INTRODUCTION
Hospitality industry usually uses different channels for the distributions including distribution through other properties through their own chain, joining hands with well organised marketing consultant, using third party for outsourcing on their behalf. Most companies involved in this business also use travel agents, tour operators and incentive houses as their channel of distribution. Distribution channel can be defined in simple words as medium for customers to get sufficient information about desired product or services at right time. This helps them to make a right decision to purchase a product, to make a right reservation in their desired hotel or pay for required product. Now a day’s hospitality industry is making use of electronic distribution channels widely. The usage of internet in hospitality industry as a medium communication is only about a decade old. Yet internet is used as a major marketing and communication tools in this business world. The internet is known as global network of networks. Many companies have started using e-commerce as their business tool. They also started to redefine their roles and operations in order to provide better service to the changing needs of customers (Alba et al., 1997; Peterson et al., 1997; Weber and Roehl, 1999). Internet in simple words can be defined as a collection of interconnected computer networks and a medium to get and give free information to customers.
Distribution of the inventory through electronic channel has become one of the main priorities for the hospitality industry.. Also due high competition from competitors a good distribution channel is essential for the company. Therefore most of the companies are using electronic distribution (e-distribution) channels in order to provide better and fast services to customer. This will enhance the profitability to both customers and company helping them to build a better relationship between them. E-distribution possesses many benefits for consumer and producer. At the same time it also has to handle some security issues before implementing the e-distribution. Security issues are very common for every web developed program or software used. But if this security issues are not handled properly then it might create major problem for the company affecting the customer relationship.
In this chapter we will try to indentify the major security issues faced in electronic distribution by the hospitality industry. Also the various theories related to e-distribution and its security issues faced by the will explored in details in this chapter. The main aim of the chapter is to discuss a particular security issue among different issues in term of e-distribution faced by hospitality industry. Further in the essay we also discuss the other issue and recent developments in short about the e-distribution in hospitality industry. Also we discuss the causes of the security issues of e-distribution in hospitality industry and how to overcome such security flaws in the hospitality business. As we approach toward the end of essay we provide a short explanation about the e-distribution technology which is used effectively by this industry. Finally to conclude to paper we provide the reasons and argument for the security issues in e-distribution faced by the hospitality industry.
Role and development of E-distribution in hospitality industry.
E-distribution is a powerful business application used by many companies that facilitates every aspects of the organisation’s distribution chain from customer, ordering inventories, delivery, and payments right through the service management. All the useful data is available on the web browser which helps the organisation to computerize the business and also allows the company to make real time critical decisions. E-distribution is a latest web based technology which provides the business manageable and full functional application for organisation to meet business needs and achieve cost effectiveness. It is important for the organisation to use this web based application to reduce processing time and cost, improve business efficiency, improve the quality of sales and services provided which helps the company to excel in today’s competitive world. According to Sheldon (1997), this development in information technology has helped companies’ electronic connection around the globe, transferring the information to customer, business community, industries and international communities. Therefore use of e-distribution has become effective in tourism and hospitality business. In addition to this internet has changed the traditional travel and distribution scenario. The key benefit of the e-distribution is that it is a direct route to the customer. E-distribution has lessened the cost of e-booking which has encouraged the customer to use e-distribution regularly. According to O’Connor (2000), reduced cost by using e-distribution has made the tourism supplier excited of using the web distribution system efficiently. Traveller’s knowledge, attitude and behaviour have been affected positively by information and communication technology. The hospitality industry is experiencing globalization, increased no of competitors, high customer turnover etc. This means companies performance and competitiveness purely depends upon satisfaction and effective usage of service by customers. Pine (1998) argues that now a days customers has become more price sensitive, less brand loyal and more sophisticated due to increasing online pricing and product transparency. Building relationship with customers is an key element in sustaining the company’s brand image and developing business (Nassar 2002, Essawy 2004). Electronic distribution has become the most important tool for the promotion sales and marketing, merchandising and a mode of communication. Electronic distribution channels have guided the company to the development and product innovation. But this e-distribution channel faces several security issues which affect its efficiency. Failure to develop electronic commerce capabilities will lead to strategic vulnerability and a competitive disadvantage. The problem of complexity, over pricing, quality issue on service provided and so on. The other major issue face by the e-distribution channel is security issues. In the next section of this essay we will critically analyse security issue concerned with the e-distribution in hospitality industry.
