Amadeus UK boss Tim Russell explores the role of travel technology post-recession
Recessions have few benefits, but one they most certainly have is to drive private and public organisations to operate leaner and more efficiently. With less money available, government departments, public services and private companies alike, all have to make cuts somewhere to balance the books.
While cuts are a painful effect of the economic downturn, investment in the technology to streamline processes and increase automation can be the weapon they need to combat its effects. Despite falling demand and increased competition, some travel retailers are still not realising the huge potential of technology that enables them to focus on customer service and ultimately improves the bottom line.
We recently commissioned a survey into how much time travel consultants spend on arranging trips for the leisure and business market. According to the study, nearly half of all leisure and business travel consultants questioned believe that up to 25% of their time is spent on tasks that could be carried out more efficiently with greater use of automated processes and technology.
Worryingly, leisure and business travel agents currently spend up to 80% of their time just processing bookings, from the initial information search, booking, and itinerary amendments, right through to the final ticket issue and the general administration that supports these processes, so little time is left for customer engagement. This is certainly not the best use of their time and is hardly encouraging for aspiring travel consultants.
But travel retailers have been hit hard by the recession. To remain profitable, they need more than ever, to demonstrate the value of their service and provide a clear differentiation to the do-it-yourself proposition, which will remain elusive if they are focused on processing transactions rather than customer service.
Take emergencies such as terrorist attacks, prohibitive weather conditions and natural disasters experienced by many travellers in recent years. They underline just how crucial it is for a rapid response from travel consultants. Technology is required to do the leg work of sourcing alternative travel arrangements, changing flight bookings and re-issuing tickets, among others.
Almost as essential, is having a technology partner with the know-how to support travel retailers through these processes, so they can continue to focus their attention on the customer. Technology providers understand travel retailers' pain points and can work with them to jointly solve the challenges they face daily.
The good news is that the technology built to handle precisely these needs is out there: intuitive technology, process automation and improved search capacity which together dramatically increase productivity across the entire selling process. The effect? Travel retailers' free up more time to do what they are good at: serving customers.
With much of the global economy coming out of recession, and the recent volcanic ash cloud fiasco bringing the benefits of using the services of a travel retailer to the forefront of travellers' minds, now is the chance to reassess working processes, boost productivity and seize the opportunity to enhance customer satisfaction. Many could really do with it right now.