Does IT matter?

Information & Technologies, IT, has become an important tool for running business nowadays. Nearly all companies use computers and other soft wares to help organizing and managing their information, projects and clients' details etc. Most of the businesses now are digitalized as it is quicker and more convenient. IT sometimes is a symbol of professional too. If a company does not use IT for running business, some clients may think that they are not reliable and human errors are easily made.


According to the article "Does IT matter?", the IT industry is now nearly saturated. There are a lot of It companies which provide similar products and services to their customers, business companies. Because of the economies of scale, the price of IT products has decreased and nearly all people can afford it. As the IT industry is nearly saturated, all the IT companies need to undergo some strategies in order to survive. They are trying hard to lower the cost and at the same time improve the quality. Then they can sell the products at a lower price compared to other competitors.


IT companies are facing a hard time so as to out stand from other competitors and attract more customers. In this situation, their customers, business companies, can get some advantages. As the IT companies are competing, they will try to modify their products and sell them at a low price. So for business companies, they can have a large range of varieties of products to choose and all the products are not expensive and affordable. In other words, they can lower the expenditure on IT aspect and this will definitely help the business companies to maintain their business as the expenditure in IT covers a large part of the whole expenditure of business companies.




An example of e-Tourism







Hospitality and tourism industry is one the of biggest clients of the IT industry. Most of the businesses in tourism industry need IT for help. As it is a global business, they always need to communicate with other countries. So IT can help a lot for running the business. Therefore, tourism and hospitality companies should take this advantage and widely use IT for working. IT plays an important role in hospitality and tourism industry. It provides connections with other companies or organizations all over the world. It gives a platform for hospitality companies to exchange their knowledge and news. It also helps companies for searching the information of different destinations. All in all, IT cannot be omitted in hospitality and tourism industry. So tourism companies should make well use of IT in order to make themselves more competitive in the industry.

Global Distribution System (GDS)

Global Distribution System (GDS) is now one of the most popular distribution channels in tourism and hospitality industry. It is a global platform that allows hospitality companies sell their products and services to travelers all over the world.

GDS is first created in airline industry. It is originally used by travel agents for checking the flight schedules from different airline companies. Nowadays, it has developed to be an online market for not only travel agents but travelers buying tickets and packages.

A table shows how GDS works

Members or participants of GDS




GDS is very useful for people buying tickets online. It groups the schedules and prices of different companies so it is easy for customers to find all the information they want and compare the products of different companies. It can help customers to save time too. They can just stay at their homes and search on the internet. After they have selected the most suitable products for themselves, they could even buy it online. By using GDS, people can do the whole purchase process at homes and it is very convenient for them. Nowadays people are very busy with their work and businesses so this system really helps a lot. GDS is very helpful for hospitality companies too. It provides them one more distribution channel to sell and promote their products. Also, the whole purchase process is computerized so the hospitality companies can lower the human errors and also the demand for staff.

However, there are some disadvantages too. For customers, as the whole purchase process is done in the internet and there is no staff to be directly contacted, it will be difficult for travelers to search for help if there are some problems. For the companies, they need high cost to run the GDS. They always need to keep updating the price and schedules. They also need someone to monitor it 24 hours. Moreover, as GDS are usually used by large chains or companies, it is difficult for some small companies to get into a system.

One more thing the travelers need to be alert is privacy. When travelers buy the products online, they need to give their personal details including phone number, address and credit number. It is a bit risky if the personal details are leaked or hacked.

GDS is undeniably a very convenient and useful tool for both sellers and buyers. However, there are some disadvantages and potentials when using this system. Therefore, both sellers and buyers need to be careful in order to make use of it.