Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on CLUBs / Hospitality Industry

Almost 99% of clubs in India are using Club Management System keeping server on-premise. Major support points for this strategy are

• Security of data is most valuable. As clubs are run by committees and these committee members run clubs by winning elections so the prime job of any club secretary or club president is to make sure that their data must be secure. It should not exchange in wrong hands. 
• Poor internet connectivity: - Most clubs have internet but not dedicated lease lines. Most of the time internet is not working and clubs cannot take chances. Even a slight delay or non-connectivity leads to chaos.
• Clubs feel that Club Management System is a critical need for business and they cannot afford poor connectivity.
• Cloud migration requires a lot of effort and clubs might not have the requisite expertise
• High volumes of bills: Clubs feel that during rush hours there are high numbers of transactions so to push and pull data from the server requires high band width which is not possible in club infrastructure. 

How COVID-19 Pandemic put high effects on clubs

• Clubs are on standstill since the government declared lock-down. 
• All employees of clubs are sitting idle at home and clubs must pay salaries and other expenses.
• This pandemic has happened in the month of April which is a month of subscription collections / bill collections from its members which is approximately 70% of the total collection / revenue of club. 
• Club has to pay its vendors and although clubs are good pay masters but due to the sudden lock-down, they have no details / vendor ledgers to make payments.
• As 99% of the total clubs do not have Club Mobile App for its members so communication with members is on stand still. 

Learnings / Solutions

• COVID-19 Pandemic reaffirms the Critical Need for Business Agility. So, as a first step, clubs should have a solution with on premise basis but on a periodic basis an automatic backup of data should also go on data center.
• Club must have a mobile app for its members.
• Club must have a website for its members. 
• Club must have an online payment gateway.
•  A secure interface for its staff to access the system online any time and data should get synchronized in both ways.
• Club software should be on advance and latest technologies and club vendors should be experienced companies. Many clubs are using solutions from freelancer and during this COVID-19 Pandemic these freelancers are not in position to support clubs. 

BSD Infotech Pvt Ltd strongly feels by end of 2020 every club will be on hybrid model that is on premise and on cloud too. And 2021 to Be the Year of Club Management Software for every club / Membership Based Associations.

By 2022, over 90% of Clubs will be relying on a mix of on-premises/public cloud and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.

The widespread disruption caused by the global COVID-19 outbreak has reinforced the critical importance of businesses being agile enough to scale up or down with fluctuations in demand. A public cloud platform provides enterprises with an agile and cost-effective IT infrastructure that supports their business processes.

We have noticed that clubs who are using "BISTRO" Clubmanagement software with mobile apps are able to work from home. One club was even able to take food orders as take away orders. Members raised orders through mobile app and the club prepared the orders and members were able to pick them up. This club is in a residential society catering to 500 families.

With BISTRO Club Management Software solutions club employees can access the computing infrastructures, platforms and services they need for work from any connected location.

While the move to work from home for an extended period of time may be new for many of us, it is important to remember three key factors that mean club software on hybrid model is more than ready and able to step in and support club employees (home workers) at this time.

• The Solution enables scalability
• Connectivity is key
• Remote working

This remote support role has been positively received by employees and has helped to create an environment for clubs to serve its members even in situations such as those we are facing right now.