CHICAGO -- Pretend you are hired as the general manager of small to
midsize leisure agency.
What is the most important change you would make in the first 30
days on the job?
For Deslie Webb, chief executive officer of eGulliver, an
on-line agency network, it would be to ensure that there is
high-speed Internet access on each agency employee's desktop,
expand the agency's home-based outside agency network and make sure
that the agency is actively promoting its specialty.
"I would make Internet technology ingrained into every person in
the office," said Webb, one of three panelists who spoke at a
"Technology 2000 and Beyond" discussion at Travel Weekly's
Conference on Technology.
Simon Illingworth, product manager of e-commerce for Datalex
Communication, which provides agencies with booking engines, said
he make sure the agency had a Web site with content, including with
photos and videos "so that someone going on a vacation" could see
the agency's product line.
There also would be a place on the Web site for consolidator
fares and for customer feedback about their vacations, he said.
For Nick Gassman, interactive channel manager for British
Airways, the focus of running the agency would be to review the
customer base and to see "how they want to do business with
us."
Gassman said he would make sure that the agency technology is up
to speed to serve clients, whether they want information through
wireless services, the Internet or other means.
But how does an agency invest in technology and make sure it is
doing so wisely, with so many choices today?
EGulliver's Webb suggested that agencies watch closely the
trends in the travel industry and proceed cautiously.
For example, she said an agency may not want to invest in
putting video on its Web site, but rather invest in features that
are more affordable and "proven" such as chat rooms where customers
can discuss travel.
Philip Wolf, president and chief executive officer of
PhoCusWright, who moderated the panel, answered an audience
question about the value of spending money on agency Web sites when
they will not make it in the top results that are called up in
search engines.
Wolf said his company's findings show that search engines are
not the top method that customers use to "get to a Web site."
The most common method is through word-of-mouth, followed by
search engines, advertising and mentions through public relations
efforts.
"You are assuming that search results are the most important
thing and if you can't do a good job getting your e-brand on those
results it might not be worth doing in the first place," said
Wolf.
"That assumption is not entirely true," he said because search
engines are just one of four most popular way customers land on a
site. "Just because an agency doesn't appear high in search engine
results doesn't mean it can't compete" on the Internet because the
other factors -- word-of-mouth, advertising and public relations
are just as important, he said.