this year: “What we are working on now and will be very busy in 2019 is the integration of automation that already exist with mobile apps. This means, for example, that the customer will be able to turn off the lights in their room or view the room temperature from their cellphone. “This project will only run on the new hotel with the required infrastructure, and if it goes well – “the signs are very encouraging so far” – it will be applied to any hotel renovations the Group will make in the future. The new hotel will run another complex project this year on infrastructure integration – the problem with other hotels is that they do not currently have the required automation infrastructure, though they intend to apply integration in the future. “All of our databases are in the hotel program, which is the core of our business.
From there all the ‘bridges’ with all other systems are made. All we want to do is integrate them by, for example, enabling our customer to check-in when downloading our hotel app on the mobile to gain full access and control over his room. “GDPR and security enhancement While the smart hotel project will be confined to the Mayia Exclusive Resort & Spa, dealing with GDPR and enhancing information security are projects that will run throughout the group. “We want to maximize the security of our information systems, we are at a point where we see gaps and are improving, and we may work with a specific company to do penetration testing – at the same time working with GDPR as well as with GDPR. staff training in security awareness ”stresses G. Stergakis. As part of enhancing information security and harmonization with the GDPR, another major project is underway, which will run across all group hotels: “We will provide special scanners, such as those used at airports, which are 100% GDPR compliant and will allow us to ‘scan’ our clients’ passports. This will then be automatically imported into our hotel program, speeding up the procedures significantly. ” The solution chosen for this purpose is PassportScan, a solution whose official representation in Greece was recently undertaken by Eurotel Hospitality.
Finally, another issue that the Hadjilazarou Group’s IT department will address this year is its involvement in the design of the Group’s new hotel, which will open in Kiotari, Rhodes, and is expected to be ready in 2020 or 2021. The group is constantly developing and investing, with IT continuing to play an essential supporting role in this and in the future.
Fuente: http://www.netweek.gr/default.asp?pid=9&la=1&cID=4&arId=39611