The Impact of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry and How Procurement Can Bail Out the Industry

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry and How Procurement Can Bail Out the Industry

April 08, 2022

Welcome to the discussion on the topic, Impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry and how procurement can help the industry where our speakers Mr Jaideep Gupta, Mr Biplab Bharti, Mr Rajesh Nair, Miss Vidhu Sharma, and Mr Basil Massey share their insightful thoughts.

Let's go through the perspectives of our speakers discussing the impact and solutions of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry.

 

 

 

Jaideep Gupta, Director Aanyah Management and Founder Jaideep Gupta Consultants. 30 years of experience in Hospitality in Procurement, Projects and Operations, ex-Vice President of Operations. Since 2015 a consultant with over 60 projects completed in the last 6 years.

 

 

 

Mr. Basil Massey is the Corporate General Manager, Procurement, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts. He has over 3 decades of experience in the Hospitality Industry related to Material Management. Mr. Basil Massey contributed in the development of 3000 rooms for India's premier luxury hotel company - Taj Group of Hotels. He has also served as Director – Of procurement of Duet Hotels. In his experience of three decades, he has delivered around 67 new Greenfield and renovations projects for internationally well-known brands like Taj, Hilton Garden Inn, Starwood – Four Points by Sheraton, IHG – Holiday Inn Express, and Accor Hotels – Mercure.

 

 

Mr Biplab Bharati is the General Manager of Projects Contracts and Procurement at Ambuja Neotia. He has over 30 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry.

 

 

Mr. Rajesh Nair is Materials Manager at Grand Hyatt and Lulu International Convention Center, Kochi, Kerala. He has been in the procurement community for more than 25 years. Mr. Rajesh Nair started his career with Leela palaces and resorts and worked on their different properties especially in the pre-opening. Spent maximum years with their Blore property. He has been working with Grand Hyatt and Lulu International Convention Center for last 4 years and looking after the upcoming properties in Kerala.

 

 

Vidhu Sharma is working as a Freelance Procurement Consultant. She has over 30 years of Experience in various industries. Since last 18 yrs she is attached with the hospitality sector. She has Done projects with Umaid group - Ahmedabad ( Novotel Umaid - Jodhpur - Rajasthan ) than with Pride Group of hotels, and Seven Leasiure - Clubo7 - Ahmedabad. But now working as a freelancer with various projects. Recently completed Foodlink banquoet hall project- Ahmedabad. 

 

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I would hand over the DAS, to our speakers of the day, to speak on the impact of COVID-19 on hospitality and how procurement bailouts the industry, over to you guests. Thank you very much and welcome to this amazing webinar. The most important point we have to remember is that all of you have got huge, huge expedience in this field, and that's why you are here on this platform.

Thank you very much for joining us. Let's have a ball. So on December 8th, 2019, the government of Yuhan, China announced that the health authorities were treating a new CDS, or new virus case, which was identified subsequently as coronavirus 2019. And a bombshell literally dropped on our laps. We, in the hospitality industry, I think we have had the worst effect because of this. A lot of people lost our jobs. There was a bad economic downturn, and hotels and restaurants are yet to recover from this. We were trying to recover. We did recover a bit. And then the Omicron version of it came into play and then, again, things went topsy-turvy, so the obvious, and the first critical, global response to COVID-19 was travel restrictions.

They were stay at home orders. They were social distancing orders. Timings were restricted for most restaurants and hotel’s occupancy levels were restricted. And of course, they will, in many cases, complete border closures so people cannot travel. So suddenly, we found ourselves in a situation where our jobs were threatened.

Our lifestyle threatened our revenues were threatened, good things that came out of this. I think my personal opinion is that the pandemic created a fantastic opportunity for procurement and supply chain. Because initially we were a Frinch department, but over the last few years, and especially thanks to SPMS, we in procurement have reached a stage where we can be called a prime department or clearly defined department, which actually contributes quite a lot to the hotel revenues and industry.

From that point of view, I think this pandemic has given us an opportunity to prove ourselves, not only in managing risks and ensuring business continuity, but also as an architecture of value creation and the gatekeeper that enables business innovation and sustainability. So today we are here to discuss, how this has all happened. And how can procurement can bail out the industry? 

My first question would be to Mr. Basil Massey , this has given us an opportunity, but I'd like to understand from you, do you think that the understanding of procurement and supply chain that I just mentioned has changed during the pandemic?