SECURITY ISSUES OF E-DISTRUBUTION IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Security issues in e-distribution are a major concern for both the companies offering services and the customers using the provided services. For the companies providing the services the fears for loss of the financial data and a bad publicity for the organisation. The consumer who is using the service provided fears for loss of their private and financial data’s. In today’s world technology online spam, cookies, click streams are just few threats faced by the companies using e-distribution channels. According Lardner (1999), great lack of public confidence also poses a major threat for the full implementation of electronic technology for e-distribution in hospitality business. These issues are mainly not concerned with security of value, but also about the trust the information technology society. Security issues are major news items for IT users or companies. Also many articles and journal are found in web on the security issues of e-distribution in hospitality and tourism industry. Some studies done by several researchers have supported facts about the security issues. Security can be defined as protection of data against accidental or intentional disclosure to unauthorized persons, or unauthorized modifications or destruction. Security concern is one of the major reason given by most web users for not purchasing or reserving online. Reluctance to internet is very low as there are many barriers in usage of internet for the e-distribution and e-commerce related activities. According to Murphy (1998), even though the major security concern is for the customer who uses credit card for online hotel reservation and other services provided by any hospitality industry, payment fraud is also a major threat for the internet based organisation.
There various security concern faced by the hospitality industry while implementing their e-distribution in their business. Computer is one of the serious problems faced by these companies. There are some other issues which also pose threats to hospitality industry while implementing the e-distribution channels. In next section we will discuss a particular security issue concerned with the e-distribution of hospitality business. It is important for a company use the electronic distribution effective as most of their product is perishable (O’Connor & Frew, 2002). The key benefit for the organisation of web distribution is its direct route to the customers. The main function of using e-distribution channel in hotel industry as it enables the organisational to provide
Social and organisational issues in security.
There are many social and organisation issues in security in e-distribution in hospitality business. According Treese and Stewart (1998), organisational issues related to security is implementing technology without proper organisational process. There are some other aspects other than technology related to security social issues in security. Other than technology, the first aspect is the weak link in security is often the user or the employers using the web service (Anderson 1994). Second aspect is the software engineering management. According to Anderson (2001a), inadequate knowledge about software engineering management and how to deploy this security technology in e-distribution is a serious flaw in security of e-distribution in hospitality industry. The third aspect related to issues of security is development of adequate organisational process for risk management, introduction of security policies, security assurances and access control. The inability or unwillingness of the user to hold the important security principles and guidelines seems to a continuous problem faced by the companies the e-distribution. Also usage of incorrect models of security is major concern for the organisation. According to Davis (1996), the user is unable to realise their needs therefore they do not take any necessary precaution for the e-technologies they use for its effective implementation. For example, the internet user may store the password of personal records on an exposed machine or the employees may disclose their password to third or rival parties. Social engineering is also an important threat involved in the security of e-distribution of hospitality business. To obtain the important authenticity data from web is well known ability of hackers which is an example of social engineering (Mitnick and Simon 2002). Now a day this issue has become an important topic to research and discuss for many researcher. But according to some researchers like Adams and Sasse
(1999), Friedman et al. (2002) these researches are only done on the web user’s ability to understand the web model and motivational factor but not on their knowledge to tackle this security issues. Therefore these researchers suggest that the security, connectivity, ease-of-use etc cannot be measured fully by this networked application. So some sacrifice is unavoidable. Until these issues are not delicately balanced the problem faced in effective security of e-distribution in hospitality industry will remain unsolved.
The second social and organisation issue with the security of e-distribution is software management. This issue is considerably large problem like the problems face by other types of software. As mentioned earlier new and existing systems are prime targets of hackers. These systems are highly vulnerable for the hackers. This also has affected standards and protocols highly. Schneier (2001) argues that the companies keeping advanced system of all security information and details are very difficult. Therefore they should follow traditional methods to adopt diversified systems. Many companies e-distribution software depends on customers security feature. Therefore it is important to remember that security of this software depends upon on the type of the software used. This makes the security issues more complicated and difficult for the organisation. At the same time evaluating a security related technology instantly is very difficult for the organisation. As it is unsure for the organisation for the success of the new technical proposal suggested to implement in e-distribution. Finally the third issue is the software management in e-distribution in hospitality industry. A security programmer is a limited resource in field of e-business. Lack of programmers who understand the security related software make them very important for the organisation. These programmers are usually subtle and hard to maintain but naturally, security specialists don’t want to be boxed in to dead-end software maintenance jobs. Therefore the maintenance of these security products is very poor for the old security holes to reappear on timely basis. These limitations faced by the user and company and constant problem of the software management raises a suggestion about the organisation to set up an organisational process to control these security vulnerability, managing their risk and control certain interferences (Bishop 2003, Treese and Stewart 1998) .
