It’s time for some “major surgery.” At least, that’s how
Jackie Friedman, Nexion president, described a nearly three-year initiative to
overhaul the host agency’s technology platform.
The upgrade will completely redo WebView, the current portal
Nexion agents use to access booking tools, training, reporting and
administrative tools.
The announcement of the upgrade came during the company’s
annual CoNexion convention aboard the Norwegian Getaway on Thursday.
The decision to
perform the overhaul came after examining WebView and how agents use it, Nexion
Vice President Robbi Hamida said.
“We looked at where deficiencies [lay] within that tool, and
as the industry has continued to evolve, we’re meeting the needs of the future
agent — not only the agent of today, but what will be coming in the future,” he
said.
Nexion said it had two choices: maintain WebView or start from
the ground up with new technology. The company opted for the latter.
“We are now going through the requirements of basically
rebuilding our super-platform, and that is going to be called myNexion,” he
said. “This portal is going to be personalized to the agent, and that’s why
myNexion was the perfect name for it.”
With myNexion, the host agency aims to offer a single log-in
with some top supplier partners, so an agent would only have to log into
myNexion and not the supplier’s website, as well.
“It’s all about
efficiency,” Hamida said.
Hamida also said myNexion
will offer better reports for agents and will give them the ability to complete
commission splits with sub-agents and still have accurate reporting.
It also will give
agents the ability to view necessary documents faster than before, Nexion said.
The project will take about 2.5 years to complete, but early
phases are already being completed. The new version of the Simple Nexion Air Program (SNAP) is expected to be
out early next quarter.
Nexion Town, the company’s networking tool, will be
completely new and may receive a new name. Hamida said that Nexion will likely
poll members for name ideas.
“We are rebuilding
everything,” Hamida said. “Databases, tables, the entire guts are being
completely replaced.”
The efficiency
myNexion will offer is key, Friedman said.
“Agents need to
operate efficiently. And it’s an area where we are investing like we never have
before,” she said.
Nexion, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is owned
by Travel Leaders Group.