And if so, what has changed or what do you believe?

This pandemic has taught us a great deal. As you have told us, it has changed the supply chains. Altogether, what we have got from the COVID is that the human touch is gone. It has gone to technology, new customer behaviour, and what the guests bring to the hotel.

The new normal has changed the manpower structure. Very rightly you have said, you know, the minimum restriction, which I've gone into the restaurants and the banquets, which has hit businesses at the same time the costs of the operation activities have reached what Amanda vectoring overhead has been professionalised everywhere.

We have been asked to run lights-out expenses, and that's a very, very tough job for any government employee. And, despite this, we are very, very successful with the help of our teams, particularly the family to which we belong, and that should be enough.But then most of the micro and small industries have shut down because of the effect of the COVID. I'm coming to the point where we need to just get the same material preparation.

Again, the farmers. I'm not doing the breeding of the and everything, which is impacting the supply parts. The apartments have not cultivated the crop or the uncertainty in the market, whether today, because of the restrictions, because of the restrictions and all, hence the cumulated effect on the raw material price has three render licences.

Every month, every three months, they move into the home. We have a centre for kids. People are coming back to us and asking, "Can you increase the price?" Can you increase the price? Because this has impacted the whole lab fuel cost, which is the most important part. Because of the COVID, the people, and the materials, they have never returned those containers, which are scattered around the world, and the country most exposed, China, lacks the containers to ship out those materials.

And people are capitalising on the freight costs. Deliveries are hit just like any other type of delivery.Hospitality and simply peer gain unemployment 50% takes to the people of the salary reduction of manpower, but at the same time, supply and demand, which has the factor of supply and demand, have the same factor of supply and demand.Behaviors have changed because of the lot of examples that are there.

We want to say that suppliers or vendors are scared if they are supplying whether they'll get the payment, whether they'll produce the material or not, or whether they'll meet our demand. Is there one tomorrow? The business isn't there, but someone will take their material whether they like it or not.That is the biggest hit we are getting.

At this time, which has changed the procurement chain all together and added the backlog with a lot of things between the vendors, Do they have to abide by the rules and bylaws now? I think now we are so used to it that we are so particular that we want to visit those factories. We want to see if they are hygienic, elegant, they are everything that we like to see there.

Less manpower has done that. They did digitalization, which we are and can use, of course, as I've already told you. This is why we are bringing more things into the centre per case contract. We are looking for all vendors in total and have a network interest in each city to save the.So thank you. So I understand that there has been a change in understanding of the function and, uh, before we go into the modus operative, because that would be, I think, a more general question.

Thank you very much. We understand that the whole perspective of procurement and the supply chain has changed because of the pandemic. Uh, moving on to largish. I mean, taking it from what Basal has been, just talking about, uh, my question to you is if things have changed. So obviously, there has been a huge pressure on the procurement function to perform.

So, basically, we're saying, you know, with this, those challenges now, my question to you is, how has the procurement function demonstrated its value to business leaders? So whether it's the general manager of the hotel, whether it's the area of the hotel, or for that matter, the global head of the hotel, how do they see procurement today after this pandemic?

And how have we demonstrated our worth, our chain, and our brand?This panel can provide them with expert advice.But, uh, everyone, uh, there is some eminent

Yeah,

It would often have all the respective panel numbers. Oh, thank you. For a facility to use, one for school, we'll share our thoughts and ideas. Okay, medically to the postings, you know, uh, Mr. and Mrs., all the time. The procurement industry's hospitality team And

Please, everyone, put your phones on mute.

Please do your thing so that there isn't any of it.

Okay, Okay, So, uh, it was a very difficult time to prove to the top management that such a department existed. Let me tell you very clearly. And I had gone through it both personally and professionally in order to demonstrate that ownership, common ownership, to the management contract.In addition to our immediate bolsters, the religious department exists.

That's part of this department. Is there a cost-bearing department? What has been proven over the years is that it is a profitable department.It was very difficult, but somehow, or maybe, uh, if you take some of the experiences, for example, after the first. Okay, When the auto reopens, there's a huge boost in business.

Okay, For example, after the first and second waves, the hotel where I worked for the international conference where I worked last month, I had done, we had done it in one month. We had to do business across the M and player supply chain management board. Okay, how do we make sure that we get the Indian supplies?