These issues can be tackled by implementing many responsibilities and organisational process. Certain organisational process can offer important security protection. By creating a chain of responsibility and proper separation of duty, this organisation can be protected against intrusion as well against hacking. Organisation must take steps upon on the policies in place to prevent both the leakage and data corruption (Bishop 2003). According to Tipton & Krause (2002) companies must strive hard to create processes so that they can determine access control to sensitive data, hacking can be controlled, lessen the level of risk and assurance. Companies can be in risk of losing of customer if the e-distribution implemented insecurely without the necessary technologies and organisation process. Security violations are interesting; therefore companies must be able to protect customer’s identities, financial data’s and their shopping choices. Moreover, security issues in e-distribution the major risk is that insecure e-distribution networks can damage
corporate regulatory agreement. For e.g. in US the risk mentioned above is very important in for financial sectors as securities laws requires to pay commission to keep wide records of the internal communication and also to prevent the companies officials from accessing certain file in the system. Any failure in securing the e-distribution channels in any hospitality company may lead to leakage of critical information in actionable way, may allow the user to cover up fault or can also user to generate a falsified audit record of false transaction.
There are some other security issues concerned with the e-distribution in hospitality industry. In the next section of this essay some other issues will be discussed in brief. E-mail concern is a big issue in security of e-distribution channels for many companies. Electronic mail has gained popularity over the years in every field of business. Corporation, organisation and individuals are using electronic mail as mode of communication. Botham (1996) argues that email has both advantage and disadvantage for the companies. Email security has become a debatable issue in corporate world.
Over the years increase in junk mails has become a major concern. This type of mail in other word is also known as spam mails. This procedure of sending spam mails advertisement is common in the world of information technology. Some surveys shows that 30% percent of mails are spam mails which shows that spam mails are one of the major concern that IT users have to deal with. Another issue the security has to deal with is the economic issues. Without analysing the basic of economic issue the security of the e-distribution channel is incomplete. The above mentioned issues like social and organisational issue are technically crucial issues which stresses on the consumer and producer at same time. Various researchers like Anderson has pointed out that security engineering is related to control, power and access of e-commerce (Anderson 1994, Anderson 2001b). According to Shapiro & Varian (1999), mechanism of security can be used to control the network effects which control the new and possible replacing technologies.
Conclusion and Suggestions.
To summarize, the application of e-distribution in hospitality industry has attracted a great amount of attraction of both industrial practitioner and researcher. The use of internet has become important and advantage for the hospitality industry as it is used for exchanging and sharing the information. In travel booking area e-application can be used to check, inquire and order the desired product easily and conveniently. The interesting fact of e-distribution the internet is used to deliver information to customers in new and exciting ways. Information technology is an aspect of production in the field of land, labour and capital resources. Overall, electronic distribution channel is boon in disguise for the customer who chooses this option for the requirement on internet. But it has been overshadowed by some of the security issues faced by the e-distribution which is discussed in essay. Security issue is an ongoing problem faced by the hospitality industry in e-distribution. Security can be assumed to largely flawed. Issues in security can said to be a cat and mouse game between the hackers and web users. There are also concerns about safety and confidentiality of their e-mails. But some researchers have found out some findings and arguments made on this issue. But important technical development has been implemented over last five years to deal with this security issues. A careful and proper approach should be used to regulate the proper e-distribution in hospitality industry .This barrier to e-commerce has to be addressed by
all parties including the government, vendors, and organizations. The new technology available to handle security issue should be utilized. The web user should use the technology in such way that it must influence the other user and customer. This may create new awareness of the between the user and customer which may reduce the security threats in e-distribution of hospitality.