CABLE & Wireless, the international telecommunications group, has announced that it has secured a three-year managed hosting contract with Hilton International, to manage on-line hotel booking, reservation and e-commerce applications for the 400-strong international hotel chain.
As part of its strategy to strengthen its direct relationships with its customers, Hilton International aims to increase its global reach without further reliance on third parties and to grow the percentage of its sales made on-line to 20 per cent over the next five years.
FULLY MANAGED
Cable & Wireless is providing fully managed web-hosting,
security and application management that will enable Hilton International to offer easy-to-use local language on-line services to its customers throughout the world. This is all part of a major global
e-commerce initiative by which Hilton International is to develop its web presence as a tool for sales and marketing and as a distribution channel for its business.
A key element of Hilton International's e-commerce initiative has been the replacement of disparate regional web sites with a single consolidated platform that was designed and implemented by C&W and leading web integrator, Sapient. This centralised solution allows Hilton International's customers to interact in real-time with any Hilton hotel in the world.
"Hilton International's major commitment to growing our on-line services reflects our belief that e-commerce is integral to maintaining our position as a global leader in the future," commented Tim Davis, Senior Vice President, Distribution and E-Commerce, Hilton International. "Our decision to work with C&W is based on its ability to offer best-of-breed solutions for hosting, security and application management, all within a single robust service level agreement, which ensures the quality, security, performance and availability of the Hilton International web site."
Paresh Modi, managing director, media, entertainment, technology and service, Cable & Wireless UK, said, "Cable & Wireless was able to offer Hilton International real value in terms of our broad expertise and flexible approach not only to the initial solution design, but also to an ongoing process of improvement. We are delivering an end-to-end solution, whereby our service level agreement guarantees the quality of the application development process, conducted by Sapient, as well as the underpinning infrastructure, provided by Cable & Wireless. The fact that Hilton International has entrusted all these elements to us is testament to our ability to serve our customers as a trusted partner."
The new Hilton International web site is hosted at Cable & Wireless' data centres in Swinden and Park Royal, London. Together, they also ensure business continuity and provide an ongoing disaster recovery capability.