Okay, The so-called "tire one supplier" has failed in many cases.Okay, So immediately, we immediately called and made sure that we had a tyre supplier. Okay, many thanks. of the suppliers we're rolling with Okay, Prices have increased. So how? So that was the biggest issue for top management, so even though their supply chain management bot failed, we are not failing to deliver on our promises.

Okay, Therefore, developing alternate sources of supply was the biggest challenge. During this time, we have By developing different sources of supplies, That was the biggest threat. Management of the entire supply chainThere was business, huge business, but how do we get up the

Uh, basically

One of them is immune, while the other is not.I don't know how.

There is some disturbance, basically. Can you just check if you are logged in? It's logged into IDs.

Yeah, no, it is. Yeah, So, uh, let's see. I did. The main thing was to keep the supply chain live, keep the supply chain management live, and make sure that all the supplies were coming because there are businesses and we are being held responsible if there are 18 in short supply. When the industry changes, the customer has more power.

They could negotiate, "No, we need this material." Then only we are ready to do this function, or we are ready to give the booking to you. So the main problem was keeping the supply chain management alive and getting all the materials. Okay, Many, many people, many contractors have not gone as per the contract rate and being purchased.

Whenever we knew that the market situation was very bad, How do we go to them and ask for the same rate? So that was the main thing that we had. Sean, on the other hand, reports to management.Yes, we could do that. That was the first thing, or the same thing as the practise managers. It is not only our baby. We exist and rust.

Everybody died because we could not do that. We should make sure that our supplier communities are also, I like, okay. As a result, make certain that the cash management, you know, theIt hasto be live. We had to pay them on time. That was the next risk that was involved in supply chain management. So, talking to the ownership, we never had revenue for one and a half years.

Okay, And go to the owner and ask for more money. One, the hotel was open. There were a lot of challenges because many missionaries were out of order that it was not. Okay, With many rooms, you will have a better experience once the rooms are closed. What are we going to do when we reopen?Okay, all these things. So, so developing the hiring of the cashflow management intern,

Okay, Not all suppliers will agree, but what is required is that payment be made to them.That was another thing that makes sure that the suppliers are not affected by paying on time. Okay, So keep the supplier community, which is the last to escape. Okay, and make sure that at the same time, make sure that our bottom line is strong.

So renegotiate with the vendor, maybe not with the salary supply contractor. At certain times, we had to give certain increments to the supplier contractors, but at the same time, the service contractors go bad. Renegotiate with them on the AMC. Okay, Explain the AMC for another couple of months. We'd done it for about another year for a couple of them.

Okay, Extend the services for another six months at the same price.So these are all the main things that we have done out of the box to make sure that we have proved to the top management that we are right. supply chain management or purchasing department of the procurement department, but when so important. Okay,

So that. No, instead of being a cost department, add value to the operations; we had converted it into a profit-making department like sales and other departments, which is so important now that you people cannot function without it.Okay, So we are rising to that level. Okay, So that the management or the management company, owning companies made sure that S was the department that we had to create, so that in the end, their function was completed.

Thank you. What I do is wonderfully put, and I really liked that point about you. What I also liked, which was also basically touched upon earlier, is that I think most of our work as heads of procurement depends on relationships. Relationship management, not only in terms of our own, uh, community, but also in terms of the vendors, is completely dependent on the vendor community.

Yeah, So I think that's a very, very good takeaway point. Uh, and, obviously, it also has elements of inventory management. So now my next question is to, "We do ma'am, uh, we do G." First of all, let us all wish you a very happy birthday. It's likely belated, but, uh, you are on mute. So if you can, very much, but I'm down with COVID. It doesn't matter if you still have a good birthday. Right. But they got to do it. Yeah, Thank you very much. But digital technology.

Anyway, we wish you a very speedy recovery. And thank you for joining us. Despite her illness, I have a question for you, as we were just discussing the various methods of, uh, ensuring that.As a community, as procurement heads, we are able to prove to our seniors and to the world in general that this is an extremely important function, especially during this pandemic.

And now one of the most important functions of our, uh, one of the most important elements of her work is inventory management. So how important is it for hotels to do appropriate and correct procurement and inventory management, especially during the COVID times, if you can get through some?

Inventory management is a very important part of the hotel industry because it has a pandemic module that is 360 degrees. Sarah changed who he thought was at the beach, where lockdowns are here. UPCI the guest key coming here, but you have Barry's shovel. You have a non-perishable.

