Staying competitive means saving the customer money without
compromising quality of service. Today, this objective seems
virtually unobtainable. Is it really time to have the kids teach us
Web programming as we seek new, more profitable careers?
Travel Agency Automation Survival 101. You may
be asking, "Just how much can I accomplish with a limited budget?"
The answer is, a lot. Thanks to the personal computer, software
available from the CRSs, the Internet, dropping software prices and
some free software, agencies can compete and be profitable too.
Already, many third-party developers and agencies have utilized
"software robots" or "robotics" to assist human employees by
undertaking mundane, tedious or otherwise impossible chores. These
expert systems had a key role in quality-control checks like fare
auditing, seat busting, waitlist clearance and other functions
previously handled manually with the CRSs at a cost of thousands of
dollars and countless hours in nonrevenue-generating human
labor.
Professional travel agents were freed up to provide more
personal service for the customer.
What about now? So much for the past. In what
areas can you take advantage of the robotics concept in the era of
commission cutting? The answer ranges from PNR history to payroll
incentives; preticketing to service fee billing and management;
meeting planning to interactive customer profiles, plus "waivers
and favors" tracking. (That last item is shorthand for tracking
special services or, simply, the favors that you provide on a
regular basis.)
Let's start with the basics. Let's say your agency has decided
to implement service fees and you need to manage the tracking and
billing for various transaction types such as air, car and hotel;
domestic and international; booking transaction, and cancellations
and changes to the PNR.
Here's how you can harness robotics for these purposes. This
kind of program -- also called "screen scraping" and "data parsing"
-- "scrapes" the screen in that it scoops up all the PNR data
contained on CRS screens and allows you to sort each piece as you
wish. Your agency could capture key information from every
reservation made, and then, depending on how you program the
electronic robot, you can sift out any type of data stored in the
PNR and you could do it at many points in the life of each
record.
In other words, a robotics program chops up each reservation,
hence the name "data parsing," or, more memorably, "CRS
Vegematic."
In the service fee example, it keeps track of the fee structure
by client, based on transaction type. This allows your agency to
charge different fees on an individual or a global basis while
providing a comprehensive billing statement with all of the
transaction details.
Let's take this robot thing a step further. You have a client
who disputes your claim of having booked the lowest available fare,
and he requests proof. If you are lucky, after a time-consuming
search, you can produce a hard copy of every event that took place
with a reservation, and you retain the account. But at what
cost?
What if you could get the same results at less cost by offering
access to PNR history directly to your client? You can, thanks to
those tireless robots and assuming you have a Web site. It would
work like this: A reservation is made and a duplicate is created
that updates your company database. You then could provide a link
from your Web site that allows your clients to access only their
information while you save a lot of time.
You may frequently hear about robotics from vendors because
several sell applications that use the concept. However, in my
scenerios here, you would be using a basic screen-scraping program
and creating your own applications. You can buy screen-scraping
software for around $2,000.
The Web, the Web. By now, plenty of agencies
have some type of presence on the Internet. However, too many
agency Web sites consist of the basic company mission statement
along with the same brochure information found on the agency
shelves or copyrighted material "borrowed" from suppliers' Web
sites. Or they provide a myriad of links to other travel-related
sites of supposed interest to surfers. It amazes me that agents
spend all their resources getting clients to their Web sites just
to usher them off to other sites without even giving them a chance
to look around.
Much expert advice to agents on Web sites favors the retail
aspect of travel, so I would like to touch on a few options that a
corporate travel agency might consider. Thanks in part to the
emergence of on-line reservations sites like Travelocity, Expedia,
Preview Travel, TravelWeb and others, our industry is in the midst
of "paradigm pioneering" -- rapid introduction of new concepts with
moderate levels of consumer acceptance. Most on-line booking
systems are used primarily for looking and not booking.
So what can you do to make your Web site a more compelling
resource that your corporate clients cannot resist while you save
money? Consider providing access to corporate resources like travel
policy, personal profiles and management reporting. With some very
inexpensive software tools, a Web site and your PC, this task is
relatively simple. Simply put, if you can print it, you can publish
it electronically and save it indefinitely.
You can use your existing third-party reporting system or
back-office accounting system to create electronic travel reports
instead of paper ones. This way you eliminate the printing and
labor costs associated with distributing travel reports to clients
by mail. With an electronic version of your sales activity report
for XYZ Co., for example, you could e-mail the report to your
client or transfer it to your Web site and allow your clients
access around the clock.
Keep in mind you would want to ensure that you provide Web
access from a secure site with a Web browser that supports secure
transactions, but these requirements are more common than not.
With today's software, you can eliminate nonprofitable order
taking from your business life and replace it with more
professional services. Technology has become an invaluable
assistant in managing information in routine jobs. As a result,
automation frees us humans to perform tasks that are, well, more
human.
Rock Blanco is president of Medfield, Mass.-based New Media
Solutions.