Mexico. After a couple of years with clear decreases in revenues and operations, the hotel industry has found in SMEs focused on the integration of technology, an ally to improve their offer, through solutions that increase the satisfaction in the stay of their guests and environmental improvements; This was announced by IntegraTEC, the only annual and regional technology fair in AV / Lighting, Broadcast, Automation and DataComm with presence in Latin America and 15 years of experience, in Mexico and LATAM.
And, according to the organization that is part of LatinPress, SMEs are playing a decisive role in the post-pandemic recovery of the hotel sector, which is reflected in the participation of integrating companies, which include installers, engineers and personnel specialized in the integration of technological solutions that allow hotel complexes to offer improved experiences, Especially based on signage, audiovisual resources and connectivity, which have contributed to the 10% increase in the evolution of the digital signage market between 2019 and 2021, according to its latest study conducted in 2022.
In the latest Latin Market Research survey, "Market Study Audiovisual Integrators in Latin America 2023", it was located that the hospitality sector represented in 2022 7.1% of the main segments of Audio and Video (AVI) projects in Mexico and 6% in Latin America, below verticals such as Corporate, Education or Government; according to the integrators consulted.
According to Florian Rotberg, owner of the company Invidis Consulting, based in Munich, Germany, "to strive in the market and survive, digital signage integrators need to offer more than technology. (They must) step out of the technological comfort zone, analyze the needs of the customer and their business and develop concepts will be fundamental."
Efforts that will be of great importance for a thriving hotel sector that struggles to recover the strength it maintained prior to the pandemic, even in environments of economic uncertainty, as the specialist announced that in the Latin American market of digital signage they are at record levels in terms of orders, although still delayed by complications such as those caused in the supply chain, While particularly in verticals such as hotels and transportation, the specialist places them well behind pre-pandemic levels, however they navigate a positive outlook for the electronic signage industry.
SMEs and their professionalization in this recovery
According to Germán Cortés, in charge of carrying out the Integrator Bootcamp, a complementary and specialized course for technological integrators, within the framework of IntegraTEC Mexico, and expert in issues of professionalization of Small and Medium Enterprises, the main challenge for SMEs of integrators, which are part of the companies that provide services to hotel complexes, There are several areas of improvement in the professionalization of its processes.
According to the specialist, one of the main obstacles faced by SMEs created by integrators is that they do not have work methodologies and are usually conceptualized in a cold way as only technology providers. Given what he recommends focusing first on people and having fundamentals of disciplines ranging from administration, financial, accounting, operational, customer service, legal, human resources and sales, always supported by experts and / or specialists in each branch.
In the experience of Germán Cortés, 59% of new small and medium-sized companies of integrators, which do not have these fundamentals, usually disappear in Latam before 5 years. The specialist realizes that, of these firms, more than 80% failed because they did not meet their commercial goals, that is, they go bankrupt because they do not know how to sell or do not know effective techniques for it.
"You need to have sales training; Sometimes the sale is biased by the seller himself. Even on sales that were already closed the insistence or unprepared questions, they generate that they are lost by generating doubts. If technology integration companies knew sales fundamentals, more than 50% of them would have greater profitability, sustain companies and generate greater customer satisfaction," said Germán Cortés.
While, to be competitive in the hotel sector, SMEs, however small or new they may be, can get tools that make them competitive even against large global corporations; and this can be achieved, according to Cortés, through the use of clear methodologies in work teams and have certifications such as ISO or compliance with official standards.
The above in a sector that, according to the consulting firm International Hotel Consulting Services, generates more than 4 million jobs throughout the country and contributes just over 4% of the national gross domestic product. While hotels per se, represent 28.7% of the tourist gross domestic product (GDP) of the Mexican Republic.
According to Verónica Marin, Project Manager of IntegraTEC, "this year the fair, which will be held from August 16 to 18, 2023, will give a greater focus to the hotel industry that, due to its transversality to the axes of the fair, which include audio, video and lighting and connectivity, as well as digital signage, is considered an industry that requires cutting-edge solutions for its operation and increase in the satisfaction of its guests, elements that will undoubtedly contribute to its repositioning."
Learn all the details of IntegraTec Mexico by visiting https://www.integratec.show/es/