The aura is making its way to your hotel, regardless of the number of guests.So inventory management plays a very vital role in these digital platforms. Digitalization says three things: management, you can generate your reports. You can track your, uh, requirements against what is available.

Based on that, of course, the procurement team has played a very vital role in the scenario because All the odds. They have arranged the material for, uh, uh, for, for the hotels. So it was a very big challenge, but again, inventory is very important. We have the proper inventory now, because it is direct cash money.

Well, that is a place, a very vital place, yeah. Thank you. Anything else you want to add? The only thing that escaped was Uh, you have to be in close coordination with your departments that they trust, maintain the optimum level of inventories, do the classification where high-value items can be kept optimum and low-value items can be kept in stock.

So for all those kinds of things, you can work out, do a little homework, and Accordingly, you can maintain your stocks. Absolutely. Uh, okay. So radish, can I add something to this? Please see. All this, all this, I'll tell you this, this Coronavirus, or maybe this situation has taken us 20 years back to our inventory management.

Okay, because I began my career as an inventory manager or possibly a store associate key, All of these 20 years, which are by, I'm telling you, this pandemic has taken us 10 years back because of all this. To have a better cash flow? No, we were introducing a lot of inventory management techniques in our operations, which were good, especially the new one that was introduced two years ago, but we had introduced something called procure to pay.

Okay, You procure what is converted immediately into our revenue. Okay, Then we introduced it at its destined time. Okay, Then we introduced supplier management, in my memory. Okay, This is all we introduced by and thereby reducing the inventory carrying costs, but this entails Okay, Now we have increased the inventory.

For example, if you are doing a six-core, uh, FNB business, my inventory was three, four, lax, rupees, or five lacks maximum. It contains both the 300% and the higher 300-word count. So this pandemic has brought the lesson, taken the inventory, and taken the industry 20 years back. Okay, Our store now has higher inventory carrying costs, more stock on hand at any given time, and more spoilage.

Okay, So this was the biggest lesson, or biggest threat, to what we were going to be. I don't know when the supply chain management logistic management will be ideal so that we can go back to whatever we reduced procure to pay, or just in time to inventory, which I don't know, because this pandemic has taken a big hit on that inventory carrying cost.

And that is where the big loss and the bottom line come in. Now, what? Uh, I think you said it very well.You said, but this is the biggest challenge in today's world, especially in hospitality to maintain the, uh, uh, inventories on hand, because these are all. You have made your choice of which food items are perishable, non-perishable, and perishable items.

The availability and scarcity are there because I've logged on a lot of money, uh, uh, especially non-video items and highly petty cables. They are not available on the market. So you won't be able to keep our pilot, yourSo this is a very big challenge, vitriol. Everybody has 15. Yeah, I think both of you are right. Uh, radish, you're absolutely correct that there have been challenges, but I think a lot depends on which industry has, which four tails we're working for, and what other kind of leverage we can use, whether it's a standalone hotel or a hotel chain.

Uh, speaking of, uh, cost-cutting measures, which have been, uh, the first impact reaction, you know, So first, obviously, the staff suffered because they were given two people, uh, or less of this. Then the supplies suffered because they had not been paid for a long time, but cost-cutting itself sometimes does not work.

And that is being grouped by what Radish just said and what you're also saying. We do it in a way, but when you have to feed people when you have to ensure that your guests are satisfied, the cost-cutting measures have to be taken into account on a very, very, uh, using a lot of brainpower and a lot of pot, and also a lot of statistics.

So people have, uh, in your opinion, what is the correct definition of "cost-cutting" in this industry? In addition, what other measures should we implement? As per you and, uh, Andrew, your huge concern, how should we implement it to post the log down? Because logging down is here to stay. I mean, we're here today, and we'll be at Comic-Con tomorrow.

They went to another location where I am. So again, there'll be some issues coming forward. So what are the measures that one can implement to increase cost-cutting in the hospital industry without creating problems for the vendors and for us?

We have to develop a lot of local vendors. We have to give a platform to the small vendors who can give us what we need and where we can save the cost, because going to the big one, uh, going to the, uh, interstate vendors, will again add to your cost. So if P's landing costs increase or other products cost,

For example, if food items are in puppet one, if you are importing, it's better to use that instead of developing and mocha.

That is one point of view that you were saying the DVD gets you. Um, my question was specifically to Repla because this is coming from and was successful in retaining most of the guests, even though they were a local organization. So people are, why don't you come and do what you do, come in and tell us what you measure is cost-cutting.

