0:39 Hack Number 1 - Understand your business processes. What are your requirements? And do you have the knowledge and resources in house to meet those requirements? Let's take two very much on topic examples.  Example number 1 - Everybody's heard about GDPR. But how robust are your processes if a guest generated a subject access request, how would you deal with it? Can you deal with it?   Example number 2 - We're all used to upgrading software on our own devices. And it's becoming more frequent. Often those software upgrades are feature related, but just as often if not increasingly so, they are security patch related. In a hotel environment, this is a much more complex operation. And if you're going it alone, who's responsible to ensure that these are done in a timely basis and are you doing them across the multitude of systems that you operate in that hotel?   

1:32 Hack Number 2 - Analyse your risks. What happens if a subject access request or security patch is not applied or dealt with?  What's the cost both to your reputation and potentially directly to your business? And is that an acceptable cost?   

1:49 Hack Number 3 - Once you've analysed your risk do a true cost comparison.  If in a standalone mode or go alone mode bringing in a consultant is cost-effective then consider it, but you may well find that a managed service is a cheaper option in the long run and could be far less risky.   

2:07 Hack Number 4 - Understand your options.  Talk to people and check the small print. If you're going down the managed service route, does it clearly state in the GDPR example - who the data owner is? Does it define a process for handling of subject access requests? Insist on service level agreements. Do they include updates as part of the management fee that you're paying?   

2:32 Hack Number 5 - Only make your decision once you've thought about all the points I've raised in this episode.