The actual cost of cutting beans, uh, not only reduces expenses and improves profitability, but actually cost-cutting means you burn those costs that were previously irrelevant and a bad cost.Cost-cutting Uh, you should think about how many types of costs you are handling. I think they are typical.

When it comes to the cost, I'll put it in the back post.And what is best for what is considered a good cost is that such a cost is, uh, involved with focusing on the company's growth. It is a, it is, uh, it is lean with, uh, customers. If you, if you meet those costs, um, your company's growth will happen. That is, I would post. Back post, uh, backwards is not such a thing, it's just such a cost, which is not driving the company's growth and wasting resources.

And, uh, if you can feel this, uh, resources like that at those prices, bad prices, uh, it will be considered high poverty.And base most is, uh, those costs, which are associated with the company's uniqueness. It will give you a unique look in the market. Your company is unique in the market because you are, uh, you are getting those costs.

It is, it is, uh, distinguish between the living and the competitors.How, uh, do they provide true value to customers? So, before we go into cost-cutting mode, we should consider which costs to eliminate and which classes to take.I think, in my opinion, we should go back to our costs.

We should go back and maximise those, uh, past bests.

Um, I think, uh, we have to go for the cross-cutting

That way, the cost cutting, like, uh, we can close down our unpopulated areas. We can, uh, review our investment plans, like, uh, we can invest.

It feels like we should invest in that efficient technology that we are investing in. Uh, innovation technology. Because there are so many technologies on the market today, the cost is low while the efficiency is extremely high.We should adopt that. We can, uh, increase, uh, improve energy efficiency.

There are a lot of opportunities where we can cut our costs, uh, import costs. We should use the local which is made in India, which is locally available. And, uh, we can, we can really look at the AMC cost, the kitchen equipment, and, uh, the house's fixed assets. We can reload. We can, we can, uh, repair those patients and, uh, those assets through our own resorts on staff, on the deem that they're calling outside. We can, uh, take outside agencies for housekeeping and security and then stop that because there are so many, uh, employees, so many team members available. There is not much business to do. We can use those, uh, employees. We can train them. And we already did this in the booster, in that block down period.

 We trained our staff to do security work or do housekeeping work, and they are doing very well this week, uh, outside agencies. We can. Introduce something similar to what banks are doing, uh, the KYC (know your customers).We can also start to know your supplier, or KYV. It will give you, uh, the opportunity to know your supply.

That supply from the supplier is coming for These are the financials. From that, he's sourcing his material for that. You can rely on them for this much, period. It will take a lot of, uh, to bring that, uh, prudent down.So it really gave you the idea that I should go with the vendor? As an example, if someone is obtaining, uh, your baby phone or mushroom from you,

From Bangalore in this period, the difficulty and the fixed cost are also very high, but the same may be gone in the same mushroom event. Darjeeling is the representative from Kolkata.Okay, It will cut down on your costs. At the same time, you will get from sunlight the tech that you have to build. You have to build a relationship with the vendor so that you can get up.

Perhaps, after all,

What we can do with those We can read, uh, rebalance our elementary level, you balance the mentoree level so that we cannot, we should not give much inventory for those back ends, which are, which are important, which can be, uh, expect there are all those things we can do.you for the club. I think that what you said makes a lot of sense.

And, uh, the takeaway point from me, as far as this particular conversation with you is concerned, is the fact that you did mention two things. What did Ms. Lucia say? Melissa said, "We'll call for local help." And the other thing that stopped me is the fact that you're talking about leveraging our technology right now, uh, coming to technology.

Let's get on to it. Yeah, basically. I was just about to tell you, uh, I was actually coming to you only. So essentially speaking, when it comes to technology, you know, when you come from a group like Leila's, which is an international group, and so does largish, uh, higher being an international group. Now, uh, there are some basic standards that you have to maintain in the hotel, which is an international one.

Because it's a nice hotel, and you know, those standards cannot be undone from that point of view. Firstly, basically, then again, I just came up with my question to both of you: how have you been able to leverage tech? Uh, like we all said, you know, we were talking about digital platforms. How, how have you tapped into this potentially digital platform, uh, spook, and been able to use it to your advantage during this time?

So let's start with basal and then you can also take over and put your points into this. Um, basically. Yeah, Before they go to that point, a few things that I want to add to the earlier point would be standardization, because since we have, and we have, uh, we have and then hire the maximum number of people at this time. They don't need

So every unit when you're young is the same. which gives you the power of quantity as well as consolidation, which also gives you the power to negotiate. At the same time, you have consolidated your requirements. It gives you the power to get into mega shape, and you'll get a better discount on that. That gives you the negotiating power to make payments on time to the vendor.

So you get the power out to get a better discount at the same time, and also use a lot of green initiatives, which can reduce your bill. At like which we are putting up in most of our hotels, which will save a lot of money for us. This will also help the world to reduce its carbon footprint and the company will now come up to the TMC, which was a very, very important part. We invested

Yeah, at least bother people. Don't take care of their EMCs because you are putting a lot of money into it, but that's a time when we have to change the rules of that money. We have to manufacture those machines in Georgia. So you saw Brian's beauty, our everybody's brand to be, to make sure we get our usual health care.

Would we make that short of whatever it would be? These are things we'd get the hunter's first hand output of having money for our equipment. So they should be extreme because the show is run by our DG chiller.

Suppression system, not yours; everything is based on our equipment. It is so very, very important that, uh, our game kids are negative checked at the bank at the time of buying material. But at the same time, our team has to put in the effort to get the penny. from the audience. That's one thing. And I really appreciate the word for that.

You're not that example yet, given the cost of a back porch and the best part: it's very nice. I really appreciate another coming with the technology that Lila has done it with. Most of the links are not digitalized, including my parts and everything else that is digitalized. As a result, our industry and the people benefit greatly from this.

People are not cheap things. People are going digital. They can see their manuals. They can see everything on that screen. They don't have to type papers and so forth. So that's why we have run that ad for the wrong PR from India, from the payment to everything. So when the vendor registration was digitalized and developed with just uploading your document, we had nothing to do.

And the due diligence. Everybody thinks it's either a platform or a What we are currently doing is digitising procurement.So there are lots of things that we are putting into the system. And when you add new things, which you are bringing onto the platform for the leader. great. What's your take on this?

Uh, um, with the digital technology, I'll tell you, after the first four, we'd wave, we were all born to digital menus and visitable check-ins, which are still continuing. And that is going to be the future. We are not going back to the old days. You know, um, we go back to the keycards, or, you know, that is not going to happen and that is going to the future.

However, at the end of the day, procurementHow digital we are. And I think we have not. We have just moved 10% of our age. You know, how many of our participants are digitally moved? How many are in football? Just a participant Okay, We get it through emails and other things, but we are not connected digitally. Do we have a platform like Amazon where we can sell it?

You've also listed vacation, for example, specifications that we need to buy. And you know, if there is a digital platform that comes in, okay, is that a specification? Because specification changes vary from hotel to hotel, It is not a convention hotel. What is the hotel? But do we have a platform from the procurement front that I'm talking about?

Is it a hotel? Definitely. We had done a lot. It's getting close to the hour.In terms of procurement, I don't believe we had made much progress, uh, Mr. JD.Um, we don't have any platform, uh, during the post-COVID and second vote. We had done a lot of training. I had done a lot of training.

I'd seen businesses come in with, uh, digital.I was an advisory member of many of the companies, but it was not a success in procuring. I'm talking about procurement in French. There are no companies in India, but I can tell you that there is a company that will give you a digital platform to find out.

They are putting their specifications on digital media. Okay, You can go, "Okay, this matches your specifications." They'll go ahead and order many of the things for us. We still depend upon the physical verification of the materials. So, such a digital platform will play a major role in procurement in the hospitality industry.

I don't think maybe it will take another, another 10 years, as I told you, as I have gone back 10 years. It will take another 10 years to get into the digital digital concept or procurement concept. So that is my take on that. I was not converted, even though I had pride. Many of the things, you know, in the hospitality industry or hotels are made for human emotions.

Okay, So many things cannot be accomplished by, uh, acquiring digital fields and knowing that people love to be, uh, talk to one another.They're loud to be, uh, immediate to them, so the hotels are made for that. So in the procurement field, I don't think we have made much progress on the digital platform. To some extent, I agree with you, radish.

And actually, there is a lot to do as far as we are concerned to catch up on the digitalization of our work, which I think you rightly pointed out that we are not even 10% there, but having said that, I think we should all take it as a challenge in our respective fields. And we, especially through SPMS, should be able to.

Leave some of this technology in our pullover working lives so that we can actually come up to the standards that are demanded across the world. We have very little time left. So in just five minutes, we need to wrap up. Uh, I have one last question, which I think all of you can speak to in two lines. Um, we all agree that our staff is the most important, uh, aspect of our lives because, whatever you do, at the end of the day, we are dealing with people.

We are making people work. We are getting the benefits of, uh, the staff that have been working for us for quite a long time. And they've been loyal to us. So, looking at the fact that the pandemic has affected staff badly, the pandemic CI's the way we look at stuffing in the procurement function. And what measures have you taken to ensure their safety at work?

So one love, of course, did point out one very, very beautiful aspect. He said that he'd done multitasking for his employees so that they could fit into any department. That's a very, very good point. Uh, I would like, uh, basal, uh, largish, and we do G. You know, also say something about this. So how have you been liberated?

Your stuff Have you been looking out for their welfare during this time? We have taken a lot of initiatives in the last few months. We still need people to get everybody vaccinated, and everybody is, but even the families or even the premises, and the vendors have been very independent and Manassian. This is backed up by the Brocade, our all. 

We vaccinate our guests, and we check the vaccination drives. And we, as an organising seminar, you're organising doctors are coming regularly, and we are organising the camps where the people that come as they are, can get them. Vaccinator conducts regular health checks.It's very, very important that our stops are not only for the spots, but for the families.

The Lila is organising the whole thing, even the vendors. We are sending mails to them. Why don't you contact us if you have missed your vaccination? We will support you because you are part of our family. We are because they are, with their support, running the show. It's our prime duty to do that. 50% or 30% of the staff is forced to sit in the hall.

They will say how they will move out. And most of the things that we are doing are work from home. We are making them work from home at the same time, but we have the level of sanitization fumigation. We're trying to get the best of the chemicals and the best of the companies.

To avoid that manual touch and to make automated systems. We are trying our best to do that. So people don't touch everywhere. You know, even in the washrooms where people regularly visit, we are trying to make them automated. All you're trying to get your sensor to get them centred. So people don't have to touch.

I'm doing it for the people, or our family, or the vendor. We are getting done vaccinating. Even if we are asked to get

That was for the best. Rajesh, what have you done to ensure the continuity of this copy, which is basically what I'm trying to say is the job profiles and how their work in the future? Yeah, did anybody have a different experience after the hotels opened up or the industries opened up after the first or the second COVID? It's probably nobody's going to go on mute.

See, Jaideep here, I have a total different opinion as to whether, you know, after the first COVID or the second COVID, when the industry opened up, we are all seeing 50 to 60% of the staff leaving. Okay, It is open to buy, whether it is on my property or somebody else's property, because I kept on speaking to all the industrial Starbucks and that is happening.

Okay, So how will we motivate the team and keep the talent with us? That is going to be the biggest risk. That is going to be the biggest risk, but what are we going to face? Because if we were on about 40 or 45%, retaining the terrier would be difficult for us, but for the people, the millionaires, they would say it's not a challenge for them at all.

Okay, So what do we do with that? You know, there will be a huge, paradigm shift, which needs to happen in the industry or the procurement industry, Okay, We need to convert our purchase, and execute to a sales manager. Now, how does it happen? They should be given more authority to convert, making more profit, or you should convert them this is the last procurement cost. Okay, If you reduce it by 5%, you get no bonus. You know what we do for the sales managers? You get 10 rooms, and you get this thing. I think that has to be converted into a procurement field. Also, without them, we will have a huge dump of people who do not understand what mathematics is or what procurement is.

We are going to do that. So to motivate these people, to motivate these people, we have to have a huge paradigm change, which needs to happen in the industry immediately. Okay, Is there anything that the future of procurement will look like? That needs to be done immediately. And I think I can do that.

For my company, we introduced it to all employees for the next two years, uh, for COVID insurance. Wonderful. Okay, great. So, yeah. Thank you so much. I think that that was a very valuable and, I think, brilliant discussion, and, I think, we have touched upon all those points, which makes us understand, that procurement is a function that has been and will be doing a lot for the hospitality industry.

Thank you so much. All of you And now over to our hosts. Thank you so much. All the esteemed speakers for the insightful session on post-pandemic, hospitality, digitization, procurement, and everything associated with it. It was really nice to have you all. Thanks to our audience who have been listening as patiently. 

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August 22, 2023

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